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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 were about to see is not a news
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broadcast he fights crime by performing
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autopsies and his legendary skills have
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led some to call him a modern-day
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Sherlock Holmes he is forensic
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pathologist dr. Cyril Wecht and tonight
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will accompany dr. Wecht as he
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investigates a mysterious and
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controversial death of a young college
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student you will also meet three very
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unusual investigators genealogists who
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claim that while researching their
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family trees they were guided by an
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unexplained psychic force it may seem
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unbelievable but all three are convinced
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that the spirits of their ancestors
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reached out to them from beyond the
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grave
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join me perhaps you may be able to help
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solve a mystery
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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this poor little girl died as a result
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of being overcome by the flames and
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carbon monoxide and that's what killed
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her there is no evidence whatsoever to
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indicate that she had been cutting on
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her throat he has been called a
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real-life Quincy you know modern-day
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Sherlock Holmes but by any name dr.
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Cyril Wecht is undeniably one of the
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country's top forensic pathologists in
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court it is wex testimony that often
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tips the ballast to solve a murder and
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have that case defined there to prove
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that something was not a murder when
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somebody is thought to have committed a
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murder the intellectual challenge is is
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fantastic the gratification comes from
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helping people in a very real sense in
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1993
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Seth Floyd was found hanging by the neck
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in his jail cell the authorities called
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it suicide dr. Wecht proved it was
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murdered Louis de Nicola spent five
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years in prison for a triple murder
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dr. Wecht proved the deaths were
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accidental and in akola went home of
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free man
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eight-year-old Tanya Palmer accidentally
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drowned in her own bathtub at least
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that's what her mother's boyfriend told
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police dr. wecht helped prove that in
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fact the boyfriend had murdered Tanya
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Palmer in law enforcement circles Cyril
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Wecht has become something of a legend
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but one case continues to haunt him the
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mysterious death of a 20 year old
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college student here Pittsburgh
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Pennsylvania perhaps tonight you can
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provide the clue that helps dr. Wecht
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finally solve this controversial mystery
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it was on a Wednesday evening the 21st
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of October 1987 that authorities found
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the body of Jack Davis jr. Davis was
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sprawled at the bottom of a torre step
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stairwell on the campus of Indiana
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University of Pennsylvania
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Jack had last been seen the previous
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Friday night he attended a party with
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some of his fraternity brothers then
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made the rounds at a few local bars
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Jack's body was autopsy by a local
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pathologist a toxicology report a
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routine check for unnatural substances
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in the body was completed at a lab
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out-of-state the autopsy and test
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results were forwarded to County Coroner
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Thomas streams he ruled at Jack's death
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was accidental my body was not in
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disarray from a fight there was no signs
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of defensive wounds as a struggle there
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were no drag marks there was just
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nothing on a marquee but why the
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scenario was that mr. Davis wandered
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down into the stairwell in an
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intoxicated State perhaps to urinate
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collapsed in an unconscious state
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vomited inhaled the vomitus into his
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lungs which therefore then subsequently
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caused his death
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[Music]
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the official report concluded that Jack
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Davis died at about 2:00 a.m. Saturday
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morning several hours after he
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disappeared his bunny apparently lay in
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the stairwell for nearly five days but I
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couldn't believe or comprehend that he
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could have died that way and I was told
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that was a common occurrence I found it
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hard to believe Jack's mother father and
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stepmother took him home to Penn Hills
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Pennsylvania and laid him to rest even
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as Jack's family greed their doubts
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about the official findings began to
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grow but for more than two years they
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pushed aside their concerns then a local
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reporter began to publicly question the
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corners
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finally Jack's family turns a dr. Wecht
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thanks for coming down I'm sorry to meet
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you under these circumstances before I
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go into the medical aspects of the case
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I was just puzzled as a matter of common
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sense how could a body have been lying
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outside on a college campus in the early
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fall for five or more days unseen
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unnoticed by anybody the other thing
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that puzzled me was I thought chief
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why would a young man in the early hours
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of the morning walk 15 steps and a
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landing and another five steps to
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urinate you know I remember when I went
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to college and I remember what the young
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men will do if they have to urinate
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especially if they are inebriated and
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it's the wee hours of the morning and
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nobody is around not too many people
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have that kind of discretion and
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personal sensitivity so you see that did
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not fit either we've managed to get a
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copy of the toxicology report and we
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need you to look at this and you have
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that with you yes almost immediately
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dr. Wecht found glaring discrepancies in
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the report although by all accounts Jack
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Davis had been drinking heavily on the
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night he supposedly died absolutely no
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alcohol was found in his blood there was
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no doubt that he had been drinking
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nobody challenged that in order for him
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to have wound up with no alcohol in his
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blood at the time of his death he would
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have had to have been alive for about 30
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hours the fact then that there was no
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alcohol in his blood and indicates to me
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that he did not do i at that time you
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know when they theorized he had fallen
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down the steps
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dr. Wecht found other evidence that
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argued against a Saturday morning death
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Jack Davis was clean-shaven Friday night
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when he was last seen but when Jack's
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body was found there was heavy beard
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stubble on his face there was one final
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discrepancy the autopsy slides of Jack's
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lungs they provided stunning evidence
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that the presumed cause of death choking
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on regurgitated food was nothing short
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of impossible if you're going to listen
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act as a cries to death you've got to
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find food particles deep down inside the
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small terminal air passageways and that
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wasn't present the other thing about the
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autopsy that really stood out for me and
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made me quiver with excitement was the
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fact that the head had not been examined
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the pathologist who did the autopsy had
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not opened up the cranial vault the
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pathologist who performed the first
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autopsy went as far as he felt he had to
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go to find a conclusive cause of death
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and when he opened Jack Davis's chest
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and examined the internal organs he he
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noticed apparently though this
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aspiration of stomach contents in the
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inner lungs
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and therefore he felt that was an
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independent and conclusive cause of
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death and did not open the skull at that
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time we all agreed as a family and with
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dr. Wecht that the body needed to be
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exhumed it was the only way we would
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find out the true cause of death look Jo
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look at that
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when I opened up the skull I found three
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fractures three areas of skull fracture
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with significant bleeding overlying the
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brain it's a blood clot it says the
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pooling of blood and that was the cause
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of death which had never been
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appreciated because the head hadn't been
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examined in the first autopsy and now we
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knew the cause of death it was then and
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is today of course unequivocal slides
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and lab work can only tell part of the
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story with a university official dr.
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wecht visited the stairwells where
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Jack's body was found was some students
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saw him first then and reportedly yes as
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a campus I realized that body could not
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have accidentally fallen or been thrown
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from high up because he would have had
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egg shell depressed type fractures
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similarly it did not appear that he had
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stumbled down the steps because there
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was no pattern of abrasions and bruises
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contusions and so that did not fit we
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could possibly get into the building and
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see from that second floor or even the
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third fourth floors whether one can look
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out and then if one did whether you
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would be able to look down here you can
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see very clearly and you know if you
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should look down you certainly can see
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directly there and average height
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approximately 200 students were in rooms
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overlooking the stairwell during the
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days jack supposedly lay below however
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not one person reported seeing the body
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there was one final problem with the
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official scenario the weather during the
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two days before Jack's body was found
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heavy rain fell on the campus Jack's
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clothes were not wet we had a real
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problem in explaining how Jack could
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have been lying there for all those days
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in rain water with dry clothes well how
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can that be I would say it was more
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likely that Jack Davis died elsewhere or
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was injured elsewhere or was dying
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elsewhere and then was placed at the
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bottom of those steps i base this upon
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the known facts dr. wicks critical
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findings convinced authorities to reopen
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the case in October of 1990 really
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nothing new came of it and at that point
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the investigation was closed in
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personally I still go along with the
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fact that he fell from up above dr.
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Whitcomb it's about the egg shelling
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effect I'm not too sure that he couldn't
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have hit the side of the wall to begin
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with and broken the fall somewhat and
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I've seen very strange things with
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drunks anyway so nothing would be
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unbelievable to me
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some critics of the official findings
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believe Jack's death was no accident
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reporter Marlene Brennan theorizes at
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Jack may have been caught up in a feud
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between two rival fraternities some
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students report that there were up to
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five fights that night and it could be
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possible that he was involved in one of
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them and he was injured and someone
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didn't know what to do with him so they
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kept him somewhere thinking that he
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might get better or whatever and he
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didn't and then they moved him to into
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the stairwell I believe somebody out
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there does know something and I'm hoping
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that perhaps with continuing inquiries
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by the family and friends perhaps
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through the presentation of this show
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and so on who knows that somebody may
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step forward at ELab Jack Davis would
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have graduated with 27 hundred other
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students in the class of 1989 Indiana
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University of Pennsylvania Cyril Wecht
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is convinced that among them was at
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least one person who knows what really
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happened at Jack Davis jr. perhaps the
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time has finally come to set the record
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straight
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next a remarkable tale of psychic
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communication from beyond the grave
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[Music]
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they're about to make three very unusual
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investigators genealogists who spent
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years digging through dusty old books
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and papers trying to piece together
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their family histories
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it may sound dry but these three claim
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that in the course of their research
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they were guided by mysterious forces
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perhaps the spirits of their ancestors
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long dead and long-forgotten
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[Music]
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on a rainy afternoon in 1948 curiosity
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got the best of an eight-year-old boy
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named Hank Jones his basement held a
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most tempting mystery an old steamer
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trunk filled with unknown relics I open
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the lid and inside was just a treasure
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trove of material on our family old
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photographs old letters documents old
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wills and deeds I never knew any of my
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grandparents except my mother's mother
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and in a sense by seeing their pictures
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by reading their Diaries by looking at
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their letters they came alive to me they
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they became the grandparents I never
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knew and I don't know what it was but a
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little spark inside me at the age of 8
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and ever since that time I've been
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climbing the family tree trying to find
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out as much as I could about my ancestry
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on that chilly day when he first peered
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into the old trunk Hank had no idea he
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had just set the course for the rest of
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his life today some 46 years later Hank
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Jones is the author of a book psychic
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roots and one of the country's leading
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genealogists devoted to piecing together
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long lost family trees tracing his own
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family has proved one of the most
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difficult challenges Hank is descended
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from a hearty band of German immigrants
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known as palatine x' the palatine for
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one of the biggest immigrations we ever
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had to the new world and this one little
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branch of mine started out for the New
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World but they ended up in Ireland at 79
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rather than coming on to New York with
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all the rest of it
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although his own ancestors had gone to
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Ireland Hank found himself intrigued by
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a man named Johann Dietrich Schneider
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will belong to a group of 847 other
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Palatine families who had journeyed to
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New York I don't know why but I felt
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this almost obsession to find out more
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about them so I hired a lady named Karla
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middle stet kubacheck
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to go village to village for me looking
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for all these families in Germany but we
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had to start somewhere and I didn't know
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where to really to tell her to start and
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so just off the top of my head I said
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Karla I don't care we I have no vested
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interests in any of them but but I've
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always been interested in a man named
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Dietrich Schneider who came in this
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group to New York from Germany go look
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for him first in a remarkable turn of
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events Hank later learned that he had
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picked the one person out of the entire
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migration who was actually related to
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him I don't know how to explain that but
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it was it was just the beginning of a
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bunch of strange coincidences strange
00:17:30
occurrences that started happening to me
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as I was studying these Palatine Germans
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I would start to dream about them for
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instance
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at first the dreams were more about
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visions of the Palatine lifestyle you
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know that I used to dream about them
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coming to America and I could see the
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ships I could see them landing things
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like that and then I started dreaming
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about particular home villages of
00:17:53
certain immigrants I was looking for but
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I hadn't found yet so I decided to write
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down some of the places where the dream
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suggested I look and lo and behold we
00:18:02
found about five to seven of those
00:18:04
families exactly where the dreams said
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they would be located overseas could the
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spirits of Hanks ancestors have somehow
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reached through the mists of time to
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lead him to places he would never have
00:18:18
fought to investigate
00:18:21
Hank became convinced that was precisely
00:18:24
the case he sent out letters to other
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genealogists to see if anyone else had
00:18:29
had a similar experience I got 200
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responses and practically every response
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started with I know what you mean or yes
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yes you've struck a familiar chord and
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then they would relate these
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unbelievable experiences that had
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happened to them when they were doing
00:18:48
their genealogies over the years one of
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the most intriguing responses came from
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dr. David Fox a forensic psychologist in
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Ontario Canada in studying his
00:19:00
bloodlines David became fascinated by
00:19:03
his great-great-grandfather Charles Fox
00:19:06
David learned that Charles had been a
00:19:08
sergeant of the British Army in the
00:19:10
mid-1800s during the great colonial
00:19:12
campaigns in India and Pakistan despite
00:19:16
uncovering a wealth of written
00:19:18
information
00:19:19
David had no idea of what his
00:19:20
great-great-grandfather might have
00:19:22
looked like until he began to have a
00:19:25
strange recurring vision
00:19:28
first of all I pictured him I pictured
00:19:31
him in his military uniform his red coat
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the buttons and perhaps medals and then
00:19:39
the picture over time started to include
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his wife and his child who would be my
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great-grandfather and I thought well
00:19:49
this is very strange because the
00:19:52
probability of such a picture existing
00:19:55
is so remote so infinitesimal you might
00:19:58
as well say zero probability in 1987
00:20:04
daven and a friend traveled to England
00:20:06
in search of additional information
00:20:07
about David's ancestors I want to go
00:20:10
look at those figurines
00:20:16
towards the end of the trip they stopped
00:20:18
at the norwich castle a popular Museum
00:20:21
and Art Gallery in Charles Fox's
00:20:23
hometown I just wandered from room to
00:20:28
room in the castle aimlessly I thought
00:20:31
and just as I was entering the doorway
00:20:34
to one room I noticed ahead of me was a
00:20:37
very very large portrait that just stood
00:20:40
out almost three-dimensional I was
00:20:42
awestruck was like the little hairs on
00:20:45
the nape of my neck were just standing
00:20:46
up I had pictured an item somewhat
00:20:51
similar to this or very similar to this
00:20:53
and there there it was right before my
00:20:56
eyes
00:20:58
incredibly David says the painting was a
00:21:00
same family portrait and his recurring
00:21:02
vision the painting was completed by one
00:21:07
Frederick Sandy's in the year 1860 and
00:21:12
my great-grandfather being born in 1857
00:21:16
would have been 3 in 1860 the woman in
00:21:19
the picture was very much younger than
00:21:21
the older soldier and I knew that that
00:21:25
sergeant Charles Fox his wife was 13
00:21:27
years his junior
00:21:28
and the old gentleman was a sergeant
00:21:33
there were three stripes on his right
00:21:35
arm and most curiously and interestingly
00:21:38
he had three ribbons on his left breast
00:21:42
and I realized that my own ancestor
00:21:45
probably did win a number of medals when
00:21:48
he was overseas but at that point I
00:21:50
didn't know which ones
00:21:53
when David returned home he immediately
00:21:56
began searching for confirmation that
00:21:58
the man in the portrait was indeed his
00:22:00
ancestor David learned that the medals
00:22:05
in the painting had been awarded for the
00:22:07
suffrage campaign the Punjab campaign
00:22:10
and for long service and Good Conduct
00:22:13
those same three medals had been awarded
00:22:16
to Davis great-great-grandfather's
00:22:18
Sergeant Charles Fox it's almost as if
00:22:22
my head became fuzzy at that time
00:22:24
because I
00:22:25
thought this is quite incredible I had
00:22:29
an image the image in mind that was
00:22:32
translated into something there
00:22:34
something three-dimensional and again to
00:22:38
have the fantasy and reality merge in
00:22:40
this way I find most exceedingly curious
00:22:43
the best thing about it is that you have
00:22:46
a feeling that your ancestors care about
00:22:48
you that they really want to be found
00:22:50
it's a sense of of reuniting Carroll
00:22:54
Mont Rose of New Albany Ohio would
00:22:56
certainly agree while researching her
00:22:59
family tree Carroll became particularly
00:23:01
intrigued with a woman named Katherine
00:23:03
reddish Steg Maier who she believed
00:23:05
might be her great-great aunt but
00:23:07
Carroll was unable to find the date of
00:23:09
Katherine's death or her final resting
00:23:12
place then in the fall of 1988 Carroll
00:23:18
and her son were searching through
00:23:19
cemeteries in Northwestern Ohio when
00:23:21
they came upon a hot air balloon in
00:23:23
flight
00:23:25
here so all of a sudden there was a road
00:23:32
on my right and I turned and we're sort
00:23:35
of following the balloon at this point
00:23:37
and it came down so low but it actually
00:23:40
clipped the top of the trees and all of
00:23:43
a sudden I saw this church with a
00:23:45
cemetery across the street
00:23:47
and the balloon appeared to be landing
00:23:49
in the back behind the church you know
00:23:52
look I think it's gonna land over by
00:23:54
that church but instead of landing the
00:23:58
balloon took flight again Carol now
00:24:01
believes at the spirit of a great great
00:24:02
aunt had guided her to follow the
00:24:04
balloon to this remote church 150 miles
00:24:08
from her home I'll be right back I
00:24:15
thought that it wouldn't hurt to check
00:24:17
the cemetery even though I had never
00:24:20
really considered any of the family
00:24:23
having been buried there all most of the
00:24:27
front row was a frederick stag meyer a
00:24:29
child of Kate and I was estatic I mean I
00:24:33
knew that I was in at least in the right
00:24:36
area
00:24:38
[Music]
00:24:40
Carol ventured farther into the cemetery
00:24:43
there on the back row was the grave she
00:24:47
had been looking for was so amazing so
00:24:52
strange I can't say for sure Kate was
00:24:54
trying to help me but I sure feel like
00:24:56
she was
00:25:01
I believe it's very possible that the
00:25:04
spirits of our ancestors in some way are
00:25:06
directing us in our searches they they
00:25:08
want to be found they want to be found
00:25:10
and they may give us little subtle clues
00:25:12
along the way of how to do it they may
00:25:14
somehow open some doors for us as we do
00:25:17
our genealogy I'm very open to that
00:25:22
that mysterious psychic forces somehow
00:25:25
lead Hank David and Carol to their
00:25:27
ancestors or is it all just a
00:25:29
coincidence
00:25:30
whatever the case if you happen to be
00:25:33
studying your family tree and you get
00:25:35
that odd feeling to visit one more
00:25:37
library or open one last book or even
00:25:40
follow a hot-air balloon take heed
00:25:43
perhaps you are being guided by the
00:25:45
spirit of one of your ancestors when we
00:25:53
return a young woman has disappeared and
00:25:56
may be hitchhiking around the country
00:25:58
lost and alone
00:26:06
okay take it out August 10th 1993 just
00:26:12
east to Mendocino California in a remote
00:26:14
corner of redwood forest and incongruous
00:26:17
sight a shiny red car has been found
00:26:20
stuck in the mud the car radio has been
00:26:25
ripped out there are my new traces of
00:26:27
blood on the dashboard in the front seat
00:26:29
along with shredded identification
00:26:31
papers a few torn up photographs are
00:26:35
scattered nearby the scene appears to
00:26:38
bear all the earmarks of foul play but
00:26:41
in this case nothing is as it appears
00:26:46
the shredded IDs were traced to 22-year
00:26:49
old Christy Krebs an aspiring chef who
00:26:52
worked at two different restaurants in
00:26:53
Fort Bragg California seven miles from
00:26:56
the spot or her car was found Christy
00:26:59
lived with her parents and two younger
00:27:01
brothers in Fort Bragg and for Christy's
00:27:03
parents the entire scenario had an
00:27:05
eerily familiar ring
00:27:11
Christie Krebs graduated from high
00:27:13
school in 1989 and went to work
00:27:15
full-time and local restaurant
00:27:18
she was cheerful and upbeat and worked
00:27:21
tirelessly but she also developed an
00:27:24
unrealistic obsession about a married
00:27:26
man she worked with
00:27:31
on April 30th 1990 became unnaturally
00:27:35
euphoric fantasizing an imaginary
00:27:38
wedding she drove aimlessly for hours
00:27:40
and lost her way on a country road a car
00:27:44
she was driving became hopelessly stuck
00:27:46
in the mud
00:27:53
[Music]
00:28:00
[Music]
00:28:06
[Music]
00:28:11
[Music]
00:28:31
[Music]
00:28:35
when Christie's car was found it looked
00:28:37
like this the interior had been totally
00:28:40
destroyed by flames the fire was an
00:28:43
almost unheard-of freak occurrence which
00:28:45
apparently triggered in Christie a
00:28:47
traumatic mental breakdown
00:28:51
[Music]
00:28:53
the morning after the incident railroad
00:28:56
workers were alarmed by the sight of a
00:28:58
dazed and disoriented young woman
00:29:00
wandering along the tracks one of the
00:29:02
workmen recognized Christie and
00:29:04
telephoned her mother and father who
00:29:06
immediately picked her up initially we
00:29:11
thought things were okay but as we were
00:29:13
driving back into town the behavior we
00:29:16
were getting from her was very bizarre
00:29:19
chanting and patting or doing very weird
00:29:23
things and I just looked at my wife and
00:29:26
said we're not going home we're going to
00:29:27
the hospital
00:29:28
I remember the examining room she was
00:29:32
still acting very very strange and for
00:29:36
the first week to ten days at least
00:29:40
she was really incoherent we wondered if
00:29:47
she was ever going to be the same again
00:29:50
at first they thought that she might
00:29:52
have been on drugs but they were able to
00:29:56
test her and see that there were no
00:30:00
drugs in her system over the next few
00:30:06
months Christie was in and out of the
00:30:07
hospital four different times eventually
00:30:10
she was diagnosed as having experienced
00:30:13
a psychotic trauma-related break
00:30:21
Kirstie's Paras feared the worst
00:30:23
but after therapy and drug treatment
00:30:25
Christie made rapid progress she was
00:30:28
released from the hospital for good some
00:30:30
six months after the car fire an
00:30:32
occupational therapist had recommended
00:30:34
the Christie work but only part-time I
00:30:40
think it was suggested she worked 20
00:30:42
hours a week to start with and she did
00:30:45
incredibly well and she was very proud
00:30:47
of herself and she got herself a second
00:30:49
job at a local fast-food restaurant both
00:30:53
jobs were calling her in more and more
00:30:55
and they were often days when she would
00:30:57
work five or six hours at each job and
00:30:59
that would get her anywhere from a 10 to
00:31:02
a 12-hour day
00:31:03
plus in between the two jobs she was
00:31:06
often going to the health club and
00:31:07
exercising and trying to keep her weight
00:31:09
down three years went by Christie's
00:31:14
Paris became very concerned about her
00:31:16
manic pace yet Christie insisted she was
00:31:19
okay right up to the night she
00:31:22
disappeared the manager of the pizza
00:31:28
parlor indicated that she was extremely
00:31:30
hyper was extremely happy much much
00:31:33
happier than she had been in a long time
00:31:35
and at one point the manager of the
00:31:38
pizza parlor had asked her why she was
00:31:40
so happy which was somewhat unusual and
00:31:42
Christie apparently responded that it's
00:31:45
not what you think
00:31:47
and went on about her work that night
00:31:52
August 9th 1993 Christie left work still
00:31:55
in high spirits she said she was going
00:31:57
straight home but she was next seen in
00:32:00
the parking lot of a nearby public beach
00:32:02
for a ranger spoke to her about 15
00:32:05
minutes before closing time yeah that's
00:32:13
fine I just wanted to make sure you knew
00:32:15
this wasn't an overnight lon yeah is it
00:32:18
okay if I stay here for a while
00:32:20
the Ranger was the last person to see
00:32:23
Christie before she disappeared Thanks
00:32:27
he said that she seemed fairly normal
00:32:31
she then went from there back apparently
00:32:34
back through Fort Bragg traveling south
00:32:36
and headed toward the town of Mendocino
00:32:40
at some point Christie turned onto a
00:32:43
small country road and then veered onto
00:32:45
a dirt road she ended up here just seven
00:32:49
miles from the spot where the car fire
00:32:51
had occurred once again deep in the
00:32:54
redwoods
00:32:54
once again stuck in the mud
00:32:59
[Applause]
00:33:04
and I think that she probably had
00:33:06
flashbacks to 1990 it was like reliving
00:33:10
that nightmare and all of that I think
00:33:13
just overloaded all the circuits
00:33:21
[Music]
00:33:25
Christie's father believes that his
00:33:27
daughter suffered another psychotic
00:33:29
break perhaps even wandering into a
00:33:31
creek as she tried desperately to deal
00:33:34
with a bizarre repetition of her earlier
00:33:36
trauma in my mind the last thing she did
00:33:41
she went through her wallet and in total
00:33:43
frustration whether she's looking at
00:33:45
pictures of family and friends she
00:33:47
ripped them all up she whipped him up
00:33:48
and scattered him around whether she was
00:33:51
destroying her pass and trying to get
00:33:53
away from it you know I really don't
00:33:55
know the next morning a full-scale
00:34:02
search was launched but no trace of
00:34:04
Christie Krebs could be found over the
00:34:07
next few months however several
00:34:09
sightings were reported from Texas to
00:34:11
Salt Lake City Utah one sighting in
00:34:14
California seemed extremely promising on
00:34:22
June 30th 1994 an off-duty highway
00:34:25
worker in a Mike case stopped to pick up
00:34:28
a hitchhiker near Visalia California 300
00:34:31
miles south of the spot where Christie's
00:34:33
car was abandoned
00:34:37
[Music]
00:34:40
it seemed to me that she didn't have it
00:34:42
all there at first I thought possibly
00:34:45
she was on some type of drugs but
00:34:49
talking with her a little bit at the
00:34:52
beginning I knew that possibly she was
00:34:56
in a world of her own arrests there I
00:35:02
did happen no knows that on her wrists
00:35:05
there was to slash marks on her wrists
00:35:07
and I asked her directly Oh what
00:35:11
happened there and she said I had a
00:35:14
breakdown
00:35:17
and a boyfriend wasn't very nice over
00:35:21
the course of 90 minutes the girl talked
00:35:23
about several things which would later
00:35:24
ring true to Kristi's parents a
00:35:27
boyfriend who seemed fiction a desire to
00:35:30
visit San Jose where she once had
00:35:32
relatives and especially her love of the
00:35:34
ocean
00:35:37
in fact my case dropped her off at
00:35:40
knitter section near Hanford California
00:35:41
where she could easily hitchhike to the
00:35:44
beach
00:35:44
[Music]
00:35:47
a week later my case read an article in
00:35:52
a truckers magazine about Christi Krebs
00:35:54
disappearance he contacted Kristi's
00:35:57
parents and they immediately sent
00:35:59
photographs I went through several of
00:36:04
the pictures and my personal feeling
00:36:07
that was the girl I picked up on the
00:36:09
freeway I am positive that is her I'm
00:36:13
positive
00:36:14
and I can say that now and you say it's
00:36:16
policy I believe that Christi is out
00:36:20
there somewhere and that she's alive
00:36:22
because Christi is a survivor she has a
00:36:26
lot of strength she's very friendly I
00:36:29
believe that she would not be a loner
00:36:32
that she would hook up with someone and
00:36:34
that she would make sure that she got
00:36:37
through this and I really believe that
00:36:39
she has that ability we want her back
00:36:41
home because we know that with our help
00:36:44
she can once again recover from whatever
00:36:46
it is that she's going through and we
00:36:49
really hope somebody out there knows
00:36:51
where she is and can help her get home
00:36:55
[Music]
00:37:06
when we return the discovery of a hidden
00:37:09
birth certificate prompts a man to
00:37:11
search for his long-lost brother mom and
00:37:22
dad's secret papers as children most of
00:37:25
us knew that our past kept a treasure
00:37:27
trove of mysterious and forbidden items
00:37:28
tucked away in a special box or just out
00:37:31
of reach in a bureau drawer for a man
00:37:34
named water Thomas this was just such a
00:37:36
box the object of decades of curiosity
00:37:39
just a few days after his father's death
00:37:42
in 1993 Laura finally peeked inside and
00:37:46
stumbled on a surprising unsolved
00:37:48
mystery it is a ritual that has been
00:37:54
repeated by sons and daughters through
00:37:56
the ages yes Walter gathered the family
00:37:59
together and opened his father's stash
00:38:01
of private papers as a driver's license
00:38:04
1933 certificate of birth registration
00:38:10
for who Chuck Philip John Thomas who X
00:38:15
filtered John Thomas when we came across
00:38:18
his birth certificate that was the most
00:38:23
it was unreal I couldn't I can't think
00:38:25
of a word to put into it it was unreal I
00:38:27
can't believe daddy never kept anything
00:38:30
from me it was an extraordinary
00:38:32
revelation one that took water back to
00:38:35
his childhood in the 1940s growing up he
00:38:39
had never heard so much as a whisper
00:38:40
about a younger brother named Philip
00:38:44
clean enough elites the Thomas family
00:38:51
made their home in Westerly Rhode Island
00:38:53
dad worked in a textile mill mom looked
00:38:56
after Walter his younger sister and
00:38:58
younger twin brothers grandma was a
00:39:03
frequent visitor we didn't have much but
00:39:08
in those days you didn't SPECT much you
00:39:10
just did what you had to do just to get
00:39:12
by mom was a sweetest woman who ever did
00:39:17
me she had a heart of gold her laughter
00:39:22
lit up the room she was like a queen to
00:39:26
us you know she was perfect and every
00:39:29
which way she was perfect until her
00:39:31
sickness came in the sickness had been a
00:39:36
dark cloud over the Thomas family Walter
00:39:39
says his mother Adele suffers strange
00:39:41
mental lapses without warning she would
00:39:44
wander away from home trudging aimlessly
00:39:47
through the neighborhood and beyond on
00:39:49
many occasions Walter and his father
00:39:51
would spend hours looking for her I used
00:39:57
to ask that that question dad is mom
00:40:00
ever gonna get better from this there's
00:40:02
mom ever gonna stop this his answer was
00:40:05
sunny he sits in God hands I don't know
00:40:08
[Music]
00:40:15
sometimes she was happy to see us and
00:40:18
sometimes she didn't even know us I tell
00:40:26
it's me you are right on several
00:40:32
occasions Adele's condition deteriorated
00:40:34
so much the Walters scene had no choice
00:40:37
but to admit his wife to a hospital the
00:40:40
children were not allowed inside the mom
00:40:44
used to come to the window and she
00:40:46
hollered down at us you know with Adele
00:41:02
confined to the hospital and Walter
00:41:04
working long hours at the mill grandma
00:41:06
looked after the children not everyone
00:41:09
approved of the arrangement Walter
00:41:11
Walter would you ask your two brothers
00:41:13
and sister to come out here with you
00:41:15
please
00:41:17
hello mrs. Thomas this is the Thomas
00:41:21
household we are from the Department of
00:41:23
Social Services and we're here to take
00:41:24
Walter jr. Sara Richard and David to the
00:41:27
agency with us inside Walter
00:41:29
this home is unfit for these children to
00:41:32
continue living in my grandmother told
00:41:35
him and she said this Thomas family is a
00:41:37
Thomas family it's gonna stay at Thomas
00:41:39
family together
00:41:41
property the Social Service agents were
00:41:44
apparently convinced they'd never again
00:41:48
bothered the Thomas family
00:41:50
[Music]
00:41:54
in May of 1947 Adele recovered and spent
00:41:58
several months at home with her husband
00:41:59
and children but another bout of mental
00:42:02
illness sent her back to the hospital
00:42:03
with an added complication Adele was
00:42:06
pregnant with the couple's fifth child
00:42:09
[Music]
00:42:11
Philip John Thomas was born in April of
00:42:14
1948 given the circumstances Walter felt
00:42:17
he had no choice
00:42:19
reluctantly he and Adele gave their
00:42:21
child up for adoption Lau decades later
00:42:28
Walter resolved to find his brother but
00:42:30
he quickly discovered that every
00:42:32
official record was sealed his story was
00:42:35
picked up by a local newspaper then a
00:42:37
television station sent a reporter to
00:42:39
interview Walter Walter Thomas Jr was 13
00:42:42
years old when his mother the broadcast
00:42:44
would lead to a completely unexpected
00:42:46
discovery a woman named Phyllis Munro
00:42:52
who lived just 35 miles from Walter
00:42:54
telephoned with a stunning news that she
00:42:56
had known Philip as a child three days
00:42:59
later
00:43:00
Walter and Phyllis met Phyllis hi you
00:43:05
have to be Walter it's just like Phillip
00:43:07
oh honey oh my gosh I can't describe
00:43:10
what it felt like to meet to her at the
00:43:13
time because so many things in my mind
00:43:15
that I wanted to ask her but once she
00:43:17
seen me you know she looked at me she
00:43:20
started to cry she started crying oh my
00:43:22
god I said she just just when I see you
00:43:26
she says I see Phillip she says he
00:43:29
looked exactly like Phillip to me and
00:43:31
that's all I needed
00:43:33
I didn't need no paperwork because that
00:43:38
was proof enough to me that that was
00:43:40
Philips brother
00:43:47
as a child Phyllis had grown up in a
00:43:50
foster home under the care of a woman
00:43:52
named Airy thankful Tefft one of
00:43:55
Phyllis's foster brothers was none other
00:43:57
than Phillip John tongues she vividly
00:43:59
recalls a few years they spent together
00:44:04
when Philip came to the house for the
00:44:07
first time he was just darling just a
00:44:11
cutest little boy he had brown eyes and
00:44:14
brown hair and it was to me was like a
00:44:17
brother even the best of foster homes
00:44:22
are temporary arrangements and it was
00:44:24
almost certain that Phillip and Phyllis
00:44:26
would one day be separated partying came
00:44:31
suddenly in July of 1953 Phillip had
00:44:35
been adopted
00:44:36
[Music]
00:44:46
Philip was part of my life when he was a
00:44:51
little boy there and I know that part of
00:44:54
my life went when he went because I was
00:44:58
so attached to it Jonas was able to
00:45:06
share with Walter a tangible link to his
00:45:08
long-lost brother
00:45:09
this photograph of Philip at about three
00:45:12
years of age the fight Philip will close
00:45:18
the Thomas family together it's it's
00:45:23
something I have to do for my father my
00:45:25
father left me that there he told me to
00:45:28
find him and not in the words but he
00:45:32
left it there for me to go after him he
00:45:35
knew I would I will in Tibet knowing my
00:45:40
father that he took that paper out many
00:45:42
times and touched it and held it and
00:45:44
prayed on it they hope that Philip would
00:45:46
been forgiven enough so that he could
00:45:51
you know forgive that for what he did
00:45:53
[Music]
00:46:14
join me next Friday or another
00:46:17
intriguing edition unsolved mysteries
00:46:24
[Music]
00:46:46
[Applause]
00:46:50
[Music]
