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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're about to see is not a news
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broadcast
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[Music]
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seventeen-year-old curt silver
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disappeared after an impromptu party
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five days later kurt's body was found
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but no cause of death could be
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determined no one knows how or why he
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died
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last may two boys found a rock carved
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with mysterious symbols
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suddenly a phenomenal run of good luck
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began
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they believe the rock has special powers
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in new mexico a catholic priest was
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lured to an isolated truck stop and
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abducted in montana another priest
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mysteriously vanished authorities fear a
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priest killer may be on the loose
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1949 chunking china
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as a communist revolution of mao xitong
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sweeps the country an american gi named
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melvin nellis is shipped back to the
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states forced to leave behind his
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girlfriend and their five-year-old son
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john
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more than two decades later the boy is a
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grown man one of thousands of refugees
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fleeing vietnam during the fall of
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saigon
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today john ellis is an american citizen
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with a good job and a new family
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but the painful memories of vietnam are
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still fresh
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like his father before him john nellis
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left behind a young son when he came to
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the united states
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join me perhaps you can help reunite a
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family torn apart by war
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[Music]
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on october the 28th 1981 in newburgh
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heights ohio a suburb of cleveland
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three young boys made a gruesome
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discovery
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wow is it dummy
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i don't know
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i don't think so i think it's real let's
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get out of here
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the body the young boys found seemed to
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have been deliberately placed where it
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lay
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apart from some minor scratches and
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bruises there was no sign of injury
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one tennis shoe was in a pile of rocks
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12 feet away
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the other shoe was missing
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several hours later the body was
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positively identified as 17 17-year-old
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kurt silva
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an autopsy revealed that kurt had died
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24 to 36 hours before his body was found
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but he had been missing for five days
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i would like to know
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where kurt was these five days
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i would like to know how he died what
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caused his death
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[Music]
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i'm sure somebody knows because somebody
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put him there
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somebody either was with him when he
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died or somebody came upon him after he
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died and evidently panicked and put him
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down there they didn't want to be caught
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with him
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ken and dorothy silva called unsolved
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mysteries in a final effort to find
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answers to the questions that plagued
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them
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where was kurt during the five days he
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was missing
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did he die in the vacant lot or was his
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body placed there
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and is it really possible for a
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perfectly healthy 17 year old boy to die
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without any apparent cause
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the sudden unexpected death of a
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teenager is always tragic
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but for canon dorothy silva
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the tragedies compounded by the
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mysterious circumstances surrounding
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kurt's disappearance
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and death
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[Music]
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kurt silva lived with his parents in
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this quiet blue-collar neighborhood on
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the outskirts of cleveland
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he was the youngest of ken and dorothy
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sova's four sons and the closest to his
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parents
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he never had any trouble with the
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neighbors i never had any trouble with
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him in school i never had any trouble
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with him with the police
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that's why i can't understand what
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happened
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kurt left home for the last time on
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friday october 23rd late in the
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afternoon
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one block from his house kurt met up
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with a friend of his
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how you doing
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nothing much how about you hey party
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tonight yeah where ah sue's house that's
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it tonight yeah
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i don't know friday yeah i was planning
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on going to the haunted house
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kurt silva never returned home
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it was not like him to be gone overnight
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it was not like him to stay out after 10
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10 30 11 o'clock the latest and that was
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only when we knew where he was
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this night he just never came home
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by saturday morning kurt's parents were
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worried
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dorothy began calling kurt's friends
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while ken scoured the area
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we
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searched all the neighborhoods all the
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places that we figured kurt would be
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and uh as that day went by
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looking for him nobody turned curt up
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and i started getting really worried
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thank you on sunday the soviets
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registered kurt as a missing person with
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a cleveland police
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meanwhile dorothy papered the
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neighborhood with missing flyers
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excuse me hi can i help you oh
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search the school yards i even went so
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far as to search dumpsters looking for
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him
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on sunday afternoon dorothy turned up a
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lead
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kurt's friends told her that he had been
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at a party friday night in newburgh
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heights less than two miles from where
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the silvas lived
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dorothy went to the duplex where she had
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heard the party was held
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yeah are you susan
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no susan isn't here right now when i
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went there the girl who had the party
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was not there it was another girl
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she claimed she was babysitting and that
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the other girl was working
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do you know anything about a party that
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was here last friday
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no
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could you possibly have susan call me
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when she gets home tomorrow it's really
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important
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let me give you my name and song number
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all right
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please have her call me yeah all right
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thank you all right
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when the girl returned home that had
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rented that apartment she called me and
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she said she never saw my son and she
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had no party
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despite what the woman named susan told
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dorothy silva
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a pizza delivery man stated that indeed
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there had been a party at the duplex on
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friday night
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dorothy contacted susan again and this
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time she admitted kurt had been there
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more than a dozen people had dropped by
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some of them older than kurt
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most of them people he had never met
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before
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susan told dorothy that kurt had been
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drinking very heavily
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those who knew him say that kurt was not
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much of a drinker and his slight build
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added to his low tolerance for alcohol
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[Music]
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i was shocked to hear kurt was drinking
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i never knew him to drink
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him i'm sure if everyone else was
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drinking he probably was drinking at
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that party
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i never knew him or his normal friends
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to drink
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but these were not his normal friends he
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was with this night
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they were all a whole new group of
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people
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come on
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the fellow that kurt went to the party
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with told us jackfruit had become ill
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he took him outside for some air and
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because it was a chilly night he said he
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went upstairs to get kurt's jacket and
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he left him hanging on the fence
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he said he went up to get his jacket and
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came back down and kurt was gone
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that's when i think i became hysterical
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i thought my god something to happen to
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him at that party or in between the
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party and home
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only i didn't in my wildest dreams
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expect him to turn up dead
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on wednesday october the 28th
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five days after he left home
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kurt sova's body was found in a ravine
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on harvard street
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he was found just 500 yards from the
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duplex or at last been seen alive
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we have a young male probably about 16
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or 17. it's our belief that his body was
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dumped out there and
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whoever the person or persons were knew
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the area and they knew that people go
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back there and ride dirt bikes and kids
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played back there so
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they knew that
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eventually within a certain amount of
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time that he would be found
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the police combed the area for clues
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they found kurt's left shoe wedged in
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some rocks less than 12 feet away from
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his body
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they were never able to locate his right
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shoe photo 29
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kurt's body was taken to the cuyahoga
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county coroner's office for an autopsy
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the coroner determined that kurt had
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died 24 to 36 hours before his body was
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found
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which meant that he had been alive for
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at least three days after he left the
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party
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what the coroner could not determine
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however was the exact cause of death
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on the basis of the things that we saw
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and equally important the things that we
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did not see what was absent
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we felt that kurt silva had died from
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instantaneous physiologic death and the
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manner of death in this particular case
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was signed out as probable accidental
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because we eliminated everything else he
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hadn't been beaten in any way he hadn't
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been traumatized in any way he hadn't
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been he didn't have enough alcohol to
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end his life he had no pre-existing
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natural disease and as sherlock holmes
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said you eliminate all other
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possibilities and that which remains is
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the truth this was a diagnosis by
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exclusion
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i didn't believe that they couldn't tell
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me how kurt died
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which is immaterial to me what they put
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on that piece of paper for my peace of
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mind i want to know what happened to my
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boy
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but i'm not really sure i want to know
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who put him in that ravine
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i couldn't do that to somebody's animal
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let alone a human being
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i just want to know what happened to my
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boy
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after the initial shock of kurt's death
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had abated dorothy silva began to piece
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together a series of strange events that
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had occurred during the five days when
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her son was missing
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[Music]
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on monday three days after kurt
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disappeared
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one of his friends david trisnik claims
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he saw kurt and another boy walking
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along a busy street less than a mile
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from the silva home
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i was on my way to a job interview was
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on a monday morning
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and i spotted kurt
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and he was with somebody i didn't
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recognize
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and
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i pulled over to offer kurt a ride
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at this point a van pulled up
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and kurt yelled out franco
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they both ran over to the van
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and they got in the van
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i didn't know kurt was missing if i
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would knew he was missing there would
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probably be something i could have done
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i could have followed the van i could
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have did something you know but
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i didn't know and
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two days later he was found dead so that
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was the last time i seen him
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also on monday
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a stranger who had been seen hanging
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around the sova's neighborhood
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notice kurt's missing poster in the
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window of a local record store
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there you go thank you okay see you
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later all right bye-bye
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can i help you with something see that
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picture that boy over there
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yeah what about it
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uh you might as well take it down
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i'm gonna find him dead in two days
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nobody's gonna know why he died
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the manager was skeptical
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however she soon had a reason to take
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the stranger seriously
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the next day
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before the record shop had opened he
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left
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flowers and a note
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and the note said roses are red sky is
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blue they found him dead and they'll
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find you too
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police questioned him and they said he
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was a crazy from detroit
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and i didn't see him after that
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because kurt was only missing at this
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point the police released the young man
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from detroit
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later when kurt was found dead the man
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had disappeared
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then on wednesday the very day kurt's
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body would be found
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dorothy silva received an early morning
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phone call from susan
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the young woman who lived in the duplex
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where kurt had been drinking on friday
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night
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i got a phone call at 3 30 in the
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morning
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and she told me that someone was
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sleeping in her basement
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and perhaps it was kurt
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and i thought why are you calling me now
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after lying to me so many times i didn't
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know whether to believe her or not
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believe her my wife told me that the
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girl called
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about three o'clock in the morning and
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told her that she thinks that kurt was
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sleeping in the basement
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[Music]
00:15:15
i proceeded to go over the house there
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and i went down to the basement
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and i thought maybe
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he was sick or he was hurt and i figured
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if i got down there and
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found him then maybe i can do something
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for him
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[Music]
00:15:39
there i found
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a cot that it looked like somebody had
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slept in there
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but after searching the whole basement i
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didn't find anybody in there
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i have no idea if it was current or not
00:15:52
all i know is somebody did sleep in that
00:15:53
cot that night and when i got there they
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were gone
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i think kurt was there
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i think he was already dead in that [Â __Â ]
00:16:10
but i think they panicked and got rid of
00:16:12
his body in that ravine
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whether or not kurt had died in the
00:16:19
basement dorothy and ken silva are
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positive of one thing
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24 hours before his body was found kurt
00:16:26
was not in the ravine
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ken silva had searched there and found
00:16:31
nothing
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i knew it wasn't there the day that i
00:16:36
was searching
00:16:37
so they must have dumped it off
00:16:39
that evening
00:16:41
i looked around and i'm sure that if
00:16:43
kurt was down there i would have noticed
00:16:45
that bright yellow t-shirt that he had
00:16:47
on against any of the terrain
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finally three months after kurt's death
00:16:55
dorothy had reason to be suspicious
00:16:57
again
00:16:58
the death of a boy kurt used to know
00:17:00
eugene cavett
00:17:02
seemed to have an eerie resemblance to
00:17:04
kurtz
00:17:05
eugene was found in another ravine on
00:17:07
harvard street two and a half miles from
00:17:10
the place kurt's body had been
00:17:11
discovered
00:17:12
both boys had been missing for some time
00:17:14
preceding their deaths
00:17:16
and eugene kvett's right shoe was also
00:17:19
never found
00:17:22
the mysterious death of kurt silva
00:17:24
leaves a trail of disturbing questions
00:17:26
in his wake
00:17:28
how exactly did kurt die
00:17:31
where had he been for the five days
00:17:32
after he left home
00:17:34
had kurt slept in the basement of the
00:17:36
duplex
00:17:38
was there any connection between kurt's
00:17:40
death and the death of eugene covett
00:17:44
seven years later dorothy and kansova
00:17:47
are still searching for answers
00:17:50
we still don't know any more than the
00:17:51
day we went out looking for him but i
00:17:53
believe that
00:17:55
somebody out there knows
00:17:57
exactly what happened to kurt and
00:17:59
they're just being quiet about it
00:18:02
i don't think i will ever come to peace
00:18:05
with myself
00:18:06
until i find my answers
00:18:11
and if i don't find out through this
00:18:13
program i'll keep on searching i'll
00:18:15
search to the day i'm
00:18:17
buried myself
00:18:21
i will never give up because i don't
00:18:23
believe that a normal healthy boy just
00:18:26
walks away and disappears for five days
00:18:29
and then ends up dead in a ravine
00:18:32
i know somebody knows what happened to
00:18:34
him
00:18:36
[Music]
00:18:57
april 1975 south vietnam
00:19:00
as saigon fell to the north vietnamese
00:19:02
thousands of refugees fought to leave
00:19:04
the country
00:19:08
to john nellis the son of a vietnamese
00:19:10
woman and an american soldier this
00:19:12
exodus was a nightmare
00:19:15
under the cloak of darkness john and his
00:19:17
wife toby vivian jumped into the back of
00:19:20
a truck for the first step in a journey
00:19:22
that was to take them to the united
00:19:23
states
00:19:28
they nearly avoided being shot by angry
00:19:30
south vietnamese troops
00:19:35
i was real terrified because i was
00:19:38
thinking
00:19:39
will we make it
00:19:42
we thought we were
00:19:45
we got a chance to
00:19:46
get out of the country
00:19:49
but we don't know exactly where we're
00:19:51
going
00:19:55
john and vivian were lucky they managed
00:19:57
to escape
00:19:58
but today the turmoil and john's life
00:20:01
continues
00:20:06
the history of 20th century asia has
00:20:07
been marked by violent war and
00:20:09
revolution
00:20:10
42 year old john nellis life has been
00:20:12
torn apart by these conflicts
00:20:15
but when john was still a child his
00:20:16
american father was swept from his life
00:20:18
by the bloody rise of china's mao tsitun
00:20:21
and in 1973 as the united states was
00:20:23
withdrawing from vietnam
00:20:25
john's infant son disappeared in the
00:20:27
chaos that marked the ending of another
00:20:29
war
00:20:30
today this new american citizen needs
00:20:32
your help to finally close this tragic
00:20:34
circle by reuniting with a son he wants
00:20:36
to know
00:20:37
and the father he never knew
00:20:40
[Music]
00:20:42
john's father's name was melvin nellis
00:20:44
he was an american serviceman john's
00:20:46
mother met during the mid-1940s in chung
00:20:48
king china
00:20:54
chung king was to become a focal point
00:20:56
for the revolution sweeping china as a
00:20:58
nationalist regime a chiang kai-shek was
00:21:00
swept from power by the communist army
00:21:02
of mao tsitong
00:21:04
[Music]
00:21:06
melvin ellis was stationed in chongqing
00:21:08
and there he met lived with and loved
00:21:11
john's mother okay it's ready
00:21:14
here you go it's dinner time are you
00:21:16
hungry
00:21:16
yeah okay great
00:21:18
when john was five years old his father
00:21:20
was shipped back to the states
00:21:23
i still wish he could come with me as
00:21:25
his father and mother were not legally
00:21:27
married she could not follow him to the
00:21:29
united states
00:21:32
melvin ellis promised to write but
00:21:34
eventually the letter stopped
00:21:39
john never heard from his father again
00:21:46
my mother did not let me
00:21:48
go with my father because
00:21:50
i'm the only child she has and also in
00:21:54
the
00:21:55
asia culture
00:21:57
the boy is the
00:21:59
foundation of the family
00:22:01
my mother also wants me to be around
00:22:03
with her
00:22:04
just in case
00:22:06
i can support her when she grew old
00:22:13
in 1952 john and his mother moved to her
00:22:16
homeland south vietnam
00:22:18
at this time the vietnam war was
00:22:20
gathering momentum
00:22:23
john's mother made a marginal living
00:22:24
selling produce but was still able to
00:22:27
save just enough money to send her son
00:22:29
to private schools
00:22:30
there he was able to learn english and
00:22:32
receive a western education
00:22:36
my mother she did make a lot of
00:22:38
sacrifice for me
00:22:40
she has to spend at least
00:22:43
two thirds of her income
00:22:45
to send me to that school
00:22:49
in 1957 john's mother took her son to
00:22:52
the united states embassy in saigon this
00:22:54
is my son john hello john how are you
00:22:57
i'm john quinn won't you have a seat
00:23:01
what can i do for you i would like to
00:23:03
register my son
00:23:05
for immigration to go to the united
00:23:07
states
00:23:09
after
00:23:10
my mother lost contact with my father
00:23:13
she has a financial hardship
00:23:17
so she was thinking of
00:23:19
send me to the united states because all
00:23:22
she is afraid that she could not take
00:23:25
care of me
00:23:28
at the embassy she was able to secure a
00:23:30
registration document that proved that
00:23:32
john's father was an american this
00:23:34
document was to be vital in his later
00:23:36
emigration to the united states
00:23:43
as the war in vietnam escalated john's
00:23:45
personal life also went through dramatic
00:23:47
changes
00:23:49
he met a woman and fathered her child
00:23:53
then in 1971 she left him and took
00:23:56
john's son
00:23:57
in 1973 she married an american marine
00:24:00
and john believed that the couple had
00:24:02
taken the boy with them to the united
00:24:04
states
00:24:05
first of all i feel
00:24:07
a little sad because i lost
00:24:10
you know just like i lost a son
00:24:12
but i feel happy because
00:24:15
he can go to united states has a proper
00:24:17
education have a better life so he
00:24:20
doesn't end up like myself
00:24:22
[Music]
00:24:27
in april of 1975 john and his new
00:24:30
girlfriend vivian were on one of the
00:24:31
last planes leaving saigon
00:24:36
i was taking a last look down
00:24:39
through the door when the plane up high
00:24:42
you know i see all the light of the city
00:24:45
and i know this is this is just a good
00:24:48
buy
00:24:49
and
00:24:50
i say well
00:24:52
finally i make the trip to the united
00:24:54
states
00:24:57
later after john had settled in america
00:24:59
he was to learn that his boy had been
00:25:01
left behind in the chaos and carnage
00:25:03
that had overtaken vietnam
00:25:07
after john and vivian's daring escape
00:25:10
they were married
00:25:11
they currently live in an affluent
00:25:13
suburb in orange county california where
00:25:15
john works as an electronics technician
00:25:18
in 1986 the couple became citizens and
00:25:21
they have a three-year-old daughter
00:25:22
vienna
00:25:23
[Music]
00:25:26
despite john's newfound happiness his
00:25:28
life is full of loose ends he has lost
00:25:30
both his father and his son and longs to
00:25:33
be reconciled with both
00:25:35
if my father and my son watching
00:25:38
me right now i would like to tell them
00:25:40
how much i miss them and i love them and
00:25:47
and i
00:25:48
like to reunite it and see them again
00:25:56
john's father melvin nellis served in
00:25:58
china in the late 1940s
00:26:00
his last letters to his asian family
00:26:02
were mailed from ohio
00:26:04
melvin ellis would today be between 60
00:26:06
and 70 years old
00:26:10
thanks to our broadcast john ellis
00:26:12
learned that his father's now retired
00:26:13
and living in tokyo japan
00:26:16
incredibly just three weeks later john
00:26:18
search for his son daniel also came to
00:26:20
an end when they were reunited after
00:26:22
more than 17 years
00:26:28
oh he's coming
00:26:29
back
00:26:32
[Music]
00:26:42
for so many years i miss him i think of
00:26:45
him all the time and i'm so happy to see
00:26:47
him
00:26:48
this is a real dream come true
00:27:03
when i looked into his eyes and saw his
00:27:05
family i found happiness
00:27:09
daniel's first day in america was
00:27:11
overwhelming
00:27:12
not only did he reunite with his father
00:27:15
he also met his stepmother and half
00:27:17
sister for the first time
00:27:20
now he's
00:27:21
with me i'm going to do my best you know
00:27:24
give him a good chance in life and
00:27:26
better future for him
00:27:29
and make up for what he has lost come
00:27:39
in a moment the story of two priests
00:27:41
connected by a violent and unexplained
00:27:43
fate
00:27:44
someone may have a vendetta against
00:27:46
clergymen and that someone is still at
00:27:48
large
00:27:52
[Music]
00:28:05
when they're ordained catholic priests
00:28:07
vow to become servants of god and
00:28:09
servants of their community
00:28:11
their door is always open to those in
00:28:13
need but their faith can place them in
00:28:16
jeopardy
00:28:17
a priest's willingness to help no matter
00:28:19
who no matter when
00:28:21
no matter where
00:28:23
can even threaten his own life
00:28:25
[Music]
00:28:29
father ronaldo rivera of santa fe new
00:28:31
mexico has been murdered and father john
00:28:33
kerrigan of ronan montana has
00:28:36
mysteriously disappeared
00:28:37
[Music]
00:28:38
authorities fear these two cases one
00:28:41
thousand miles and two years apart may
00:28:43
be connected
00:28:45
it is even possible there's a serial
00:28:47
killer at large who is exclusively
00:28:49
murdering catholic priests
00:28:54
saint francis cathedral father gerard
00:28:57
speaking on the evening of august 7th
00:28:59
1982 a call for help was telephoned to
00:29:02
the rectory of saint francis cathedral
00:29:04
in santa fe new mexico
00:29:06
i have impaired vision i cannot drive at
00:29:08
night but could you call back in a few
00:29:10
minutes i'm sure another father father
00:29:12
patrick gerard couldn't leave the
00:29:14
rectory and asked the caller to
00:29:16
telephone again in 15 minutes thank you
00:29:18
very much and god bless you
00:29:26
exactly 15 minutes later the telephone
00:29:28
rang again
00:29:30
this time father ronaldo rivera took the
00:29:32
call
00:29:33
this is father ronaldo
00:29:35
hello father
00:29:37
i need the help of a priest
00:29:39
my grandfather is dying the caller was
00:29:41
insistent he wanted a priest to come
00:29:44
immediately to administer the last rites
00:29:47
are you familiar with the rest stop just
00:29:49
south of santa fe yes yes i am well how
00:29:52
long will it take you to get there
00:29:54
i can be there in 20 minutes and i'll
00:29:57
see you there
00:29:59
the man said his name was michael
00:30:01
carmelo and that he was telephoning from
00:30:03
a rest stop near waldo new mexico 20
00:30:06
miles away goodbye father
00:30:14
father rivera left that evening to meet
00:30:16
someone at the rest area in santa fe
00:30:19
this was on a thursday evening he was
00:30:21
reported missing thursday night didn't
00:30:24
show up friday it was a broadcast made
00:30:26
the father river was missing
00:30:29
obviously we had a location at least we
00:30:31
knew it was waldo somewhere in that area
00:30:33
because
00:30:34
the priest remembered waldo new mexico
00:30:36
we had hundreds
00:30:38
of volunteers hundreds of citizens
00:30:41
volunteer their time
00:30:43
to come out to the waldo area and we
00:30:45
searched
00:30:46
on horseback they had four-wheel drives
00:30:49
you had hundreds of people walking the
00:30:51
area
00:30:52
combing all the hills in the desert for
00:30:54
him
00:30:56
probably 90 of the people in santa fe
00:30:58
knew who he was or he had some impact in
00:31:01
their lives at one time or another
00:31:08
two days after the search began father
00:31:11
rivera's body was found on a deserted
00:31:13
road three miles from the rest stop
00:31:27
at father rivera's funeral the entire
00:31:29
city mourned devastated by his brutal
00:31:32
murder
00:31:34
from saturday until his burial the city
00:31:37
was just awe stricken
00:31:39
whether you were lutheran catholic
00:31:42
protestant jew
00:31:44
we were just all one at that time
00:31:47
the very fact that he went out there
00:31:49
from this call was an act of charity an
00:31:52
act of love i think because he showed
00:31:54
this love for people the people just
00:31:57
responded and so when he died i think
00:31:59
there was that uh sadness in their heart
00:32:01
for somebody that they loved
00:32:04
everybody loved father or nothing
00:32:07
i'm sure he's
00:32:09
happy where he is now
00:32:12
and we miss him
00:32:18
the night of the murder a man calling
00:32:20
himself carmelo was waiting for father
00:32:22
rivera at the rest stop in a blue pickup
00:32:24
truck
00:32:25
lieutenant eulebri has developed a
00:32:27
theory of what happened next
00:32:31
the killers were probably there waiting
00:32:33
for him
00:32:34
when he arrived at the rest area they
00:32:37
signaled him out
00:32:38
father yes are you the president yes i
00:32:41
am a father right now why don't you come
00:32:43
here there's no way one individual could
00:32:46
have handled father rivera he would have
00:32:48
gave them a hard time
00:32:50
so there had to be at least two people
00:32:52
involved and we know they had a gun
00:32:55
obviously because he was shot so i'm
00:32:57
sure they controlled him with that
00:32:58
weapon but there had to be two people
00:33:01
involved to subdue him because he was a
00:33:03
very strong individual
00:33:08
[Music]
00:33:10
unibry believes the killers took father
00:33:12
rivera to a remote desert area
00:33:17
[Music]
00:33:20
go out tonight
00:33:23
get him out get him out
00:33:25
come on
00:33:26
[Music]
00:33:34
he was not killed where he was found
00:33:37
they drove to a location on the ground
00:33:39
and left
00:33:43
they could have hit him anywhere in that
00:33:45
wall there and there's several places in
00:33:47
waldo where you can kind of hide a body
00:33:50
and you never find it
00:33:52
so obviously they wanted him to be found
00:33:57
after the crime the killers returned to
00:33:59
the rest stop to remove father rivera's
00:34:01
car
00:34:06
his vehicle was found in a rest area
00:34:07
just east of grants new mexico which is
00:34:09
about two hours from santa fe
00:34:12
there was no physical evidence found in
00:34:13
the vehicle we didn't find any
00:34:15
fingerprints there was no blood stains
00:34:18
nothing to indicate that someone had
00:34:20
even driven the car it had been wiped
00:34:23
clean
00:34:27
the santa fe police had few clues and
00:34:29
after a nationwide check they found no
00:34:31
suspects named michael carmelo
00:34:36
as far as motive
00:34:37
father rivera was not the target a
00:34:40
catholic priest was a target for
00:34:43
whatever reason
00:34:46
robbery was not a motive because there's
00:34:48
nothing taken from the priest other than
00:34:50
his last rights kid and that's a
00:34:53
possibility
00:34:54
for a souvenir
00:34:57
apparently the killer would like to
00:34:58
relive the experience every time he
00:35:01
looks at it
00:35:02
he remembers killing a priest
00:35:07
two years later on august 8th 1984 in
00:35:10
ronan montana another priest
00:35:12
mysteriously disappeared
00:35:16
father john kerrigan was new to the
00:35:18
sacred heart catholic church in ronan he
00:35:21
had only been there four days before he
00:35:23
too vanished
00:35:31
at 11 p.m on the night he disappeared
00:35:34
father kerrigan went to a bakery across
00:35:36
the street from the church to chat with
00:35:37
his new parishioners welcome to ronan
00:35:40
thank you good to have you here oh it's
00:35:41
my pleasure good expect to see everybody
00:35:44
here at church tomorrow
00:35:45
after a few minutes he was returning
00:35:47
home to go to bed
00:35:51
the next day at a turnout along the
00:35:53
highway that circles nearby flathead
00:35:55
lake a local fruit peddler discovered a
00:35:57
pile of bloody clothes
00:36:00
[Music]
00:36:03
after we realized that they were father
00:36:05
kerrigans we did a search of that area
00:36:09
around the cherry stand on the hill
00:36:11
behind it
00:36:12
a bloody coat hanger was found close to
00:36:15
the clothing
00:36:17
we concluded that the coat hanger could
00:36:19
have been used to either tie someone up
00:36:22
could have been used to strangle someone
00:36:26
we believe father kerrigan or also could
00:36:28
have been used as a gag just no real way
00:36:31
of determining exactly what the use was
00:36:34
but it definitely is connected to the
00:36:36
clothing
00:36:38
and it wasn't just a hanger laying there
00:36:40
it had been
00:36:41
deformed and definitely used for some
00:36:43
purpose
00:36:46
a week later father kerrigan's car was
00:36:48
found abandoned five miles from the area
00:36:50
where his clothes had been discovered
00:36:54
we know that car sat there where we
00:36:56
found it for approximately a week before
00:36:58
it came to our attention
00:37:00
we did a thorough search of that area
00:37:03
and we found the keys lying in tall
00:37:06
grass
00:37:11
there was blood on the front seat in the
00:37:13
right door panel
00:37:15
on the right floorboard
00:37:17
i wonder if we got a body in the trunk
00:37:19
here joe
00:37:27
we found a shovel in the trunk with
00:37:29
blood on it we found a pillow in the
00:37:30
trunk with blood on it there was also
00:37:32
blood splattered inside the trunk
00:37:36
the police were surprised to find twelve
00:37:38
hundred dollars in father kerrigan's
00:37:39
wallet
00:37:41
the money was not hidden it was just
00:37:43
normally as it would have been kept in a
00:37:45
wallet
00:37:46
and none of that was disturbed so we
00:37:48
don't feel that
00:37:49
robbery was a motive for this particular
00:37:51
crime
00:37:55
the lieutenant eulebri learned of father
00:37:57
kerrigan's disappearance he flew to
00:37:59
ronan to investigate the similarities
00:38:01
between the two cases
00:38:04
right here in this area stacked up in
00:38:06
the weeds in both cases the killer
00:38:08
wanted people to know i killed a priest
00:38:12
and here's the evidence to show i killed
00:38:14
him
00:38:16
i still strongly believe that uh
00:38:19
whoever killed father rivera was
00:38:21
involved with foreign kerrigan
00:38:24
there are other similarities between the
00:38:26
two cases
00:38:27
both victims cars were driven away from
00:38:29
the crime scene
00:38:36
a deformed metal coat hanger was found
00:38:38
near father kerrigan's clothes and there
00:38:41
is evidence a coat hanger was used in
00:38:42
father rivera's murder
00:38:45
in both cases robbery was not a motive
00:38:48
and perhaps most significantly both
00:38:50
priests belong to the select order of
00:38:52
franciscans
00:38:54
if there's other law enforcement
00:38:56
agencies that had a catholic priest
00:38:58
killed with some of the similarities we
00:39:00
have just discussed here we'd like to
00:39:02
hear from them
00:39:03
and the possibility we have a serial
00:39:05
killer going killing catholic priests
00:39:14
next the story of a family transformed
00:39:16
by incredible luck
00:39:18
it all began with a boulder carved with
00:39:20
mysterious symbols
00:39:21
could iraq have the power to change
00:39:23
people's fortunes
00:39:33
our next story is part time sawyer and
00:39:35
huck fit and part fairy tale
00:39:38
what it all boils down to is this
00:39:41
two boys in the state of washington find
00:39:43
a large rock covered with strange
00:39:45
symbols deep in the forest
00:39:47
then a phenomenal run of good luck
00:39:48
begins
00:39:50
is it coincidence or something more
00:39:52
you be the judge
00:40:02
on saturday may the 14th 1988 deep in an
00:40:06
isolated stretch of woods near the
00:40:07
canadian border
00:40:11
thirteen-year-old jamie park sled his
00:40:13
friend trevor johnson along the
00:40:15
meandering path of tumwater creek
00:40:18
jamie had found a special rock here and
00:40:20
had decided to show it to his best
00:40:22
friend
00:40:28
see didn't i tell you wow that's neat
00:40:32
looks like people came and drew it with
00:40:34
the stick eons of years ago yeah i know
00:40:40
one that i'm kind of wondering about is
00:40:41
that man in the corner could be a man or
00:40:44
something like this like a stamp maybe
00:40:46
the martians came and did it it's really
00:40:48
neat
00:40:49
it's got all the aspects of nature
00:40:55
the only way that somebody could ever do
00:40:56
that is if it was clay or they had some
00:40:58
space age tool or something
00:41:01
why don't we go tell my dad let's go
00:41:09
i felt just an immediate need
00:41:12
to go down and see this rock um his
00:41:15
excitement was contagious and really
00:41:18
piqued my interest
00:41:22
and i turned and there was this
00:41:24
beautiful rock with these markings on
00:41:26
them i'd never seen anything quite like
00:41:28
it i got a very immediate feeling that
00:41:31
this rock had something to say
00:41:34
it really had something very positive to
00:41:36
say about life to me
00:41:38
and being so challenged i got a great
00:41:41
boost out of it
00:41:44
when i first saw the rock i had the most
00:41:47
eerie feeling
00:41:48
it was a good feeling
00:41:50
a very positive one but it just you
00:41:52
can't say the words that the rock makes
00:41:54
you feel like
00:41:57
from that day on steve and patty
00:41:59
johnson's lives would take a dramatic
00:42:01
turn for the better
00:42:02
and they would attribute it to the rock
00:42:08
for years the johnson family had been
00:42:10
struggling financially
00:42:11
to help pay the bills paddy took a job
00:42:13
as a receptionist
00:42:15
even so they found themselves in debt
00:42:18
things were just looking really sad we
00:42:21
were in a small apartment
00:42:23
monies were not good patti and i were
00:42:25
both working
00:42:27
i was working as a prison correctional
00:42:29
officer i wasn't happy with the position
00:42:32
the pay wasn't sufficient for us to be
00:42:35
able to even meet some of our bills to
00:42:38
be quite honest about it
00:42:41
to improve their financial situation the
00:42:44
johnsons plan to open a small 100 square
00:42:46
foot shop in a newly constructed local
00:42:48
mall
00:42:49
patty quit her job so she could run the
00:42:52
shop but the plan backfired when
00:42:54
construction ran behind schedule
00:42:57
instead of improving their financial
00:42:59
situation worsened
00:43:01
on may the 16th
00:43:03
48 hours after steve johnson saw the
00:43:05
rock for the first time his luck began
00:43:08
to change dramatically
00:43:10
sure doesn't be right down
00:43:13
honey i was dennis loeb you'd like to
00:43:15
know if we come down to the landing mall
00:43:16
right away okay out of the blue the
00:43:19
ownership of the mall approaches us with
00:43:21
listen we'd like you to open up the
00:43:22
thousand square foot shop hey this is
00:43:25
the uh space i had in mind for you
00:43:27
i was very upfront with him that we had
00:43:29
no money to do that
00:43:31
and it wasn't a blinking of an eye and
00:43:33
the gentleman says uh well we'll take
00:43:36
care of getting your inventory
00:43:38
i really didn't overcome the shock at
00:43:40
that time i couldn't even ask an
00:43:41
intelligent question as i remember to
00:43:43
the guy as to how they were going to do
00:43:45
this we were both flabbergasted we just
00:43:48
couldn't believe that there are people
00:43:49
out there that want to help
00:43:53
three weeks later in early june
00:43:55
stephen patty's dress shop opened and
00:43:57
was a resounding success
00:43:59
other business opportunities began to
00:44:01
spring up unexpectedly
00:44:04
three days after the dress shop opened
00:44:06
steve was offered a job as manager of
00:44:08
the mall's only movie theater
00:44:11
the mall ownership was so impressed with
00:44:13
steve
00:44:14
that in less than a month
00:44:16
they let him buy the theater outright
00:44:17
for a very low price
00:44:20
three months and one day after he saw
00:44:22
the rock steve opened a candy store his
00:44:25
third successful business venture in the
00:44:27
mall
00:44:30
the johnsons are convinced that their
00:44:32
good fortune was related to the magical
00:44:34
powers of the rock
00:44:35
[Music]
00:44:39
last september archaeologist rick
00:44:42
mcclure examined the rock and determined
00:44:44
that the petroglyphs were not carved by
00:44:46
american indians
00:44:48
mcclure feels that the symbols were made
00:44:50
in this century
00:44:51
and have no religious significance or
00:44:53
magical powers
00:44:58
the johnson's run of good luck continues
00:45:00
unabated
00:45:02
three months ago they were offered a
00:45:04
five-bedroom house for four years
00:45:06
rent-free in return for making minor
00:45:08
home repairs
00:45:10
for the johnsons it was a dream come
00:45:12
true
00:45:16
looking back at all the wonderful things
00:45:18
that have happened
00:45:19
we're spending
00:45:21
more time with our family
00:45:23
good quality time
00:45:25
our income has grown to a point that
00:45:28
we're actually being able to start to
00:45:30
pay
00:45:30
back people that have helped us over the
00:45:32
years and
00:45:34
those type of things bring a lot of
00:45:35
pleasure to us
00:45:38
i don't know if it's superstition or not
00:45:40
or if it's good luck but it just seems
00:45:42
like since that's happened things have
00:45:44
changed and things have come about for
00:45:46
us
00:45:49
is the johnson family's streak of good
00:45:50
fortune related to the rock and his
00:45:52
cryptic symbols
00:45:54
most of us would probably call it a
00:45:55
coincidence but who knows
00:45:58
sometimes the line between coincidence
00:46:00
and something more mystical
00:46:02
is an unsolved mystery
00:46:07
[Music]
00:46:11
join me next week for another edition of
00:46:14
unsolved mysteries
00:46:18
[Music]
00:47:06
you
