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[Music]
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this program is about unsolved mysteries
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whenever possible the actual family
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members and police officials have
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participated in recreating the events
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what you were about to see is not a news
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broadcast for nearly 20 years Nancy
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Meyers proved an invaluable tool for law
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enforcement but Nancy is no ordinary
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investigator she apparently employs
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psychic abilities to divine clues of my
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otherwise go unnoticed tonight you'll
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see Nancy in action as she searches for
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answers in the tragic murder of a young
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girl in Florida in 1980 15 year-old
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Michelle Donna who ran away from home
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on leap to Texas Michelle was befriended
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by three good Samaritans who guided her
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through her dangerous journey Michelle
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needs your help to find her protectors
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so she can finally say thank you and one
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of the great mysteries of the sea in
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1872 a schooner christened the Mary
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Celeste weighed anchor in New York
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Harbor and set sail for Europe four
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weeks later she was found drifting in
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the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal the
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Mary Celeste was a virtually perfect
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condition yet the captain his family and
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the crew had inexplicably vanished for
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more than a century the mysterious fate
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of the ghost ship as tantalized
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storytellers and historians alike join
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me with this intriguing legend and much
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more
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I'm so mysteries
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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what if your mind worked like a
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television set what if you could change
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channels at will tune into programs no
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one else could see and what did he could
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never turn the set off you're about to
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meet a remarkable woman named Nancy
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Mayer who apparently has extraordinary
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mind of a psychic she didn't ask for it
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she doesn't always like it yet she has
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learned to put it to good use when you
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are working with individuals yourself in
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the field I am sure cuz many cops have
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said this to me I'm not psychic
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Nancy Meyer of Greensburg Pennsylvania
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has been working with police departments
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around the country for nearly two
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decades her track record would be the
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envy of any detective in some 3-hundred
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Criminal Investigations Nancy says she
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has turned up crucial new information
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more than 80% of the time it's like the
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ultimate challenge because most of my
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cases are murders only two people knew
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what happened to victim in the killer
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the only way to find out is telepathy
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when you find someone like her and of
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course if you get her where she wants to
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become involved then you have yourself a
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tool a fantastic tool it's not gonna
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solve your crimes in a lot of cases but
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it's gonna give you that extra bit of
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information where your investigators
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have the opportunity of going out and
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continuing the case
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Nancy's first major case came in 1977
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when a desperate detective in Wilmington
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Delaware asked her to help him track
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down an unknown serial rapist I didn't
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really have any faith at all and
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psychics or whatever we had never used
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one I had never considered using one but
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the women were hesitant about making
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identification and looking at pictures
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and stuff like that and we was just kind
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of stuck really most people in the
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department were very skeptical of the
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psychic as a matter of fact to the point
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of it was it was a joke that there goes
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poorly real and and my partner off with
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his psychic and you know he must be
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getting old the detectives had given
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Nancy no specific details about the
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rapes at the home of the first victim
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both men were stunned when Nancy was
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able to improve upon the victims own
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sketch of the rapist do you mind
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changing the eye eyebrows a little bit
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the shape was a little bit off to me and
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she thought about it and she said I
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think you're right and then she made the
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change and she said to the detectives
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that's more accurate I she said I knew
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there was something wrong with it that's
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more accurate when we were leaving she
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reached out and grabbed my hand and
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forearm with her hands all this stuff
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came pouring into my head and all of a
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sudden I was getting much clearer
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pictures
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it's like trying to watch a car and get
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the license number when it's traveling
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at an excessive speed it's very hard to
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do that and you have to sort of let all
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the information flow through and then
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try to slow it down and rerun it and
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that I could see one image of him
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sleeping so I could really study has
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features interspersed was this uniform
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and I could see a number but it was
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faded and I could see an emblem but it
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was faded and it looked like a work suit
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and it had these kind of clodhoppers II
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black shoes and the White Sox after the
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meeting Nancy suddenly went into a
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trance-like State and literally took off
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down the street
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the same thing would happen after she
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met each rape victim first we would
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start off riding then we would get out
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of the car physically walk and when she
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would go into her little I guess you
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could call it bloodhound type tongue
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hanging eye Scouting or patrolling or
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whatever you want to call it we would be
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doing like a canvass but on foot and you
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would have to watch her I mean cuz she
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she definitely didn't pay attention to
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what she was doing because she would
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walk right out in the street or across
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the street or whatever Nancy always
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seemed to end up at the same street
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corner in a residential area near
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downtown Wilmington
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he's around here somewhere which way
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left right up the street down the street
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I just kept looking up the street and
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saying this is the street he's coming
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back to I just followed him well which
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house give me the house number you know
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we don't want a little bit we want more
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what gave you the street what do you
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want the house number would be real nice
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and I just refuse to go up the street
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they really pestered me but they both
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knew me well enough to know that I
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wasn't budging I sort of was afraid he
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might walk out the door of the house and
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there I'd be no snows with him and I
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didn't want that to happen
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the clues kept adding up but nothing
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concrete emerged finally Nancy
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accompanied one victim to the actual
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spot where the rape had happened
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Nancy instinctively focused on the
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telephone did he use the phone when he
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was here amazingly Nancy's hunch jogged
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the victims memory the rapist had used
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the phone and more importantly the
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yellow pages we took to phonebook and
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asked me to send it down to FBI in
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Washington laboratory and we did get a
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couple fingerprints without a suspect
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the fingerprints were useless
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as the investigation progressed Nancy
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found herself drawn back to the same
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street corner
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time after time now she knew she had to
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go farther
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[Music]
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half a block down shelf cross evident
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nancy stopped dead in her tracks
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[Music]
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this is it this is the house he
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definitely comes and goes from here by
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that time I wasn't so skeptic anymore
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personally of course my partner he still
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thinks I'm nuts at that point for
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fooling with her but that's beside the
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point so I had a little faith in her so
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whatever she more or less said I would
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definitely try to do something about and
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make something out of it because I was a
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I guess a convert then I was a believer
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the detectives immediately questioned
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the owner of the building and his
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girlfriend they take over a week he gave
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me the name of the applicants for the
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apartment that was being refurbished
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Derek Stevens I know that name why do I
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know that name
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the man's name I recognized myself from
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another case previous can't be the same
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guy away cuz he's still be in jail so
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anyway I called a jail and I find out
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that he's on this work furlough release
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program or something and that he's out
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every day looking for a job suddenly the
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pieces of the puzzle fell into place
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incredibly the man's prison uniform
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mirrored Nancy's vision a navy blue
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shirt a serial number of patch on the
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breast pocket black shoes and white
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socks but it was a prisoner's finger
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prints that sealed his fate they matched
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the prints lifted from the yellow pages
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number three in the end the suspect was
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identified by six of the victims he was
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eventually convicted and sentenced to a
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total of 150 years in prison
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when I was called and told what had
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happened it was like I had to keep
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asking them and finally one of the
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detective said you don't really believe
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you did it did you I said no I don't
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it was just like incredible because that
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one I was able to produce more result
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each time I worked when you come to a
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dead end and you have no place to go if
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you have someone who can open a door and
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say hey I think I can help you and just
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through her psychic powers she's able to
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put us out into another lead then
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through a good investigation techniques
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we can go and continue inside of a crime
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and that's what we've done involves
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being able to pick up a great deal of
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information from a variety of things
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what are we to make of the apparent
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powers of Nancy Meyer
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does she have the uncanny ability to see
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and sense things that the rest of us
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can't
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last summer we asked Nancy to travel a
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Brooksville Florida where the Sheriff's
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Department was investigating a
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particularly tragic murder case 12
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year-old Jennifer Odom was a bright
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vivacious 7th grader on the afternoon of
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February 19th 1993 she got off the
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school bus at a stop just 200 yards from
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her home then Jennifer vanished the
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community mobilized for nearly a week
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hundreds of friends and neighbors combed
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the woods finally six days after
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Jennifer disappeared her body was found
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she had been brutally murdered 16 months
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later Nancy Meyer would be brought in to
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work with local detectives
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these kind of era because the
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crime-scene photographs and the Jennifer
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Odom case are classified so Nancy was
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not allowed to view them what you were
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watching is real even with the
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photographs turned face down on the
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table Nancy was able to visualize not
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one but two killers in details medium
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build he looks to me to be quite I want
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to say almost why are we looking in the
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arms his arms are not like powerful in
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the sense of muscle building but
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powerful in the sense of someone who
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works and the next day Nancy visited the
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scene of the abduction
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Jennifer's school bus stop Nancy began
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to tell the Sheriff's detectives what
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she was sensing it happen started asking
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her directions the detectives listened
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to everything Nancy said but at the time
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made no comment the situation she starts
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to move it's like being in a movie in my
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head and I stand beside the victim and I
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try to describe everything that I'm
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seeing as it unfolds and a lot of times
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that's really helpful to the police
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officers because sometimes they have odd
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pieces of evidence at the scene they
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don't understand the significance of and
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when I described this sequence of events
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it sometimes makes sense out of odd
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little pieces that they couldn't make
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any sense on the spot where Jennifer's
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body was discovered is marked by flowers
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and a cross I'm sure you took this whole
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place apart did you find some small
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metal jewelry of hers up in this area
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the medallion or something back in that
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direction
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nobody finds him in her jewelry okay
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that's a feeling of something there she
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was extremely accurate on some things
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that kind of led us to look in other
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areas that we hadn't thought of and so
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we basically you know obtained a lot of
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information from what she had to offer I
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was impressed with Nancy she something
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she said we're so so darn accurate it's
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scary and then something she said we're
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a little bit off the wall but I was
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impressed and I would definitely
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recommend her again Nancy would oughta
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suggest that there was evidence in the
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area
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yet to be found I should be more stuff
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back in there and there should be well
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would have looked like the strip off of
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some kind of a carry case or something
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and it would have been black with
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lettering and like bluish colors I want
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to look to fairly new I was used to
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restrain her
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the hardest part of this is dealing with
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the devastation that people wreak on
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each other I find it particularly
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difficult working in the cases of the
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children that have been killed my heart
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just goes out to the families I mean
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it's frustrating to me when everything
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doesn't just fall into place I don't
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pick up any feeling on the other side
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[Music]
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[Music]
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near the memorial to Jennifer Odom Nancy
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Meyers spoke of the possible existence
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of a carrying case with lettering on it
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the Sheriff's Department is since
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revealed that Jennifer Odom had her
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cousin's clarinet with her when she was
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abducted
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the letters ello were on the carrying
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case the name Odom was carved into the
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clarinet itself neither the clarinet the
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k-star Jennifer's white zip-up pep club
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sweatshirt with the word Hooters and
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orange on the left sleeve has ever been
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found
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you
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next the century-old mystery of the Mary
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Celeste what happened in the captain
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include a legendary ghost ship
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[Music]
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it was a glorious time the Golden Age of
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sailing ships 100 years ago graceful
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Briggs and Clippers rode the winds
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linking Europe America and the exotic
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East but not every ship reached her
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destination safely but a crisp November
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morning in 1872 Brigantine named the
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Mary Celeste sailed from New York Harbor
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and into legend enshrined as the most
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infamous ghost ship of them all
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or weeks after embarking for Europe the
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Mary Celeste would be found drifting
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several hundred miles off the coast of
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Portugal abandoned but curiously still
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on course the veil of mystery stretches
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back to the evening before the Mary
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Celeste departed on her captain on
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Benjamin Briggs his wife and a guest
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shared a quiet farewell dinner mrs.
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Briggs you must be looking forward to
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the weather in the Mediterranean this
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time of year Oh Sara and I feel that
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Benjamin Briggs of Marion Massachusetts
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had already captain ships for a decade
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when he took the helm of the Mary
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Celeste he came from a family of
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seafarers he was considered quite a
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religious man captain Briggs was a noted
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good captain he could be Stern and so on
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but he was always noted as being fair
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are you bringing the children Sophie
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will be coming with us and Arthur will
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remain here in school
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Benjamin's wife Sarah was herself a
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veteran of several voyages and would be
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along for the fateful trip much
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speculation is centered on the Briggs's
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guests that evening captain David
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Morehouse his ship the dr gratia would
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sail for Europe eight days after the
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Mary Celeste Morehouse will be swept up
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in the bizarre events that were about to
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unfold but some have asked whether by
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chance or by design here well here's to
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a smooth crossing in calm seas God
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willing
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[Music]
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the next morning November 5th 1872 the
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Mary Celeste weighed anchor and set sail
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for Europe stowed securely below deck
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were more than a thousand barrels of
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pure alcohol highly prized in the
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Italian wine trade it was a valuable but
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dangerous cargo alcohol fumes were
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notoriously volatile even explosive from
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New York captain Briggs set a course
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almost due east the Mary Celeste would
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sail more than 5,000 miles past the
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Azores through the Strait of Gibraltar
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and into the Mediterranean
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finally docking at Genoa Italy 10 days
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out of Port the Mary Celeste was
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buffeted by a howling storm winter winds
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whipped the Mary Celeste for better than
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a week I'd like to take in more sail
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let's have a look according to the
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captain's logbook a very Celeste
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stayed on course
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on the tenth day the weather cleared in
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his law captain Briggs placed the Mary
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Celeste near six miles off the Azores
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the date of the entry was November 25th
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1872 the last entry ever made by captain
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Briggs ten days past mr. right captain
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on board the dear gratia captain
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Morehouse was about to make a discovery
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that would plunge him into controversy
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something strange off the starboard bow
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captain
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looks like she's floundering a couple of
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sails are blown away they tell you who
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she is
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it's a Mary Celeste
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the DIA grotty is first late
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Oliver Duvall led a boarding party to
00:22:17
the Mary Celeste they came nearer tried
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to signal it received no return signal
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came closer to it so no one on deck
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I thought maybe at first that it might
00:22:31
have been like what they called a fever
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ship and they thought that maybe people
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were aboard down below dead of some sort
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of fever a holding silence shrouded the
00:22:45
Mary Celeste if a killer fever had swept
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through the ship it had left no victims
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behind you check below I'll collapse
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like this at all
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[Applause]
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Davo was concerned to find the ship's
00:23:18
compass shattered and he was mystified
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by a long rope to snaked across the deck
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and off the stern of the ship in the
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cabins personal possessions money and
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gold jewelry lay undisturbed as though
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everyone had been on board one moment
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gone the next
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the captain's navigation instruments and
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the ship's papers were missing but
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Oliver Duvall claimed he found no
00:23:46
evidence of foul play no reason for the
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Mary Celeste to have been abandoned only
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one fact was certain the Mary Celeste
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and her precious cargo of alcohol could
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be worth a fortune and salvage rights to
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whoever brought her to port Morehouse
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seized the opportunity with first mate
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Devon now at the helm of the Mary
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Celeste the two ships set a course for
00:24:17
Gibraltar there a British Vice Admiralty
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court would review more houses Salvage
00:24:22
claim
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his arrival in Gibraltar provoked an
00:24:27
immediate uproar rumours at captain
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Morehouse was guilty of fraud and
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conspiracy swept the city even as a
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court convened and you were the first to
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board the Mary Celeste is that correct
00:24:41
that's right myself and my second mate
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mr. right and when you boarded her what
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was the condition of the ship she was in
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relatively good condition the
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government's chief investigator was a
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flamboyant Irishman named Sully flood he
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was very suspicious he had a certain
00:24:59
Bend for the dramatic I think he kind of
00:25:02
immediately saw a foul play involved and
00:25:05
all drawing the the proceedings he tried
00:25:09
to to indicate that you know there had
00:25:12
been some sort of conspiracy involved
00:25:14
here and captain Morehouse and captain
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Briggs of the Mary Celeste were French
00:25:19
they were colleagues in fact they had
00:25:22
dinner together the night before the
00:25:23
Mary Celeste left for Italy the night
00:25:25
before the marriage Celeste set off do
00:25:28
you think it's possible that the two of
00:25:32
them might have been in collusion sir
00:25:36
captain Morehouse is an honorable man
00:25:38
yes of course
00:25:39
lack of evidence eventually forced flood
00:25:41
to drop his allegations but he quickly
00:25:44
dreamed up a more sensational scenario
00:25:46
mutiny and murder the Mary Celeste was
00:25:54
impounded in Spector's under floods
00:25:56
personal supervision combed the ship so
00:26:00
what do you think mr. Tommy they
00:26:02
discovered that nine of the alcohol
00:26:04
barrels were empty flood rejected all
00:26:07
but his own explanation no I think it
00:26:10
more likely that the crew of the Mary
00:26:11
Celeste opened up these casks it was in
00:26:15
captain Briggs his cabin the Sally flood
00:26:17
found what he believed was proof
00:26:19
positive of mutiny mr. Steadman are you
00:26:24
familiar with this sword aye sir and
00:26:28
what kind of a sword is it I take it to
00:26:31
be Italian bow to the turn of the
00:26:34
century and what was a sword like flood
00:26:36
had concocted a wild theory
00:26:39
the crew of the Mary Celeste had broken
00:26:40
into the alcohol and in a drunken fury
00:26:43
slaughtered captain Briggs and his
00:26:44
family then they fled in a lifeboat and
00:26:48
kind of sword like this you can inflict
00:26:52
a wound with almost anything but I
00:26:54
suggest a wound was inflicted look at
00:26:57
the stain on the sword beggin your
00:26:59
pardon sir but they think you'll find
00:27:01
that to be rust well I'll have a medical
00:27:04
expert know a team of medical experts
00:27:08
examine this and then we'll see whether
00:27:12
it's rushed or not Thank You mr.
00:27:16
Steadman
00:27:17
the tests would later reveal that the
00:27:19
stains were not blood the mutiny Theory
00:27:21
collapsed flood just absolutely refused
00:27:26
to admit that there hadn't been a murder
00:27:29
but he never did get any satisfaction
00:27:32
from the government and they they just
00:27:35
repudiated everything that he said the
00:27:39
Mary Celeste is released from custody a
00:27:41
salvage settlement is awarded to David
00:27:44
Morehouse in the amount of 1700 pounds
00:27:47
the court can find no reasonable
00:27:50
explanation for the abandonment of the
00:27:51
Mary Celeste he is hereby returned to
00:27:54
the Mary Celeste guarded her secret well
00:27:57
today many believe the answer lies with
00:28:00
the ship's explosive cargo and the nine
00:28:02
empty barrels that many barrels of
00:28:06
alcohol leaking into the hold would have
00:28:09
created a lot of fumes
00:28:12
Konrad Byers believes it on November
00:28:15
25th the last day Briggs and his crew
00:28:17
were known to be on board the weather
00:28:19
had finally cleared enough to allow the
00:28:21
hatches to be opened
00:28:23
[Music]
00:28:30
terrible order in there what the vent
00:28:32
the hatches oh I think immediately he
00:28:34
sounded the alarm knowing the dangers of
00:28:37
this cargo and his chances of
00:28:39
spontaneously combusting I think he
00:28:44
planned to get everyone in the lifeboat
00:28:46
and trail behind the main show with the
00:28:49
idea cargo would either vent itself and
00:28:52
cool off or explode
00:28:57
[Music]
00:29:03
our buyers believes the sales were
00:29:05
lowered to prevent the Mary Celeste from
00:29:07
picking up speed
00:29:08
once all hands at abandoned ship a
00:29:12
single rope is all that would tie the
00:29:14
lifeboat to the Mary Celeste what
00:29:28
destroyed their plan really was that
00:29:31
they didn't have time to get all of the
00:29:32
sail off of the vessel they piled into
00:29:36
the boat and started trailing behind and
00:29:39
suddenly a gust of wind came up and
00:29:41
started moving them the Mary Celeste
00:29:44
lurched forward the Lifeline snapped the
00:30:00
wrestle dis sailed on without them and
00:30:02
left him there
00:30:08
the Mary Celeste would drift another 380
00:30:11
miles until captain Morehouse came upon
00:30:14
the eerie spectacle of the silent
00:30:16
abandoned ship no trace of captain
00:30:20
brings his family or the crew was ever
00:30:23
found some years later a British
00:30:29
newspaper caused a sensation with its
00:30:31
account of a skeleton farm bleaching on
00:30:33
a remote Pacific island inside a bottle
00:30:36
lying near the remains was a message
00:30:37
they claimed that all those aboard the
00:30:40
Mary Celeste had been kidnapped to serve
00:30:42
on another vessel only to be shipwrecked
00:30:44
off the coast of South America the
00:30:46
author of an oak claimed to have been
00:30:48
the last survivor in the end the story
00:30:51
proved to be a hoax and the secret of
00:30:54
the Mary Celeste remains to this day a
00:30:56
tantalizing unsolved mystery when we
00:31:03
return surprising discoveries at an
00:31:05
exciting twist and a heartwarming update
00:31:08
[Music]
00:31:18
recently we took you on a journey into
00:31:20
the magical world of the traveling
00:31:22
carnival we profile Brenda Abbie and
00:31:28
experience firsthand our efforts to
00:31:30
unravel a personal unsolved mystery
00:31:34
Brenda was adopted as an infant
00:31:37
she knew little about her birth parents
00:31:39
Elizabeth Hanson and Walter Perry except
00:31:42
that they were employed by the settlin
00:31:44
and Wilson carnival during the 1940s
00:31:48
every time I hear over the news that
00:31:50
there's a carnival I will go and I go up
00:31:54
to every booth every concession I go up
00:31:59
to every person that's employed by that
00:32:01
horrible and I look at them just to see
00:32:04
if I can find somebody that looks like
00:32:06
me
00:32:10
[Music]
00:32:11
during a searches spend 30 years brenda
00:32:15
talked with countless old-timers each
00:32:20
had a story to tell and some even
00:32:22
offered suggestions but not one claimed
00:32:25
to know Elizabeth Hanson or Walter Perry
00:32:28
[Music]
00:32:29
inevitably as each carnival was packing
00:32:32
up and hitting the road
00:32:33
Brenda Abbie was left behind no closer
00:32:36
to finding her birth parents
00:32:38
it seems she might finally be out of
00:32:41
options until the night of our broadcast
00:32:45
[Music]
00:32:47
the response was far greater than even
00:32:50
Brenda had hoped for not only did her
00:32:53
birth mother call her phone center but
00:32:55
so did his sister and a brother then
00:32:58
another sister additional calls were
00:33:00
logged in from friends of still more
00:33:02
siblings Brenda Abbie was saddened to
00:33:07
learn that her birth father had died in
00:33:09
1959 but she was thrilled to discover a
00:33:12
total of 11 brothers and sisters one of
00:33:15
them Martha Oak of st. Clair Shores
00:33:17
Michigan hosted a reunion in August of
00:33:20
1994 although Brenda's birth mother was
00:33:23
unable to attend
00:33:24
Brenda finally met four of her long-lost
00:33:26
brothers and sisters face to face
00:33:34
as hostess for the celebration Martha
00:33:37
was the first to welcome Brenda a
00:33:44
brother Thomas chilla flew in from
00:33:47
Louisiana 1,000 miles away another
00:33:54
sister Susan Donner came in from Port
00:33:57
Clinton Ohio
00:34:00
[Music]
00:34:05
Brenda's brother Frank Smith grew up in
00:34:07
Greenwood Mississippi like Brenda he
00:34:10
never imagined he had so many siblings I
00:34:13
did my own search and kept running into
00:34:18
day at Ian's and finally gave up and
00:34:22
when I found out about this it was
00:34:25
incredible it's amazing it's
00:34:27
unbelievable
00:34:28
I'm totally unbelievable it's funny to
00:34:31
actually walk up to people and touch
00:34:34
their skin and know that they're related
00:34:38
they get together in Michigan promises
00:34:40
to be just the first of many plans are
00:34:48
already underway for the next reunion
00:34:51
these are my flesh and blood and it's
00:34:53
something nobody can take away from me
00:34:55
that's right and it's such a great
00:34:57
feeling it was worth the 30 years that
00:35:04
it took me to do this
00:35:06
[Music]
00:35:22
next the uplifting search for three good
00:35:24
Samaritans who befriended a runaway bus
00:35:27
trip to Texas in 1980 a girl named
00:35:46
Michelle ran away from home she was just
00:35:48
15 trying desperately to make herself
00:35:50
appear older and more confident even
00:35:53
though on the inside she was scared to
00:35:55
death
00:35:58
Michelle knew she was playing a
00:36:00
dangerous game even with a ticket seller
00:36:03
she was careful to cook up a secret
00:36:05
identity for months earlier Michelle's
00:36:15
family had moved from San Antonio Texas
00:36:17
to Fairfax Virginia
00:36:19
Michelle felt her Paris at callous e-up
00:36:21
booted her from friends family in school
00:36:24
now Michelle was going back to Texas the
00:36:27
place she thought of his home I was
00:36:33
scared at that point just because I've
00:36:35
never really been anywhere by myself
00:36:37
before and this was an environment that
00:36:39
I wasn't real familiar with I had never
00:36:44
been among all these strangers before
00:36:47
and you know people would look at you
00:36:49
and first I thought well maybe they're
00:36:51
just wondering why I'm young and I'm on
00:36:53
this bus by myself but then I you kind
00:36:55
of get the idea that people are
00:36:56
especially men
00:36:59
I'm mainly looking to see that you're
00:37:00
alone and you know try and bother you
00:37:05
that's when I really started to be scary
00:37:07
because I couldn't protect myself and I
00:37:10
didn't you know I nobody knew it like I
00:37:13
said nobody knew where I was so if
00:37:16
something would happen to me nobody
00:37:17
nobody would know it at a stop in North
00:37:21
Carolina three men boarded the bus
00:37:23
together
00:37:24
Michelle could never have guessed the
00:37:26
profound role these men would play in
00:37:28
her young life
00:37:29
I remember thinking you know but as far
00:37:35
as men goes I was staying away from as
00:37:37
many as I could and and especially one
00:37:40
of them looked pretty pretty scary he
00:37:42
had really a lot of scars on his body so
00:37:45
I was sitting next to him and I thought
00:37:47
that's crazy but they came and they sat
00:37:48
around and they were talking among
00:37:50
themselves
00:37:59
[Music]
00:38:00
the three men dozed off and on
00:38:03
Michelle's state nerve-racked and
00:38:05
sleepless such as we could I just need
00:38:16
somebody to talk to somebody to bowl
00:38:21
tiny feet was calling the Hogs the
00:38:28
jovial trio completely disarmed Michelle
00:38:30
she forgot for a moment that she was
00:38:33
scared one really big guy his name was
00:38:38
tiny feet because his feet were huge
00:38:42
with truckers tiny feet is his head you
00:38:46
see me I'm a deacon at my church back in
00:38:47
North Carolina
00:38:48
they called me doc because I got a Bible
00:38:50
verse for everything that LLL write my
00:38:53
name is sunshine named after my favorite
00:38:57
song actually wait no no really I can
00:39:01
see yeah yeah the problem is you don't
00:39:03
know when to shut up your name is Lisa
00:39:09
what you kind of young to be traveling
00:39:11
by yourself no I'm any team I'm going to
00:39:14
Texas to visit some friends no Texas I
00:39:17
did this right outside of Dallas my
00:39:21
truck jackknifed I want straight did
00:39:22
windshield a man I remember that you
00:39:26
think he was gonna make it I almost
00:39:28
didn't make it
00:39:29
my family is what pulled me through
00:39:30
right what's your picture my family hey
00:39:34
hey be nice
00:39:35
it just made me feel like you know it
00:39:37
was more a family man and I didn't
00:39:39
really have to worry and the rest of
00:39:41
them talked about their families and doc
00:39:45
kept talking about his church you know
00:39:46
and the people in his church and what
00:39:48
they were like and I just I felt at ease
00:39:52
with them then I didn't feel I get
00:39:54
anything to fear from them
00:39:59
by the time the bus pulled into Atlanta
00:40:02
doc sunshine and tiny feet had
00:40:04
practically adopted Michelle when they
00:40:07
sat down for breakfast
00:40:08
tiny feet noticed a young girl in
00:40:11
trouble hey hey excuse me look is he
00:40:23
bothering you yes listen we're bout to
00:40:25
sit down a half breath guys want to sit
00:40:26
once come join us for breakfast okay
00:40:28
just just talk okay
00:40:32
she came over and we bought her
00:40:34
breakfast and she told us her story and
00:40:36
she was a runaway also and you know I
00:40:41
just I guess at that point I kind of sat
00:40:44
back and watch and saw how they helped
00:40:45
people and it wasn't just me it was
00:40:48
other people they were just like Good
00:40:50
Samaritans on the road kind of thing you
00:40:55
guys
00:40:57
I haven't completely been honest with
00:41:00
you
00:41:03
my name isn't Lisa it's it's Michelle
00:41:09
and I'm not 89 and I'm 15
00:41:14
and the reason I'm on this bus is it's
00:41:16
it's because I've ran away from home
00:41:18
what made you leave home got really bad
00:41:22
for example my parents they've moved me
00:41:25
away from all my friends and now I have
00:41:28
a curfew
00:41:29
it's not that bad I felt like it
00:41:33
have you these call him since you left
00:41:35
no I didn't even know their problem very
00:41:40
worried about you crazy
00:41:43
yeah it could get real dangerous on real
00:41:46
dangerous they pretty much knew that all
00:41:48
along I think that you know I was
00:41:50
younger than I was supposed to be and
00:41:52
then I was running away from home and
00:41:54
you know they didn't react badly to it
00:41:58
they were actually really comforting
00:42:00
about it and they knew that I was scared
00:42:02
and it's the first time I was actually
00:42:03
able to tell somebody I'm really scared
00:42:04
doing this next morning the bus rolled
00:42:08
into Mississippi or the men were to take
00:42:11
delivery of three trucks the time had
00:42:13
come to say goodbye
00:42:14
there's no what you take my card it has
00:42:17
both my home number and mature stuff on
00:42:19
it ok please if you ever need a place to
00:42:22
stay call me my wife and I have plenty
00:42:24
of rooms you got a promise to write when
00:42:26
you get where you're going okay I will
00:42:32
well Emily this is it I mean what I told
00:42:36
you why do you talk to okay okay take
00:42:41
care of yourself
00:42:43
gonna miss you kiddo laughter laughs be
00:42:48
sick
00:42:53
it turned out the sunshine couldn't
00:42:55
leave without one last request Michelle
00:43:00
all I ask is that you call your mom and
00:43:02
let her know you're okay
00:43:10
[Music]
00:43:14
I was sad to see them go so I think they
00:43:17
were worried about me
00:43:18
and I started to worry about me too when
00:43:22
they got off the bus because all of a
00:43:24
sudden I felt scared in the line you
00:43:26
know I I didn't have people to protect
00:43:28
me anymore at another stop later that
00:43:33
afternoon Michelle decided to keep her
00:43:36
promise to sunshine at least it away I
00:43:39
got out there and I lost my nerve and I
00:43:42
didn't have the nerve to talk to my
00:43:43
parents because if by this time I
00:43:45
realized that they'd probably be really
00:43:46
upset
00:43:48
so I called a friend of mine and I asked
00:43:51
her to call my parents and let them know
00:43:53
I was okay after I made the phone call
00:43:59
to let my parents know that I was okay I
00:44:03
got back on the bus and there was a girl
00:44:05
there probably my same age she was young
00:44:09
and she was sitting with by herself with
00:44:12
a paper bag full of things were you
00:44:18
headed
00:44:19
wanna see my boyfriend I'm gonna go
00:44:21
visit some friends
00:44:23
that's great you want some doughnuts
00:44:27
I've some extras yeah I guess I switched
00:44:30
somewhere during that trip too instead
00:44:32
of just thinking about myself and how
00:44:34
you know terrible my life is you know
00:44:38
you're thinking about other people want
00:44:41
to talk about it it's a long story
00:44:45
we have time
00:44:51
I had to get away from my old man you
00:44:54
know listening to stories of people on
00:44:56
the road and other runaways I wasn't a
00:45:00
typical runaway and when I listened to
00:45:04
their stories then think about my
00:45:05
reasons or they'd asked me you know why
00:45:07
did you run away I didn't want to say
00:45:09
because it sounded so stupid by then you
00:45:11
know that well my parents gave me a
00:45:13
curfew and you know made me catch the
00:45:15
bus in the morning you know it just
00:45:17
sounded so ridiculous compared to their
00:45:18
really tragic stories Michelle finally
00:45:23
made it to a friend's house in Texas
00:45:25
where her father picked her up Michele
00:45:29
was relieved to go back home
00:45:32
[Music]
00:45:53
join me next time perhaps you may be
00:45:57
able to help solve a mystery
00:45:59
[Music]
00:46:26
[Applause]
00:46:29
[Music]
