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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you are about to see is not a news
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broadcast legend has it there off the
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coast of Northern California divers have
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glimpsed the remains of a sunken World
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War two submarine but is there more to
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the story than mere legend several Navy
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veterans remember seeking a sub near San
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Francisco in 1945 now they fear it might
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have been one of our own in Oklahoma
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abject poverty forced a couple along
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with her six children to set up
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housekeeping in an old school bus when
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that meager shelter was taken away Lila
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and Roy Lee Stallings were arrested the
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children were separated perhaps someone
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watching can help reunite the school bus
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family and the strange saga of John and
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Linda Sohus in 1985 the young couple
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left their home in a well-to-do Los
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Angeles suburb for a two-week trip to
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New York they never returned then this
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past spring workmen installing a pool at
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their former residence were stunned by
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the discovery of a dismembered human
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skeleton almost overnight an inactive
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missing-persons case became an
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intriguing murder mystery
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join me for these intriguing news
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stories and more another edition
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unsolved mysteries
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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May 1994 San Marino California just
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north of Los Angeles excavation for a
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backyard swimming pool came to an abrupt
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halt when workmen made a grim discovery
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three plastic bags and a fiberglass box
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containing dismembered sections of a
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human skeleton we didn't really know who
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this person was and we were later told
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by uniformed officers from San Marino
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that in 1985 the people that lived in
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that house had reported two people
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missing the two missing persons were
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John so Hass and his wife Linda both in
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their late twenties their sudden
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disappearance had mystified everyone who
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knew them the grisly discovery was a
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macabre twist in a nearly 10 year old
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mystery it suddenly appeared that either
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John or Linda Sohus may have been the
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victim of foul play
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detectives probing the dissapears
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encountered a cast of characters that
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might have been dreamed up by a mystery
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writer though married for two years John
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and Linda still lived with John's mother
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didi Sohus
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by all accounts an alcoholic however the
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most intriguing character would prove to
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be a mysterious young man who went by
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the name Christopher Chichester for
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about two years
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Chichester was a tenant in a guest house
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in the sophist property located behind
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the main house occupied by didi John and
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Linda according to friends John and
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Linda felt trapped living with didi
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Sohus looked forward to escaping to a
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place of their own John held several
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part-time computer programming jobs and
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Linda was beginning to find success as
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an artist
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[Music]
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Melinda was happy with her life and John
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approved of everything she had to do and
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say about life and what she wanted to do
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and be in life and I thought that was
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great for her because she'd never had a
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supportive man in her life
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early in 1985 it appeared the young
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couple had finally gotten the break
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they'd been hoping for
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Linda analysis she and John had been
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asked to interview for important new
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jobs Linda called me and informed me
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that John had a job with the government
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and she couldn't release any information
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to me all she could tell me was that
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he's got a job with the government and
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they want us both and we have to go to
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New York Linda told sue that the trip
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was scheduled to last about two weeks
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however the return day came and went no
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Linda and John
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[Music]
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the mystery would deepen in the coming
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months prior to the trip Linda had
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boarded her six cats at a local kennel
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and paid in advance for a two-week stay
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but at the end of eight weeks she still
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did not claimed her pets the kennel
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owner tracked down Linda's sister Kathy
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I immediately thought that something was
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wrong
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if they were not going to return they
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would have taken their pets with them I
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feel that inside very strongly that
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Linda would not have left her animals
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behind Kathy telephoned John's mother
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didi Sohus
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hoping she had an explanation from her
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trip yet I'm not supposed to tell you
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anything the mission mission what what
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mission what are you talking about it
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was very frustrating in all my
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conversations with mrs. solace to get
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the same stories slightly altered but
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still the same story about Linda and
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John being on a secret mission and
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unable to contact any family members Wow
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it did appear to me as though she had
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been drinking
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sometimes it depended on what time of
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the day you called as to how wild the
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story became April 1985 responding to a
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missing persons report filed by Linda's
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family San Marino police tried their
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hand at getting information from didi
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Sohus
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they're not missing everybody keeps
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asking me and I keep telling them
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they're on a secret mission okay can you
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tell us how we can reach them I have a
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source everyone keeps calling her and I
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keep telling didi refused to identify
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the person she called her source with no
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evidence of foul play the authorities
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were powerless to investigate further
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finally a full three months after the
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Seoul hussars had supposedly left
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Linda's friend sue received this picture
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postcard but it had not been mailed from
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New York far from it I have no clue as
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to how going to New York had ever wind
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up being France and I read the back of
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it I was like I can't wait she's finally
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gonna tell me where she is what's going
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on and all it said was dear sue kind of
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Miss New York oops but this can be lived
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with John and Linda nothing about a call
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you later can't talk now nothing it just
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didn't sound like her another card was
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sent from France to Linda's family my
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mother received a postcards from Linda I
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believe it to be from Linda it did not
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say when she would return or how she had
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come to be in Paris if they were
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planning a trip to Europe she would have
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been very excited about going and would
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certainly have expressed that to my
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mother and perhaps myself as well when I
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first talked to the police I thought I
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knew what was going on three months
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after refusing to help the police didi
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Sohus had an inexplicable change of
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heart she too found a missing-persons
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report on John and Linda have you had
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any contact at all since they left well
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I've been sending their mail through my
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source the man has been in contact with
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them
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he's been the one telling me what's been
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happening well needed time for this
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individual you can't that's why I'm
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worried he's gone too just disappeared
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according to didi the mysterious contact
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was none other than her guest house
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tenant Christopher Chichester however he
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had recently moved leaving no forwarding
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address
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didi also reported that her son's pickup
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truck was now missing though she could
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not say when it had disappeared however
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there still was no proof that a crime
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had been committed and the investigation
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stalled soon after fighting her missing
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person report didi Sohus would sell her
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house and moved to a trailer park
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she died in February of 1988 the fate of
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her son still a mystery nine months
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later the case unexpectedly sprang to
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life the so houses truck turned up 3,000
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miles away in Greenwich Connecticut a
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man calling himself Christopher Crowe
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had tried to sell the pickup to the son
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of a local minister this is it that's a
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great looking truck yeah I told you
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you'd like it one thing though I don't
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have the title paper so you're gonna
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have to get them from the California DMV
00:10:20
the Reverend son decided not to purchase
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the vehicle based on the fact that there
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was an outstanding lien on the truck the
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San Marino Police Department wanted me
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to also look for an individual by the
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name of Christopher Chichester well they
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felt had information on the whereabouts
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of John and Linda Sohus
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my continued investigation and
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attempting to locate mr. Chichester
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ultimately ended in me discovering that
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mr. Chichester and mr. Crowe were the
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same individuals it was a stunning
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discovery chrome Chichester by any name
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the enigmatic ex tenant seemed to be one
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person who might be able to shed light
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on the soul houses disappearance but
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Christopher crow alias Christopher
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Chichester had vanished again
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consequently the investigation stalled
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again until the dismembered skeleton was
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uncovered in May of 1994 after extensive
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analysis a forensic anthropologist
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determined that the remains were
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consistent with physical descriptions of
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John Sohus
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however a lack of dental records
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prevented conclusive identification
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police could only speculate about how
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the body came to be buried in the
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backyard of the one-time sophist
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residence nothing about the bones
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themselves that say there was murdered
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there was no bullet holes anything like
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that but the fact that the bones were
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buried in three separate plastic bags
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and the head in a separate place in a
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separate bag makes one think that there
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was murder involved detectives hope to
00:12:01
learn more in using a controversial
00:12:03
chemical called luminol though it is
00:12:06
highly toxic and dangerous to use
00:12:07
luminol will emit a distinctive glow
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when it comes into contact with blood
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even where the stains are wiped away
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years before luminol was applied to the
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cement floors in the guest house and the
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former's saw his property within moments
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will become apparent if there was
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evidence of murder
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[Music]
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the tell-tale glow was unmistakable
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although luminol can detect chemicals in
00:12:46
other compounds this was not just a
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trace element situation the there was a
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copious amount of something put on that
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floor and in our opinion that was not
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but whose blood was John so HUS murdered
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in the guest house and buried in the
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backyard if so what happened to Linda
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officially both John and Linda Sohus are
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still missing perhaps having the time of
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their lives
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gallivanting across Europe believe that
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it would have been possible for John and
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Linda to relocate and have a new life
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and choose not to contact family members
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but I do believe that after so many
00:13:31
years have passed that at some point at
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least once Linda would have made contact
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there is one curious footnote to this
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perplexing case according to the kennel
00:13:45
operator in June of 1985 a woman showed
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up and asked for Linda's cats faced with
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the alternative of destroying the
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animals a kennel owner complied she
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never saw the woman again and there is
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no clue to her identity or whether she
00:14:00
has any connection to the case
00:14:05
authorities would like to speak to the
00:14:07
young man known as Christopher
00:14:09
Chichester they now know that he is
00:14:11
Christian Gerhartsreiter a native of
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Germany
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[Music]
00:14:33
[Music]
00:14:39
next a mystery submarine sunk during
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World War two
00:14:43
could it have been one of our own
00:14:45
attacked mistakenly the 840 mile
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coastline of California is a treasure
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trove of natural beauty
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his long stretches of beach coupled with
00:15:03
fabulous rock formations have made it a
00:15:06
haven for deep-sea divers over the years
00:15:10
a kind of beach town urban legend has
00:15:12
sprung up along the coast rumor has it
00:15:15
that divers between Santa Barbara and
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San Francisco have sighted something
00:15:19
very unusual we're about 15 miles off
00:15:22
the point not a six-pack we're down
00:15:24
about 120 feet now listen I got real
00:15:26
good visibility maybe 30 or 40 feet yeah
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and sitting off the point there at the
00:15:31
bottom right on the reef is what I think
00:15:33
a world war two submarine and u-boat a
00:15:35
submarine yeah out here yes deck guns
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the whole thing in place right there at
00:15:40
the reef crystal clear today it seems
00:15:43
preposterous an enemy sub that close to
00:15:46
the continental United States but in
00:15:49
World War two America's coastline was
00:15:52
vulnerable to enemy sub attack a German
00:15:55
u-boat was sighted off the coast of New
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England and may of 1945
00:15:59
later that year an oil rig near Santa
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Barbara California was fired upon by a
00:16:05
Japanese submarine
00:16:10
despite the obvious threat that existed
00:16:12
fifty years ago
00:16:13
the rumors of a sunken sub remain just
00:16:15
that rumors but in fact there are a few
00:16:19
aging American sailors who remember
00:16:21
submarine hit in 1945 just off the coast
00:16:24
of Northern California at the time of
00:16:27
course he assumed it was the enemy but
00:16:29
curiously no record of the incident
00:16:31
exists now the old sailors are afraid
00:16:34
they might inadvertently have sunk one
00:16:36
of our own during 1944 and 1945 the USS
00:16:43
Willard Keith was one of a fleet of Navy
00:16:45
destroyers patrolling the Pacific coast
00:16:47
for the most part life on board was all
00:16:50
practice and drill with a Kay guns
00:16:52
better known as depth charges
00:16:57
then came March 21st 1945 the Willard
00:17:02
Keith was cruising south of San
00:17:04
Francisco when a General Quarters alarm
00:17:06
sound an enemy's son was below
00:17:16
Chet Gardner was a 19 year old seaman on
00:17:19
the Willard Keith his duty set the depth
00:17:22
of the explosive charges well I can see
00:17:29
it just plain today as I could the day
00:17:31
that it happened Starbuck I'm ready to
00:17:33
fire sir
00:17:34
it's something I'll never forget because
00:17:36
I was running pretty excited about it
00:17:40
[Music]
00:17:50
boy the water flew everywhere I thought
00:17:53
my gosh we made a mistake look to me
00:17:57
like we were gonna blow the ship right
00:17:58
out of the water that was so shallow but
00:18:02
as we watched then word came down from
00:18:07
the bridge that they had got a hit it
00:18:12
was a tremendous explosion you know and
00:18:14
Eugene Sheridan then 24 years old man 2
00:18:18
km on the Willard Keith we succeed all
00:18:23
greenie slippin orlick's looking stuff
00:18:25
coming to the top of the water and it's
00:18:28
not the seawater you're in there all
00:18:30
time you didn't tell the difference of
00:18:31
color of it then and we made three or
00:18:34
four passes around and back and forth
00:18:37
and criss crossed and everything else
00:18:39
and we never did pick it up again after
00:18:44
we had made our turn and came back yeah
00:18:46
they couldn't pick it up on the sonar
00:18:48
anymore there was no more sound we
00:18:51
assumed it was just laying on the bottom
00:18:53
there some place Bill Anderson a laundry
00:18:58
man on the main deck was just 18 years
00:19:00
old even then bill had his doubts and
00:19:05
began to wonder whether in fact the
00:19:07
sunken submarine did belong to the enemy
00:19:10
indeed bill felt strongly enough to
00:19:12
question a junior officers house are too
00:19:16
close to shore Anderson but sir it was
00:19:18
an American submarine it beyond the
00:19:20
surface not below it yes sir it was kind
00:19:25
of a sobering thought you know I mean
00:19:27
you had maybe 50 60 men dying below
00:19:30
you're at that time or we thought this
00:19:32
was the case Bill Anderson has never
00:19:37
been able to shake that haunting image
00:19:38
nor the nagging suspicion of the dying
00:19:41
men or his own comrades
00:19:44
yes petitioned the Navy and received the
00:19:47
deck log and war diary for the Willard
00:19:49
Keith but there is no record of the
00:19:51
submarine hit a war diary we got doesn't
00:19:56
mention any enemy contact doesn't
00:19:58
mention this depth charge run whatsoever
00:20:02
there didn't seem to be any information
00:20:06
in Washington on submarine being sunk
00:20:09
off the coast California in 1992 Bill
00:20:15
Anderson and a partner pull the
00:20:17
resources and bought a boat call the
00:20:18
echo hunter using radar underwater sonar
00:20:22
and divers they are determined to find
00:20:25
the sunken submarine we think the odds
00:20:31
are good enough that we spent most of
00:20:33
our money on this project to find it
00:20:38
it's became an obsession with us to find
00:20:41
a yeah to find the sub I say it that we
00:20:49
either something right there or we
00:20:52
crippled it bad and it crawled off
00:20:53
someplace else maybe maybe got away or
00:20:56
maybe who knows you know but I
00:20:59
definitely do know that the stuff that
00:21:01
we dropped the depth charges on
00:21:05
the Navy denies that it happened but it
00:21:08
did happen why they say that it didn't
00:21:13
happen I don't know unless they're
00:21:15
covering it up you know
00:21:16
unless it is one of our subs and they
00:21:19
don't want to know
00:21:21
[Music]
00:21:27
did the USS Willard Keith make a direct
00:21:30
hit that day in 1945
00:21:33
if so regardless of whether the dead or
00:21:36
American Japanese are German the Willard
00:21:39
ki satyrs hope to turn the sunken
00:21:41
submarine into a monument to honor the
00:21:44
memory of those who fought and those who
00:21:47
died at our request the US Navy checked
00:21:54
their archives they gave us the
00:21:56
following statement we have no record of
00:21:59
the USS Willard Keith sinking a
00:22:01
submarine in the spring of 1945
00:22:04
additionally we have no record of any
00:22:06
sub sinkings in the eastern pacific
00:22:08
ocean during that same time frame Bill
00:22:11
Anderson and his comrades remain
00:22:13
undaunted they plan to continue their
00:22:15
quest next the mysterious death of a
00:22:21
Cook County Illinois police captain was
00:22:24
a suicide or was it a contract killer
00:22:26
[Music]
00:22:35
according to those who knew him best
00:22:38
captain Michael O'Meara of the Cook
00:22:40
County Illinois sheriff's police was a
00:22:42
straightest of straight arrows he was a
00:22:45
devoted husband and father the only
00:22:48
officer in the sheriff's Police trained
00:22:50
at the FBI Academy in the 60s O'Mara
00:22:54
became celebrated as a scourge of the
00:22:56
Illinois mafia by 1988 however Michael
00:23:01
O'Mara had been relegated to a desk job
00:23:03
in the records department it should have
00:23:05
been the gentle twilight of a brilliant
00:23:07
career should have been but wasn't
00:23:12
[Music]
00:23:14
May 30th 1988 shortly after 9 p.m. at
00:23:22
the Cook County Courthouse the sheriff's
00:23:24
police patrolmen pulled into the private
00:23:26
service area to gas up his car an
00:23:30
unmarked police car was parked at the
00:23:32
pumps with a gas nozzle in the tank yet
00:23:35
no officer was in sight
00:23:48
as the patrolman's flashlight played
00:23:50
over the lawn around the service area he
00:23:52
caught a glimpse of a gruesome scene
00:23:58
Michael Oh Maris body was slumped over a
00:24:00
rock in the middle of the lawn he had
00:24:02
been shot once through the head his
00:24:05
wallet and his briefcase had not been
00:24:07
touched even though there was no sign of
00:24:09
a robbery Michael Oh Maris reputation as
00:24:12
a crusader against organized crime late
00:24:15
murders seemed a distinct possibility
00:24:19
you approach a death scene as possibly a
00:24:22
homicide initially that you know who did
00:24:25
this there was a gun to the right side
00:24:30
of the other body near the right hand
00:24:32
and there was a very visible gunshot
00:24:36
wound to the forehead there was a
00:24:40
flashlight found next to Iraq that that
00:24:42
we can identify as his flashlight the
00:24:46
gun is his gun and there was one one
00:24:49
bullet that was discharged from that
00:24:52
cylinder of that weapon you've got
00:24:54
nothing in any way shape or form to say
00:24:56
that there was anybody else there the
00:24:59
victims pockets were intact is his money
00:25:02
was intact his car was intact if you
00:25:05
were going to weigh this there there
00:25:06
would be more there would be more more
00:25:09
weight towards a suicide or an accident
00:25:11
than there would be towards towards a
00:25:14
murder two weeks after Michael Mehra
00:25:17
died a Cook County Coroner handed down a
00:25:20
ruling which confirmed investigators
00:25:22
suspicions the official cause of death
00:25:25
was listed as suicide
00:25:30
it all seems so funny a tragic end to an
00:25:34
otherwise spotless career but it was not
00:25:37
the end Michael Maris friends and family
00:25:40
felt there had been a rush to judgment
00:25:42
despite the coroner's ruling they were
00:25:44
convinced that Mike had been murdered
00:25:46
what they didn't know was who could have
00:25:48
done it and why but they were sure that
00:25:52
Michael O'Mara had not killed himself
00:25:55
[Music]
00:25:58
the last person known to have seen Mike
00:26:00
alive was his wife Barbara she recalls
00:26:03
he left the house at night in good
00:26:04
spirits saying he had to fill his
00:26:06
department vehicle with gas right before
00:26:10
he left he said he's gonna stop on the
00:26:12
way back to get yogurt and he asked
00:26:13
everybody what what flavor they wanted
00:26:16
and of course day before payday and he
00:26:19
didn't have any money in his wallet so
00:26:21
he asked me for some money to go why
00:26:30
would you know he'd take my last couple
00:26:32
of dollars to get the yogurt if he was
00:26:35
planning on not coming back it doesn't
00:26:38
make any sense in this case you can take
00:26:44
any isolated fact and say it can be
00:26:47
consistent with suicide the problem is
00:26:51
is the whole scenario when you look at
00:26:54
that it's not that of a suicide
00:26:57
in 1989 Barbara O'Mara hired dr. DiMaio
00:27:01
to review the case including the
00:27:03
coroner's findings and the events
00:27:05
leading up to Michael Mehra's death when
00:27:10
I reviewed the background information in
00:27:13
this case it was evident that there was
00:27:16
no reason for the individual to have
00:27:18
committed suicide there was no financial
00:27:20
problems no personal problems no fatal
00:27:23
disease that does not completely rule
00:27:27
out suicide but it kind of makes the
00:27:30
conclusion that a death is suicide a
00:27:33
little more difficult
00:27:34
the man is found dead in a field with a
00:27:36
flashlight next to him and his gun his
00:27:40
car is parked nearby with the gasoline
00:27:44
nozzle inserted into the tank this does
00:27:48
not sound like a suicide you know unless
00:27:50
the man just drove up there and as he
00:27:52
was filling his gas tank says hey gee I
00:27:55
don't have anything else to do might as
00:27:56
well commit suicide it was kind of
00:27:58
bizarre based on his investigation dr.
00:28:02
DiMaio has come up with a scenario for
00:28:05
murdered the evidence at the scene
00:28:08
suggests that mr. Mara began to fill the
00:28:11
tank of his car when he saw heard
00:28:14
something in the field he then took a
00:28:17
gun from his briefcase and went to
00:28:20
investigate when he got into the field
00:28:24
he met somebody or a number of people
00:28:28
and he was shot I think that if someone
00:28:32
was screaming that a crime was occurring
00:28:35
and he was standing right at his vehicle
00:28:38
I don't know why he wouldn't ask for
00:28:40
help first also it's my understanding
00:28:44
from reading the file and talking to the
00:28:45
investigators that persons who heard a
00:28:48
shot fired did not hear those other
00:28:50
things they didn't hear somebody calling
00:28:53
for help when our investigators went to
00:28:55
the scene and they looked in the field
00:28:57
it didn't appear that there was any
00:28:59
struggle in the field if not by him and
00:29:02
somebody else by that quote a possible
00:29:05
offender and a third party there was no
00:29:07
evidence of a struggle who would have
00:29:12
had a motive to kill Michael Mary could
00:29:15
it have been a long-forgotten enemy not
00:29:17
vendetta for more than 25 years ever
00:29:20
since O'Meara and his Raiders went after
00:29:22
the Mafia in the 60s or could my camara
00:29:25
have had an enemy closer to home perhaps
00:29:28
even in the sheriff's police if anyone
00:29:31
knows he's not saying but dr. DiMaio
00:29:34
points to one additional fact which he
00:29:36
believes argues against suicide when
00:29:41
people shoot themselves they tend to put
00:29:43
the gun firmly against the head at the
00:29:46
time of discharge in this case the
00:29:49
muscle of the weapon was between two and
00:29:51
four inches away from the skin and you
00:29:54
could see that by the powder tattooing
00:29:56
on the skin around the entrance well he
00:30:00
may have chosen to have it out be a
00:30:03
contact wound because he did he taught
00:30:06
homicide investigation I mean he taught
00:30:09
courses and he he taught about suicide
00:30:11
so he knows if he wanted to make it look
00:30:15
like something other than it was he may
00:30:17
have deliberately done that well I don't
00:30:19
think you can really get into someone's
00:30:21
head when they're when they're if they
00:30:23
are about to go and do something as
00:30:25
drastic as does he he left the house
00:30:28
with the intent to get yes he told his
00:30:30
wife dad and I'm going to bring some
00:30:31
frozen yogurt home so he he played that
00:30:35
scenario out
00:30:36
yeah he just didn't come home based on
00:30:40
the information that I have in front of
00:30:42
me in reading the entire case
00:30:45
it tends to be suicide I don't have any
00:30:50
evidence in front of me that would
00:30:53
conclude that this was a homicide and we
00:30:55
need them when we're more looking for
00:30:56
the offenders
00:30:59
what happened to captain Michael O'Mara
00:31:02
on the night of May 30th 1988 is it
00:31:05
possible he chose to end his own life a
00:31:08
life which would have been the envy of
00:31:10
any police officer irizarry killer still
00:31:13
at large still unidentified still a
00:31:16
danger Michael Maris friends and family
00:31:19
believe the answer is obvious Michael
00:31:22
Maron is not a man to commit suicide one
00:31:27
of the reasons that I don't believe this
00:31:28
would have been a suicide it just
00:31:30
wouldn't have been his nature to do
00:31:31
something like this
00:31:32
either to his family or to his religious
00:31:34
beliefs it wasn't an accident he was
00:31:37
purposely shot and why it's being
00:31:41
covered up for whether they know or
00:31:44
anybody knows I don't know I can't
00:31:46
believe it's a suicide at all knowing
00:31:49
Mike it was totally foreign to his
00:31:53
nature he was never one to give up on
00:31:57
something you know it just doesn't fit
00:32:00
him you know what happened out there
00:32:03
I'll never know but suicide I'll never
00:32:05
believe
00:32:08
[Music]
00:32:17
on the evening of October 2nd 1961 mr.
00:32:21
mrs. Earl Boettcher and their son Alan
00:32:24
were leaving Baptist Hospital in
00:32:25
Jacksonville Florida when Alan ran ahead
00:32:29
to the family car he made a startling
00:32:31
discovery a baby girl had been carefully
00:32:34
placed in the back seat the child became
00:32:38
a local celebrity newspapers dubbed her
00:32:40
baby girl X within a year she was
00:32:43
adopted by Mary Lou and William Christie
00:32:46
of Tallahassee and named Terry Terry
00:32:49
grew up happily doted on by her parents
00:32:52
and an older brother and sister by the
00:32:55
time she was a teenager however she
00:32:57
began to ask questions I kind of
00:33:00
rebelled and wanted to know this when we
00:33:07
went to the library looked it up and
00:33:09
then I got excited I was proud you know
00:33:13
together Terry and her adoptive mother
00:33:16
Mary Lou searched for clues to the
00:33:18
identity of Terry's birth mother
00:33:26
I believe she had a heart she put me
00:33:29
somewhere safe where I was gonna be well
00:33:31
taken care of and I appreciate that I
00:33:34
just want to meet her and see how she is
00:33:36
I would like to find a beginning thanks
00:33:47
to our broadcast
00:33:48
Terry Christie Derby now knows the
00:33:50
answers to all our questions
00:33:52
sadly Terry's birth mother Edith
00:33:54
Campbell died on August 17th 1993 just a
00:33:58
few months before our segment aired but
00:34:00
out of this sadness a happy ending did
00:34:02
emerge Terry was delighted to learn that
00:34:05
she had a sister and three brothers they
00:34:08
were delighted as well none of them had
00:34:10
ever known that Terry existed on July
00:34:16
8th 1994 Terry went to a hotel in Miami
00:34:19
Florida to meet three of her siblings
00:34:21
Phillip Paul and Cecilia face-to-face
00:34:24
for the first time it was the neatest
00:34:35
experience of my life I walked in and
00:34:38
there was everybody I wanted to see next
00:34:42
to me giving birth to my own kids this
00:34:46
is the best thing that's ever happened
00:34:48
to me
00:34:49
best thing my experience is that there's
00:34:53
more of them but no just a biological
00:34:55
thing in a family there's also a karmic
00:34:58
a sense of underlying destiny that lies
00:35:02
underneath the whole thing and this
00:35:04
eunomia meet somebody that I mean Terry
00:35:07
it's like she is my sister I knew it
00:35:10
right away you know there's no doubt at
00:35:13
the Reunion Terry and her adoptive
00:35:15
mother finally saw a picture of Terry's
00:35:17
biological mother
00:35:19
Edith Campbell according to a family
00:35:21
member Edith a given Terry up only
00:35:24
because of extreme financial desperation
00:35:27
knowing what a what a loving person she
00:35:31
was she cared about nothing but her
00:35:34
children her whole life and
00:35:37
I can only imagine the anguish that that
00:35:41
she went through when she decided to do
00:35:43
this they make me feel wanted they make
00:35:49
me feel like I'm not an outcast like
00:35:52
kind of felt like I wasn't even passed
00:35:54
but I can feel their own vibes love
00:35:59
whatever you know the next day Terry met
00:36:09
her other brother Chris who had been
00:36:10
called out of town on business on the
00:36:12
day of the reunion at last the family
00:36:19
circle is complete when we return
00:36:26
perhaps you can help reunite a family
00:36:29
torn apart by poverty and
00:36:31
misunderstanding
00:36:41
in the year 1948 a family tragedy began
00:36:45
to unfold
00:36:45
just north of Tipton Oklahoma Riley and
00:36:50
Lila Stallings along with their six
00:36:52
children existed on the edge of abject
00:36:54
poverty
00:36:55
the Stallings actually lived in an old
00:36:57
school bus Roy Lee worked sporadically
00:37:00
as a sharecropper and was rarely at home
00:37:02
he gambled away what little money he
00:37:05
brought in in his own way he was
00:37:11
fatherly by trying to make a living for
00:37:14
us but as far as being home he wasn't
00:37:20
home that much the mother was the one
00:37:24
that was the disciplinarian to cook in
00:37:27
his food and supply and the meals and
00:37:30
everything it was Mother's Jo
00:37:35
in spite of almost insurmountable odds
00:37:39
Lila stalling struggled to maintain a
00:37:41
home life that was as normal as possible
00:37:43
Mary thank you we always had something
00:37:52
to do and we had toys to play with and
00:37:56
each other to play with so we don't we
00:37:58
didn't think of ourselves as being
00:37:59
different do you want to hear the story
00:38:02
of Noah's Ark again yeah okay one day
00:38:07
the Lord told Noah to build an ark
00:38:10
mother couldn't read her write but her
00:38:13
Bible meant a lot to her and she'd see
00:38:16
pictures and she'd tell us vital stories
00:38:18
from the pictures and we grew up with a
00:38:20
very direct sense of what was right and
00:38:23
wrong to the children the old school bus
00:38:28
was home a haven and a safe place but
00:38:32
others notably Melvin Purdy a family
00:38:35
friend had different ideas and Melvin
00:38:37
did not hesitate to make his feelings
00:38:39
known to Lila Stallings I want you to
00:38:52
leave and never never come back here
00:38:55
you're not gonna let me take them they
00:38:56
know you can't have him
00:38:59
I think you ain't gonna have any kids
00:39:01
very long
00:39:11
the only child Melvin wanted to raise
00:39:13
himself was four year old David Ray the
00:39:15
youngest boy but Melvin thought all the
00:39:18
children were neglected from the baby
00:39:20
two year old Norma roof to the Elms 12
00:39:24
year old Roy jr. Mary was then ten the
00:39:28
oldest girl of second mother to the
00:39:30
younger ones Joe is both Big Brother and
00:39:34
role model to six year old Ernest Lee
00:39:38
[Music]
00:39:42
the final straw came a few weeks later
00:39:45
when the old school bus was taken away
00:39:48
apparently royally Stallings had lost it
00:39:50
in a poker game
00:39:51
Melvin Purdy along with several others
00:39:54
wasted no time contacting the
00:39:56
authorities Slee and lilo Stallings
00:40:01
you've been charged with the crime of
00:40:03
omitting to provide for the care of
00:40:05
minor children how do you paid to these
00:40:07
charges not guilty based on evidence
00:40:11
presented to this court there is due
00:40:13
cause to have you bound over for trial
00:40:14
until further decision the children are
00:40:17
placed in the care of the Child Welfare
00:40:19
Department under your supervision
00:40:21
yes mr. mrs. Stallings at this time you
00:40:25
are placed in the custody of the Tillman
00:40:27
County Sheriff's Department I remember
00:40:33
seeing them both in handcuffs and that
00:40:37
was the last time I saw mother as they
00:40:40
let her out the side door and that was
00:40:43
something very strange to us
00:40:46
[Music]
00:40:50
over the next few days the starlings
00:40:53
children would all be taken to foster
00:40:54
homes Mary vividly remembers the last
00:41:01
time she saw her three youngest siblings
00:41:04
I put Ernest Lee in the car told Ernest
00:41:10
to get in the car and I put David in the
00:41:13
car and they Normie was holding on to me
00:41:17
and wouldn't let go and they pulled her
00:41:19
out of my arms and put her in the car
00:41:26
[Music]
00:41:28
early flea was pulling at the window
00:41:32
they had roll the windows up
00:41:37
and that's the last time I saw within a
00:41:49
week the charges against Lila and Roy
00:41:51
Lee Stallings were dropped but the
00:41:53
damage had already been done
00:41:54
Lila was told that all of her children
00:41:57
except the oldest Roy jr. had been put
00:41:59
up for adoption two years later after
00:42:06
Roy Lee and Lila divorced Mary was
00:42:08
allowed to go home and live with her
00:42:09
mother Jo was reunited with him in 1959
00:42:13
Lila passed away in 1989 but Mary and
00:42:17
Joe still desperately want to be
00:42:19
reunited with their brothers and sister
00:42:21
[Music]
00:42:23
we've never given up hope that there are
00:42:27
are still alive and that we will be able
00:42:29
to find them curious as to what they've
00:42:32
grown up like their family life what
00:42:34
what they've made it themselves and
00:42:37
definitely hoping that I'd if I do find
00:42:39
that none of this won't ever hurt them
00:42:41
I have tried every avenue that I have
00:42:46
came before me to try and locate these
00:42:50
presents history and I'll never quit
00:42:56
until the last day in my life
00:43:02
unsolved mysteries appeared to be the
00:43:04
last hope and happily the day after our
00:43:07
broadcast 35 years of frustration came
00:43:09
to an end for John Mary a man named Lee
00:43:12
Shu lien of Owasso Oklahoma called her
00:43:15
phone center he identified himself as
00:43:17
earnestly Stallings it was only five
00:43:19
when the family was split apart Lee was
00:43:22
thrilled to hear that his brother and
00:43:23
sister were looking for him and was
00:43:25
anxious to meet them
00:43:30
three weeks later Lee arrived at a hotel
00:43:33
in Tulsa Oklahoma to be reunited with Jo
00:43:36
and the two brothers had not seen each
00:43:39
other in nearly half a century
00:43:42
[Music]
00:43:49
no no that's what I described it it's
00:43:55
such a wonderful feeling walking in this
00:44:04
morning he walked in and we met hugged
00:44:09
each other no bike and realize the
00:44:17
feeling separated too many years yeah
00:44:22
about 40 40 I'd really didn't know how I
00:44:26
was gonna react you know we've been
00:44:28
separated 46 years I felt a lot better
00:44:32
than what I thought I might and I really
00:44:35
you know felt real good too
00:44:37
hugging we've already started making us
00:44:41
some plans to get together go fishing so
00:44:45
we've got a future ahead of us to be
00:44:49
together and enjoy each other
00:44:55
sadly Jo and Lee's sister Mary was
00:44:58
unable to attend the reunion however she
00:45:01
has spoken with Lee on the phone and
00:45:02
they plan to get together in the very
00:45:04
near future yeah
00:45:09
[Music]
00:45:37
on our next unsolved mysteries a
00:45:39
remarkable story of faith and healing
00:45:42
when Vera Marie Calandra was 2 years old
00:45:45
her parents were told that she had just
00:45:47
weeks to live
00:45:48
Vera Marie's mother immediately
00:45:50
undertook an arduous journey to Italy to
00:45:52
ask for a special blessing from an aging
00:45:54
priest named padre pio within weeks
00:45:57
doctors were stunned to find that Vera
00:45:59
Marie was well on her way to recovery
00:46:03
today Vera Marie Callender is a normal
00:46:06
healthy adult for she saved by a miracle
00:46:09
join me next Friday for this uplifting
00:46:12
story and much more on unsolved
00:46:15
mysteries
00:46:21
[Music]
00:46:43
[Applause]
00:46:46
[Music]
