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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you are about to see is not a news
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broadcast in 1991 a weekend fishing trip
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off the coast of Mexico apparently ended
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in a tragic death for four young
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Americans
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but two of the bodies were never
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recovered ever since repeated sightings
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of a strange young man have been
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reported up and down Mexico's Baja
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Peninsula convincing many that one of
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the victims
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Gordon Collins is still alive and
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suffering from amnesia the night Gordon
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Collins's family needs your help
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perhaps you pull the crucial clue that
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can bring their son back home join me
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this intriguing new case and more on
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another edition unsolved
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in the 1940s and 50s a mysterious and
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terrifying epidemic swept the United
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States polio the victims were almost all
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children thousands died thousands more
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were crippled for life in 1952 dr. Jonas
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Salk developed a vaccine against polio
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it was nothing short of a miracle
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but for many children it was a miracle
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that came too late
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such was a case for Judy Davis of
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Beverly Ohio Judy was just five years
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old in 1949 when both her legs were
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hopelessly crippled by polio my attitude
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towards polio was it was a challenge my
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parents decided that I was going to live
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as normal life as possible and
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regardless the doctors wanted to put me
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in a convalescent center and my mother
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just hit the roof she says no way that
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child is going to live as normal as
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possible and I did
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when she was eight Judy was enrolled in
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a special elementary school then at the
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age of twelve she entered a regular
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school or her braces and crutches
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provoked fears stares and uncomfortable
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giggles September 1956 the first day of
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junior high for Judy Davis here Judy
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would be the only handicapped student
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here she would for the first time face a
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world which might be unintentionally
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cruel I was petrified because I didn't
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know anyone in the school so I was
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really petrified
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[Music]
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Oh my father he was the type of person
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who encouraged me to do things for
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myself and he kind of instilled in me
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that there was nothing I couldn't do as
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long as I tried okay
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I was able to get in and out of the car
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by myself and I would have been able to
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climb the stairs to the school if there
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was a railing but there was no railing
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so I was resolved to let my father
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carrying the end of the school it's okay
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seeing all the kids stare at me when I
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entered the school it was really an
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awkward feeling because I was it was
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something new for me and I'd never had
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that before
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my father carried me up the steps and
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sat me down at the top of the stairs and
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this girl comes over and she says hi can
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I help
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come on I'll show you okay bye daddy bye
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honey
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Judy had made a real friend in the weeks
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that followed she and Becky Terry would
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become inseparable Becky was a very warm
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person
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I'm very warm very outgoing I mean she
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had to be - to be so open with me the
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first day of school but the other kids
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in the school it was like I was an alien
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from outer space and I felt that way
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except when Becky was around around
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Becky I felt like everything was
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possible she made me feel like there was
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no braces there was no crutches that I
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was just like her
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all through seventh grade the girls
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friendship grew in eighth grade becky
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and judy even took to coordinating their
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wardrobes they were often mistaken for
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sisters and in fact no sisters could
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have been closer Becky and I talked
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about music we talked about boys we
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talked about marriage we talked about
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everything under the Sun but Judy and
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Becky's favorite subject was definitely
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boys at the junior high serialized
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horror movies were shown each day at
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noon before long a boy began sitting
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next to Becky all of a sudden he wasn't
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just sitting there he was holding
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Becky's hand knowing Becky had a
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boyfriend was I don't know it was kind
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of sad for me because she had a
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boyfriend and I didn't have a boyfriend
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so I felt kind of left out Becky's
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boyfriend was David major a fellow 7th
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grader but judy was so shy that she
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couldn't bring herself to talk to David
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or to any other boy well one day Becky
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had a big load of books and she wasn't
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able to carry my books on top of her
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books are you sure I'm sure I was so shy
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I would rather have died than to ask a
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boy for help I was very shy at that age
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especially around boys so here I was
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trying to carry maybe 3 or 4 books plus
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pencils and a notebook and they fell all
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over the floor
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I had a class with David so I knew who
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David was even before Becky and he
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became involved and shortly after Becky
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and David became an item they broke up
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and Becky decided she liked this boy
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named Gordon and evidently he liked her
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because they started holding hands in
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the movies
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and David started holding my hand in the
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movies so I was really thrilled about
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that
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it was real exciting because now we both
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had boyfriends a few months later Becky
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came to Judy's house in a somber mood
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the girls had been through everything
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two friends could experience except
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separation
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[Music]
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hey what's wrong something awful has
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happened really awful my dad got a job
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that's good it's in West Virginia we're
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moving we're moving tomorrow he says
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account B I was brokenhearted when Becky
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told me she was leaving
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Becky's friendship to me meant that I
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was able to be accepted by the other
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students in the school and it made me
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feel like I was more like everyone else
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and that there was no difference between
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us and at the age of 12 that meant a lot
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and it still means a lot Becky and Judy
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wrote to each other for several years
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and Becky even came back to visit once
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but eventually they lost touch in 1960
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Judy's condition deteriorated and she
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was confined to a wheelchair
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nevertheless Judy or daughter Mary and
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have four children she also became an
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outspoken advocate for the rights of the
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disabled in 1979
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Judy divorced and later moved to Tucson
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Arizona through it all her friendship
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with Becky has been an inspiration I
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would really like to find Becky I kind
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of like to tell her how how much she
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meant to me as a friend and I'd like to
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get that friendship back if it's
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possible
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[Music]
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[Music]
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September 1991 a young American
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disoriented penniless and obviously out
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of place wandered into the Mexican
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village of Colonia Vicente Garrido 300
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miles south of San Diego California he
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lingered for months living on handouts
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depending on the charity of strangers
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for one California couple tales of the
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young stranger were a ray of hope in the
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search for their 34 year old son Gordon
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Collins who had been missing for five
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months I know he's alive we have our
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priority now to try to find him and I
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can't get on with my business I can't
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get on with nothing until you know we're
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getting home inside your heart you're
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just you're always longing to just to
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that day you're gonna be able to hold
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him and know it's for real
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the strange saga of Gordon Collins began
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on April 19th 1991
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used vacationing with his girlfriend
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Anastasia seals and another couple near
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Santa Rosalia
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a popular deep-sea fishing spot midway
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down the Baja Peninsula four days after
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they arrived the group secured a boat at
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the local hotel
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Gordon's friend Wayne Schwartz had
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fished off the Baja coast many times and
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knew the area well as a group left port
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a fisherman on his way in warned them
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that a storm was brewing
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[Music]
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yeah
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[Music]
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the fisherman's warnings apparently went
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unheeded several hours later a fierce
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storm would indeed hit the area
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Gordon Collins and his friends never
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returned
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[Music]
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the next day a hotel employee was set
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out to search for them
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his search end 28 miles northeast
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Wayne Schwartz and Gordon's girlfriend
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Anastasia seals were dead but Gordon
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Collins and Schwartz's wife Arlene
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Burlington are nowhere to be found
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the bodies and all a paraphernalia out
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of the boat was all within one square
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mile of each other because I talked to
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the fella that fished the bodies out and
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and so we said hey where's the other two
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jackets where's the other two people for
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three days the United States Coast Guard
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searched a 250 mile area of the sea of
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cortez in the baja shoreline finally
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they suspended the search pending
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further evidence it seemed obvious that
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Gordon Collins and Arlene Burlington had
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perished the US consulate in Mexico
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asked Gordon and nollies Paris assigned
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death certificates however reports that
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Gordon was still alive had already begun
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to filter across the border his parents
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came to believe that he'd been picked up
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by a fishing boat and brought ashore
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they were certain that Gordon was
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suffering from amnesia and was unable to
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find his way home John and Mary Lou
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Collins traveled from Moreno Valley
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California to the area where the two
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bodies had been recovered they combed
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Santa Rosalia desperately hoping for a
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clue to Gordon's whereabouts
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we got Flyers made up and so we were
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spreading them all out when two Mexican
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fishermen come running up to us and kept
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pointing to the to the flyer yep he said
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they seemed a guy out of the water come
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out of the water she just had shorts he
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was all cut up waiting there that
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they're trying to get on a bus state bus
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they're at the bus station I wasn't very
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excited
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the things started fitting together
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because this is where the accident
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happened they found the bodies just a
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mile and a half off of this Shore it's
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not a big lorry
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[Music]
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around the same time
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Gordon was also cited on a nearby beach
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by a man named Jose Peralta
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you haven't --blanket --blanket cold
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Jose said that Gordy said he was working
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for friends he went fishing and could he
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have Jose's blanket cuz he was gonna
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sleep on the beach there a cab oh and
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wait for his friends neither lead panned
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out and the Collins returned home it was
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a beginning of a frustrating seemingly
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endless pattern I would go down until I
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wouldn't get any more sighted and then
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I'd go back home and and we get a phone
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call or something and so boom I get on a
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plane and we'd head back on down and and
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hit these errors were the siding was
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evidently was was that on one trip we're
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headed toward the pause and we stopped
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at the movies taco places and missus
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yeah I seen him an hour ago so we went
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on down for them probably another three
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or four miles we stopped stopped again
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the guy says yeah we've seen them about
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30 minutes ago so we finally got right
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into town and missus yeah within five
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minutes and then they seen us all seen
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us together and I don't know what
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happened but everybody just clammed up
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we couldn't get oh we couldn't get no
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more information I don't know if they
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thought we were the the poiice the FBI
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or the DEA or what you know and we
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couldn't get no more information and bam
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it was just stopped over the next three
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months
00:18:04
Gordon Collins was spotted at least 50
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times in seven different locations all
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in the area of La Paz and Cabo San Lucas
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at the southern end of the Baja
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Peninsula
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it almost seemed that Gordon Collins had
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wanted to disappear and might be hiding
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out but Gordon had called his parents
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the day he left for Mexico so they would
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know her he was John and Mary Lou
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Collins are adamant that Gordon would
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never desert his ten-year-old son
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Christopher and causes family such pain
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and suffering I believe he can't
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remember what happened and cannot make
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the choice to return home because he
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doesn't know more you know home is and
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you can't leave your child wandering
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around in a country aimlessly and not
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only were we exhausted but our money was
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exhausted and we began to think we
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weren't doing it right we decided we
00:19:02
needed a professional at this point the
00:19:06
Collins hired bill Garcia a private
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investigator who alerted newspapers in
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Baja
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after the articles ran Garcia received
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several calls from the village of
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Colonia Vicente Guerrero it was for five
00:19:21
months here in town he never worked here
00:19:25
never work and he only hang around yeah
00:19:28
here in town he was walking all the time
00:19:30
move it moved too much here and almost
00:19:33
in the town everybody knows him we've
00:19:36
shown in pictures and everyone
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recognizes him and they're positive that
00:19:41
it's him the people I have talked to him
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know know some things about him about
00:19:47
Gordon and feel confident that he is
00:19:51
there or was there
00:19:54
according to Amador Gordon was
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eventually arrested for stealing food
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the local sheriff or delegate who
00:20:02
brought in James Hatfield an American
00:20:04
living in the village to translate
00:20:17
there's no doubt in my mind it's Gordon
00:20:20
because when when you met him in jail I
00:20:23
introduced myself to him and he gave me
00:20:25
his name Gordon and then when the flier
00:20:28
came out it's right there
00:20:29
on the flyer Gordon and you can't get
00:20:31
the two pitchers mixed up it's the same
00:20:33
he moved on shortly before we were able
00:20:36
to get to that area and we haven't been
00:20:38
able to find where he's gone from there
00:20:42
the Gordon seems to be just wandering
00:20:45
through the different towns in Baja not
00:20:47
really knowing where he's going I don't
00:20:51
think he's attempting to get home
00:20:53
because he seems to go north then he
00:20:55
seems to travel back sell over the next
00:20:58
year sporadic sightings of Gordon
00:21:01
continued the last was near the village
00:21:03
of Rosarita 25 miles south of Tijuana
00:21:06
the US consulate has now officially
00:21:09
reversed his position and no longer
00:21:11
presumes that Gordon Collins is dead you
00:21:16
just can't cup and give up because it's
00:21:18
your son I know it keeps me driving and
00:21:21
keeps me going and I want to get him
00:21:23
home to get him home safe and back to
00:21:29
normal again
00:21:34
[Music]
00:21:40
recently we featured the story of WB Mac
00:21:43
MacDonald a self-made millionaire who
00:21:45
was searching for his heir a child whom
00:21:48
Mac had seen but once forty-three years
00:21:50
ago Mac story began in 1948 in Pomona
00:21:57
California that summer he fell in love
00:22:00
with a 16 year old girl named Mary Helen
00:22:02
Connor but their courtship was cut short
00:22:06
by Mary Helen's mother she threatened to
00:22:08
have Mac arrested if the romance
00:22:10
continued my whole life was revolving
00:22:17
around her it upset me you know because
00:22:24
I was in love with a girl and we were
00:22:28
planning on a future together and here
00:22:32
were these tremendous stumbling blocks
00:22:35
being thrown out into the paths
00:22:39
Mack moved to Houston Texas three weeks
00:22:42
later Mary Helen ran away from home and
00:22:45
joined him posing as husband and wife
00:22:50
the young lovers moved in together but
00:22:53
their happiness was short-lived a friend
00:23:03
tipped off Mack that the police are on
00:23:04
the way to the apartment
00:23:07
Mary Helen's mother had made good on her
00:23:10
threats authorities carried warrants
00:23:12
charging Mac the statutory rape and
00:23:14
illegally living with a minor Mac made
00:23:22
his escape with no time to spare
00:23:24
I was devastated again they jerked her
00:23:29
back to California and I hadn't I had no
00:23:35
way of contacting her again
00:23:37
a year later Mac returned to California
00:23:41
and was shocked to learn that he was a
00:23:42
father he visited Mary Helen and met his
00:23:46
child for the first and only time but
00:23:49
fearing that authorities were still
00:23:50
looking for him Mac fled after only five
00:23:53
minutes
00:23:54
he never even learned if the baby was a
00:23:56
boy or a girl now a wealthy businessman
00:24:02
Mac wants to find the child he left
00:24:05
behind 43 years ago I feel that the
00:24:10
youngster is entitled to my estate and I
00:24:14
would want to I'd want that youngster to
00:24:17
know that I love him and I wanted to
00:24:20
have the best
00:24:21
[Music]
00:24:25
the night of our broadcast Mac McDonald
00:24:28
learned that he had a daughter named
00:24:29
sherry the long-awaited news came from a
00:24:32
viewer in Dallas Texas Mary Helen car
00:24:35
Sherry's mother unlike many of the
00:24:38
reunions we have featured the end of
00:24:40
this search of oak decidedly mixed
00:24:41
emotions from Mac from Mary Helen
00:24:44
especially for their daughter sherry
00:24:46
who'd been raised by loving and caring
00:24:48
stepfather
00:24:49
I'm 43 years old and pretty well said in
00:24:53
my life and everything and and I didn't
00:24:55
know what to think you know I'm very
00:24:57
happily married and have two great kids
00:25:00
and you know we just have a normal
00:25:02
American family and and this is quite a
00:25:06
shock to everyone
00:25:08
one week after our broadcast Mac
00:25:11
McDonald arrived at Sherry's home in
00:25:13
Denver Colorado for Mack the reunion
00:25:16
would bring a bittersweet and at times
00:25:18
unsettling reconciliation with the past
00:25:31
[Music]
00:25:36
it's hard to describe the feeling that I
00:25:40
had for my daughter when I opened the
00:25:41
door and she was there and I was able to
00:25:44
hold her I just tried to come to the
00:25:56
realization that it really was my father
00:25:57
standing there and I just to see does he
00:26:02
look like me is he act like me you don't
00:26:04
have all these things I need to learn
00:26:05
about him I don't know what to say at
00:26:10
this point in my life to find that there
00:26:11
is someone who is my father
00:26:13
and who wants to establish a
00:26:14
relationship with me it's just
00:26:16
emotionally very traumatic apparently he
00:26:20
wants to be part of her life and if
00:26:25
that's the case it's okay
00:26:27
I hope since he's gone to this much
00:26:30
effort to find her that he doesn't bring
00:26:33
any sorrow the fact that I didn't stay
00:26:37
in fight the battle it's most
00:26:40
unfortunate I don't believe I would do
00:26:43
it that way again however yesterday
00:26:47
unfortunately can't be redone I'd like
00:26:54
to
00:26:57
no matter how you look at it he left my
00:27:00
mother was a with a tiny baby you know
00:27:02
and I have to deal with that I have to
00:27:05
deal with the fact that I have a father
00:27:07
who loves for me who has raised me who's
00:27:10
cared for me that I believe there's
00:27:13
enough room in this family for everyone
00:27:15
and I sincerely mean when the afternoon
00:27:32
of March 11th 1992 paramedics were
00:27:35
dispatched to an emergency at a toy
00:27:37
store in Redwood City California inside
00:27:43
sprawled on a table in the employees
00:27:45
lunchroom was 23-year old Gilbert Ortiz
00:27:47
he was sweating profusely in
00:27:50
experiencing severe convulsions Gilbert
00:28:00
managed to tell the medics that he
00:28:01
become ill after drinking a high protein
00:28:03
amino acid milkshake commonly used by
00:28:06
bodybuilders to help them bulk up and
00:28:08
strengthen muscle
00:28:15
and how long ago did you join France
00:28:17
Gilbert
00:28:20
Gilbert began to slip in and out of
00:28:22
consciousness
00:28:23
his wife was contacted and paramedics
00:28:26
rushed into nearby Sequoia Hospital
00:28:32
is that the shake right there doctors in
00:28:35
the emergency room were baffled by
00:28:36
Gilbert's condition they examine the
00:28:39
plastic bottle which it contained the
00:28:41
shake and set it aside so the contents
00:28:43
could be tested later within moments
00:28:48
Gilbert's wife Elizabeth arrived in the
00:28:50
emergency room doctors hoped that she
00:28:53
could provide an explanation for
00:28:55
Gilbert's sudden mysterious illness just
00:29:00
a few minutes ago and they said that
00:29:02
after taking that sports drink over
00:29:04
there
00:29:04
about 15 minutes later he started
00:29:06
vomiting he's very disoriented I can't
00:29:07
get anything straight out of him have
00:29:09
you ever seen that bottle no never I've
00:29:11
never seen you know what we're thinking
00:29:13
we're thinking it might have had an
00:29:14
overdose of drugs maybe some street
00:29:15
grunts or maybe something else Cooper
00:29:17
doesn't do drugs are you sure okay by 10
00:29:22
o'clock that evening Gilbert had
00:29:24
developed pneumonia and his kidneys had
00:29:26
failed he was admitted to the intensive
00:29:28
care unit he would later suffer cardiac
00:29:31
arrest and slip into a coma as his life
00:29:34
hung in the balance doctors worked
00:29:36
feverishly to determine what had caused
00:29:38
him to become so violently ill
00:29:40
[Music]
00:29:44
sometime that afternoon the plastic
00:29:47
milkshake bottle similar to this one
00:29:48
mysteriously disappeared it was a first
00:29:52
in a series of bizarre incidents that
00:29:54
would lead authorities to believe that
00:29:55
Gilbert Ortiz had been poisoned by
00:29:57
someone he thought he could trust
00:30:01
in 1987 gilbert was serving in the army
00:30:04
when he met Elizabeth Fuentes
00:30:06
they married three years later shortly
00:30:09
after the birth of their son Jonathan
00:30:11
Gilbert took an entry-level position in
00:30:14
the toy store in Redwood City but he and
00:30:16
Elizabeth frequently fought over money
00:30:18
in March of 1992 Gilbert received a
00:30:22
promotion in the future suddenly seemed
00:30:24
brighter less than a week later gilbert
00:30:27
was in the hospital fighting for his
00:30:29
life Gilbert's mother and sisters soon
00:30:35
joined Elizabeth at the hospital they
00:30:38
said that while they were in the waiting
00:30:39
room
00:30:40
Elizabeth received a strange phone call
00:30:42
which seemed to upset her she got
00:30:49
nervous when she came back from from
00:30:50
that phone call I don't know why I don't
00:30:53
know what they told her and so she
00:31:01
decided that she was gonna go see
00:31:03
Jonathan she was concerned about
00:31:04
Jonathan for some reason and she was
00:31:07
gonna go to Gilbert's work cuz she knew
00:31:11
the combination for the locker and she
00:31:13
was gonna go see if she could find
00:31:15
anything because Gilbert wasn't getting
00:31:17
any better and about two hours later she
00:31:24
came back she was a star up gone you
00:31:27
should keep saying and somebody has
00:31:28
Jonathan this this guy has Jonathan
00:31:30
Jonathan somebody has done it then
00:31:35
outside in the parking lot he said he
00:31:38
was gonna hurt Jonathan wait he has
00:31:40
Jonathan outside no yeah no he the man
00:31:42
said he was gonna kidnap but wait a
00:31:44
minute I thought Jonathan was with your
00:31:45
mother and so I was like in a Wayne and
00:31:52
I call her mom and her mom you know I
00:31:55
asked any news Jonathan there and then
00:31:57
she saw like yeah he's free he's right
00:31:58
here
00:31:59
I'm like why I'm like because I'm
00:32:01
Elizabeth she said that some guy had him
00:32:03
well Brenda was on the phone Elizabeth
00:32:06
blurted out a disjointed frightening
00:32:08
story she said she had been approached
00:32:10
by a small boy in the hospital parking
00:32:12
lot who then directed her to a man
00:32:14
man in a parked car did you know I just
00:32:21
covered his face what did you do
00:32:23
What did he say he said that he knew
00:32:25
what had happened to Gilbert and then
00:32:26
Gilbert had drank the wrong stuff
00:32:29
what was stuff in the bag Gilbert just
00:32:33
inside the paper bag was a bottle of
00:32:36
liquid insecticide the ICU nurse
00:32:45
immediately made two phone calls under
00:32:48
the national poison control center and
00:32:50
the other to the Redwood City police
00:32:53
poisoning to report I need to speak to
00:32:55
an officer five days later Elizabeth was
00:33:00
questioned about the mysterious masked
00:33:02
man she said had handed her the
00:33:04
insecticide so tell me about the little
00:33:07
boy that ran after you well when I was
00:33:10
in my car I turned on my car and I was
00:33:13
for about the first hour of the
00:33:16
interview she maintained the story that
00:33:18
she had given the officers and the
00:33:19
nurses at the same stating that the man
00:33:22
with a mask and a little boy and she
00:33:25
told me that she thought it was
00:33:27
definitely a strange story but it was
00:33:29
the truth if what you're telling us is
00:33:32
the truth how would this guy have known
00:33:33
that Gilbert drank this thing how should
00:33:36
I know
00:33:36
how would the little boy know I don't
00:33:38
know I don't know I've never seen
00:33:40
anything before in my life your story
00:33:42
doesn't make sense I just I still
00:33:45
couldn't believe what she was telling me
00:33:46
and so my partner and I started to jam
00:33:49
her by you know telling her certain
00:33:52
things to see how she would react like
00:33:54
we knew more than we actually did and
00:33:56
that man gave me the bottle there was a
00:33:59
witness in the parking lot he didn't see
00:34:01
a man with the mask and he didn't see a
00:34:03
little boy all he saw was you
00:34:05
there was no masked man and there was no
00:34:08
little boy okay all right okay I made
00:34:13
that part up why because the doctor you
00:34:16
know he was he said that whatever
00:34:18
Gilbert drank was in the house okay and
00:34:20
so I went he asked me if I had any
00:34:23
insecticides and I looked they searched
00:34:24
in the house and that's when I found the
00:34:25
bottle why did you make
00:34:27
story up about the man with the mask and
00:34:29
a little boy because I was scared I
00:34:32
didn't know if Gilbert had done this to
00:34:33
himself on purpose she told me that
00:34:35
maybe he was trying to hurt himself and
00:34:37
and so I asked her you mean you think he
00:34:39
was trying to take his own life and she
00:34:41
said yeah maybe maybe he was depressed
00:34:43
and and I didn't want him to get in
00:34:45
trouble
00:34:46
Elizabeth would you be willing to take a
00:34:48
lie-detector test look I have a job
00:34:51
interview okay so I gotta go what about
00:34:54
the lie-detector test okay when later
00:34:58
this afternoon after your interview okay
00:35:02
Elizabeth never returned to the police
00:35:05
station
00:35:05
the next morning detective Anderson
00:35:08
reached her at her mother's house in San
00:35:10
Francisco 20 minutes from Redwood City
00:35:12
this time Elizabeth refused to come in
00:35:21
11 days later
00:35:22
Gilbert regained consciousness and
00:35:24
police suspicions were finally confirmed
00:35:27
Gilbert had apparently been poisoned by
00:35:29
his own wife Elizabeth she was working
00:35:32
for some people and she called me about
00:35:36
12 or so and told me she wanted to have
00:35:39
lunch with me
00:35:40
Gilbert explained that Elizabeth had
00:35:42
told him about a co-workers son who had
00:35:44
bucked up by drinking amino-acid
00:35:47
milkshakes you know I live weights and
00:35:50
of it I I could never get big and that's
00:35:55
the kind of guy she likes do you know
00:35:57
this guy no some guys she worked for so
00:36:02
she mix something up and brought it for
00:36:04
you to drink no the guy that guy mixed
00:36:07
it up gave it to her she came to my work
00:36:10
lunchtime and dropped it off Gilbert
00:36:13
said Elizabeth met him around 2:00 p.m.
00:36:15
in the toy store parking lot the shake
00:36:19
was already mixed in a plastic sports
00:36:21
bottle
00:36:26
I'm gonna tell you to drink it before
00:36:28
you eat anything
00:36:29
it smells like chocolate what did you
00:36:32
say wasn't it
00:36:33
amino acid they're supposed to make me
00:36:36
stronger
00:36:37
yeah this guy is real big he's real fast
00:36:40
and he said it might taste a little
00:36:41
nasty but that's okay it's supposed to
00:36:43
well actually I didn't open it until I
00:36:45
got inside he looked like a real shake I
00:36:48
mean I got really chocolate shake that's
00:36:50
what I looked like so I kind of tried it
00:36:55
right and then I want to try to dissolve
00:36:57
like burn my throat a little bit listen
00:36:59
maybe that's why it's supposed to taste
00:37:01
I don't know I don't know if it was
00:37:03
supposed to be sour or spicy cuz it was
00:37:08
spicy but I thought the weight just was
00:37:10
and I kept drinking and drinking and
00:37:13
butter in touch the food at all I mean
00:37:18
pretty close I almost finish the bottle
00:37:20
and then I started feeling really hot my
00:37:24
throat's really valid really really
00:37:25
burning and I was all shaky and then I
00:37:30
feel like Kate is sick then I passed out
00:37:36
that I was in the emergency room police
00:37:41
obtained a search warrant to see if they
00:37:43
could trace the poison or the plastic
00:37:45
bottle to Elizabeth but when they
00:37:47
arrived at the Ortiz apartment they made
00:37:49
a startling discovery
00:37:53
Elizabeth Ortiz had vanished along with
00:37:56
a couple's two-year-old son Jonathan
00:38:00
then that's when I hit me she didn't
00:38:03
I really really heard it you know
00:38:07
especially you want to tell me so
00:38:09
where's the baby
00:38:10
she he's gone that's that's the main
00:38:14
point that really got me hurry you know
00:38:17
fine she's gone she's gone but the kid
00:38:20
and I was too attached to the kid I
00:38:23
still AM nearly one year has passed as
00:38:28
Gilbert Ortiz was poisoned but he still
00:38:30
has not fully recovered the insecticide
00:38:33
caused serious damage to his liver and
00:38:35
nervous system his right foot is numb
00:38:38
and he has difficulty walking without
00:38:40
assistance doctors don't know if I'm
00:38:44
gonna get back to normal or if it's
00:38:46
permanent damage to my nerves same thing
00:38:51
with my hands tip of my fingers numbed I
00:38:56
can't feel anything
00:39:00
mmm
00:39:01
I really messed up my life because if I
00:39:05
can't do anything my feet I can't work
00:39:09
johnathan Fuentes Ortiz has not been
00:39:12
seen since March 17th 1992 he was born
00:39:15
on May 13th 1990 and has brown eyes and
00:39:18
black hair an arrest warrant has been
00:39:23
issued for Elizabeth twenties Ortiz the
00:39:26
charge attempted murder with a special
00:39:28
consideration for torture elizabeth is
00:39:33
23 years old five feet six inches tall
00:39:35
and weighs 140 pounds she has black hair
00:39:38
brown eyes
00:39:39
a prominent cleft in her chin
00:39:42
[Music]
00:40:04
[Music]
00:40:09
on a previous broadcast we featured the
00:40:12
agonising story of a young English woman
00:40:14
Delia Hasani in 1964 she was 18 years
00:40:18
old unmarried and had just had a baby
00:40:20
whom she named Michelle at her father's
00:40:24
insistence Delia was staying at a
00:40:26
convent until the baby was adopted two
00:40:31
weeks after the baby was born
00:40:32
Delia's Paris visited the convent Delia
00:40:36
hoped once her father saw Michel he
00:40:38
would relent but he wouldn't even look
00:40:40
at his granddaughter
00:40:44
in the end Delia had no choice but to
00:40:47
give up her daughter for adoption
00:40:50
you've only got 30 minutes to say
00:40:53
goodbye what you tried to do is look at
00:40:57
her face to burn the impression into
00:41:01
your mind and so you feel the the shawl
00:41:06
and what maybe because it's warm but
00:41:11
you're feeling her body because that was
00:41:14
the last time you're gonna see her and
00:41:17
that was it I can't explain one minute I
00:41:21
had a baby makes me it was gone two
00:41:31
photographs were all that Delia had to
00:41:33
remember Michel and she never stopped
00:41:35
trying to locate her
00:41:36
finally after 15 years of frustrated
00:41:39
research
00:41:40
Delia's efforts began to pay off last
00:41:44
July Edina learned that her daughter had
00:41:46
been renamed longer and adoptions
00:41:49
official agreed to send a letter to
00:41:50
Laura that Delia had written in the
00:41:52
brief note Delia said that she would
00:41:54
soon appear in unsolved mysteries and
00:41:56
asked her daughter to view the broadcast
00:42:02
in New York Mills New York on the
00:42:04
evening our program was aired Delia's
00:42:06
daughter Laura Frankland experienced
00:42:09
firsthand the heartbreaking events
00:42:10
leading up to her adoption when I found
00:42:25
out my birth mother was searching for me
00:42:27
that was pretty touching to know that
00:42:31
she had looked that far to try to find
00:42:34
me
00:42:35
[Music]
00:42:41
after the broadcast
00:42:43
Laura contacted art Ellison and asked to
00:42:45
be put in touch with her birth mother
00:42:47
against nearly impossible odds Delia had
00:42:50
at last found her daughter a continent
00:42:53
away amidst a population of millions on
00:42:56
[Music]
00:42:58
September 19th 1992 Laura her husband
00:43:02
their two children and Laura's closest
00:43:03
friends assembled a Syracuse
00:43:05
International Airport the separation of
00:43:09
birth mother and daughter that had
00:43:10
lasted more than a quarter of a century
00:43:12
was about to end there was a lot of
00:43:16
anticipation a lot of what's she gonna
00:43:19
think when she sees me and what is she
00:43:22
going through right now
00:43:24
[Music]
00:43:47
she was everything and more that I'd
00:43:51
expected absolutely everything she's a
00:43:54
she's beautiful girl proud of her
00:44:00
before Laura's adoptive mother died in
00:44:03
1989 she had shared all she knew of
00:44:05
Laura's background Delia and Laura could
00:44:08
now fill in the remaining gaps in nearly
00:44:10
30 years of family history
00:44:14
fighting my birthmother now I don't
00:44:17
think has really changed my life as much
00:44:19
as it has probably enhanced it because
00:44:22
now I can find out some about my past
00:44:24
and my history and things that I never
00:44:25
thought that I would ever find out about
00:44:27
I can't replace her mother but I'd like
00:44:33
to think that I could be pretty close
00:44:37
the September reunion is only a
00:44:39
beginning at Christmas Laura and her
00:44:42
family plan to travel to England where
00:44:44
they will spend time with Delia and the
00:44:46
many relatives looking forward to
00:44:48
meeting them for the first time
00:44:52
[Music]
00:44:59
join me next time perhaps you may be
00:45:02
able help solve a mystery
00:45:06
[Music]
00:45:42
you
00:45:43
[Music]
