00:00:05
tonight on unsolved mysteries
00:00:09
she was sensuous charismatic and
00:00:11
talented one of the bright lights of
00:00:14
Seattle's rock music scene everyone sent
00:00:17
me as a Potter was destined for
00:00:18
greatness then in July 1993 Lea took a
00:00:22
lonely stroll through the dark streets
00:00:24
of Seattle and crossed paths with a
00:00:26
vicious unknown killer
00:00:29
tonight we're in Seattle Washington to
00:00:31
investigate the tragic case of this
00:00:33
ill-fated young singer join me for a
00:00:35
dramatic profile of life and death of
00:00:38
rock star Mia Zapata
00:00:39
as well as these intriguing mysteries
00:00:42
Thomas David Dixon is a very definition
00:00:45
of career criminal when he's not in
00:00:48
prison he's doing what he does best
00:00:49
robbing banks and brazenly taunting the
00:00:52
authorities Michelle Arkin was just a
00:00:56
teenager when a late-night confrontation
00:00:58
confront but she had long suspected her
00:01:00
mother and father were not her
00:01:01
biological parents now Michelle needs
00:01:04
your help to find the family she never
00:01:06
knew meet Philip Polly if you think he
00:01:11
looks like an average eight-year-old
00:01:12
think again Philips favorite subjects
00:01:15
are geometry and cellular biology he
00:01:18
prefers museums and archaeological digs
00:01:20
to playgrounds and ball fields Philip
00:01:23
you see as a genius whose extraordinary
00:01:26
abilities make for a fascinating mystery
00:01:28
of the mind
00:01:29
stay with us for these fascinating
00:01:32
stories in our special report on Mia
00:01:34
Zapata perhaps you may be able to help
00:01:38
solve on the street
00:01:45
[Music]
00:02:29
dispatched a unit father dispatch to
00:02:31
unit 4 8 miles south gate abandoned me
00:02:39
for a sheriff's deputy influence County
00:02:41
South Carolina it was a routine call
00:02:44
until he uncovered the getaway car from
00:02:47
a recent string of bank robberies
00:02:49
[Music]
00:02:51
Polaroid's left in the car showed off a
00:02:54
formidable arsenal a rambling message
00:02:57
filled seven pages of a small notebook
00:02:59
it was signed Tom Dixon I know the feds
00:03:03
are closing in on me but they need an
00:03:06
informant so need to really him watch
00:03:08
who I trust I will not go back to prison
00:03:12
under no conditions ever for any length
00:03:16
of time it is hardly surprising at
00:03:22
Thomas Dixon vowed never to be taken
00:03:23
alive during the last 22 years he'd been
00:03:27
out of prison escaped teen months when
00:03:30
he wasn't doing hard time Dixon was
00:03:32
robbing banks
00:03:33
the FBI pegged him for at least 12 and
00:03:36
they were probably more
00:03:41
in 1984 after a 10-year stretch in
00:03:44
prison Dixon in a series of accomplices
00:03:46
terrorized banks across North Carolina
00:03:49
Dixon's partners may have changed but
00:03:52
his MO never varied a Dixon was what we
00:03:56
would call a takeover robbery and law
00:03:59
enforcement jargon means that they
00:04:00
control everything inside the bank which
00:04:04
means when he came into a bank usually
00:04:07
he or his partner would hold somebody at
00:04:10
bay with the weapon make announcements
00:04:25
[Music]
00:04:28
mister get up get up
00:04:35
kick the keys to where I can see them do
00:04:37
it now just keep
00:04:43
[Music]
00:04:44
come on buddy
00:04:50
[Applause]
00:04:56
[Music]
00:04:57
after a string of seven robberies Dixon
00:05:00
went underground he holed up with a
00:05:02
girlfriend in a remote cabin in North
00:05:04
Carolina
00:05:07
federal agents got wind of the hideout
00:05:09
and moved in they weren't taking any
00:05:12
chances with Thomas Dixon we were able
00:05:23
to gather enough information about Dixon
00:05:26
to know that he had certain patterns
00:05:28
that they might play in our favor and
00:05:31
trying to make an apprehension we knew
00:05:36
that he was a jogger Dixon has always
00:05:38
been in excellent shape takes good care
00:05:40
of himself when the SWAT team wanted to
00:05:54
make the search of the cabin in addition
00:05:56
to his female companion there was seven
00:05:58
long barreled guns
00:06:00
seven handguns of various size and
00:06:03
caliber 25 sticks of dynamite and we
00:06:07
were absolutely shocked at the the
00:06:09
amount of weaponry he had inside the
00:06:12
apartment Thomas Dixon was on his way to
00:06:19
another decade behind bars when Dixon
00:06:22
was paroled around Christmas of 1994 he
00:06:25
picked up right where he had left off
00:06:27
but now Dixon always worked alone
00:06:32
morning I'll be right with you that's
00:06:34
all right this is a holdup I got a
00:06:38
police scanner so don't do anything
00:06:40
funny just be cool and put the money in
00:06:44
the bag he doesn't come in as a flashy
00:06:48
guy he comes in prepared he's methodical
00:06:54
he thinks about things before he does
00:06:58
them
00:07:01
during the summer of 1995 Dixon showed
00:07:04
up in one bank surveillance tape after
00:07:06
another five robberies in a seven week
00:07:09
period have you FBI ever heard of Thomas
00:07:13
Dixon man is one badass bank robber
00:07:19
tomorrow he's gonna rob a bank in North
00:07:21
Carolina during the summer robbery spree
00:07:24
Dixon began to taut the FBI with advance
00:07:27
notice of his bank jobs in one call
00:07:31
Dixon targeted a bank in Matthews North
00:07:34
Carolina instead he turned up in
00:07:38
Columbia South Carolina 80 miles away as
00:07:41
put it in the bag who's that in the back
00:07:49
you be cooled Dixon's last known heist
00:07:53
with September 11th 1995 you all have a
00:07:57
nice day you can turn on that alarm now
00:07:59
if you like excuse me
00:08:02
FBI agency Dixon's flip and
00:08:05
self-confidence as a mask for an
00:08:07
unstable personality coming apart at the
00:08:09
scenes
00:08:11
investigators now believe that Dixon
00:08:13
deliberately left the photos notebook
00:08:15
and getaway car for them to find three
00:08:19
weeks after Dixon's last robbery they
00:08:21
got the message a deliberate talk on a
00:08:24
credible eco running line now I need a
00:08:29
really good score so I can go
00:08:31
underground for a few months get myself
00:08:33
back together
00:08:34
I got myself a bulletproof vest
00:08:40
so maybe it'll save my ass long enough
00:08:43
to drop a couple of them before I die
00:08:46
[Applause]
00:08:47
yes you keep looking and I'll keep
00:08:51
working we meet up some day and we'll
00:08:54
see if it's you or is it me I don't
00:09:01
think there's any question the diction
00:09:02
has become a walking time bomb Dixon was
00:09:06
alerting us to the fact that he is
00:09:09
heavily armed and he has every intention
00:09:12
of using those arms in a confrontation
00:09:14
with law enforcement
00:09:17
[Music]
00:09:25
[Music]
00:09:30
next when a young woman is found dead
00:09:33
floating in the Chesapeake Bay two old
00:09:36
boyfriends emerges suspects
00:09:40
[Music]
00:09:54
Maryland's natural resource police
00:09:56
routinely monitor the state's coastal
00:09:58
areas tracking down poachers and
00:10:01
enforcing game regulations but on the
00:10:03
30th of August 1993 an NRP patrol pulled
00:10:07
the body of an attractive brunette from
00:10:09
the Chesapeake Bay the woman was
00:10:14
identified as Nancy Manni one of the few
00:10:17
female members of the seafarers
00:10:19
international union Nancy had made a
00:10:21
career setting the world as a ship
00:10:23
steward but now at the age of 33 Nancy
00:10:27
was dead drowned and possibly murdered
00:10:33
who could have killed Nancy Manni the
00:10:36
investigation quickly narrowed in on an
00:10:38
ex-boyfriend named Billy Mesmer a
00:10:40
self-styled poet whose dark rhymes
00:10:42
hinted at a dangerous obsession it
00:10:45
looked like a rock-solid theory until
00:10:47
rumors seemed to implicate another
00:10:48
boyfriend and some of his associates in
00:10:51
the seafarers Union and overshadowing
00:10:53
all was a second murder victim a young
00:10:56
woman identical to Nancy in almost every
00:10:58
way almost last time you saw Nancy
00:11:02
Wednesday Billy Mesmer was questioned
00:11:05
two days after Nancy's body was found
00:11:08
poems Billie had written to Nancy while
00:11:10
they were lovers aroused suspicion
00:11:13
perhaps most notable were these lines
00:11:17
excited breath escapes his lips while he
00:11:20
waits without the light no one will ever
00:11:23
hear your screams as a predator begins
00:11:26
to bite the poem assigned sweet dreams
00:11:29
Billy the title Night Stalker I've had
00:11:35
experts look at it trying to analyze it
00:11:38
and they concur did you know he did have
00:11:41
an obsession with Nancy at this time I
00:11:45
can understand where they would come up
00:11:47
with the word obsessive Nancy was the
00:11:53
love of my life I'm a poet I wrote her
00:11:58
poetry constantly which is a very
00:12:01
obsessive things full of feelings and
00:12:04
emotion during the 17 months of their
00:12:08
relationship Billy had written Nancy
00:12:10
more than 200 poems many were sent to
00:12:13
her at seaports around the world Nancy
00:12:16
had sailed to Brazil Greece Iceland and
00:12:19
often worked the giant freighters at
00:12:21
ferried natural gas from Indonesia to
00:12:23
Japan
00:12:25
she often said she liked to play with
00:12:27
the boys toys she liked to drive the
00:12:29
forklifts and do that kind of work
00:12:31
she was very feminine she's very
00:12:33
attractive and fun she can all had a lot
00:12:36
of boyfriends but she hadn't really
00:12:39
found a person that she was destined to
00:12:41
spend the rest of her life with she left
00:12:44
you for someone else I don't understand
00:12:47
why you keep accusing me of things I
00:12:50
really felt that the investigation was
00:12:52
going in the wrong direction obviously
00:12:53
they were crawling all over me with a
00:12:56
microscope and I was terribly frustrated
00:13:00
that the person who actually did this
00:13:03
was going to get away Billy Mesmer had a
00:13:07
plausible alibi he also had a suggestion
00:13:10
for the police take a look at certain
00:13:12
members of the seafarers international
00:13:15
union at the time of her death Nancy had
00:13:19
been studying at this union run training
00:13:20
center the hairy London burg school of
00:13:23
seamanship and piney Point Maryland she
00:13:26
was dating a union member who was
00:13:28
connected to the school Billy says if
00:13:31
Nancy came to his apartment a few days
00:13:34
before her death
00:13:37
[Music]
00:13:43
are you okay Nancy had a very very bad
00:13:48
falling out with her boyfriend he had
00:13:52
told her that if she didn't do things as
00:13:57
he wanted he would make things very
00:13:59
difficult for within the Union she
00:14:02
simply said if you do this then I will
00:14:07
expose you for what you are according to
00:14:10
Billy Mesmer the secret Nancy threatened
00:14:13
to reveal may have had something to do
00:14:15
with illegal drugs it's been rumored for
00:14:18
years that certain members of the union
00:14:21
and of the school down in piney point
00:14:26
have been involved in international drug
00:14:29
trafficking not only that but possible
00:14:34
disappearances within the Union and
00:14:37
within a local community I've had
00:14:39
several people come clandestinely to me
00:14:42
to report that they suspected the legal
00:14:48
activity at the school was the cause of
00:14:50
Nancy's death again it's been
00:14:53
unsubstantiated and they they fear for
00:14:58
their lives or their jobs which is why
00:15:00
they don't want to be known after her
00:15:05
death I had received some telephone
00:15:07
calls from friends of hers that were
00:15:10
also union members who had told us that
00:15:14
they felt that her death was not
00:15:16
accidental and that it was possibly
00:15:18
linked with the Union and with the
00:15:20
school
00:15:22
for Nancy's sister Linda the unsettling
00:15:25
rumors seemed even more credible when
00:15:27
she received Nancy's personal effects
00:15:29
from the school in going through Nancy's
00:15:33
things I had noticed that a lot of
00:15:36
things were missing particularly
00:15:37
pictures of her Union boyfriend and his
00:15:40
family and I know that she wouldn't have
00:15:43
thrown them away she would have kept
00:15:46
those there was more
00:15:50
Nancy's camera was empty in its internal
00:15:52
mechanism jammed so someone had forcibly
00:15:55
ripped out a roll of film I feel that
00:16:00
someone had tampered with her camera and
00:16:02
so that led me to be more suspicious
00:16:04
that someone in the school had obviously
00:16:06
entered her room
00:16:09
there are also suspicions about Nancy's
00:16:11
final work assignment before entering
00:16:14
the school
00:16:15
Nancy sailed on the SS Mya quiz a ship
00:16:18
which employed many union members she
00:16:22
died in August in June I got the slider
00:16:24
from her when she was working on the SS
00:16:27
Mya quest one paragraph says things are
00:16:31
so bad on this ship that I'm getting
00:16:34
death threats now and I let that go and
00:16:38
I regretted every day that I didn't
00:16:41
demand to know who exactly said that and
00:16:44
why and what exactly was said one more
00:16:50
disturbing question hangs over this case
00:16:52
is a relinquish and the 1988 murder of a
00:16:57
young woman named Elizabeth greenberg
00:17:01
Elizabeth and Nancy had the same hair
00:17:03
color same eye color were nearly
00:17:05
identical in height and weight blake
00:17:08
nancy elizabeth was a ship steward a
00:17:11
member of the seafarers union Elizabeth
00:17:14
worked the same Indonesia to Japan trade
00:17:17
route that Nancy sailed a few years
00:17:18
later both women were attending the
00:17:21
union's training school when they died
00:17:24
although Elizabeth was killed by a blow
00:17:26
to the head she too was found floating
00:17:29
in the Chesapeake Bay it's eerie we look
00:17:35
at both cases to similarities in their
00:17:38
life and their lifestyles as yet we
00:17:41
haven't found a common denominator
00:17:45
between the two as far as boyfriends or
00:17:49
close friends but somewhere along the
00:17:53
line there's got to be a thread I fear
00:17:58
that Nancy's death is gonna be simply
00:18:00
written off as unsolved and even though
00:18:05
everyone in the county knows that
00:18:06
something wrong
00:18:08
unlawful cloak and dagger is going on
00:18:12
they're terrified to talk about it with
00:18:16
the information that has been given to
00:18:18
me on an anonymous basis over the past
00:18:22
two years since Nancy's death I'm
00:18:26
beginning to fear for my own life
00:18:29
[Music]
00:18:37
[Music]
00:18:45
[Music]
00:18:58
[Music]
00:19:10
it's been said that the human brain is
00:19:13
one of the last great frontiers despite
00:19:15
years of research we have only a few
00:19:17
hints about why some people become
00:19:19
Einsteins and others Forrest Gump the
00:19:22
source of genius remains secret a true
00:19:25
unsolved mystery this is Phillip Paul II
00:19:32
of Denver Colorado he may look like an
00:19:35
average eight-year-old but Phillip is
00:19:36
quite literally 1 in 10 million Philips
00:19:40
abilities are practically immeasurable
00:19:42
Philip is a genius
00:19:44
in fact Philip is so smart that he is
00:19:47
too smart for school these days his
00:19:53
mother teaches him at home because even
00:19:55
programs for gifted students couldn't
00:19:57
keep up with Philips insatiable demand
00:20:00
for knowledge well I'm studying algebra
00:20:04
and geometry and the Middle Ages and
00:20:07
cellular biology and in the Middle Ages
00:20:14
I'm working on the castles defenses how
00:20:20
do I explain Phil's gifts that to me is
00:20:24
a mystery to be perfectly honest I mean
00:20:26
it's it's not that Phillip Phillips dad
00:20:29
or I are dumb but we do we neither of us
00:20:34
have the IQs to match Phil so it to me
00:20:40
it was a gift to have a son like Phillip
00:20:43
from the very beginning it was clear
00:20:46
that Philip was brighter and more alert
00:20:47
than most babies as six months he
00:20:50
started to talk and had enough manual
00:20:52
dexterity to remove the bolts from his
00:20:55
crib at nine months Philip displayed a
00:20:58
highly mature emotional sensibility
00:21:00
during an experiment use asked to spank
00:21:03
a doll three times the show he
00:21:05
understood counting Philip refused to
00:21:08
strike the doll finally when the
00:21:11
examiner thought he couldn't understand
00:21:13
what was going on he patted the doll
00:21:16
three times and then held it and hugged
00:21:18
it and protected it from the examiner
00:21:21
and tries tried to soothe the dolls
00:21:23
feelings
00:21:24
this is not something his mother taught
00:21:26
him to do because any mother would have
00:21:29
a hard time trying to teach something
00:21:31
like that to a nine month old at 18
00:21:34
months Philip could already read for a
00:21:37
second birthday he asked for a violin
00:21:39
within days he was playing simple tunes
00:21:42
he had composed himself Philip was
00:21:45
lightyears ahead of his peers one
00:21:48
particular time we took him to to church
00:21:51
and we put him in and at the
00:21:53
two-year-old level and we put we picked
00:21:55
him up and after school the first thing
00:21:56
he says to me is mom they don't talk and
00:22:00
he was too and he didn't realize that
00:22:01
other kids his own age weren't doing
00:22:03
those kind of the same kind of skills a
00:22:07
three Philip was studying astronomy he
00:22:10
had little use for Mickey Mouse or
00:22:12
Winnie the Pooh his hero was astronaut
00:22:15
Buzz Aldrin
00:22:16
[Music]
00:22:20
by the time Philip was for the Denver
00:22:22
Museum of Natural History was his
00:22:24
favorite playground
00:22:25
one day he even spotted a mistake in a
00:22:28
museum mural that had gone unnoticed by
00:22:30
the curators for 30 years
00:22:33
[Music]
00:22:42
incredibly Philip had been able to
00:22:44
detect the subtle differences between a
00:22:46
medieval French helmet and that of a
00:22:48
Spanish conquistador on another visit to
00:22:53
the museum in that same year Philip as
00:22:56
the curator why a dinosaur skeleton was
00:22:58
missing several vertebrae in his tail
00:23:00
section and the curator explained at the
00:23:04
time that the dinosaur was too large for
00:23:07
the area that they had had designated
00:23:09
for it so but with the new exhibit they
00:23:13
were gonna get it correct and not to
00:23:14
worry about it but he was far ago so he
00:23:16
says you're the only person that's
00:23:17
noticed research indicates that along
00:23:21
with heightened mental abilities child
00:23:24
geniuses often show a hyper sensitivity
00:23:26
to humanitarian issues he carries the
00:23:29
weight of the world on him he's worried
00:23:32
about the economy within the United
00:23:34
States and and the government structure
00:23:36
as well as what's going on around the
00:23:39
world and how it affects how what we do
00:23:42
affects other nations there's times that
00:23:46
he gets so consumed with these worries
00:23:49
that he'll stop eating he bites his
00:23:52
nails he loses sleep I mean these are
00:23:54
things that we have to talk about what
00:23:56
he can actually do on a personal level
00:23:58
to help mankind it makes me feel sad
00:24:02
that America does not value education
00:24:06
and America is becoming more like a
00:24:08
Roman Empire than the great nation it
00:24:11
was and here's a few reasons because
00:24:15
like one is that that we're going the
00:24:19
gladiators like in our movies and we're
00:24:24
going to have a worse fate than the
00:24:26
Roman Empire
00:24:28
just know it so where would you expect a
00:24:31
child like Phillip to play a baseball
00:24:33
diamond not on your lives
00:24:36
try an archaeological dig I think
00:24:43
Phillip working at the site here has fun
00:24:45
he knows it's important he understands
00:24:50
the value of what he's doing it's
00:24:53
intellectually stimulating but he's
00:24:55
digging in the dirt Phillip has a
00:24:59
lifetime of enthusiasm for each of his
00:25:01
favorite subjects so much so that when
00:25:03
we asked him what he wants to be when he
00:25:05
grows up he had a tough time picking
00:25:07
just one job a paleontologist an
00:25:11
archaeologist conservationist and
00:25:14
hopefully I'll be the commander to the
00:25:16
mission to Mars and the chief curator of
00:25:20
the Denver Museum of Natural History and
00:25:22
if if all of the other jobs fail I would
00:25:27
really want to be a great composer on
00:25:31
the line of baroque um baroque classical
00:25:35
and romantic eras in the music stage and
00:25:39
the list goes on number 23 but what
00:25:46
makes a genius is it nature or nurture
00:25:49
scientists truly don't know but one of
00:25:52
the wilder explanations is a geniuses
00:25:54
possess knowledge and skills acquired in
00:25:57
other lifetimes he told me one time that
00:26:01
he had having an open and he could he
00:26:04
get looked down and he had chose me as
00:26:06
his mom because I would be the right one
00:26:09
for him it's clear to me that many many
00:26:12
gifted children come in knowing more
00:26:16
than it would be explainable by
00:26:19
scientific standards where they get that
00:26:22
knowledge from I don't know but I would
00:26:24
not discount any possibility including
00:26:27
reincarnation that there's something
00:26:29
evolutionarily different about them that
00:26:32
the brain structure is different or the
00:26:34
function of the brain is different or
00:26:36
that they are visiting us from more
00:26:39
evolved cultures
00:26:41
anything is possible Philip doesn't have
00:26:46
much time left for childhood in two
00:26:49
years he'll be old enough to take the
00:26:51
college entrance exams
00:26:52
he plans to enroll at the University of
00:26:54
Denver after that the sky's the limit
00:26:58
do I think the Phillips a genius I think
00:27:02
that the definition that society gives
00:27:06
the IQ test says yes I think whether he
00:27:10
will be a genius or not will be if he
00:27:12
uses and utilizes did the intellect and
00:27:16
the abilities that he has to help
00:27:19
mankind then I think he would be a
00:27:21
genius people used to believe genius was
00:27:29
a rarest of gifts but children like
00:27:31
Philip can crop up anywhere the danger
00:27:34
is at the talents of these special kids
00:27:36
often go unrecognized experts tell us
00:27:42
that even children with learning
00:27:43
disabilities may be hidden geniuses if
00:27:46
your child seems smarter or more
00:27:48
talented than average he or she should
00:27:50
be tested who knows you may be nurturing
00:27:54
the next Einstein when we return an
00:28:00
unexpected death splits a young family
00:28:02
apart perhaps someone watching can bring
00:28:05
them together again
00:28:08
[Music]
00:28:20
Michelle Arkin was 16 when she almost
00:28:23
discovered the family secret
00:28:26
her mother Laverne had to improvise in
00:28:28
order to preserve it a while longer I
00:28:32
didn't get the job
00:28:35
personnel officer said that my birth
00:28:38
certificate was phony phony what do you
00:28:42
mean he said that it had been amended a
00:28:45
bit for me I don't know what they're
00:28:48
talking about there is nothing wrong
00:28:49
with your birth certificate
00:28:51
Dana said that my birth certificate
00:28:52
wasn't legal that they had things on
00:28:55
there that it shouldn't be and I was
00:28:57
very shocked I mean as far as I knew
00:28:59
that was my birth certificate that was
00:29:01
what I grew up with that was correct
00:29:12
sheera Laverne Neal have dreaded this
00:29:17
moment for years
00:29:19
Michelle was not her biological child to
00:29:25
tell or not to tell than if you tell
00:29:28
when like thousands of couples who adopt
00:29:31
Laverne Neal and her husband Wilburn
00:29:33
confronted these difficult questions
00:29:35
there are no right or wrong answers
00:29:37
however parents who decide against
00:29:40
revealing the facts law most certainly
00:29:42
face years of fancy footwork to keep
00:29:44
their secret secret Laverne and Woburn
00:29:51
Neal will always remember the day in
00:29:52
September of 1965 when they first set
00:29:55
eyes on Michelle the Neal's have been
00:30:00
married for four years they are eager to
00:30:03
start a family but had been unsuccessful
00:30:05
[Music]
00:30:10
out of the blue their friends Raleigh
00:30:13
and Juanita Gore had offered the Neal's
00:30:15
a chance to adopt a baby girl the
00:30:21
child's mother a friend of the Gores was
00:30:23
unable to care for the infant herself
00:30:26
she had entrusted Raleigh and Juanita
00:30:28
with finding a loving home she's
00:30:31
gorgeous
00:30:32
I loved her and ratoff that didn't
00:30:38
hesitate didn't handle doubts we just
00:30:42
looked at each other says what we know
00:30:44
about raising a baby and me the one I
00:30:47
was didn't and so she said we can learn
00:30:49
fast for Wilburn and Laverne Michele was
00:30:54
a dream come true
00:30:56
two weeks paid by then Patricia Bonner
00:31:00
Michele's birth mother called she wanted
00:31:03
to see her baby
00:31:04
I knew that pet was Michele's mother and
00:31:09
if she wanted to keep her even though it
00:31:13
broke my heart I knew you know I'd have
00:31:16
no choice but to let her
00:31:21
Patricia Boehner had been widowed while
00:31:23
she was pregnant with Michele she
00:31:28
already had three young children to
00:31:29
raise by herself so she had reluctantly
00:31:32
given up Michele for adoption well I
00:31:38
just don't know what else to do
00:31:41
different if Jonny was still here but I
00:31:44
can't afford to put shoes on my three
00:31:47
children died I can barely feed them how
00:31:50
I'm not gonna keep her
00:31:51
oh maybe things will get better and
00:31:54
I know you and Wilbur and won't give her
00:31:56
a good home and care for her can I just
00:32:00
hold her one more time please
00:32:02
uh of course I knew that lady had to be
00:32:08
hurting bad and I hurt for her because I
00:32:12
knew I could I could feel how hell she
00:32:16
was hurting we'd like to draw up some
00:32:25
papers to make the adoption legal but
00:32:29
when the nails return two weeks later
00:32:31
Patricia Bonner and her children were
00:32:33
gone the apartment was empty she had
00:32:39
moved and she left no forwarding address
00:32:43
nobody knew where she went the absence
00:32:49
of formal adoption papers didn't prevent
00:32:51
Michelle from enjoying a typical
00:32:52
childhood by the age of five she had a
00:32:55
brother named Stephen a Neels biological
00:32:57
child
00:32:59
Michels background was never discussed
00:33:03
me and Laverne we talked about it many
00:33:06
at times should we go ahead and tell her
00:33:10
we've figured Michelle would feel like
00:33:14
she was left out she wouldn't be called
00:33:16
to Stephen if she's not involved with us
00:33:19
and we just decided it would be better
00:33:23
to wait as she was over the family
00:33:27
secret was safe for a while
00:33:29
but Michelle began school the Neil's had
00:33:32
to submit a birth certificate with the
00:33:36
help of a relative in Kentucky they
00:33:38
obtained this one listing themselves as
00:33:40
Michelle's biological parents by the
00:33:44
time Michelle entered high school the
00:33:47
family secret had started to fray
00:33:49
Michelle began to ask your parents if
00:33:51
she had been adopted the answer was
00:33:54
always no there's nothing wrong with
00:33:57
your birth certificate I felt very bad
00:34:00
because I never did like to say anything
00:34:04
that wasn't true and here I was doing
00:34:08
just the opposite of what I was teaching
00:34:11
my children and it really bothered it it
00:34:15
hurt me quite a bit
00:34:19
finally the burden became too heavy for
00:34:22
Michelle's parents finally they were
00:34:27
ready to talk I know I'm late I'm sorry
00:34:36
it won't happen again no it's not about
00:34:38
that Michel sit down please
00:34:43
she said I've heard from too many
00:34:47
sources that I was adopted and she said
00:34:51
you got to tell me the truth and so I
00:34:54
told her the truth Betty
00:34:56
you see you are sort of adopted what do
00:35:02
you mean sort of adopted
00:35:04
you remember Rowley and Juanita remember
00:35:06
I was talking about them I felt that
00:35:09
they had betrayed me only because
00:35:10
they've always told me the truth when I
00:35:12
asked it it was always you know bottom
00:35:20
line this is the way it is and I just
00:35:23
felt that they lied to me and that's why
00:35:25
I was so upset I moved out two weeks
00:35:38
later I got an apartment with my
00:35:41
girlfriend which my girlfriend they
00:35:43
could not stand so maybe that was a
00:35:44
little bit more of my rubella you know
00:35:47
reverse uh act on my part but I mean
00:35:51
eventually I came around I came back to
00:35:54
mom and dad
00:35:59
today Michelle is herself a parent the
00:36:02
mother of a boy and a girl with her
00:36:05
Paris blessing michelle has begun to
00:36:07
search for her birth mother and the
00:36:09
three siblings she has never met hi
00:36:12
Arthur
00:36:13
[Music]
00:36:20
I can understand what she did back then
00:36:29
I would just feel better just knowing
00:36:35
where I came from what my relatives but
00:36:38
you know just simple basic questions any
00:36:43
person would have
00:36:45
[Music]
00:36:58
in a moment we'll come back to Seattle
00:37:00
to investigate the tragic murder of rock
00:37:03
and roll singer Mia Zapata
00:37:05
[Music]
00:37:18
since 1991 the hottest spot in
00:37:22
rock'n'roll has been Seattle Washington
00:37:24
they're fun Pearl Jam and Allison chains
00:37:28
all came out of the local music scene
00:37:30
many people thought the next
00:37:32
breakthrough band would be the gits a
00:37:34
punk rock group funded by Mia Zapata a
00:37:36
charismatic 27 year old with a tragic
00:37:39
destiny
00:37:40
[Music]
00:37:49
I went through many shows where
00:37:52
afterwards people didn't even know I was
00:37:54
up on stage because their eyes were so
00:37:56
transfixed on Mia
00:37:57
[Music]
00:38:03
she was someone who had something to say
00:38:05
and uh she was very very compassionate
00:38:09
and big-hearted person and she brought
00:38:12
that into into the bad but on July 7th
00:38:16
1993 the good times were abruptly
00:38:19
snuffed out around 2:00 a.m. Mia Zapata
00:38:25
left a friend's apartment an hour later
00:38:28
her body was found two miles away
00:38:30
reportedly laying face-up in an almost
00:38:32
christ-like pose
00:38:34
Mia had been beaten and strangled Mia
00:38:41
Zapatas death set shockwaves of the
00:38:42
tight-knit music community here in
00:38:44
Seattle why at this promising a popular
00:38:47
young singer been killed was an obsessed
00:38:50
fan a jealous enemy or a complete
00:38:52
stranger in an eerie coincidence me
00:38:56
alluded to her own violent death and one
00:38:58
of the last songs she recorded the
00:38:59
haunting lyrics spoke of someone
00:39:02
slashing her and hinted that someone
00:39:04
might never be found
00:39:08
you might say Mia Zapata was born to be
00:39:10
a star she grew up in Louisville
00:39:13
Kentucky the daughter of two television
00:39:15
executives after high school Mia went on
00:39:18
to Antioch College in Ohio there she met
00:39:21
the other three members of the gits
00:39:23
after five years together that gets her
00:39:26
attracting interest for major record
00:39:28
companies the first full-scale US tour
00:39:31
was in the works and Mia had a new look
00:39:33
for the little girl from Louisville it
00:39:36
was like a dream come true I don't think
00:39:40
I can ever remember my daughter looking
00:39:45
so satisfied so content so at ease with
00:39:52
herself it was all coming together July
00:40:00
6 1993 the evening began at one of Mia's
00:40:04
favorite bars she met friends there
00:40:06
about 10 Mia was in town only briefly
00:40:10
she and that gets have been on the road
00:40:12
for three weeks and the tour was
00:40:13
starting in a matter of days when Mia
00:40:18
left the comic talent she walked a block
00:40:20
east of Pike Street to local rehearsal
00:40:23
studio
00:40:23
[Music]
00:40:25
she then visited a friend who lived in
00:40:28
an apartment three floors up in the same
00:40:30
building about 2:00 a.m. Leah left
00:40:34
telling her friend she planned to take a
00:40:36
cab home she could have gone anywhere
00:40:40
from there she could have gone out the
00:40:42
front entrance gone down to the corner
00:40:44
and hailed a cab as she told her friend
00:40:46
she was going to do
00:40:51
hey where you going because Mia didn't
00:40:54
have a driver's license
00:40:55
she took taxis often and knew many of
00:40:57
the local cabbies this led police and
00:41:02
private investigator Leigh Hearon II to
00:41:04
one of their first scenarios perhaps Mia
00:41:07
was murdered by a cab driver Mia did not
00:41:13
have difficulty expressing her opinion
00:41:14
and sometimes this gutted her to enter
00:41:17
trouble and other people liked it she
00:41:20
could have said something to a cab
00:41:21
driver that she knew that just made that
00:41:23
person angry that night
00:41:27
significantly no cabbie reported picking
00:41:30
Mia up that night about the same time
00:41:33
the bars were closing and some of her
00:41:34
friends were healing cabs of their own
00:41:36
no one saw me scenario number two she
00:41:43
also could have gone into the opposite
00:41:44
direction a friend had asked her to
00:41:46
spend the night she lived about five
00:41:48
blocks away she could have gone down
00:41:50
11th passed a reservoir and something
00:41:54
could have occurred there in fact
00:41:57
something did occur whether it had
00:42:00
anything to do with Mia Zapatas death
00:42:02
remains a mystery
00:42:05
one of the earliest clues that the
00:42:07
police received was from a man who had
00:42:09
heard a scream a terrifying scream that
00:42:10
night he was so distraught by it that he
00:42:12
actually rushed to see what was going on
00:42:14
but he saw nothing
00:42:16
he lived however very close to the
00:42:18
reservoir on 11th where Mia could have
00:42:20
gone if she had gone to visit her friend
00:42:23
[Music]
00:42:27
scenario number three perhaps me and
00:42:30
never left the building where she was
00:42:32
last seen the next day one of Mia's
00:42:35
friends stopped by the studio there and
00:42:37
discovered that gets demo tape and Mia's
00:42:39
personal microphone this is something
00:42:43
that she would have been carrying on her
00:42:45
at all times we don't know whether she
00:42:46
left it there after the practice at
00:42:48
night or whether she went back to the
00:42:50
studio after visiting her friend
00:42:52
something happened there and this was
00:42:54
simply left Mia's body was found about
00:42:59
two miles from the studio and about
00:43:01
three miles from the street where the
00:43:03
man heard screams despite a thorough
00:43:05
search of the area
00:43:06
police found little forensic evidence
00:43:09
[Music]
00:43:11
this particular investigation has been
00:43:14
difficult because we're faced with a
00:43:19
situation where we don't know where the
00:43:22
actual crime scene was where the murder
00:43:24
took place
00:43:25
we obviously only know where we found me
00:43:27
at which we don't believe is the same
00:43:30
[Music]
00:43:34
without a crime scene or witnesses leads
00:43:37
quickly faded however the pain that
00:43:40
Mia's death did not people really were
00:43:45
mad they were angered they were hurt
00:43:47
they were shocked or pissed off and
00:43:53
people wanted justice and people wanted
00:43:55
to to know what had happened as a police
00:44:00
investigation stoned the Romanian gets
00:44:02
decided they needed a private
00:44:04
investigator and hired Leigh Hearon to
00:44:08
raise the necessary funds they staged
00:44:10
benefit concerts the response was
00:44:14
overwhelming Seattle's best musicians
00:44:16
took up the cause including Nirvana in
00:44:19
one of Kurt Cobain's final performances
00:44:21
and rocker Joan Jett
00:44:27
in their first collaboration jet
00:44:30
performia songs with the gits
00:44:32
for a special benefit recording I want
00:44:36
more than anything for them to be able
00:44:37
to find out what happened and so so
00:44:40
there can be some resolution for
00:44:42
everybody because everyone's been
00:44:44
working real hard trying to find this
00:44:48
person who did this who killed Mia
00:44:53
Zapata
00:44:54
and why the police believe it was a
00:44:57
random murder investigator Leigh Hearon
00:44:59
believes otherwise she has convinced at
00:45:02
me anew her killer and that the killer
00:45:05
may not have acted alone I think it's
00:45:09
entirely likely that a second person was
00:45:11
involved in transporting Mia's body if
00:45:13
not in the actual homicide I basis on
00:45:16
the fact that Mia's body was found with
00:45:18
her arms out and her legs crossed as if
00:45:22
two people have been carrying her and
00:45:23
laid her down also she had been beaten
00:45:27
in the course of her attack but her face
00:45:29
was not touched and I believe that this
00:45:32
is more of the modus operandi of
00:45:35
somebody who knows a person and does not
00:45:38
want to attack their face but attacks
00:45:39
their body
00:45:40
[Music]
00:45:42
I'm gonna use it
00:45:46
I just remembered the look on her face
00:45:48
of contentment and of accomplishment
00:45:51
that last day you finished the tour and
00:45:54
how happy she was and how she was
00:45:56
smiling and she smiled at me with a look
00:45:59
of a real sense of accomplishment and
00:46:05
like we had a future
00:46:08
[Music]
00:46:08
[Applause]
00:46:10
[Music]
00:46:12
the surviving gets have gone on with
00:46:14
their music forming a new band a dancing
00:46:17
French liberals of 48 it is they believe
00:46:20
what Mia would have wanted but it will
00:46:23
never be the same
00:46:25
playing music without Mia it is very
00:46:29
difficult the chemistry that we shared
00:46:33
as a band having that gone forever is a
00:46:36
hard reality to face every day
00:46:38
[Music]
00:46:43
I remember her as as a best friend and
00:46:47
the sister
00:46:49
one of the warmest most caring I've ever
00:46:54
met in my life
00:46:56
[Music]
00:47:04
[Music]
00:47:10
[Music]
00:47:28
join me next Friday for another
00:47:30
intriguing edition of unsolved mysteries
00:47:34
[Music]
00:48:10
you
00:48:10
[Music]
