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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
00:00:09
members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you were about to see is not a news
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broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1931 a
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couple made an incredible discovery in a
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lonely Arizona den a baby girl abandoned
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in a hatbox today Sharon Elliott the so
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called hatbox bean wants to learn the
00:00:33
truth about her parents and find the
00:00:35
couple who rescued her all that long ago
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Christmas Eve man for 30 years
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Joe sham beer has been a real-life Santa
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Claus for the millions of children who
00:00:44
listened to his radio broadcast but this
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man was given children so much happiness
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is searching for his own child
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Alberta Elaine who was given up for
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adoption 50 years ago also tonight we
00:00:56
will tell the story of John Brown a
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Chicago physician in civil rights work
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who was in prison for murdering his wife
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20 years ago a crime he swears he did
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not commit indeed there is compelling
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evidence supports his claim of innocence
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if this is true and a man has been
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unjustly imprisoned tonight John Brennan
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makes his final appeal
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[Music]
00:01:41
[Applause]
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[Music]
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Christmas Eve 1931 at 8:00 p.m. a car
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broke down in the middle of the chilly
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Arizona desert 56 miles outside Phoenix
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the four people inside were returning
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from a day trip to the mountains
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Edie Stewart took a look at the engine
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while his wife Julia waited in the car
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it looks like a busted fuel line Julia's
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15 year old twin cousins John and Betty
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Mansfield looked on from the backseat oh
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it's gonna take a few minutes to fix I'm
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gonna stretch my legs a bit all right
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honey you be careful out here there's
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scorpions
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Hey come here a minute what what is it
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it's a hat box that's probably just some
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chunk left by some campers of course it
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don't look that weather
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[Music]
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open it up oh my gosh it's a baby leave
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a child out here okay all right do you
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see anybody when we drove up Edie and
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Julia Stewart saw no sign of the person
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who would abandon the baby they carry
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the tiny found link back to their car 41
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miles away at the Mesa Arizona police
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station constable Joel Mayer was
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spending his Christmas Eve on duty we
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found this baby in the desert you found
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the child yeah
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Edie and Julius Stewart told constable
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Mayer the incredible story of how they
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found a tiny infant in a hatbox what
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I'll do is I don't know exactly what to
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do with there either I'll take her to
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Maude Dana's for tonight that's a good
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idea jump you'll take home and to you
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both I'll be back to your first
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statement on this okay constable Mayer
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turned over his young charge to Medina a
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midwife living near Florence Arizona she
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called in a doctor who pronounced the
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child a healthy 7 day old girl suffering
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no ill effects from her time in the
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desert a second baby
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local reporters were quick to turn up on
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Maude Dana's porch they dubbed the child
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a miracle news are the Christmassy baby
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spread like wildfire people shower the
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little girl with love gifts and
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attention we've never had anything like
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that happen around Florence that was a
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new thing and everybody was very
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family-oriented and loved their children
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and
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thought of them first to think that
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somebody would desert a little helpless
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baby and we felt it was surely a miracle
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at night that that little baby was saved
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the miracle Christmassy baby captured
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the imagination of the entire country to
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a people weathering the Great Depression
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this tiny baby girl rescued from the
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desert became a symbol of the Christmas
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season an array of hope in the midst of
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bleak times the baby was put up for
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adoption On February the 16th 1932 a
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hearing was held at the Pinal County
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Courthouse in Florence Arizona you know
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I think this baby must be the most
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fortunate baby in the county seventeen
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couples had expressed interest in
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adopting the baby I'm at the field
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finally narrowed to just two Judge Al
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Green faced a difficult choice under all
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circumstances I might say that since I
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know you have an adopted child and the
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other couple doesn't have one
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I feel under the circumstances that I am
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forced to award the child to them
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[Music]
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let them leave the courtroom $5.00 but
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your honor I'm going to seal the court
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records on this case and we'd appreciate
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it very much if you boys were respecting
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people's privacy and let the child grow
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up in a normal life thank you the
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reporters and photographers waited
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inside while the baby and her new
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parents made their exit only the people
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in court that day knew who had adopted
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the hatbox baby for more than half a
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century the identity of the family
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remained a closely guarded secret
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finally on August the 10th 1986 the
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adoptive mother broke her five decade
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silence we tried to have children and we
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couldn't you're adopted honey we adopted
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when you were a little baby I was
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shocked I just I couldn't believe it
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you know because I hadn't I had no idea
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that I was a adopted nobody ever said I
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think to me it was never it's just I
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never even dreamt at eyes that was the
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last thing I would think that you know I
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would hear from her
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Sharon's mother also told her the
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amazing saga of how she had been found
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in the desert why I've never heard of
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the hatbox baby and I'm one person I
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grew up and I have a family and
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everything then I'm looking through all
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these pictures and it's just it just
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seemed like it was unreal kind of that
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this could be me
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Sharon began to look for her birth
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parents news of research reached an
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organization called orphan voyage which
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reunites adopted children with their
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families of birth
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Alice Simon one of the research
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consultants at orphaned voyage took up
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Sharon's cause both women felt it was
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vital to have access to the sealed court
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documents from 1931 and the court has
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reviewed your file and determined that
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it would be in the best interest to
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release these files so well that you
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look at him
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you're appreciated for the first time
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Sharon read the Stewart's verbatim
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account of finding her in the desert as
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she studied the record she grew
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skeptical of their story it seems such
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an amazing coincidence that their car
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had broken down at the exact spot in the
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desert where the hatbox had been left I
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think it was a setup
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who's gonna leave a baby in the desert
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in the middle this is this is winter
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it's Christmas Eve and it's that time I
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you know here it's cold here in sworn
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testimony ed and Julia Stewart stated
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they left home at dawn of December 24th
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1931 to drive up to the mountains the
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Stewart said they stopped only once
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and Roosevelt Arizona one of several
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small towns on their route mrs. Stewart
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had left an 8 month old nursing baby at
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home it was Christmas Eve the day that
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most people stay home and cook through
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turkey wrapped their Christmas presents
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I think that they went up to globe or
00:10:04
superior or maybe Roosevelt he picked up
00:10:08
the baby I'm someone they knew maybe a
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cousin a relative a friend and brought
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it back to Mesa could the Stewart's have
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picked up the infant Sharon and
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Roosevelt or another small town or did
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the indeed finder in the desert shares
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mysterious mother having placed her in
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the hatbox only seconds before the
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Stewart's car stopped
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it would have been a carefully arranged
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routes stage for the benefit of the
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teenage cousins John and Betty Mansfield
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had been brought along as innocent
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witnesses in that day if a girl got
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pregnant
00:10:44
if out if she was not married it was I
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guess the greatest disgrace that she
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could bring up on our family I think
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that probably they were just trying to
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help out a young girl maybe it was a
00:10:53
relative could have been a nice could
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have been her friend I you know I don't
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know maybe they had friends that had a
00:11:00
daughter well I'm just glad that I
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survived I don't know if I have any
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brothers or sisters I don't even know
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the exact date of my birth or even where
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I was born I don't know what heritage I
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am what nationality or where I come from
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and I want to know you know who I look
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like and I think my I know my daughter
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would like you know about you know her
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grandmother - her real grandmother the
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Christmas Eve miracle has remained a
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mystery for nearly six decades the vital
00:11:31
missing links to Sharon Eliot's lost
00:11:33
identity or the couple who found her in
00:11:35
the desert if they are alive Eden Julia
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Stewart would be today in their 80s only
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they know the truth about Sharon Elliott
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the woman who began her life 58 years
00:11:46
ago as a poignant baby and a hatbox lost
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in the chil December blackness of an
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Arizona desert night
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when we return the story of a Chicago
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physician who was convicted of murdering
00:12:00
his wife dramatic evidence suggests that
00:12:02
he may have been unjustly in prison
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[Music]
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December 22nd 1967 Chicago Illinois a 41
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year old physician named John Brangwyn
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and his son Joe P arrived home to pick
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up John's wife Donna the family was
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planning to go Christmas shopping
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together
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Jovie and I returned from nursing school
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and went into the house the first thing
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that struck me was all the lights are on
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and two television sets and I called out
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to Donna I got no answer
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and then when I got to the kitchen I
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looked at the right and I could see feet
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legs really sticking out of the utility
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room and she was dead she wasn't
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breathing her legs were askew and her
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skirt was kind of wicked up over our
00:13:16
legs I switched off the light and
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reached around and grabbed Joby and ran
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out of the back of the house after his
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grim discovery dr. Brennan immediately
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called the police five months later he
00:13:37
was on trial for his life today Joan
00:13:42
Branyan is serving a 20 to 30 year term
00:13:45
at Illinois's Dixon Correctional Center
00:13:47
for the first-degree murder of his wife
00:13:49
a crime he swears he did not commit I
00:13:53
think it was an atrocity I think it was
00:13:57
extremely unfair I feel that it was a
00:14:01
setup
00:14:01
my father was railroaded because he
00:14:05
didn't kill my mother I think he's
00:14:07
innocent because the evidence shows that
00:14:09
he could not have physically been there
00:14:10
at the time these events were going on I
00:14:12
think the jury was was emotionally
00:14:15
caught up in the case and just didn't
00:14:17
forgot or didn't pay attention to the
00:14:20
evidence that overwhelmingly proved that
00:14:23
John couldn't have been the killer
00:14:24
I couldn't murder the mother of my
00:14:28
children
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I couldn't murder my high school
00:14:30
sweetheart Don and I had known each
00:14:32
other since the age of 14 I didn't
00:14:36
murder her
00:14:39
it is not uncommon for a convicted
00:14:41
criminal to stoutly maintained his
00:14:43
innocence but in John Brennan's case E
00:14:45
is not alone though some say he is a
00:14:48
murderer others are convinced that he
00:14:50
was framed for John Brennan this debate
00:14:53
is literally a matter of life and death
00:14:54
after suffering five heart attacks he
00:14:57
desperately needs a heart transplant but
00:14:59
because he is a convicted murderer the
00:15:02
operation he needs to survive has been
00:15:04
denied him this is John Branyan story
00:15:14
during the mid-60s Martin Luther King
00:15:17
dreamed his dreams of equality for all
00:15:19
Americans John Brennan marched by his
00:15:22
side and in 1966 he was King's personal
00:15:25
physician in Chicago Chicago was a
00:15:28
racial battleground during those years
00:15:30
Branyan was often on the front line even
00:15:36
went so far as to provide medical
00:15:38
services for the Black Panthers the
00:15:39
Weathermen and other extreme
00:15:41
revolutionary groups not surprisingly
00:15:45
Branyan was viewed with hostility by the
00:15:47
Chicago Police I've always covered for
00:15:51
equal rights and speller for freedom
00:15:55
hoping that there would eventually be
00:15:59
freedom and equal rights and I've done
00:16:02
it all my life I did it very early in
00:16:05
very left-wing groups and I'll do it
00:16:10
when I get out of here the son of a
00:16:15
prominent attorney John Brennan worked
00:16:17
at a busy community clinic and lived in
00:16:19
Chicago's affluent Hyde Park district in
00:16:22
1946 he married Donna Braun and they had
00:16:25
two children
00:16:28
December 22nd 1967 after being called by
00:16:33
John Branyan a Chicago police arrived at
00:16:35
his Hyde Park home dr. brandy are you
00:16:39
holding up then okay stir with me you
00:16:45
noticed anything missing anything that
00:16:47
might have been taken from the apartment
00:16:48
investigators found four shell casings
00:16:51
from a 9-millimeter gun next to Donna's
00:16:53
body they assumed that she had been shot
00:16:55
four times
00:16:56
do you own a 9-millimeter weapon yes the
00:17:00
onion was an avid gun collector and says
00:17:02
that police asked him for any weapon in
00:17:04
his collection capable of firing a
00:17:05
nine-millimeter bullet he gave them a
00:17:11
Luger pistol right dr. Brennan let me
00:17:16
give it back
00:17:18
police determined that the gun had not
00:17:20
been recently fired they would later
00:17:24
claim that Branyan had denied owning any
00:17:26
other gun capable of firing the fatal
00:17:28
bullets never seizures
00:17:32
Aseem evening at the police station
00:17:34
Brennan gave detectives his alibi dr.
00:17:38
brandy I know it's been a long difficult
00:17:39
day I'd like to go over one more time
00:17:42
whereabouts Branyan told police that he
00:17:47
had left the clinic where he worked at
00:17:49
11:30 a.m. morning listen I'm on my way
00:17:53
to pick up Toby I won't be back any more
00:17:55
this afternoon he then drove his car
00:17:59
your old sons nursery school to pick him
00:18:01
up
00:18:03
[Music]
00:18:06
after leaving the school they went to
00:18:08
see his wife's cousin Maxine Brown to
00:18:10
meet her for lunch
00:18:13
[Music]
00:18:18
[Music]
00:18:21
she was unable to join Branyan told
00:18:24
police that he then proceeded home there
00:18:28
he discovered the body of his wife and
00:18:34
you arrived home at what time around
00:18:36
noon
00:18:39
dr. brainian did you submit to a
00:18:41
lie-detector test
00:18:42
chan I don't think that's such a good
00:18:44
idea no but I would like to have a
00:18:47
nitrate test though we don't have the
00:18:49
chemical a nitrate test would have
00:18:51
determined whether he had fired a gun
00:18:53
but the Chicago police were unable to
00:18:55
conduct this test that night Brennan was
00:19:00
released without being charged morning
00:19:06
one month passed then on January 22nd
00:19:10
1968 the police made an unexpected visit
00:19:13
to Brennan's clinic dr. Brennan you're
00:19:16
under arrest for the murder of your wife
00:19:18
you'll have to come with us right now I
00:19:21
think that the police were under great
00:19:24
deal of pressure from the black press at
00:19:27
the time and I think they saw a chance
00:19:34
because 85% of murders are committed by
00:19:37
either the family or friends close
00:19:39
friends they saw a chance to arrest me
00:19:42
and they did I don't think they thought
00:19:46
they were going to convict me but they
00:19:49
arrested me anyway
00:19:55
on April 4th 1968 Martin Luther King was
00:19:59
gunned down in Memphis and riots broke
00:20:01
out in Chicago racial tensions in the
00:20:05
city were an all-time high in this
00:20:09
polarized atmosphere John Brennan's
00:20:11
trial began would you state your name
00:20:13
please sir Michael boy his jury was
00:20:16
composed of 11 White's and one black
00:20:18
profession sir I'm detective for Chicago
00:20:20
Police Department the prosecution's case
00:20:23
is built on three assertions first
00:20:25
although the murder weapon was never
00:20:27
found they claim that the bullets that
00:20:29
killed Donna could have been fired from
00:20:31
a Walther PPK there was part of Rania's
00:20:33
gun collection a gun they maintained
00:20:36
here denied owning detective testified
00:20:41
they went back to him and said do you
00:20:42
have a Walther PPK and he said no he
00:20:45
never had one and it turned out that
00:20:49
that he had a Walther PPK had been sold
00:20:52
about a year before to a man named hooks
00:20:55
who was one of the good friends of dr.
00:20:58
Brandon police then went to hooks and
00:21:00
asked him where his gun was and he said
00:21:02
no he bought that gun for Branyan as a
00:21:03
Christmas present the year before not
00:21:07
sir what if any relationship did mrs.
00:21:10
Brandon bear to you she was my sister
00:21:12
later during the trial
00:21:14
Donna Brandon's brother Nelson Brown
00:21:16
testified that John Brennan had told him
00:21:19
that the day Donna was murdered his
00:21:21
Walther PPK had been stolen from his
00:21:23
bedside he mentioned that there were two
00:21:25
guns missing one was a PPK and the other
00:21:28
was a collector's item worth fifteen
00:21:30
hundred to two thousand dollars did he
00:21:32
in the confusion following his wife's
00:21:34
death Branyan had not immediately
00:21:36
noticed the theft I show you now that
00:21:39
which has been marked as people's
00:21:41
exhibit 13 the prosecution second
00:21:44
assertion was that the four shell
00:21:45
casings found by Donna's body had come
00:21:47
from a box of ammunition they had
00:21:49
discovered when they searched Brandon's
00:21:51
closet for shells were missing from this
00:21:54
box these are the shells that I
00:21:57
recovered from the shelf in the dental
00:21:58
closet finally the prosecution claimed
00:22:02
that John Branyan had a moody for
00:22:03
wanting his wife dead
00:22:05
at the time of Donna's death as marriage
00:22:07
was in trouble for six years John
00:22:10
Brennan had been conducting an affair
00:22:11
with a nurse at his clinic named Shirley
00:22:13
Hudson his wife knew about the affair
00:22:15
but the couple had not divorced our
00:22:18
theory of the trial was that it was it
00:22:21
was to get out of a bad marriage get out
00:22:24
of a marriage without having to pay all
00:22:26
the consequences of divorce and that
00:22:29
certainly I had I had a friend a
00:22:33
girlfriend of six years it wasn't a hot
00:22:37
on a burner affair there was nothing
00:22:40
pressing about our relationship our
00:22:43
relationship was mutually accepted sure
00:22:46
I never pressed me and I never ever
00:22:50
thought of leaving Donna why would I
00:22:53
suddenly decide to kill her
00:22:55
no our theory a prosecution was that he
00:23:02
had planned for why that day we don't
00:23:05
know to kill his wife and that he was
00:23:07
gonna leave the hospital come home and
00:23:10
kill her do it silently when that didn't
00:23:12
work he used the gun then pick up his
00:23:16
son at school then pick up Maxine for
00:23:19
the luncheon date that was made at the
00:23:20
very last minute of the night before
00:23:22
have lunch have an alibi for the period
00:23:26
of time involved and then have either
00:23:29
someone or himself find the body and
00:23:31
have a very good alibi are you ready
00:23:34
with your neck granules defense was
00:23:36
suing he and his attorney were certainly
00:23:38
his alibi was airtight as they
00:23:40
maintained it was impossible for Branyan
00:23:42
to be in two places at once
00:23:44
mrs. Kendra when you got home did you
00:23:47
have occasion to look at your clock yes
00:23:50
this alibi was strengthened when Brahe's
00:23:53
next-door neighbor testified that she
00:23:55
had heard the fatal gunshots at 11:20
00:23:57
a.m. while Branyan was reportedly still
00:24:00
at his clinic if the dr. brennan's lived
00:24:03
the hospital 11:30 and I heard the shots
00:24:07
at 11:20 and I'm sure of it
00:24:09
I was sure then and I'm sure now that is
00:24:12
impossible for him to shoot his wife to
00:24:14
be there at that time when you heard
00:24:17
those
00:24:18
while you were putting away the grocer
00:24:20
suprisingly this testimony would have
00:24:22
little impact on the jury the
00:24:24
prosecution pursued their theory that
00:24:27
the murder took place after Branyan left
00:24:29
the clinic now officer you also stated
00:24:34
that you drove certain routes and that
00:24:37
you totalled these times and that the
00:24:39
autonomy arrived dad was from six to
00:24:41
twelve minutes
00:24:42
is that right yes police testified that
00:24:45
they had driven and time Brannan's route
00:24:47
on the morning of the murder and had
00:24:49
determined that he did in fact have just
00:24:51
enough time to kill his wife before he
00:24:53
picked up his son yes and when you
00:24:56
arrived to dr. Brandon's home however in
00:24:58
one of the trials most dramatic moments
00:25:00
a defense challenged this timetable
00:25:02
watch by the way officer when you
00:25:07
arrived at the nursery school whose
00:25:09
little boy did you use another state of
00:25:12
question sir well I assume that you went
00:25:15
to the nursery school to cover some time
00:25:17
about checking on a kid now how much
00:25:19
time did you allow for him to pick up
00:25:21
his son from the nursery school we
00:25:24
allowed no time for that you didn't
00:25:27
allow that I can remember feeling a
00:25:31
chill in in the courtroom when he sent
00:25:33
us in that you are moving a lot slower
00:25:37
when you've got a child didn't old and
00:25:40
when you're with yourself by yourself so
00:25:44
I thought that was an effective point
00:25:46
the point of the other point is would he
00:25:48
walk into the house knowing his wife was
00:25:50
dead with with the kid and it's a
00:25:53
shocking thing to see if he knew it had
00:25:55
happened so I thought those were the
00:25:57
strong points they had going for them on
00:26:01
May 28 1968 after deliberating for 8
00:26:04
hours the jury reached their decision
00:26:08
mr. Foreman has the jury reached a
00:26:11
verdict we have your honor
00:26:14
read the verdict mr. Foreman we the jury
00:26:17
find the defendant John Brandon jr.
00:26:20
guilty in manner inform is charged in
00:26:23
the indictment
00:26:24
when the judge said I was guilty the
00:26:29
verdict will be entered I felt Hollow I
00:26:32
felt as though I was no longer but I
00:26:36
know what I did do I remember kind of
00:26:38
sticking my head up I don't know why but
00:26:41
I remember that I did that I know my
00:26:44
shoulders got a little straighter but it
00:26:48
certainly hurt when he said that he'd
00:26:51
really hurt
00:26:59
the three years Branyan was freon babies
00:27:01
he appealed his verdict during this time
00:27:04
he married his former girlfriend Shirley
00:27:06
I loved him and I still love him very
00:27:11
much and I could not desert him as
00:27:18
people were beginning to do he was a
00:27:22
walking shell he'd loved both of us he
00:27:27
loved Donna and he loved me yet April of
00:27:32
1971 his appeal was denied and John
00:27:35
Branyan was ordered to begin serving as
00:27:37
twenty to thirty years sentence a few
00:27:43
days later after the Supreme Court
00:27:44
declined to hear his case Branyan jumped
00:27:47
bail and left the country for 12 years
00:27:51
Branyan lived in Africa but in 1983 he
00:27:54
was apprehended in Uganda he was brought
00:28:00
back to Illinois to serve his sentence
00:28:04
an innocent person should be found
00:28:08
innocent in this country we've been
00:28:10
taught that ever since we were kids
00:28:12
so because of that I had to sleep
00:28:14
because I couldn't get justice anywhere
00:28:15
else the evidence against me proves that
00:28:20
I couldn't have done the crime yet I'm
00:28:22
here currently two investigators have
00:28:27
volunteered their services to Brandon's
00:28:29
case Anthony D'Amato a prominent law
00:28:32
professor from Northwestern University
00:28:34
and his wife author Barbara De Aza are
00:28:37
working with Brandon's wife Shirley to
00:28:39
document what they consider to be a
00:28:41
shocking miscarriage of justice
00:28:44
when mrs. Brennan said my husband was
00:28:47
innocent I was very skeptical about that
00:28:49
I don't I don't tend to believe people's
00:28:51
statements about things like this and it
00:28:54
was only Barbara's investigation of the
00:28:56
thing that proved to me that no matter
00:28:58
what John Branyan said he couldn't have
00:29:00
done it that was the main
00:29:01
theamazingatheist somebody else's word
00:29:11
John Brennan is currently serving his
00:29:13
sentence in Illinois for the 1967 murder
00:29:15
of his wife Donna
00:29:17
he could be incarcerated until the year
00:29:19
2006 but Tony and Barbara D'Amato
00:29:24
believe he deserves to be released
00:29:25
immediately they claim that by
00:29:28
reconstructing the events that took
00:29:30
place in the late morning of December
00:29:31
22nd 1967 it can be proved John Brennan
00:29:35
did not shoot his wife the fact is that
00:29:40
when his wife was murdered he was a mile
00:29:43
and a half away treating patients in a
00:29:45
hospital and that's proven that's a fact
00:29:47
so there's no there's no legal rule
00:29:50
whatsoever that says an innocent man has
00:29:52
to stay in prison okay because it cannot
00:29:58
definitely be proved that the fatal
00:29:59
shots were fired at 11:20 then it is
00:30:02
possible that Donna was murdered later
00:30:04
Brenna's guilt or innocence might rest
00:30:07
on the 10-minute window of time between
00:30:08
11:35 and he left his clinic and the
00:30:11
time that he arrived at the nursery
00:30:13
school to pick up his son what seems dr.
00:30:19
John Brennan spent the morning of
00:30:21
December 22nd at his clinic where he saw
00:30:23
14 different patients three to four
00:30:25
times a day
00:30:27
at approximately 11:35 Branyan left the
00:30:30
clinic located here and stopped outside
00:30:33
to talk with Leonard Scott the
00:30:34
hospital's administrator he was next
00:30:38
seen by a teacher at his sons nursery
00:30:40
school here approximately 10 minutes
00:30:42
later in order to have murdered Donna
00:30:45
Branyan would have had to have driven to
00:30:47
his home shot his wife and then raced to
00:30:50
his son's school all in less than 10
00:30:53
minutes
00:30:55
now there's no way the police could have
00:30:57
made this in six minutes
00:30:58
during the trial police claimed that
00:31:00
this drive could be made in as little as
00:31:02
six minutes but according to the
00:31:04
D'Amato's the police grossly
00:31:05
underestimated the actual time his drive
00:31:08
would take
00:31:09
D'Amato's traveled the same route
00:31:11
several times it took them at least 11
00:31:14
minutes the police testified that they
00:31:18
got it down as low as six minutes but
00:31:20
they also said that they sometimes it
00:31:22
took them 12 minutes well that's a huge
00:31:25
disparity between 6 and 12 and I just
00:31:27
wonder how and how they could have
00:31:29
pulled off that six minutes and they
00:31:31
certainly couldn't have done it at a
00:31:32
time when there were other cars on the
00:31:33
street or pedestrians or snow or
00:31:36
anything else like the conditions that
00:31:37
John Branyan had to drive it in it's one
00:31:40
thing to say well if you're gonna kill
00:31:41
your wife you can speed and hurry up to
00:31:42
get home but you can't drive through a
00:31:44
car ahead of you now if the streets are
00:31:46
filled with pedestrians and people
00:31:48
crossing the streets and other kinds of
00:31:50
cars it was just clearly impossible
00:31:57
further evidence a Brandon could not
00:31:59
have shot his wife came when the
00:32:01
d'amato's consulted pathologist Douglas
00:32:03
Shanklin after examining the original
00:32:07
autopsy reports on Donna Brannon
00:32:10
Shanklin believes he can prove that she
00:32:11
was first dassault at at least a half
00:32:13
hour before John Branyan had even begun
00:32:16
to drive home an attack he believes
00:32:18
would have required at least two
00:32:20
assailants it's very important to note
00:32:24
that there were bruises and other marks
00:32:25
on her body the most particular of which
00:32:28
is a groove in her neck it was a very
00:32:31
deep groove that began in the anterior
00:32:34
neck and moved laterally and then
00:32:36
disappeared behind as though somebody
00:32:38
was standing in back with a top chord
00:32:41
not strong enough to strangle a person
00:32:43
but strong enough to hold them to move
00:32:46
their body as you wish them to move and
00:32:49
to restrain them from escape and of
00:32:52
course as soon as she was shot the core
00:32:54
was released this groove stayed there
00:32:56
it's not going to continue to form after
00:32:59
death because of the loss of circulation
00:33:01
it takes at least 15 minutes for such a
00:33:04
groove to be formed and possibly longer
00:33:09
so you've got a minimum of 15 minutes
00:33:12
before the gun is used the latest time
00:33:17
and testimony for those sounds was
00:33:19
approximate 11:25 so that pushes the
00:33:22
beginning of the cord around the neck 15
00:33:25
minutes earlier and seems to me that the
00:33:28
crime began probably around 11 o'clock
00:33:30
or a few minutes before that so she
00:33:33
would lie that way in the alcove I think
00:33:37
dr. Brannon is innocent of this crime
00:33:38
because there were two people at least
00:33:40
involved one of whom held the victim for
00:33:44
a period of time but could not have shot
00:33:45
at the same time bang she falls so there
00:33:50
had to be two parties to the final
00:33:51
action of this scenario but even if
00:33:56
Donna Branyan was killed by two
00:33:58
assailants while her husband was at work
00:34:00
former prosecutor Patrick - it believes
00:34:02
that Branyan may still be guilty I
00:34:06
always even at the time of trial had
00:34:10
doubts is whether he actually pulled the
00:34:12
trigger that was our theory of the
00:34:13
prosecution but I always felt and I
00:34:17
still feel that he was somehow
00:34:18
responsible for his death he is a man
00:34:21
that deals with facts if there are facts
00:34:23
that say that I did not kill my wife but
00:34:26
I hired someone else didn't let him come
00:34:29
forth with him how what gives him the
00:34:31
right the arrogance to say that he
00:34:35
believes something when there's no
00:34:38
evidence of it if there was a second
00:34:41
party involved why didn't they get the
00:34:42
second party and hang us both there is
00:34:46
no basis in the law whatsoever to say oh
00:34:48
well if he wasn't there he hired someone
00:34:51
to do it it's the jury should hear if
00:34:53
there was any evidence of anyone being
00:34:54
hired and if they didn't if the state
00:34:56
chose not to present that theory then it
00:34:59
is legally irrelevant today John Brennan
00:35:04
and the de Matos have exhausted all
00:35:06
avenues of judicial appeal preyas only
00:35:09
hope is clemency from the governor of
00:35:10
Illinois a clemency that cannot be
00:35:13
delayed much longer for John Brennan
00:35:15
needs a heart transplant that will be
00:35:17
denied him as long as he remains in
00:35:19
prison
00:35:21
convicted murderers are not put on a
00:35:25
waiting list for heart transplants so
00:35:30
he's almost you know he has a double
00:35:33
death sentence he's already in prison
00:35:36
for a crime that he did not commit and
00:35:38
then he can't get the medical care that
00:35:41
he needs to continue living so in
00:35:44
essence he has a death sentence
00:35:47
[Music]
00:35:51
tonight John Brennan is in prison and
00:35:53
for him time is running out is he a
00:35:57
murderer or an innocent victim the
00:36:01
brainy ins operation is delayed much
00:36:03
further the answer would make little
00:36:05
difference
00:36:05
[Music]
00:36:19
in a moment the poignant story of a
00:36:22
real-life Santa Claus he was given
00:36:23
happiness to children across the country
00:36:25
but today Joseph's sham beer wants a
00:36:27
Christmas present of his own to speak
00:36:29
with his long-lost daughter all of us
00:36:40
are familiar with a department store
00:36:42
Santa's a street corner Santa's who
00:36:43
appear each December these jolly men are
00:36:46
cheerful symbols of the season yet our
00:36:49
next story is about a Santa Claus who
00:36:51
behind his Jodie smiles been hiding a
00:36:53
broken heart for more than 40 years
00:36:55
tonight maybe you can help bring about a
00:36:57
happy ending to this story which we call
00:37:00
satyrs baby
00:37:04
the story begins toward the end of the
00:37:07
Great Depression in 1937 the economy was
00:37:10
slowly beginning to improve but
00:37:12
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania remained
00:37:14
hard-hit bread lines were still a common
00:37:17
sight good jobs were hard to come by 20
00:37:22
year-old Joseph Felix cambiar could find
00:37:24
work only as a Western Union delivery
00:37:26
boy against the backdrop of his bleak
00:37:29
Depression hit City Joe did however find
00:37:31
a wife he and garnet worried to lawyers
00:37:35
without family ties of their own fell in
00:37:37
love and married they were both eager to
00:37:40
begin a family two months after the
00:37:42
wedding
00:37:43
garnet became pregnant one June 16 1939
00:37:49
I was at work at Western Union I had 14
00:37:53
cents in my pocket neither I nor garnet
00:38:07
I had any idea that this would happen so
00:38:10
suddenly we had given it like an
00:38:13
additional couple of weeks the doctor
00:38:15
thought it would be an additional a
00:38:17
couple of weeks but that wasn't solved
00:38:22
needless to say I ran up to three
00:38:25
flights of stairs and I was excited very
00:38:28
excited garnet was further along in her
00:38:33
labor and Joe had expected the landlady
00:38:35
had called for a doctor but he had not
00:38:37
yet arrived I didn't expect that baby to
00:38:59
come rushing out and say he'll all run
00:39:01
off the back without the doctor being
00:39:03
there you know that that's that's quite
00:39:06
a shock to the system
00:39:09
remorse we the two of us were so elated
00:39:24
it was like a package sent from heaven
00:39:27
[Music]
00:39:30
at one o'clock in the afternoon the
00:39:33
doctor finally walked in he pronounced
00:39:37
both mother and daughter in good health
00:39:38
and congratulated the new parents garnet
00:39:44
for the better part of an hour or so had
00:39:50
the baby in her arm and she kept talking
00:39:52
about it move you know what was quite
00:39:54
you'd have never known that she had gone
00:39:57
through this misery they're giving birth
00:40:02
she was so pleased with it and I was too
00:40:06
because my goodness look at that pretty
00:40:08
girl she got a little bit tired and I
00:40:11
didn't have a bassinet so what I did was
00:40:14
wrap the baby up in the blanket and I
00:40:16
placed her in the drum but he had a
00:40:18
bureau dresser there were three drawers
00:40:22
the bottom draw was quite long and large
00:40:24
and sofas I made a bet in him place the
00:40:28
baby in there temporarily and then
00:40:32
garnet had a short nap and woke up again
00:40:38
and started speaking from a strange
00:40:40
fashion for example Felix if anything
00:40:45
happens to me make sure Alice Miller
00:40:49
gets to baby Alice Bray's garnet so to
00:40:52
speak there was a relationship there
00:40:55
more like a second mother they were very
00:40:58
close
00:40:59
[Music]
00:41:05
take care of the baby Alberta four
00:41:12
o'clock she just died no fight no
00:41:17
suffering nothing of that sort when I
00:41:22
wake up what's wrong
00:41:23
I was none I was absolutely numb so I
00:41:34
followed her deathbed wish I did what I
00:41:38
thought I was supposed to do Joe took
00:41:42
his baby daughter Alberta Elaine to
00:41:44
Alice Miller you're gonna be a good
00:41:46
little girl for mrs. Miller
00:41:48
Albert Elaine all right there was a
00:41:51
sense of relief in that I knew that the
00:41:54
baby would be well taken care of
00:41:56
she'd be brought up properly you sure
00:42:00
it's not too much trouble oh no trouble
00:42:02
Oh
00:42:06
I appreciate it no this is what garnet
00:42:10
wanted god rest her soul ballast was a
00:42:13
very conscientious woman very loving
00:42:17
caring person good common sense she was
00:42:22
typical good American woman don't worry
00:42:29
thank you
00:42:34
good jobs were still almost impossible
00:42:37
to find so one week before Pearl Harbor
00:42:39
Joe sham beer enlisted he felt the army
00:42:42
was his best chance to give some
00:42:44
financial security to his tiny daughter
00:42:47
Joe was assigned to basic training in
00:42:50
Fort Devens Massachusetts then shipped
00:42:52
out to the Pacific Theater his little
00:42:54
daughter never left his mind doll during
00:42:58
the time that I was in the service I
00:43:00
kept up a little prayer book here that
00:43:04
little manual is what it's called and
00:43:08
inside that manual is a picture of my
00:43:10
daughter it's the only picture that I
00:43:13
have of her I wrote to the mullahs
00:43:19
several times I I don't know five six
00:43:23
times I've never received a reply no
00:43:27
communications with Alice at all all
00:43:29
during the time I was in the Army in
00:43:33
August of 1943 Joe suffered a head
00:43:35
injury during air raid drills in the
00:43:37
Panama Canal Zone after treatment he was
00:43:40
plagued with intermittent neck and back
00:43:42
pain so he was shipped to a Boston
00:43:43
hospital for further treatment on the
00:43:46
way his plane stopped in Pittsburgh at
00:43:51
the Allegheny Airport when we landed we
00:43:53
had a half an hour to refuel and I asked
00:43:56
permission to call out was Miller after
00:43:59
all she had the baby and I wanted to
00:44:00
find out about the baby how she was
00:44:02
doing and so far the baby was roughly
00:44:05
five years old at the time
00:44:07
hello this strange voice a woman
00:44:11
answered and when I told her who I was
00:44:15
she said I was supposed to be dead that
00:44:17
the baby had been adopted back went to
00:44:21
receive him
00:44:23
you gotta go the nameless woman on the
00:44:26
telephone left Joe dumbfounded she said
00:44:29
Alberta Elaine's adoption records were
00:44:31
sealed and he would never see his
00:44:33
daughter again well it's a blow to say
00:44:38
the least it's a blown and left up blow
00:44:41
your mind
00:44:43
despite Joe's best efforts he could not
00:44:45
locate his baby daughter he never
00:44:47
stopped trying to find her in 1946 he
00:44:51
married for the second time then moved
00:44:53
to New England where he worked as a
00:44:54
clerk at the Veterans Administration one
00:45:07
year later at Christmastime Joe phoned a
00:45:10
little girl in his neighborhood
00:45:11
pretending to be Santa Claus a little
00:45:18
girl was delighted soon all the other
00:45:20
neighborhood children were clamoring for
00:45:22
Santa to call them by the next Christmas
00:45:26
a local radio station had put Joe on the
00:45:28
air soon thanks to newspaper articles
00:45:30
across the country telephone operators
00:45:32
everywhere we're referring young callers
00:45:34
who asked to speak to Santa Claus - Joe
00:45:37
sham beers what would you like for
00:45:39
Christmas I'm writing this down in my
00:45:41
big book that's not work it's a
00:45:45
challenge but you know deep down that
00:45:49
you're doing something good and at the
00:45:51
same time you are looking for that
00:45:53
needle in the haystack namely Alberta
00:45:56
Lane that would be a heaven-sent
00:46:01
to be able to look at her be able to sit
00:46:06
down with her talk brother maybe give
00:46:09
her a big hug people she would let me
00:46:12
hey it's my own flesh and blood and she
00:46:15
deserves to know what took place
00:46:19
[Music]
00:46:37
every mystery someone somewhere who
00:46:40
knows the truth perhaps said someone is
00:46:43
watching
00:46:44
perhaps as you
00:46:46
[Music]
