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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 1945 five Navy torpedo
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bombers took off from a Florida airfield
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and headed east over the Atlantic only
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to disappear without a trace
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thus the legend of the Bermuda Triangle
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was born a day and aviation researcher
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believes he has found one of the missing
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planes and solved mystery of the lost
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patrol when she was a young woman Marge
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Ryder faced the excruciating decision to
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give up a child for adoption not once
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not twice but three times perhaps
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someone watching tonight is one of the
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daughters she is searching for
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near San Francisco a 60 year old woman
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made a brave stand against drug dealers
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Peggy the neighborhood and was shot in
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her own home
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authorities need your help to find her
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unknown attackers you'll also bring you
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the poignant story of six children torn
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apart by adoption four decades ago one
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phone call may be the final step in
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bringing this family back together join
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you may be able to help solve a mystery
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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December 5th 1945 Fort Lauderdale
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Florida five Navy Avenger torpedo
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bombers took off on a routine training
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point
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over 14 middle
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[Music]
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the mission was known as flight 19 five
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hours after they took off the entire
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squadron would vanish without a trace
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their disappearance became the linchpin
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of a modern legend of the supernatural
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it has been called a triangle of death
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the who do see when a graveyard of the
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Atlantic but to most of us the area
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where the five plane disappeared is
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known as the Bermuda Triangle
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this 400,000 square mile area of eastern
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Atlantic extends from the south of
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Florida northeast to Bermuda and
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southeast to Puerto Rico
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according to experts in the last 75
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years over 100 ships and planes have
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apparently disappeared in this region
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though at least 1,000 lives have been
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lost the triangles most famous victims
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were the five Avengers of flight 19 the
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last 45 years the disappearance of
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flight 19 has been used by many as proof
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that the Bermuda Triangle does exist the
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five planes were said to have vanished
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inside some supernatural vortex and then
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whisked away to another world but
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recently an aviation investigator named
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John Mayer has come up with a more
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down-to-earth explanation he is certain
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that he has found one of the missing
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aircraft just 30 miles off the Florida
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coast
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if Meyer is correct and one of the most
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intriguing unsolved mysteries of this
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century may finally be explained for
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years John Mayer has scrutinized flight
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19 s flight plan radio transmissions and
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the weather on the day of the
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disappearance when I read this story and
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I read the transcripts of the radio
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conversations it triggered a response in
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me and I said if this is true and this
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is true then then I think I can find one
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of the airplanes last summer using the
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latest modern technology Meyer mounted
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his fourth underwater expedition looking
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for one of the Lost planes in order to
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pinpoint his final resting place Meyer
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has carefully reconstructed
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last flight of the Lost Avengers it all
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began at the Naval Air Station in Fort
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Lauderdale Florida it was the afternoon
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of December 5th 1945 lieutenant Charles
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Taylor was assigned to command flight 19
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known as a cool capable pilot Taylor had
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logged over 2,500 hours as a naval
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aviator you are scheduled for a
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low-level navigation problem you will
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fly 123 miles southeast beginning your
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practice before takeoff the crewmen of
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flight 19 were briefed on the routine
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training exercise by a senior
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operational miles and the winds are
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Southwest at 18 knots and gusty again I
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remind you it can change momentarily so
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please be aware now I respect your
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professionalism let's go over you should
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happen can I have a word with you in
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private sir
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all right I'll be back in five minutes
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just before takeoff
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lieutenant Taylor made an unusual
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request sir if it's all the same to you
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I'd just soon you replace me on the
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flight this afternoon I'm just not
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feeling up to it why what's the matter I
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just don't feel right sir I'd rather not
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be in the air today well the rest of the
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instructors are off the base you're the
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last one on the roster
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I'm sorry Stein you gotta grow up some
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people speculated that he was a party
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animal and he was out drinking I don't
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think that's fair to him
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the fact was that for some reason he
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didn't feel a hundred percent could have
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been an ear infection could have been
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the flu could have been any number of
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things and as a pilot it was his duty to
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say I didn't I don't want to fly for
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whatever reason at 2:10 p.m. the five
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planes left the runway and headed east
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[Music]
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leaving Fort Lauderdale the planes were
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to head 120 nautical miles southeast
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make a practice bomb run and then fly 73
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miles northwest they then would head 120
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miles southwest back to Fort Lauderdale
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my 19 consisted of four student pilots
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who were qualified naval aviators they
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each had more hours in the air than the
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FAA requires now for a commercial
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license they had gone through all of
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their training but this one flight
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ft28 to flight I'm making my clearing
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turn the flight was not following
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Charles Taylor
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he was the instructor pilot who was
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trailing behind the rest of the flight
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he was grading their performance he
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wasn't doing the navigating the other
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pilots in the flight were doing their
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own navigation ft28 1736
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areas clear target is mark
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ft28 to flight target is at 12 o'clock
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one mile out let's see what you're made
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up empty three shakes Roger out
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commencing my run
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[Music]
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radio traffic indicated that the men
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successfully completed the practice bomb
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level at approximately 3:10 p.m. on the
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second leg of the mission Taylor's
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compass began to malfunction I don't
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know where we are
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powers what is your compass rate
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and it were three three zero degrees
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Meyer believes a coordinates given by
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the students were accurate for some
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reason tater remain convinced that they
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were lost at the Fort Lauderdale Air
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Station the communication center
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monitoring the flight became concerned
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about tailors defective compasses I am
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over land but it's broken
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I'm gonna swing down and take another
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look
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Tanner had made a critical error he
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thought that flight 19 was in the Gulf
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of Mexico flying over the Florida Keys
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Meyer believes that in actuality the
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flight was three hundred miles northeast
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of Taylor's estimated location flying
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over the Abaco Islands in the West
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Atlantic from the air a to island chains
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look remarkably similar
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Taylor ordered northeasterly then due
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east headings had they been over the
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keys this route would have taken them
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safely home instead it took them further
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out to see the students I am sure
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because they had flown the area before
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they're saying uh uh you know you're
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wrong we're not in the Gulf of Mexico
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we're we're in the Atlantic but if the
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instructor pilot says do it you do it
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by 5:00 p.m. the short winter day had
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darkened the weather was deteriorating
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flight 19 was heading east away from
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their base beginning to lose radio
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contact the base did monitor one of the
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squatters last pilot to pilot
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communications dammit if we just head
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west but get home
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fuel was low and time was running out
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according to Meyer Taylor finally
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listened to his student pilots and
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headed west towards the Florida coast so
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he flew Abdul West for 49 minutes until
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the first airplane crashed
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[Music]
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dammit I'm going down I got a date to
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read
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[Music]
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in Meijer reconstruction the surviving
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four pilots then made a fatal error
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although they were only seven minutes
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away from the Florida coast they still
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have not spotted land they began to
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believe that they must be flying over
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the Gulf of Mexico for this reason they
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again reversed their course and headed
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east but instead of going towards
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Florida that new course took them back
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out to sea by 8:00 p.m. the other four
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planes had disappeared beneath the waves
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the legend of flight 19 had begun for
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the next five days
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the Navy mounted the largest air sea
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search ever conducted up to that time no
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trace of the planes 14 missing men
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however Meyer believes as some of the
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men of flight 19 were alive drifting at
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sea slowly running out of food and water
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two ships cited flares within five hours
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of each other and everybody an
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investigation said now those flares that
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were spotted were search aircraft well
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you go back to the investigation and you
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find out when the air search aircraft
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took off and where they went and the
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search aircraft weren't where those
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players were sighted by those steamers
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three days later as another ship spots
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some blinking lights distress lights on
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the water and discounsel is being from
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another ship I don't think so I think
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those were people from flight 19 after
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carefully cross-checking only available
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information on flight 19 Meyer
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calculated the impact point of the first
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plane is here just 30 miles off the
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Florida coast near Cape Canaveral but
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finding a single Avenger in the ocean
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was an overwhelming task until
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ironically a national tragedy made it
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possible
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January 1986 the space shuttle
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Challenger exploded
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moments after liftoff from Cape
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Canaveral some of the debris fell in the
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precise location where Meyer believes a
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first plane had ditched quite by
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accident the underwater search for the
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Challenger wreckage may have uncovered
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what john mayer had been looking for
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just 30 miles from Cape Canaveral the
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salvage team located a plane wreck
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submerged and 400 feet of water
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believing the wreckage was out of a
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twin-engine dc-3 they ignored it but -
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John Meyer this discovery appeared to be
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the vindication of his theory last July
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John Mayer was onboard a submersible as
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it prepared to die 400 feet to inspect
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the wreckage he knew that 45 years might
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have obliterated many of the Avengers
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identifying characteristics
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we knew we had a rack but we didn't know
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what type airplane it was and to say I
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was on the edge of my seat along with my
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colleagues would be an understatement as
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they first approached the location of
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the wreck they could see nothing in the
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murky water then the wing of the plane
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became visit
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but was it the right plane one
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distinctive feature of the Avenger is as
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Bombay located under the fuselage the
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submerge plane is upside down here the
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Bombay cavity is clearly visible
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another distinctive feature of the
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Avenger is it's over wheel will hear
00:15:00
this well can be seen on the underside
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of the wing
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perhaps the Avengers most unusual
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feature is the ball turret which
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protected the gunner behind the pilot
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even though the plane that Meier found
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was upside down and partially buried in
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the sand the unique crosshatch of the
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turrets window frame is clearly visible
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after all at this point eight years of
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research and all the frustrations that
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we had to actually be in a submarine and
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be right over top of this wreckage was
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just incredible
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it is obvious admire has found an
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Avenger but is it one of the Avengers of
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the lost flight 19 through the
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manipulation of the submersibles
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mechanical arm Maya removed the engine
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cowling he was hoping that a serial
00:16:05
number could be found that would confirm
00:16:07
that this Avenger had been part of
00:16:08
flight 19 but after raising the cowling
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to the surface Meyer was unable to find
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any serial numbers the only way to prove
00:16:19
whether this is indeed flight 19
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aircraft it's gonna be raise that sucker
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out of the water
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I and my partners believe that we're
00:16:30
correct but it's it'll remain a mystery
00:16:34
until we can raise the airplane if this
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plane can be identified as belonging to
00:16:39
flight 19 The Legend of the Bermuda
00:16:42
Triangle will have to be rewritten it is
00:16:45
not as romantic to say that the flight
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disappeared due to a tragic chain of
00:16:49
simple mistakes but if John Mayer is
00:16:51
correct this is precisely what happened
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no matter what the explanation the 14
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men of flight 19 deserve to be honored
00:17:01
not as victims of the supernatural but
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it's brave men he died in the service of
00:17:06
their country next the heartwarming
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reunion of a young woman and her mother
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marks the beginning of a new search for
00:17:19
two long-lost sisters
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[Music]
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jaci dragon grew up in a typical
00:17:34
middle-class home near San Francisco
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California she knew she had been adopted
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but had no idea who her birth parents
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were curiously Jackie always had an
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unusual fascination with films and
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television shows about women in prison
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I'm not sure you know what it was that
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attracted me exactly but I do know that
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there was some strange sense of security
00:18:01
that I felt in watching the stories and
00:18:04
you know the women interacting in these
00:18:06
in their lives and their relationships
00:18:08
in prison like any young child Jackie
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had a mischievous side at the age of 12
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she made an unexpected discovery
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I was scavenging around sneaking around
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in my father's closet and looking
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through a box of papers important
00:18:28
documents of days and what I found were
00:18:31
legal papers and as I read through them
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I realized they were my adoption papers
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[Music]
00:18:39
it was a big thing it was a it was a
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turning point it was something that I
00:18:43
knew from that point on that someday I
00:18:46
would find those people in that paper
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and that I had - that they were real I
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searched you know off and on for a
00:18:58
number of years you know probably
00:19:00
starting around 1982 and I think it was
00:19:05
1986 when I got the information that I
00:19:09
wasn't born in some hospital somewhere
00:19:10
but that I was born in prison and that
00:19:12
my mother had been incarcerated at the
00:19:15
time of my birth when I remembered that
00:19:21
I had had such a fascination with movies
00:19:23
with women in prison in them I thought
00:19:26
boy that's bizarre jerk he learned that
00:19:31
she was born with a Dwight Reformatory
00:19:32
for women in Chicago Illinois
00:19:34
her mother Marge Reider was serving a
00:19:37
one-year sentence for her part in an
00:19:39
armed robbery
00:19:40
ten months later Marge made one of the
00:19:43
most difficult decisions of her life she
00:19:46
put Jackie up for adoption
00:19:49
I convinced myself that the best thing
00:19:52
to do for Jackie was to give her a home
00:19:54
that I assumed had two upstanding
00:19:59
parents that there was security in that
00:20:03
home that she could be guaranteed an
00:20:06
education all the things that I knew at
00:20:09
that time in my life there was no way I
00:20:11
could possibly give her any of that and
00:20:14
I don't remember exactly when Jackie was
00:20:18
taken but I do remember that the day she
00:20:22
left after she had left that Cayman told
00:20:26
me that Jackie had gone to her new home
00:20:28
into some other state and it hurt
00:20:34
save it as it cert now
00:20:37
that's one memory I didn't lose I didn't
00:20:44
give her up in that sense I do nothing
00:20:47
else to do and that's the last memory
00:20:52
basically that I have objective
00:20:59
Jackie's adoptive parents provided a
00:21:02
stable home but jackie was always
00:21:04
curious about her birth mother I
00:21:07
wondered whether or not she had been
00:21:09
able to kind of clean it up you know or
00:21:11
whether she'd gotten in more trouble or
00:21:13
whether or not she was safe or well I
00:21:15
don't think I ever considered not
00:21:18
looking for her after more than nine
00:21:22
years of searching Jackie finally
00:21:24
learned of Marge's whereabouts on July
00:21:26
26 1990 she spoke with her mother for
00:21:29
the first time in her life hi may I
00:21:32
speak with Marge Ryder please speaking
00:21:34
and what I realized when I found out
00:21:37
that I had her phone number or when I
00:21:39
realized that I was very close to
00:21:41
finding her was that in a way I was
00:21:43
setting myself up to feel rejected all
00:21:45
over again does the date February 16
00:21:48
1964 mean anything to you not for a
00:21:51
second did she hesitate she was happy
00:21:53
that I called and I felt so relieved and
00:21:56
so lucky
00:21:58
well do you have time to talk right now
00:22:00
I've got all the time in the world to
00:22:03
talk now yes one of the first things she
00:22:05
said was I never thought any of you
00:22:07
girls would be calling me and then she
00:22:09
let me know that there were two other
00:22:11
sisters it was very exciting I couldn't
00:22:14
believe it was like there's more you're
00:22:15
kidding there's something more that I
00:22:16
didn't know Jackie and Marsh talked for
00:22:20
more than two hours Marsh told Jackie
00:22:23
about her own troubled childhood how she
00:22:25
dropped out of high school fell in with
00:22:27
the wrong crowd got pregnant at 17
00:22:32
Marge Ryder would be the first person to
00:22:35
admit that she made a lot of mistakes in
00:22:37
her early life but Marge has managed to
00:22:39
rise above her past today she is happily
00:22:41
married and lives in Winchester Illinois
00:22:44
inspired by Jackie's open-hearted love
00:22:46
and understanding
00:22:48
Marge now wants to find the other
00:22:49
daughter she gave away more than 25
00:22:52
years ago
00:22:54
[Music]
00:22:55
Marge's first daughter Laura Mae was 18
00:22:58
months old when Marge went to prison she
00:23:00
was left in the care of Marge's
00:23:02
grandmother at the time Marge is already
00:23:06
eight months pregnant with Jackie she
00:23:10
claims that when she was in prison
00:23:11
her grandmother attempted to get legal
00:23:13
custody of Laura Mae
00:23:17
I hadn't been there too terribly long
00:23:21
and a lawyer came to see me now we're
00:23:24
gonna finish with my turn I want to take
00:23:26
you army with me I want to raise her
00:23:28
myself
00:23:28
oh I understand and if you sign these
00:23:30
then it'll help us to all keep Lora Mae
00:23:35
don't worry about business is just some
00:23:37
legal jargon I needed to get you to sign
00:23:39
right here okay I think that he was
00:23:44
probably on my grandmother's side trying
00:23:46
to help her adopt the child away from me
00:23:49
and the courts just stepped in because
00:23:53
she was too old a woman to raise a
00:23:55
infant child and I think I think they
00:23:59
lost her as well as I did
00:24:03
Lora Mae was ultimately taken by the
00:24:05
Cook County Welfare Department and
00:24:07
became a ward of the state
00:24:08
Marge never saw Laura Mae again after
00:24:14
Jackie was born March cared for in the
00:24:17
prisons nursery but ten months later
00:24:19
Marge gave in to outside pressures and
00:24:21
put Jackie up for adoption
00:24:23
[Music]
00:24:26
a few weeks later Mars completed her
00:24:28
sentence and was released she never
00:24:31
again got in trouble with the law
00:24:32
however she did give birth to a third
00:24:35
daughter dawn-marie whom she also gave
00:24:37
up for adoption I had often gone over in
00:24:41
my mind what if they come looking for me
00:24:44
how do I explain to them that I gave
00:24:46
them away and I pretty much convinced
00:24:50
myself and I do believe it I felt I was
00:24:55
giving each child the very best that I
00:24:59
could give them so how was your flight
00:25:01
on September 20th 1990
00:25:04
Marge Ryder flew to California had met
00:25:06
her daughter Jackie for the first time
00:25:08
in more than 25 years definitely got
00:25:10
ready surely there well I wonder where I
00:25:13
got that I had many many many questions
00:25:17
for her about her about her hair about
00:25:19
everything you know it's like who had
00:25:21
red hair that was something that I grew
00:25:23
up with red curly hair nobody ever had
00:25:25
it but me and it was a curse when I was
00:25:27
a child and she was great I could ask
00:25:32
anything I wanted and she would she
00:25:34
would tell me everything
00:25:35
this is Lora Mae and this is you of
00:25:38
course Wow
00:25:39
you can definitely tell it's family she
00:25:41
really looks the same look at all those
00:25:42
knees
00:25:43
hi Jess or Jackie reunion with Marge
00:25:47
marked the end of one search and the
00:25:50
beginning of another you know I like to
00:25:52
think that somewhere wherever they are
00:25:54
that they know that they're adopted and
00:25:57
that they wonder where they came from
00:25:59
they were mine I did love them I do love
00:26:03
them and it wouldn't be nice to make the
00:26:08
family complete again thanks to our
00:26:13
viewers
00:26:14
Jackie dragon and Marge Ryder's dream of
00:26:16
reuniting their family finally came true
00:26:18
and they were contacted by Lora Mae and
00:26:20
Dawn Marie Dawn Marie was adopted name
00:26:24
is Susan owns her own business in Santa
00:26:26
Barbara California Lora Mae Marge's
00:26:29
oldest daughter is now married and lives
00:26:31
in Mississippi
00:26:36
three months after our broadcast Laura
00:26:38
may arrive at her sister Jackie's home
00:26:40
in Glendale California Marge and her
00:26:43
youngest daughter Tracy had flown in
00:26:45
from Illinois for this very special
00:26:47
reunion meeting it was really
00:26:56
nerve-racking cuz it's like I wasn't
00:26:57
quite sure what to expect and what they
00:27:00
would expect of me and then after I got
00:27:06
here it's just all seemed to flow it was
00:27:08
very natural the last time I remember
00:27:14
seeing Laura she was in a high chair and
00:27:17
now here she is all grown up and I'm
00:27:19
still looking for this little girl you
00:27:22
know and that's it's kind of hard a sort
00:27:32
time later the circle was finally
00:27:34
completed with the arrival of Marge's
00:27:36
other daughter Susan um I grew up
00:27:43
knowing that I was adopted but I didn't
00:27:45
know anything about who my real parents
00:27:48
were and it's nice to know you know who
00:27:52
your family is and know what your
00:27:57
background is you know I'm learning more
00:27:59
about him I think when I first started
00:28:01
feeling really comfortable is when we
00:28:03
went out and took some Polaroids and it
00:28:05
was a really neat feeling to have a
00:28:07
picture right in front of me and see all
00:28:09
of us standing together it's a very
00:28:13
once-in-a-lifetime kind of a thing to
00:28:15
find my sister that you've never met
00:28:18
everybody smile each one is totally
00:28:23
individual they're all strong I've
00:28:25
thought about and they've done good with
00:28:31
their lives I'm proud of all four of
00:28:34
them
00:28:40
[Music]
00:28:46
when any family is torn apart the scars
00:28:49
can last a lifetime
00:28:50
the saga of the six heck children of
00:28:53
Iowa is reminiscent of a Dickens novel
00:28:54
with an equally large cast of characters
00:28:57
delbert jr. Florence
00:28:59
Jim Cheryl Louise Doris Jean and little
00:29:02
Tommy these brothers and sisters were
00:29:05
separated by adoption as children but
00:29:07
through force of will fiber the managed
00:29:09
to reunite an adulthood today they want
00:29:12
to make sure that their life story has a
00:29:14
happy ending they need your help in
00:29:16
order to make that dream come true
00:29:22
Council Bluffs Iowa the summer of 1944
00:29:29
[Music]
00:29:31
ten-year-old Delbert heck junior was a
00:29:33
man of the house his father was often
00:29:37
away from home and did little to support
00:29:40
the family it was very rough times we
00:29:44
didn't have any money for food or
00:29:47
groceries I mean it wasn't hard times
00:29:50
for us because that was all we knew you
00:29:52
don't never wish the water if you had to
00:29:54
well so we just we thought we was doing
00:29:57
fine we had each other and we had mother
00:30:00
and we just made best we could of it
00:30:03
what did you have for supper last night
00:30:05
Florence puffed rice puffed rice in
00:30:09
August 1944 the family was visited by a
00:30:12
social worker set by the local welfare
00:30:14
department I'd like to see the kitchen
00:30:16
now the heck's had to stand by silently
00:30:21
as she scrutinized their home
00:30:24
she opened the cabinets to see what was
00:30:27
there which there was nothing there
00:30:28
maybe a bag could drive left wheat or
00:30:31
something we didn't have dressers we'd
00:30:35
have clothes hanging in the closet you
00:30:36
know
00:30:37
she's seen the mattress on the living
00:30:39
room floor worth all six best kids laugh
00:30:43
and not she needs to explain to mother
00:30:46
that she wasn't able to care for us
00:30:48
properly and they were gonna take us
00:30:51
where they could be
00:30:55
three months later the state of Iowa
00:30:57
took the heck children away she told she
00:31:02
was taking a movie course you know we
00:31:05
had never been to a movie so that was
00:31:07
that was really something so we went
00:31:10
with her willingly and mother stood on
00:31:14
the porch and cried and I thought there
00:31:17
was you know that there was something
00:31:19
that just wasn't right
00:31:26
when she crossed Broadway going north I
00:31:30
knew we weren't going to a movie
00:31:32
[Music]
00:31:39
the six children were scattered across
00:31:42
the countryside like windblown seeds
00:31:44
three were immediately adopted three
00:31:47
languished in orphanages seven-year-old
00:31:50
Florence was one of them I cried for
00:31:55
mother a lot but I cried a lot for the
00:31:58
littler ones because you know I I spent
00:32:01
a lot of time this was my life with it
00:32:03
and we had a dorm mother that lived in
00:32:09
the end of our building and they come
00:32:13
get me take me to the end of the dorm
00:32:16
[Music]
00:32:23
that's where I slept for a good long
00:32:26
while when I first went to the
00:32:27
arrangements Jim and Delbert were placed
00:32:34
in a different orphanage in Davenport
00:32:36
Iowa Delbert was found out briefly to
00:32:40
foster parents I really think what they
00:32:44
wanted was a farmhand I don't think they
00:32:46
wanted a child I didn't have no contact
00:32:50
with Jim and he was only one that I knew
00:32:52
at that time and when I didn't have him
00:32:55
no more I didn't have nothing to hold on
00:32:57
to so it didn't last for just a few
00:33:01
weeks and I I just I was ready to go
00:33:04
back to that board
00:33:11
Delbert and Jimmy would remain in the
00:33:13
orphanage until 1952 when the state set
00:33:16
the two boys and her sister Florence
00:33:18
back to their natural mother Maud heck
00:33:26
would never see her other three children
00:33:28
again unbeknownst to the heck family
00:33:36
one-year-old Sharon Louise had been
00:33:38
placed in the home of Gwendolen Hellena
00:33:40
Jones she had been renamed or Risa
00:33:43
[Music]
00:33:46
five year old Doris Jean was sent to the
00:33:49
home of Glenn and Gertrude West her new
00:33:51
name was Sally
00:33:54
[Music]
00:33:57
it is assumed that three-year-old Tommy
00:33:59
heck was also adopted his new name if he
00:34:02
has one is still unknown
00:34:10
in 1970 Teresa and Sally were reunited
00:34:13
both had been adopted through the same
00:34:15
orphanage which put them in contact with
00:34:17
each other the two then set out to find
00:34:20
their missing family I had a lot of
00:34:23
information on our on our biological
00:34:26
family from all of the records that that
00:34:29
my parents had given me when I was 16
00:34:31
Sally didn't have a whole lot of
00:34:32
information but I had said if if I knew
00:34:35
where we lived
00:34:36
perhaps I could start there and she said
00:34:38
that she had that information because
00:34:40
they had sent her her original birth
00:34:42
certificate and she was born at home so
00:34:44
she had her home address which happened
00:34:46
to be Council Bluffs Iowa and I got on
00:34:49
the phone and I called information in
00:34:50
Council Bluffs Iowa instead of making
00:34:52
phone calls it was like 1:30 in the
00:34:55
afternoon March 29th when I talked to
00:34:57
her and at 11:30 that night she called
00:35:02
back and she said since I talked you
00:35:05
I've talked to an aunt in Council Bluffs
00:35:06
two brothers and a sister 45 years after
00:35:12
the heck family had been torn apart
00:35:14
their day of reunion finally came Sally
00:35:19
and I decided to drive to the reunion
00:35:21
together kind of like a team we by that
00:35:26
time of course had known that the three
00:35:27
oldest children have been raised
00:35:29
together and we kind of felt like
00:35:32
outsiders and we wanted to be together
00:35:36
we didn't really know what to do it was
00:35:40
like do you walk up and hug them and
00:35:42
tell them how glad you are to see them
00:35:43
after 45 years or do you just stand back
00:35:46
and shake hands or what do we do but the
00:35:48
minute we walked in it was the the bond
00:35:51
was instant
00:35:52
and within five minutes we were like
00:35:55
we've grown up together
00:35:59
a minute we saw each other
00:36:02
you know you ran the right place you
00:36:04
were home
00:36:06
there was no doubt of what these were
00:36:09
brothers and sisters
00:36:10
[Music]
00:36:15
the reunion was a celebration there was
00:36:17
still one person missing
00:36:22
[Music]
00:36:26
it's important for me to try and calming
00:36:28
now or for all of us really tell me
00:36:32
there's our missing they're still part
00:36:35
of my life that's missing finding Tommy
00:36:38
is like if you've got a car and part of
00:36:43
the pieces are not there it's not gonna
00:36:45
run right well you got a family part of
00:36:50
the pieces are not there these are the
00:36:56
last known pictures of Tommy heck taken
00:36:59
when he was four and a half years old by
00:37:00
his adoptive parents who sent them to
00:37:02
the orphanage today Tommy would be 47
00:37:06
Tommy was adopted through Christian
00:37:08
homes orphanage in Council Bluffs Iowa
00:37:10
most likely by a Midwestern family his
00:37:13
most distinguishing physical
00:37:15
characteristic is a double earlobe on
00:37:17
his right ear we need to find Tommy to
00:37:22
make the rest of our family complete so
00:37:24
that we can just close that family and
00:37:26
say here we are you know here we are
00:37:28
world this is the heck family you know
00:37:30
look at us Iowa you know you separated
00:37:33
us but we're back together now
00:37:39
[Music]
00:37:46
next the story of a brave woman who
00:37:49
nearly lost her life than the fight to
00:37:51
keep her neighborhood safe from drugs
00:37:53
[Music]
00:38:05
[Applause]
00:38:10
[Music]
00:38:17
just past midnight on the first day of
00:38:19
1990 paramedics and police's Palo Alto
00:38:23
California responded to an emergency
00:38:25
call a 60 year old woman lay inside her
00:38:29
home shot in the stomach unknown gunman
00:38:32
had fired 35 rounds of ammunition into
00:38:34
her house and car before they fled the
00:38:40
victim was mrs. CW rowdy a retired
00:38:43
service representative for the phone
00:38:44
company who had lived in the area with
00:38:46
her son Darnell for 23 years the New
00:38:51
Year's Eve attack was a culmination of a
00:38:53
three-year nightmare in which CW rowdy
00:38:55
had been physically and verbally
00:38:56
threatened by a group of young men in
00:38:58
her neighborhood now she lay in her own
00:39:01
home bleeding from a bullet wound
00:39:04
fortunately mrs. rowdy survives and the
00:39:06
East Palo Alto authorities continue to
00:39:08
search for her assailants
00:39:12
Palo Alto California home a prestigious
00:39:15
Stanford University is one of several
00:39:17
primarily white upper-middle class
00:39:19
communities surrounding the City of East
00:39:21
Palo Alto which stands in stark contrast
00:39:25
formerly a respectable working-class
00:39:27
community it has in the last few years
00:39:29
fallen victim to drug traffickers whose
00:39:32
customers often come from the affluent
00:39:34
suburbs nearby the drug dealing on our
00:39:37
street was very much like a drive bank
00:39:42
window they drive up dope dealers were
00:39:46
rushed to the car in a total frenzy of
00:39:48
competition with one another trying to
00:39:50
get the sale and it continued like that
00:39:53
day and night when CW rowdy finally
00:39:58
understood what was happening in her
00:39:59
neighborhood she began to take action
00:40:02
the first confrontation came on teenage
00:40:05
drug dealers parked their cars in front
00:40:07
of the house she shared with her son I'd
00:40:22
really like you to move your car I will
00:40:27
be taking your license number and giving
00:40:29
it to the police
00:40:29
CW reported the young traffickers offer
00:40:32
them but the understaffed local police
00:40:34
simply were unable to cope of the
00:40:36
enormous problem I've always felt that
00:40:39
your home is your castle and what you do
00:40:42
in your home is your business but when
00:40:45
they bring their drugs out in front of
00:40:48
my house in the streets that makes it my
00:40:52
business and I don't do that kind of
00:40:55
business
00:40:57
in February of 1988
00:40:59
mrs. rowdy was physically threatened
00:41:02
know what's up or beg you don't blow
00:41:05
your damn mouths up saying and I said to
00:41:08
him are you gonna make sure that I'm in
00:41:09
it and I looked up and saw a police
00:41:12
officer sitting directly across the
00:41:15
street he threatened to blow up my house
00:41:25
do you wish to make a citizen's arrest
00:41:27
yes I do you do with me I do wish to so
00:41:30
we did and he took him golf but he was
00:41:35
back within a matter of minutes over the
00:41:41
next 18 months a situation worsened
00:41:43
during certain hours of the day the
00:41:46
neighborhood streets resembled a
00:41:47
rush-hour traffic jam in their off hours
00:41:50
the dealer's you see double his front
00:41:53
curve as their personal parking then in
00:42:05
October of 1989 the confrontation
00:42:07
suddenly erupted into violence
00:42:11
[Music]
00:42:15
he picked up a piece of wood and I was
00:42:18
infuriated and I said to myself this is
00:42:21
stupid
00:42:21
so I started back across the street and
00:42:24
this I said yeah go call the police
00:42:29
after getting to the police station
00:42:31
the boy was on his way back home before
00:42:34
I even finished with the police report
00:42:37
in December of 1989 CW became involved
00:42:41
in another connotation Chris Thomas a
00:42:44
new neighbor
00:42:45
was wounded when he came to her defense
00:42:48
very badly in the face they had to take
00:42:51
him to to the hospital and get stitches
00:42:54
and someone called the police police
00:42:58
arrested the young man who had attacked
00:43:00
Chris Thomas for the next 10 days things
00:43:03
were quiet and Tulu Year's Eve on New
00:43:08
Year's Eve in East Palo Alto for some
00:43:11
strange reason a lot of citizens like to
00:43:14
shoot guns they just shoot up there at
00:43:18
midnight mrs. rowdy was sleeping when
00:43:20
the gunfire awakened her I heard all the
00:43:24
shooting and I looked up at the clock
00:43:27
and I said oh they're just celebrating
00:43:28
New Year's Eve right what sign shut up
00:43:32
and then I went in the living room I
00:43:33
noticed across the street four young men
00:43:36
they were just standing around talking
00:43:39
and there weren't any cars coming up in
00:43:42
on the street at that particular time I
00:43:44
would say about 20 minutes after
00:43:46
midnight it had all quieted down
00:43:50
all of a sudden I heard all these shots
00:43:53
[Music]
00:44:02
I was about to get up and I heard my
00:44:04
mother scream in pain
00:44:08
CW rowdy had been shot in the stomach
00:44:11
her son Darnell immediately called for
00:44:14
help
00:44:14
I think the attack on my house was a
00:44:17
planned attack and they were planning to
00:44:20
kill my mother's been shot the police
00:44:23
arrived within minutes as they fanned
00:44:26
out to search the street they found the
00:44:27
CW's new neighbor Chris Thomas and his
00:44:30
wife had seen the attack we heard this
00:44:33
big loud rattle of gunfire outside her
00:44:37
house I turned towards the window and I
00:44:40
could see the the blue flames from the
00:44:43
gun through the blinds and I looked
00:44:46
outside I saw two young black men it was
00:44:49
really scary because I could see bullet
00:44:51
holes in the windows and the walls and
00:44:52
the doors and through all over the
00:44:55
garage the car had bullet holes in it
00:44:57
and and I thought that they'd killed her
00:45:01
investigators located shell casings from
00:45:04
three weapons a 38 revolver a 380
00:45:08
semi-automatic pistol and possibly an
00:45:11
Uzi assault weapon when the local police
00:45:14
completed their own investigation they
00:45:16
called in the FBI we know that there
00:45:20
were three to four individuals who were
00:45:22
responsible for firing these rounds into
00:45:24
the home of mrs. Ronnie this is a
00:45:27
neighborhood that has been somewhat
00:45:28
paralyzed because of the amount of
00:45:30
violence that has been generated from
00:45:33
those who took a stance to come forward
00:45:35
and say no more despite an extensive
00:45:39
investigation no concrete evidence has
00:45:42
been on earth and even though CW rotties
00:45:45
assailants have not been found the
00:45:47
attack has galvanized our neighborhood a
00:45:50
group of mothers have taken charge of
00:45:53
the local park and attempted to move the
00:45:55
drug dealers out of their neighborhood
00:45:57
they have had success in the park but
00:45:59
the women realize that this is only the
00:46:02
first step
00:46:04
I went by a couple of Saturdays ago and
00:46:07
just observed the children I their plan
00:46:09
and it was such a beautiful sight it
00:46:12
made me feel so good it brought tears to
00:46:13
my eyes so it's looking better it did
00:46:18
not happen in one day and I don't expect
00:46:19
it all the change in one day but I do
00:46:22
see the beginning of a change and and
00:46:24
the future looks bright and I am hopeful
00:46:29
out of the near tragedy of mrs. Radha's
00:46:31
brush with death the rebirth of her
00:46:33
neighborhood has begun a new drug task
00:46:36
force has been formed and for the time
00:46:38
being drug trafficking on her street has
00:46:40
been curtailed still the neighborhood
00:46:42
wants CW rotties attackers brought to
00:46:44
justice for every mystery there is
00:46:53
someone somewhere who knows a truth join
00:46:57
me next week for another edition of
00:46:59
unsolved mysteries
00:47:01
[Music]
00:47:28
[Applause]
00:47:32
[Music]
