00:00:10
on September 17th
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1966 Diane kaidel met a boyfriend for a
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drink at a local night
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spot after leaving the bar she
00:00:22
disappeared officials weren't sure
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whether she ran away from the
00:00:26
responsibilities facing a single mother
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with four young children or perhaps had
00:00:31
been the victim of Foul
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Play that question was answered 27 years
00:00:38
later when her daughter came forward
00:00:40
with a fantastic tale of something she
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saw when she was 5 years old
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[Music]
00:01:13
in
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1956 21-year-old Diane K went to work in
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her father's grocery store in Peoria
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Illinois she needed the money since she
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was recently divorced and was Raising
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her 2-year-old daughter Susie and it was
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in that store one day day where she met
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a bachelor from town Jean kaidel Jean
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wasn't the best looking guy in the world
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but he is a good talker he's a very good
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talker and he was able to uh woo her the
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couple dated for a year fell in love and
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eventually
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married they moved to Phoenix Arizona
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where Jean found work in the growing
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construction
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industry together Jean and Diane had
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three more children Greg Kelly and
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Sor my siblings and I were really close
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yeah it was a lot of great childhood
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memories over time Diane and Jean
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decided that it was best for all
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concerned if they
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divorced on September 17th the couple
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met for dinner at a nearby restaurant to
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discuss the final details of the
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property settlement and
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visitation by all accounts the meeting
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went well afterwards Diane dropped Jean
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off at his apartment from there Diane
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drove to the Amber Inn where she met Bob
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Marlin a man she had been casually
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dating since her separation finally got
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him out of the house a few hours later
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Jean kaidel called Diane at the house
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and when the children said she still
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wasn't home he went over to babysit and
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fell asleep on the
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sofa the next morning Jean said he found
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his wife's car in the driveway but there
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was no sign of her
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Jean called the police department and
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reported her missing I know she arrived
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home her car was there her purse was in
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the house her keys were in the house on
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the table in the kitchen Diane did not
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take any clothes with her that we
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learned of and there was no reason for
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her to run away there was no no motive
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there missing person's investigators
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couldn't understand why Diane would have
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left town without her children her
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neighbors her mother and her brother all
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indicated that Mrs kaidel would never
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leave her children for any length of
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time they described her as an excellent
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mother very concerned about her
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children when police went to interview
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Bob Marlin the man Diane was with at the
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bar they were told an incredible piece
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of news it was tough Bob Marlin suffered
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a heart attack and died the day after
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his date with
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Diane what ever Marlon might have known
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about Diane's disappearance went with
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him to his
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grave two days after Diane kael's
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mysterious disappearance Jean kaidel
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moved back into the family home to look
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after the four children my father's
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explanation to not only his children but
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to neighbors and anybody that that would
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inquire about my mother's um sudden
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disappearance was that my mother had run
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off with with a
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boyfriend Jean provided police with a
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list of men he said Diane had been
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dating since the separation but they all
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were dead ends over time the kaidel
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children adjusted to life without their
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mother although they all hoped that
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someday she would
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return but 4 months later tragedy struck
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once again around 9:00 at night while
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Jean was at a nearby
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laundromat a fire broke out in the
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kael's
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home The Blaze quickly engulfed the
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entire house and the four children were
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trapped in their
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bedrooms Lor Lor come on come on wake up
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wake up Lor come on come on there's up
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Susie the oldest led the others around
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the
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Flames I forgot my I but Lori ran back
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into her bedroom for her Winnie the Poo
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stuffed animal
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I fell on the floor I was burnt I was
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crying I wanted my
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mother and my older sister Susie came in
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the house was a blaze around us and so
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she laid on top of me she said they're
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coming for us now Lord they'll help us
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uh she said I love you and she said I'll
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never ever leave you I love you and I'll
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never ever let you go I promise
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and at that point we died and she held
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me Susie gave her life protecting Lori
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from the Flames although Lori suffered
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third degree burns over 50% of her
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body I was continually loved by my
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sister as she held me and died
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protecting me the
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trauma the nightmares the horror of it
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that doesn't go away I just try to
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overcome that with knowing that I was
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loved that I was valuable
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Enough To Die
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For What can you say I mean when you see
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that it takes your breath away I mean
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you you you realize that that person
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made the ultimate
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sacrifice 8-year-old Kelly also died in
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the fire 9-year-old Greg
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survived Jean kaidel arrived at the seen
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just as firemen were pulling the
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children from The
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Blaze investigators found a melted pot
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on the stove top burner the knob was in
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the on position as a result the fire was
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ruled
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accidental after spending 4 months in a
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Hospital Burn Unit Lori went back to
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live in the family home her father had
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rebuilt after the fire but one year
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later there was an incident that helped
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Lori realize the ter terrible truth of
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what happened to her
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mother it happened when Lori and her
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father went to a friend's funeral his
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name was Michael a boy from the
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neighborhood who was killed in the
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Vietnam War Daddy when is he going to
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wake up he's not he's dead they're going
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to bury him
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today wake him up wake him up and I
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began to cry and I threw a very large
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distraction in a very large
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fet trying to make people understand
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that we needed to wake Michael up that I
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wasn't going to permit them to bury
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Michael in the ground I was the only
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living person that now knew the secret
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of my
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mother but it took another 27 years for
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Lori to reveal the deep dark Family
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secret she had been harboring
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[Music]
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in
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1993 after Diane kaidel had been missing
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for 27 years her only surviving daughter
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Lori walked into the Phoenix Police
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Department with a written statement it
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described a terrible secret she had been
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too afraid to reveal to whom it may
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concern I need to convey to authorities
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what I witnessed as a child first I must
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greatly impress the fear I have of my
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father's violent
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retaliation I was often told when I was
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a child by my father I brought you into
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this world I can take you
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out the letter went on to say that as a
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5-year-old child Lori saw her father
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beat her mother to
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death and then bury her in the
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backyard at first Lori thought her
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mother was sleeping as hibernating
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animals do quiet she said she once asked
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her father if she could dig a hole in
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the backyard to feed her mother as a
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5-year-old I thought my mother was
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sleeping I thought that my father made
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my mother go to sleep and I thought he
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buried my sleeping mother in the hall in
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the backyard I wasn't confused on where
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she was I wasn't confused on who did it
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I was confused between sleeping and
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death
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she only sleeping only after she went to
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her friend's funeral did she realize
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that her mother would never wake
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up detective Ed Reynolds at first wasn't
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sure what to think I've been lied to by
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some pretty good liars and have been
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fooled by a lot of people and when that
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happens you tell yourself I'm not going
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to let that happen again I'm not going
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to fall Hook Line and Sinker for every
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story that comes down the pike and in
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this case though she did seem very
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believable very truthful very sincere in
00:10:32
what she said but I still I wanted more
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than just a story I I wanted proof Lori
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said that her father poured a concrete
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patio over her mother's grave the day
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after he buried her the home had long
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since been sold by her father who was
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now remarried and living across town
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Reynolds was hesitant to ask the new
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owners for permission to dig up their
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concrete patio without more evidence
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than a 27-year
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recollection I became very
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frustrated I became
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angry I thought that possibly the
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officials didn't believe me I was
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terrified that my father would find out
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that I had confessed Reynolds looked all
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over the country for the technology that
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could look underneath the concrete patio
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without damaging it the search took
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almost a year and led to a nonprofit
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agency in Colorado called necro search
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which brings applied sciences to law
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enforcement in this case necro search
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recommended a ground penetrating radar
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system to take a look within the ground
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and to see if it's Disturbed that's what
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we do in geophysics just because we find
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a disturbance could be could be caused
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by many things the the proof the
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substantiation is going to have to be a
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careful excavation
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when the radar was pulled across the
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cement decking it revealed a ground
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disturbance 6 ft long by 2 ft wide in
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the corner of the patio the very spot on
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the concrete where Lori romanic had
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taken me to earlier when we had walked
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through the backyard where she
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suspected the body of her mother was
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buried when police removed the concrete
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they had to dig only 10 in before making
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a Grizzly Discovery a piece of human
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skull within hours they uncovered the
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rest of the remains in the shallow twoot
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grave they also discovered a bra and a
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girdle around the skeleton's neck were
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women
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stockings Lori romanic was not at all
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surprised now I don't need any Medical
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detectives to prove to me that that's my
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mother there was no identification on
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the remains and bacteria in the shallow
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grave eliminated the possibility of DNA
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testing even the teeth were too badly
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damaged by bacteria to analyze the tooth
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pulp usually a rich protected source of
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DNA so detectives had to use other means
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to identify the skeleton the first clue
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was a tree root from a neighbor's
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malberry tree that had grown through the
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skull the root was sent to Dr Thomas
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Haren a dendr chronologist at the
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University of Arizona by studying the
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age of the tree root and the manner in
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which it penetrated the skull Harland
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was convinced that the body was placed
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in the ground before the tree root since
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the root was 15 years old the body was
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placed in the grave before
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[Music]
00:14:00
1978 this will tell us the age of the
00:14:03
tree root growing over the body means
00:14:06
that the body had to be there before the
00:14:08
tree root was there otherwise it would
00:14:11
have been cut Disturbed would not have
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gone across um this gives a minimum age
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for the body to be in that position
00:14:21
forensic anthropologist Dr Laura F
00:14:24
Genetti analyzed the skeletal remains
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and determined it was a CO Asian woman
00:14:29
between 5'4 and 5'5 in in height the
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pelvic bones indicated that the woman
00:14:36
had given birth to at least two children
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and was between 20 and 40 years of age
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all were consistent with Diane
00:14:45
kaidel dental X-rays are commonly used
00:14:49
for identification unfortunately Diane
00:14:52
kael's dentist was no longer in practice
00:14:54
and her dental X-rays had been destroyed
00:14:58
as a last ditch effort to identify the
00:15:01
remains Dr F janetti decided to try a
00:15:04
technique called skull photograph
00:15:07
superimposition what you basically are
00:15:09
doing is taking a picture of the person
00:15:11
in life and superimposing it on to the
00:15:15
skull of the person that you think it
00:15:17
might have been Dr F janetti
00:15:19
photographed the skull in the same
00:15:21
position and size as the photograph of
00:15:24
Diane kaidel taken shortly before she
00:15:27
disappeared a canine tooth that was
00:15:30
slightly a jar it's it just stuck out
00:15:33
slightly from her mouth and we were able
00:15:35
to line that tooth up with the tooth in
00:15:37
the photograph I have no questions I'm
00:15:40
sure that it's her police immediately
00:15:43
arrested 61 year-old Jean kaidel and
00:15:47
charged him with murder Lori romanc was
00:15:51
now ready to tell a judge and jury what
00:15:54
really happened on the night her mother
00:15:57
disappeared
00:16:02
for years Jean kaidel told family and
00:16:05
friends that his wife Diane abandoned
00:16:08
her children and ran off with a
00:16:10
boyfriend but lri romanc told a very
00:16:13
different story about what happened to
00:16:15
her mother on the night of September
00:16:18
17th
00:16:22
1966 Lori said her mother was wearing
00:16:25
her blue double breasted dress when she
00:16:27
left to meet her father for dinner at a
00:16:29
local restaurant
00:16:32
bye after dinner Diane drove Jean home
00:16:36
to his apartment later Witnesses saw
00:16:38
Diane at the Amber Inn having drinks
00:16:41
with a boyfriend is that right around
00:16:44
11: p.m. Jean called the house to speak
00:16:47
with Diane and when he learned that she
00:16:50
wasn't there went over to the house to
00:16:52
wait for her where have you been when
00:16:55
Diane returned home around midnight the
00:16:58
couple fought waking 5-year-old Lori and
00:17:01
her oldest sister
00:17:03
Susie the two girls went to investigate
00:17:07
will stop it go away just get out of
00:17:10
this house right now I own this house
00:17:12
I'll stay here when she saw her children
00:17:16
she took her defense down and it was at
00:17:19
that point that my father delivered her
00:17:22
last blow and she whipped back and hit
00:17:25
her head and slid to the floor
00:17:29
[Music]
00:17:32
Jean saw the girls run from the hallway
00:17:35
and they hid in the
00:17:37
[Music]
00:17:52
closet When the Children eventually came
00:17:54
out of hiding they saw their mother's
00:17:57
lifeless body on the pool deck and they
00:18:01
saw their father digging a hole in the
00:18:07
[Music]
00:18:21
backyard the next day Jean kaidel poured
00:18:24
a fresh layer of concrete over his
00:18:27
wife's grave for what he thought would
00:18:30
be an
00:18:31
eternity Lori describes her father as an
00:18:35
alcoholic cruel and violent we're
00:18:38
talking about the fact that my father
00:18:39
would beat my
00:18:41
mother
00:18:43
violently my father would attempt to
00:18:46
beat his children my siblings and I and
00:18:49
when my mother was alive she would
00:18:51
intervene and she would not permit my
00:18:54
father to beat his
00:18:56
children she was very strong on that
00:19:00
issue Lori also says that her father
00:19:04
threatened to kill her if she ever
00:19:06
revealed DET tals of her mother's death
00:19:09
this was something that Lori says that
00:19:12
she never forgot and she would just been
00:19:15
terrified for her whole childhood and
00:19:18
then adult life of her of her father
00:19:20
even after she got married and left the
00:19:22
house and they barely had a relationship
00:19:25
at some points it was she remembered the
00:19:27
thing the whole way through through and
00:19:29
somehow I mean I don't think there's
00:19:31
anyone that really could exactly
00:19:33
describe what was going on in that head
00:19:35
of hers all those
00:19:37
years in
00:19:39
1995 Jean kaidel was convicted for the
00:19:42
murder of his wife
00:19:45
Diane and was sentenced to life in
00:19:49
prison I think it says that the memory
00:19:51
of a 5-year-old even though it's some 29
00:19:53
years later is sufficient to convict but
00:19:56
again remember the one unanswerable
00:19:58
question was if what she saw wasn't what
00:20:01
she saw how could she have led us to the
00:20:02
body and she did my father
00:20:05
single-handedly murdered my
00:20:07
mother murdered my two siblings and
00:20:11
attempted a murder on me and a murder on
00:20:14
my
00:20:15
brother I think that my father
00:20:19
will more meet his calling upon his
00:20:23
death I I pray for my father I think
00:20:27
that this judicial system
00:20:29
will have nothing in the comparison of
00:20:31
the wrath of God and that I'm sorry for
00:20:36
my father will have to answer and be
00:20:38
held
00:20:39
accountable what does a man tell our
00:20:42
Creator God When God says what did you
00:20:45
do to that beautiful wife and lovely
00:20:48
children I gave you and my father will
00:20:50
reply I beat them I murdered them I
00:20:54
burned them up in a horrible fire what
00:20:57
will be my my father's
00:21:01
punishment I'm sorry that causes
00:21:05
me the grief that I feel today for him
00:21:11
[Music]
00:21:21
[Music]
00:21:34
[Applause]
00:21:37
[Music]
