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next on unsolved mysteries
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in a tiny baptist church a deacon and
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his wife are murdered
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was it a robbery or something more
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sinister
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when she was 18 adelia fasani was forced
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to give up her baby for adoption
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but she never stopped hoping that she
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would find her one day
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professional psychic james von prague
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says that he can talk to the spirits of
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the dead
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we will put his claim to the test
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and agents investigating a small-time
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drug case find themselves on the trail
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of a multi-million dollar counterfeiting
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operation
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sound intriguing if you better believe
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it
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these are unusual cases that you won't
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want to miss
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i'm dennis farina and this
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is unsolved mysteries
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[Music]
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in the tiny town of waverly georgia the
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heart and soul of the community is the
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rising daughters baptist church
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waverly is mostly african-american and
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this church is where many of the locals
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come to worship
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and to socialize
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it is also the site of a violent and
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still unsolved double murder
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the brutal shooting of harold and thelma
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swain
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harold was a well-respected deacon of
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the church and a member of the county
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jury
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thelma his wife of 43 years was also
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active in church affairs
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on the night they were murdered harold
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and thelma held their weekly tuesday
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night bible class
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nine women attended do i put my trust
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let me never be put to confusion
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now let us pray
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in jesus name
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amen amen amen
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now is there any other business that you
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care to discuss sister brenda yeah well
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i'd like to remind everybody at ten
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minutes before nine one of the women
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announced that she had to leave early
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she ran into a stranger
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in the church entryway yeah i want to
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talk to somebody oh
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somebody in there
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want to talk to him
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some of the other women caught just a
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glimpse of a young white male is that in
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april
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excuse me
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oh
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the women rushed into the pastor's
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office and tried to call for help but
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the phone didn't work
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20 minutes passed while the women waited
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in fear
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finally one of them ran to her car and
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got help
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that night the georgia bureau of
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investigation was brought in
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harold and thelma were personal friends
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of mine and my families
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and it was kind of a
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shock to me i think i was in shock for a
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while
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when i got there there was a lot of
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confusion
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no one really knew what had happened
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they didn't know what the facts were
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they didn't know who had done the
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killing they didn't know what the motive
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was the people there were very
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frightened
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swains highly respected people
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very active in the community
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are just not the type of person that
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would be the victim of a murder plot
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there was a lot of physical evidence at
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the scene bullet casings
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two pair of glasses one we were able to
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determine belong to harold swane
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the other pair
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no one knew who they belonged to
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the first gut reaction that i had was a
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transit because the glasses appeared to
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belong to a person who did not have
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enough money to
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properly maintain their glasses or to
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buy glasses when they needed them
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none of the witnesses recognized the
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assailant giving weight to the theory
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that he might be a transient
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rising daughter's church is located on
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highway 17 and that's where detectives
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began their search for the killer
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those hitchhiking along highway 17 often
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stop at the church for a free meal or a
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handout
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mr swain was the type of person that if
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you ask him for something
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he would probably give you the shirt off
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his back
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if you tried to take something from him
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he would do everything he could to stop
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you
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had a drifter tried to rob harold swain
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and if so
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why did he leave 300
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in harrell's pocket
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some evidence suggested that the crime
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had been planned in advance
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the telephone lines at the church had
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been cut which
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could or could not say that it was a
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premeditated murder could have been a
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premeditated armed robbery attempt
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that just went bad
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the woman who left the church early
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clearly saw the attacker
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fearing for her life she agreed to be
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interviewed but not on camera he was
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calm
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i was thinking
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that he was there for a handout
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he didn't seem to be
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someone to hurt anybody
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i didn't see any weapon or anything and
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it seemed like he had on scuffed boots
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and he had long blonde hair
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shoulder-length hair
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but i really wasn't looking at him that
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hard you know because i wanted to leave
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all right can i have another song the
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police tried to create a picture of the
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killer
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but conflicting eyewitness descriptions
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resulted in four different portraits
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and then a composite drawing was made
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for five months the police searched for
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the killer using this sketch but no new
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leads or clues surfaced
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and then one year later agent joe
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gregory came across a face
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and a crime bulletin from kansas that
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seemed to match the picture created by
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one of the witnesses at the church
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it literally gave me a chill when i saw
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the composite because there are so many
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hundreds of thousands of combinations to
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make a composite
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and what are the odds that
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two of them being exact
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and these composites were exact matches
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the kansas suspect was wanted for armed
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robbery in a church but had never been
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caught
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they don't know who he is
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other than the fact that he drove an
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older car with a florida tag on
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the brutal murders of harold and thalma
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swain remained a mystery were they just
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random killings committed by a violent
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transient or were they a planned and
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premeditated murder and if so
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why
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[Music]
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update there are new developments in
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this case here's one of our staff with
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details
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15 years after the murders police
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arrested a man named dennis arnold perry
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who lived near the church
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perry was found guilty of the murders
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but maintained his innocence
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after perry served 20 years in prison
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dna evidence found at the crime scene
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was tested and matched a different
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suspect eric sparr
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dennis arnold perry's conviction was
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overturned and the charges against him
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have officially been dropped
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next a british woman searches for her
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long-lost daughter who was adopted by
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an american
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family
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london england
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[Music]
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delia fasani sat in her favorite pub
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waiting for her boyfriend to give him
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news
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that no 18 year old girl wants to
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hello deliver
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you look great
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i can't even bring myself to say it
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i'm pregnant
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it's not fine
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what do you mean
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i won't have it
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it's definitely not mine it's yours what
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do you think
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i was devastated
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i mean i wanted to marry him
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i mean i loved him
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but he just didn't want the
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responsibility of it that was just the
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way they did things then they just
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left the responsibility with the girl
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after that the first fear obviously was
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to tell my dad that i was pregnant
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i thought well i'm either going to tell
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him and he's going to kill me on the
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spot
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or
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i don't know what's going to happen
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delia's father had immigrated from italy
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and ran a very successful restaurant in
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london he was a strict and religious
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roman catholic he was a sort of man that
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was always on a short fuse
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everybody was frightened of him
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and i was absolutely petrified to tell
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him
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for seven months delia disguised her
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pregnancy with corsets and loose clothes
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finally when she couldn't hide it
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anymore she asked a friend to break the
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news to
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done her till you calm down
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[Music]
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you are so common
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you've done the worst thing possible
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you tell no one and you'll have nothing
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to say about this
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i'll take care of this problem
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and then i think it was only a matter of
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about a couple of weeks
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and he just came home and announced that
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i was going to
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this place wherever it was
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i wanted to keep my baby i thought well
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maybe once i have the baby
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he's gonna feel different
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delia's father banished her to loretta
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convent 30 miles north of london
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it was a home for unwed mothers and they
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arranged adoptions as well
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when we drove up to the convent i just
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felt that
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i couldn't believe that they just
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he'd just put me there we've been
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expecting you dealer we're glad to have
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you with us you know you cringe at
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taking your dog to the pound because you
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don't want to leave him there
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um and yet he just easily just took me
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there and and left me
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and that was my father
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this way
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two months later delia gave birth to a
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baby girl she named her michelle
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[Music]
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they didn't like you to see your baby
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other than the feeding times and the
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changing times because
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the more you saw the baby the more you
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held it
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you were more likely to bond to the baby
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so when it came for adoption that you
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could just
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hand it over so they thought as though
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nothing had happened
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but you do make that bond even though
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you're only seeing him for
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certain times you've still given birth
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to her
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so the bond is there automatically
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when michelle was four weeks old delia's
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parents visited the convent it was the
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moment that delia had been waiting for
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i was just hoping that my father was
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gonna say well you know okay
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um you know you come back home and
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and you bring your baby up and that's
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fine
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that's what i wanted
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[Music]
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i know my dad was
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yearning to to take a peek
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but didn't want anyone to see him doing
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it
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[Music]
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and i thought well
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at least he's looking
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[Music]
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i knew as soon as he walked away from
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the pram that that was it
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there's no way that i'm going to change
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his mind
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two weeks later delia was allowed one
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final visit with michelle
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she was told only that the adopting
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parents were americans
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such a beautiful baby
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you've been very brave dealio
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when delia was alone
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she slipped a note into michelle's
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blanket
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the note asked the adoptive parents to
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tell michelle that delia loved her and
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had given her up unwillingly you've only
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got
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30 minutes or whatever it is to say
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goodbye
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so
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what you try to do
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is try to
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look at her face
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to burn
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the impression
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into your mind because that was the last
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time you're going to see her
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[Music]
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i'm sorry delia it's time
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she came over and and and she took her
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and she
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took her out of the room
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and um locked the door behind her
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and that was it
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[Music]
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that was the last time
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i saw her
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i can't explain one minute i had a baby
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next minute it was gone
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[Music]
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delia and her parents never spoke of the
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adoption again
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she eventually married twice but had no
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other children
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13 years later when her father died she
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began to search for michelle
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delia's mother rosalinda refused to help
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honoring her late husband's wish that
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the details of the adoption be kept
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secret
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years later while rosalinda was
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hospitalized with a terminal illness she
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finally broke her silence
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[Music]
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the people who got michelle
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the name of the people you want
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is walters
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rosalinda fasani died two weeks later
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having at last given delia the last name
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of michelle's adoptive american family
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i can honestly say that not one day
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has passed where i haven't thought about
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her
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or
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thought what she might be doing
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um
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she's there all the time
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you just you just can't can't rest you
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can't leave it alone
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i've got to find her
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update
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just before the story aired delia found
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out that her daughter had been renamed
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laura a british adoption official agreed
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to send her a letter that delia had
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written in the note
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delia said that she would soon appear on
00:17:06
unsolved mysteries and she asked laura
00:17:09
to watch
00:17:11
1964
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at her home in new york mills new york
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laura not only watched the show but set
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up a video camera to capture the moment
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but he just didn't want the
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responsibility of it
00:17:28
that was just the way they did things
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when i found out my birth mother was
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searching for me that was pretty
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touching to know that she had looked
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that far
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to try to find me
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[Music]
00:17:44
after the broadcast laura contacted our
00:17:47
phone center and asked to be put in
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touch with her mother in england
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against nearly impossible odds delia had
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at last found her daughter
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a continental way
00:18:00
soon after the broadcast laura brought
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her family and friends to witness the
00:18:04
end of the 27-year separation
00:18:07
from her mother
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there was a lot of anticipation a lot of
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what she going to think when she sees me
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and
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what is she going through right now
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[Music]
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she was everything and more that i'd
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expected
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absolutely everything she's a she's a
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beautiful girl
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proud of her
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before her death laura's adoptive mother
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had shared all she knew of laura's
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background
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delia and laura could now fill in the
00:18:43
remaining gaps in nearly three decades
00:18:46
of family history
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finding my birth mother now i don't
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think has really changed my life as much
00:18:54
as it has probably enhanced it
00:18:56
because now i can find out some about my
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past and my history and things that i
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never thought that i would ever find out
00:19:01
about
00:19:02
i can't replace her mother
00:19:05
but i'd like to think that
00:19:08
i could be pretty close
00:19:10
[Music]
00:19:13
coming up can we communicate with
00:19:16
spirits of deceased loved ones
00:19:19
thousands of people who have met psychic
00:19:21
james von prague
00:19:23
say yes
00:19:34
burbank california
00:19:39
a collage of photographs celebrates the
00:19:41
brief life of a young man named doug
00:19:45
raskin
00:19:47
that he is present
00:19:49
jewish tradition teaches us that when a
00:19:51
person dies
00:19:53
it is only the body that dies
00:19:56
i believe that one week earlier the 32
00:19:59
year old attorney an accomplished
00:20:01
outdoorsman
00:20:03
had fallen to his death while climbing
00:20:05
mount fuji in japan
00:20:08
doug's parents sue and don raskin were
00:20:11
shattered by his untimely death just
00:20:14
seemed like nobody could comfort us
00:20:17
and one of my relatives had mentioned
00:20:20
james van praagh
00:20:22
who was a medium and
00:20:24
i kind of picked up on it real fast
00:20:26
because i was looking for anything or
00:20:29
anybody who could help don and i at this
00:20:32
time i couldn't imagine anybody have the
00:20:34
ability to be able to see somebody in
00:20:36
another
00:20:38
place
00:20:39
and i was very very skeptical
00:20:42
before their meeting with james von
00:20:44
prague the raskins gave the psychic no
00:20:46
details whatsoever about themselves or
00:20:49
their son
00:20:50
this recreation is strictly based on
00:20:53
transcripts from the actual session son
00:20:56
did you have a son that passed over to
00:20:58
the other side
00:21:00
he's here
00:21:02
yes oh god
00:21:05
was this some kind of accident uh-huh
00:21:08
cause he gives me accident was it car or
00:21:10
something
00:21:11
no mountain
00:21:13
was their head injuries the raskins were
00:21:16
impressed with von bragg's knowledge of
00:21:17
their son's death
00:21:19
but that wasn't all that amazed them
00:21:22
is there a nicki or a mickey mickey's my
00:21:26
father
00:21:28
who's ben
00:21:30
ben's my dad
00:21:33
when he told us all about these events
00:21:35
and named all the people that were
00:21:36
already gone many many years some of
00:21:38
them were gone a dozen or so years ago
00:21:41
and their personalities that they had
00:21:44
that were so right on
00:21:46
i mean there's just no way possible
00:21:48
uh basically i'm a claire sentient and
00:21:50
i'm clairvoyant
00:21:52
clara sentient means clear sensing i'm
00:21:54
an individual who senses feelings and
00:21:57
emotions
00:21:58
with spirit people people that pass to
00:22:00
the other side i'm a sensitive i'm able
00:22:02
to pick up their thoughts and i feel
00:22:04
their emotions when they come through
00:22:06
and that's what i relate to people and
00:22:08
he shows me flowers for the raskins any
00:22:10
residual doubts that they may have had
00:22:12
were erased when von praag spoke of
00:22:15
another family tragedy that had occurred
00:22:17
33 years earlier
00:22:21
you don't have another son do you no
00:22:26
[Music]
00:22:28
did you ever lose a baby
00:22:32
yes
00:22:33
she lived for five days
00:22:36
i had completely forgot about that
00:22:39
because i was there only for doug
00:22:41
and i said
00:22:42
what
00:22:43
i made him repeat it he says i said your
00:22:45
daughter's all grown up today i said oh
00:22:48
my god he knows about our daughter
00:22:51
then i became such a believer
00:22:54
he likes the picture of himself taken at
00:22:57
the base of the mountain
00:22:59
was there a picture
00:23:01
of him taken at the base of mount fuji
00:23:03
do you know
00:23:06
i don't know i haven't seen it
00:23:08
the session brought enormous comfort to
00:23:10
sue and don even though von prague was
00:23:13
not 100 correct
00:23:15
in fact the raskins felt that he had
00:23:18
completely missed the mark when he
00:23:20
talked about photos of doug on mount
00:23:22
fuji in the helicopter two months after
00:23:25
we had been to james
00:23:27
went to the mailbox and i came running
00:23:29
into the house of yell there's an
00:23:31
envelope here from japan
00:23:34
as it turned out doug's climbing team
00:23:36
had gone back to the spot where their
00:23:38
friend perished and found his camera
00:23:41
inside the package was the exact
00:23:43
photograph
00:23:44
james von prague had talked about
00:23:47
this is the picture taken at the base of
00:23:49
the mountain
00:23:53
isn't that beautiful
00:23:55
there was just so many things that
00:23:57
occurred that james could not have known
00:24:00
about it would be impossible for him to
00:24:02
have ever looked up or researched or
00:24:04
anything
00:24:05
and
00:24:06
that's really what made me a believer in
00:24:09
him
00:24:10
almost everything he said was correct
00:24:12
and it really changed my whole belief
00:24:15
there is another side and that james
00:24:17
gable was able to open it up to us
00:24:21
sue and donner are among the thousands
00:24:23
who believe in james van praag's amazing
00:24:26
powers
00:24:27
are his psychic abilities real or is it
00:24:29
just wishful thinking in a moment we'll
00:24:32
put van praag to the test
00:24:39
[Music]
00:24:40
does james von prague have genuine
00:24:42
psychic abilities that allow him to
00:24:45
communicate with the dead
00:24:49
we invited 10 people to a session with
00:24:52
van praag
00:24:53
none had ever seen or talked with him
00:24:55
before they all hoped however to make
00:24:58
contact with loved ones who had passed
00:25:00
away
00:25:02
the session lasted several hours
00:25:04
we have included some of the more
00:25:06
dramatic moments
00:25:09
there's a lady that stands behind you
00:25:10
and she's a very pretty woman i'm going
00:25:11
to tell you she's a very pretty woman
00:25:13
her skin is very soft don't put it that
00:25:15
way and i feel she's she's young lady
00:25:19
i gotta tell you
00:25:21
paula hartland was anxious to find out
00:25:23
about her mother who had died of
00:25:25
emphysema
00:25:26
she says something about and when she
00:25:29
comes back she's very connected to you
00:25:31
okay
00:25:33
it's your mom it's your mother
00:25:35
he might have passed over
00:25:39
jackie mcdonald's daughter had been
00:25:41
murdered in her own home
00:25:44
and then she goes back into bed and she
00:25:46
thinks oh it's just her mind playing
00:25:48
games and she climbs back to bed and i
00:25:50
have to say that she she falls asleep
00:25:53
and she shows me
00:25:57
see the next thing she shows me is her
00:25:59
being attacked
00:26:00
and there was someone on top
00:26:02
with a knife and i see the man
00:26:05
oh boy
00:26:09
he grabbed something the counter looks
00:26:10
like the knife was in it it was in a
00:26:12
block it was wasn't it it was in some
00:26:14
kind of a
00:26:15
a holder because he pulls it out just a
00:26:17
big block of knives that's it because
00:26:19
it's not a drawer the daughter showed me
00:26:21
a visual
00:26:22
it's almost as if it's a very quick
00:26:25
movie in front of my head in my mind
00:26:28
and
00:26:28
i see things very fast it's a little
00:26:30
shadowy
00:26:32
but certain details stick out
00:26:35
von prague was unaware that a skeptic
00:26:37
had been planted in the group this man
00:26:40
professor michael shermer investigates
00:26:42
claims about psychic phenomena because
00:26:45
he's showing me bleeding did you try to
00:26:47
get him to the car van prague is a
00:26:49
mentalist a mentalist is a magician
00:26:51
doing an act
00:26:53
he's doing what we call cold reading
00:26:55
that is you meet somebody you've never
00:26:56
seen before and you tell them things
00:26:58
about them you start general you throw
00:27:00
things out rapid fire you watch their
00:27:02
facial expressions to see if you're
00:27:03
getting hits or misses when you get a
00:27:05
miss you go right on to the next thing
00:27:07
you don't even blink when you get a hit
00:27:10
you follow that till till the end until
00:27:12
they start
00:27:13
saying no again and then you go to the
00:27:14
next thing and you just keep doing that
00:27:16
did she see different doctors at one
00:27:18
period of time thank you she was
00:27:21
bedridden also wasn't she was she in a
00:27:23
bed
00:27:25
the reason i asked questions yes or no
00:27:26
questions is number one i am also very
00:27:29
human
00:27:30
i have to validate that what i'm getting
00:27:33
from the spirit is indeed
00:27:36
i'm on the right level with this
00:27:37
individual i'm speaking with i want to
00:27:39
make sure that the spirit person is
00:27:42
coming through right that the
00:27:43
information is correct
00:27:45
yes you're going to get married again he
00:27:47
says you will get married again you will
00:27:50
and he's going to help you
00:27:52
[Music]
00:27:53
and then prague will always keep it
00:27:55
positive
00:27:57
he wants you to know he loves you well
00:27:58
of course what else is he going to say
00:28:00
he wants you know you'll be remarried
00:28:01
well what's he gonna say you'll you'll
00:28:03
never be married again you'll be
00:28:04
miserable miserable spins to the rest of
00:28:06
your life uh this isn't gonna happen
00:28:08
right so these are just general
00:28:09
principles of cold reading
00:28:11
he says you have to stop stan wheel
00:28:14
attended the seance with his wife
00:28:15
theresa they intentionally sat on
00:28:18
opposite sides of the room you've had
00:28:20
major loss a traumatic loss
00:28:24
got you thank you very much and you're
00:28:26
you're connected aren't you you two liu
00:28:28
two
00:28:29
is this your wife
00:28:31
yes
00:28:32
because he's pointing to her you know
00:28:33
you're his wife what's your name teresa
00:28:36
teresa the wheels came to the session
00:28:38
hoping to find out about their 19 year
00:28:40
old son kevin who had been innocently
00:28:43
gunned down by gang members in a
00:28:45
drive-by shooting
00:28:47
yeah i want to bring in your is it a boy
00:28:50
yes because i get a boy yes okay
00:28:52
it's a little son he says i'm their son
00:28:55
yes okay was he killed yes because he
00:28:58
says i was killed yes
00:29:00
[Music]
00:29:01
was there a gun involved here please yes
00:29:04
because he shows me a gun and he says he
00:29:06
was shot yes
00:29:08
um i don't feel he was shot once i feel
00:29:10
he shot more than once okay
00:29:12
i feel riddled i i really do with
00:29:14
bullets i do i feel many bullets in me
00:29:18
and this is what he's giving me here
00:29:20
i'm sorry
00:29:23
it's a gang it's a gang yes gang of kids
00:29:27
gang of kids
00:29:28
teresa approached me to coming to see
00:29:30
james on prague i was very skeptical i
00:29:33
really didn't want to come
00:29:34
but then to know that kevin was
00:29:37
killed with a gun and it was multiple
00:29:39
shots
00:29:40
it was outside on a street
00:29:43
he just kept alluding to more and more
00:29:45
of the things that
00:29:47
he he had no idea he would have had no
00:29:49
idea
00:29:51
i got a big k and i don't know why but
00:29:53
i'm being given the k is his name with a
00:29:56
k please like candice or ken kevin kevin
00:29:59
thank you that's what i said
00:30:01
he said i see a big k and the first name
00:30:03
he said was kevin
00:30:05
i mean how can you can't get that off of
00:30:07
you know just being around this room it
00:30:09
was just
00:30:10
amazing i think he's wonderful
00:30:12
absolutely wonderful
00:30:13
first of all she had her son's ring on
00:30:16
big black ring with a k in diamonds on
00:30:20
this ring around her necklace around her
00:30:22
neck
00:30:23
um now maybe he saw that maybe he didn't
00:30:26
i i don't know i go a big k and i don't
00:30:29
know why
00:30:30
i was watching her eyes you know what
00:30:32
you know she starts crying eyes are like
00:30:34
saucers and and he already knows it's
00:30:36
it's her son that died so two most
00:30:38
common names for boys with starting with
00:30:40
a k ken and kevin he says ken or kevin
00:30:42
she says kevin bingo kevin now she'll
00:30:45
run home and tell everybody he got my
00:30:47
son's name kevin right like that i
00:30:49
didn't tell him no he didn't get it
00:30:53
however teresa claims that von prague
00:30:55
could not have seen the ring because she
00:30:58
kept it hidden in her dress
00:31:00
but perhaps disagreements about details
00:31:02
are beside the point
00:31:04
six of the ten participants felt that
00:31:07
von prague correctly identified the
00:31:09
people that they had hoped to contact
00:31:12
and most felt a sense of comfort
00:31:14
and healing
00:31:16
i do feel a little more at peace i know
00:31:18
that there is another life after this
00:31:22
because what james had told me through
00:31:24
kevin
00:31:25
and the fact that he sees me that he
00:31:27
hears me talking to him
00:31:30
that it's not all in vain is what really
00:31:33
makes me feel at ease
00:31:35
sometimes you don't know how you're
00:31:36
going to make it from one minute to the
00:31:38
next it's so horribly painful
00:31:41
but now i know that my debbie can see me
00:31:44
and that she can hear me
00:31:46
and i can tell her i love her
00:31:48
and when one realizes that there is a
00:31:51
life after death it indeed will change
00:31:53
their life and how they live on the
00:31:55
earth and how they treat each other
00:31:57
and that is really my most important
00:32:00
belief my mission
00:32:04
next
00:32:05
a young man searched for the big brother
00:32:08
who changed his life
00:32:18
[Music]
00:32:20
elkhart indiana
00:32:24
when jeff fisher was only seven years
00:32:26
old his father left home forcing jeff's
00:32:28
mother to raise her young son
00:32:30
and daughter alone
00:32:33
what's the matter i don't want to go in
00:32:34
there with you
00:32:35
why not there's only guys in there and
00:32:37
you're not a guy
00:32:39
i want to go in there with my dad
00:32:42
it was very hard on jeff after his dad
00:32:45
left because he had been very close to
00:32:47
him
00:32:48
and suddenly he was gone and jeff went
00:32:51
through the feelings of
00:32:53
that a lot of
00:32:54
children have that maybe this was my
00:32:56
fault maybe i said something maybe i did
00:32:58
something that made my dad leave
00:33:01
jeff was a very sensitive shy little boy
00:33:04
so things like that bothered him
00:33:06
a lot i would always ask my mom you know
00:33:09
where's daddy you know where's daddy and
00:33:11
she'd say oh you know he's gone away and
00:33:13
you know i don't know when he's gonna be
00:33:14
back and
00:33:15
you know it was just the fact that he
00:33:16
just wasn't there anymore and you know i
00:33:18
just felt a real loss
00:33:20
you know because i had been so close to
00:33:21
him and
00:33:22
now he just wasn't there anymore
00:33:27
two years later big brothers of america
00:33:30
opened a chapter in jeff's hometown
00:33:33
jeff was their first little brother
00:33:36
got a sports d-line his big brother was
00:33:38
john novotny a local salesman and father
00:33:41
of a two-year-old daughter
00:33:44
he was a big guy he was over six feet
00:33:47
jet black hair
00:33:48
just a really solidly built guy a very
00:33:51
commanding
00:33:53
uh
00:33:54
type of guy um but really easy to get
00:33:57
along with
00:33:58
you ever put a tent up before no
00:34:00
you're about to learn
00:34:02
john gave me the companionship that i
00:34:04
really needed at that time
00:34:06
he would take me out and do things you
00:34:08
know that you know mom wasn't able to
00:34:10
either afford to take us to do or just
00:34:12
didn't have the time because she was
00:34:14
working so much
00:34:16
just the fact that this was you know an
00:34:17
older guy that i could hang around with
00:34:19
and not have him tell me to go away and
00:34:21
you know come back later and stuff some
00:34:23
you know a guy that wanted to spend some
00:34:25
time with me
00:34:26
you know made me feel really good looks
00:34:28
pretty good
00:34:30
i think it's ready to light yeah okay
00:34:32
after jeff and john started seeing each
00:34:35
other i noticed that jeff had a lot more
00:34:37
confidence in himself
00:34:39
and he was very proud of the fact that
00:34:42
he had a big brother and and he would
00:34:44
tell the other kids well well john and i
00:34:46
are going to go do this or my big
00:34:48
brother and i are going to go do this he
00:34:50
was very proud of the fact that that he
00:34:52
had a man in his life
00:34:54
that
00:34:55
was just his that just belonged to jeff
00:34:58
a year and a half after they met john's
00:35:01
company transferred him to another state
00:35:03
but he and jeff stayed in touch by phone
00:35:08
when he was 10 jeff underwent open-heart
00:35:11
surgery to correct a congenital defect
00:35:14
it was a terrifying experience
00:35:18
however a phone call from john who also
00:35:21
had heart problems helped to calm jeff's
00:35:24
fears
00:35:25
i think it helped jeff to see that that
00:35:28
john was this big strong guy and he had
00:35:32
a bad heart and so if if john can be big
00:35:36
and strong then then maybe this heart
00:35:38
condition isn't the end of the world
00:35:40
and i think that was a big help to jeff
00:35:43
jeff feels that john's support and
00:35:45
understanding was the key to his
00:35:47
complete recovery
00:35:50
over the years they lost touch
00:35:52
but now that jeff has a family of his
00:35:54
own he wants to reconnect with his big
00:35:57
brother
00:35:59
tell me a story about it he just
00:36:00
introduced me to a world that i had
00:36:02
never seen before
00:36:04
that was you know really beautiful and
00:36:06
really
00:36:07
just so different from what i was used
00:36:09
to
00:36:11
and if i finally see him again i just
00:36:13
want to thank him
00:36:14
i just want to say god john thank you
00:36:16
because you just
00:36:18
you know i still think about you
00:36:21
he made a lasting impression it's been
00:36:22
20 years and
00:36:24
he's still a really vivid part of my
00:36:26
memory
00:36:29
update
00:36:31
thanks to our viewers jeff's search for
00:36:33
his big brother ended the night of our
00:36:35
broadcast and the two were soon
00:36:38
reunited
00:36:40
there they are
00:36:41
[Music]
00:36:42
there they are
00:36:44
[Music]
00:36:45
bye guy
00:36:48
it's unbelievable i was absolutely
00:36:51
stunned i had absolutely no idea that
00:36:53
jeff you look just like your face was
00:36:55
looking for me
00:36:56
and then as the show aired
00:36:59
uh people from
00:37:01
elkhart and from michigan started
00:37:03
calling me on the phone telling me that
00:37:05
i was on television
00:37:08
jeff fisher was looking for me and we
00:37:10
must have got 35 calls that night and at
00:37:12
least that many the next night you know
00:37:15
i've been wanting to say thanks to this
00:37:16
guy for 18 years and
00:37:18
you know whatever it took to
00:37:20
come out and say that you know i was
00:37:22
willing to do this is when we were down
00:37:24
in lexington kentucky for a john
00:37:26
mellencamp show
00:37:28
when i first started being a big brother
00:37:31
the question was would i really have
00:37:32
enough time to do it right
00:37:35
and then 20 years later to find out that
00:37:38
i really did make a difference i mean it
00:37:40
brings the whole thing to reality
00:37:48
law enforcement can be tedious work
00:37:51
investigators often have to work
00:37:52
hundreds of tips that turn out to be
00:37:55
dead ends but every once in a while what
00:37:57
looks like a nothing lead can turn into
00:38:00
a jackpot
00:38:03
brownsville texas
00:38:10
what are you shipping today
00:38:12
what do you mean what's inside the box
00:38:15
well what did i put on down on the farm
00:38:18
you wrote down clothes
00:38:20
yeah that's right
00:38:22
close
00:38:24
it all started when a man named john
00:38:26
vogel addressed the package to himself
00:38:29
in minnesota
00:38:31
the clerk was suspicious with vogel's
00:38:32
answers to the questions being that it's
00:38:34
on a border town and being cognizant
00:38:37
drugs do originate out of mexico into
00:38:39
the united states she contacted u.s
00:38:41
customs officials there you go customs
00:38:44
officials arrange for a drug sniffing
00:38:46
dog come in
00:38:47
dog alerted or hit on the package for
00:38:49
the president's narcotics customs
00:38:51
officials then arranged for the pact
00:38:52
should be forwarded on to minnesota
00:38:54
let's see what we got here local police
00:38:57
and custom agents were waiting for the
00:38:59
parcel when it arrived in minnesota
00:39:01
a search warrant allowed them to inspect
00:39:04
the contents
00:39:07
inside the package they found various
00:39:08
pieces of men's clothing and also two
00:39:11
aerosol containers with fake bottoms
00:39:15
inside the containers were about four
00:39:16
grams of cocaine and 38 100 bills
00:39:22
and several strips of test print that's
00:39:24
using counterfeit that reflects the
00:39:26
treasury seal and serial numbers
00:39:28
the four gram cocaine bus didn't even
00:39:31
make a dent in the war on drugs
00:39:33
but the evidence of counterfeiting took
00:39:35
the investigation into a new and
00:39:38
interesting direction
00:39:43
federal investigators put vogel's
00:39:45
cocaine and counterfeit bills back
00:39:47
inside his package and then the parcel
00:39:50
was taken to vogel's business special
00:39:52
delivery
00:39:53
courtesy
00:39:55
of a secret service agent
00:39:58
moments later vogel had visitors
00:40:02
[Music]
00:40:05
yeah federal agents we have a search
00:40:07
warrant search your premises got the
00:40:09
package
00:40:10
mr vogel you're under arrest officials
00:40:12
found approximately fifty thousand
00:40:14
dollars in counterfeit money some of the
00:40:16
counterfeit looked like it had just
00:40:17
recently been printed it was drying open
00:40:20
on the various work benches in the shop
00:40:23
vogel's counterfeit was described as
00:40:24
very good or excellent
00:40:26
he used various colors of ink on the
00:40:28
bills as well as some of the colored
00:40:29
threads that are put into the bills for
00:40:31
authenticity
00:40:35
officials also searched a storage locker
00:40:37
vogel had rented in that locker they
00:40:40
found
00:40:40
196
00:40:42
114 counterfeit 100 bills holy moses
00:40:47
john vogel was a self-made millionaire
00:40:50
the bogus sea notes added up to over 19
00:40:52
million dollars the fourth largest hall
00:40:55
in united states history
00:40:57
and this wasn't vogel's first brush with
00:40:59
the law
00:41:01
he had served time for armed bank
00:41:03
robbery and was captured only after a
00:41:05
violent
00:41:06
high-speed chase
00:41:08
while he was incarcerated he was
00:41:09
assigned to the printing industry there
00:41:11
it's believed he learned the
00:41:13
counterfeiting trade from another inmate
00:41:16
authorities learned that vogel had
00:41:17
logged thousands of miles crisscrossing
00:41:19
america and spending his phony hundred
00:41:22
dollar bills one by one
00:41:24
by the time he was arrested he had spent
00:41:27
a total of fifty thousand dollars in
00:41:29
nearly half the states in the country
00:41:33
surprisingly
00:41:34
vogel was released on a personal
00:41:36
recognizance bond
00:41:39
not surprisingly
00:41:40
he immediately disappeared and has not
00:41:43
been seen since
00:41:47
update
00:41:49
six months after john bryson vogel
00:41:51
disappeared his criminal career came to
00:41:54
a sudden and violent end
00:41:58
after robbing this bank in sioux falls
00:42:00
south dakota at gunpoint
00:42:02
vogel led police on a high-speed chase
00:42:05
for 60 miles
00:42:07
vogel then ran his car into a ditch
00:42:09
where he took his own life with a single
00:42:11
gunshot wound to the head
00:42:14
pogo's death officially ended one of the
00:42:16
most extensive counterfeiting
00:42:18
investigations
00:42:20
in history
00:42:53
[Music]
00:43:00
you
