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[Music]
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Next on Unsolved Mysteries,
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a teenager falls in love with a man
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twice her age, but their story book
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romance ends in murder.
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Many believe the Shroud of Trin is the
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actual burial cloth of Jesus Christ.
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Skeptics claim it's a forgery by a
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talented painter.
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Kurt Borton was declared missing in
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action in Vietnam, but his family
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believes he's returned to the US with a
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new identity.
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And Texas firefighters discover the
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burned body of a young woman tied to her
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own bed. Perhaps you can help catch her
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killer.
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These are chilling cases that you won't
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want to miss. I'm Dennis Fina and for
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the next hour, this is Unsolved
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Mysteries.
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[Music]
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Manatee County, Florida.
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When Annette Shopker was 16, her family
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moved from Ohio to Florida. Annette was
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on the shy side. Iette discovered that
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it was very hard to fit in with the
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click of friends and she missed that
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terribly because she was so much a part
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of high school in Ohio. So, she ended up
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dropping out of high school and got a
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job as a checkout girl at one of our
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local grocery stores.
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Hey, Annette, can you come here a
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minute?
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At work, Annette finally made a friend,
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the butcher Jim Burnside, who was 28
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years older than she was. Well, listen.
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I was wanting to ask you. It's a little
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restaurant down where I keep my boat and
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I was wondering if you might join me for
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dinner tomorrow night.
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At that time, she was only 17 and this
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man was almost as old as her dad. We
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really hoped that she would meet
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somebody more her age, but she was so
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much in love with him that we finally
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agreed to meet him. But I didn't like
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him from the first time I met him. There
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was just something about him that I
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really don't know how to put into words.
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I just did not feel comfortable with him
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at all.
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Despite our family's concerns, Annette
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married Jim. The bride was just 18. The
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groom was 46.
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But it wasn't a fairy tale marriage. For
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Annette, it was the beginning of 6 years
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of physical and emotional abuse.
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She became afraid of him almost
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immediately because he was jealous of
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her and when he was drinking he was
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violent and made remarks to her all the
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time that she would never ever leave
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him. He started telling her right from
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the beginning that he would kill her if
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she ever tried to leave him.
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Hello,
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Jim.
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Annette, where are you?
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That's that's not important. Okay. Um, I
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just wanted to let you know I'm all
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right. Just before her wedding
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anniversary, Annette took refuge in a
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local shelter for battered women. I
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I can't
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either come back now or I'll get even
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with you.
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He told her over and over again if he
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couldn't find her, she would suffer.
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Kill your family.
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She would absolutely suffer because he
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would kill her family. And Annette felt
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like she didn't have any choice.
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All right. I told her, "Don't stay with
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him because of us. I would rather be
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dead than to have you live a life like
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this.
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Good thing you're here.
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I have something for you.
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Here, honey. Welcome home.
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Over the next few years, Annette and Jim
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had two daughters. And for a while, it
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seemed things were improving. Annette
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took a job as a receptionist for a local
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car dealership. One of her co-workers
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there was a salesman who we'll call
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Dave.
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And that actually asked my advice and
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said, "Well, what you think about an
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automobile? I want to buy a car." Told
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me she just wanted a little bit more
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freedom cuz he always dropped her off
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and picked her up. She took the car home
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and not more than gosh, I don't know, 3
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days a week. Wreck it.
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I take care of her.
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Mommy, what's the matter?
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Nothing's the matter.
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I'm just going to get you back to bed.
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Okay.
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Now, let's see you try and leave. Can't
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you get it through your head that you're
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not leaving me?
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He said, "If you ever try to leave me,
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I'll kill you. I will kill this whole
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family." And Stacy was only 5 years old
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at the time. And she looked up at him
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and she said, "Daddy, you wouldn't kill
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me." And he looked her right in the face
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and said, "Yes, I would kill you.
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And it just upset Annette so bad. She
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would tell me the way she was being
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treated and it was just tearing me up to
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see what she was going through.
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The next day when Jim was at work,
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Annette called the police. They escorted
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her and her daughters to safety.
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She said that she'd made up her mind
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that this is it. She's not going to stay
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with him another day. If he kills her,
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then he's going to have to kill her
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because she could not live this way
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anymore.
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By the time Jim came home, Annette was
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on a plane to Ohio. She took her
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daughters to stay with relatives, then
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secretly returned to her job in Tampa
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Bay.
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He had no idea where she was. But in the
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meantime, Jim was calling us with these
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threats and telling us that this divorce
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was never going to be final. It would
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never see its final day.
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When Jim discovered that she was back in
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town, he began to spy on her and was
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often seen near the dealership.
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Could not get any help from anybody,
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even the sheriff's department. When we
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went there, it was like Jim has to do
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something. We just cannot arrest the
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man. He's got to do something before we
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can do anything with him.
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The day before Annette was scheduled to
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appear in court for a divorce hearing,
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she met the man we're calling Dave for
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lunch. Hey.
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Hi, Dave.
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How's it going?
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Good.
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Well,
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she was smiling and happy and and all of
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a sudden her smile turned to most
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horrible fear.
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[Music]
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I got out of the automobile cuz I knew
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if I didn't do something, this could be
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the end for a net. He looked at me like
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he was just about to enjoy a large
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steak.
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I watched the fire come out of the gun
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and it was like slow motion. You could
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feel each one go in just like a hot
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poker.
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[Music]
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By the time Dave regained consciousness,
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Annette was dead. Jim stamped her 15
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times with a 10-in butcher knife.
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Jim Burnside escaped on foot in broad
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daylight. He bought a bicycle, an army
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camouflage fat for the he withdrew $500
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from an ATM and disappeared.
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What I'd like to see is James Burnside
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off the streets not because of what he
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has done to me, mostly what he has done
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to his own children, his wife. This is
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why he has to be taken off the streets
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because he's going to do it again.
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She knew in her heart she was not going
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to make it. I knew in my heart she was
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not going to make it. And I just hope
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and pray that somebody spots him. We
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never will feel safe until we know Jim
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has been caught. It's bad enough knowing
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that Annette had to die, but to know
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that he is still out there, it it's
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horrible.
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update.
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The night this story aired, two viewers
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called to report that Jim Burnside was
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living in Alabama under the assumed name
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Al Wilson.
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When I saw his actual picture, I just
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looked at my husband and I just started
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pointing and I'm going, "Tell me my eyes
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aren't deceiving me. You know that is
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Al." And he goes, "Yes, that's Al."
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First thing I thought they said, "Well,
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hey, you know, let let's call up the
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authorities and get this guy off the
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street."
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Burnside was working as a carpenter at a
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flea market just outside Chelsea,
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Alabama.
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We had received a call from the FBI
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office in Birmingham, stating that they
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felt pretty sure that James Burnside
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would be at this flea market on Highway
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280 located in Shelby County.
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You got a fellow hanging around here by
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the name of Al Wilson.
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Okay, he's right there on the roof. And
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apparently Burnside saw them and went
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towards his truck.
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Burnside pulled out a .357 Magnum and
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pointed it at the officers.
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Put the gun down. Put the gun down.
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Burnside was shot twice, placed under
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arrest, and taken to a Birmingham
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hospital.
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what we've been able to determine
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talking to his co-workers, he had made a
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statement on Thursday morning that he
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had anticipated having problems that
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day. So, apparently he had viewed the
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unsolved mysteries himself Wednesday
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night. Burnside pleaded no contest to
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first-degree murder. He was sentenced to
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life in prison with no chance of parole.
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Coming up, the mystery of the Shroud of
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Trin. It could be the actual burial
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cloth of Christ or a forgery.
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The face of Jesus Christ. It has
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inspired artists throughout the ages.
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But how do we know what Jesus looked
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like? A piece of linen may hold the
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answer. It's called the Shroud of Turin.
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According
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to the Bible, after he was taken from
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the cross, Jesus was wrapped in fine
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linen. Many believe that somehow his
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image was imprinted on that linen. When
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I first began to study the Shroud of
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Toron, I was convinced it was a croc and
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that it would take me probably less than
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2 hours to put away this pious fraud.
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After all, anyone with an IQ of 100 or
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over knows that all relics by definition
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are frauds. But I must admit, here I am
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some 17 years later. I who came to scarf
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have stayed to pray. My own personal
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belief is that the shroud is probably
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authentic.
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It was in France during the Renaissance
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that the shroud was first shown
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publicly. Eventually, it was moved to
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Trin, Italy, where it was rarely shown
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in public.
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Three centuries later, the shroud was
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photographed for the first time.
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Surprisingly, the photographers's
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negatives showed more detail than can be
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seen by the naked eye. He was to write
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of this experience years later and would
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never forget that as he lifted that
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glass plate, he believed that he was the
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first person in 2,000 years to have seen
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the face of Jesus of Nazareth.
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Dr. Robert Buckan, a forensic
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pathologist, has examined life-size
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photographic negatives of the shroud.
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The body shows a number of injuries. On
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the head, we see a series of blood
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stains around the forehead, high in the
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scalp, and along the posterior portion
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of the scalp. These are consistent with
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the application of a crown or a cap of
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thorns.
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On the chest area, there's a rather
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unique wound. It is quite consistent
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with a puncture type wound made by an
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implement which entered the chest cavity
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and produced an outflow of both blood
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and water. In the region of the left
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wrist, there was a puncture wound which
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was clearly made by some implement which
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passed into the tissues of the wrist and
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produced bleeding.
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The crucifixion of Jesus is usually
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portrayed with nails driven through his
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palms. But modern research has confirmed
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that at the time of his death, nails
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were in fact driven through the victim's
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wrists.
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The Romans did enough of these,
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sometimes 500 a day, to be excellent
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anatomist. And like a butcher, they knew
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where the bones were. They put it in the
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wrist and it held the body and held it
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well.
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In 1978, the shroud was made available
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to a number of scientists for the first
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time. Using particles lifted from the
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shroud with adhesive tape, biopysicist
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John Heler and chemist Alan Adler
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determined that there was blood on the
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cloth. They found chemical evidence of
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severe torture consistent with
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crucifixion.
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Their findings, however, are not
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universally accepted. Some claim that
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the shroud is a forgery, that it's the
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work of a highly skilled artist who
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painted with such tiny brush strokes
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that they can't be seen by the naked
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eye.
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When I first started working on it, I
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expected it to be authentic and I looked
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for body fluids. That's the way I
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started. But the red turned out to be
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red ochre and another pigment,
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vermilion. These are common artist
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pigments. There's no question in my mind
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that it is a painting.
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Many copies of the shroud were made. It
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was felt by pious people at that time if
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you touched the copy to the original it
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would give the copy extra sanctity. It's
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called a brandium is the technical name.
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When they were touched of course some of
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that pigment ended up on the shroud and
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that is what has been discovered but it
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is not responsible for the image let
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alone the whole body image total front
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and total back.
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Dr. Max Fry, a Swiss botist, also
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examined the tape samples. He discovered
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plant pollen trapped in the shroud.
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These microscopic organisms have hard
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shells that allow them to survive for
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thousands of years. Some of the pollen
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came from the Middle East, including the
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area around Jerusalem where Jesus was
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crucified. I think it's impossible in an
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awkward spot at this point because Max
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Fry was a friend of mine, but I think
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that he wanted the shroud to be real so
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badly that he found pollen grains, which
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I didn't find. I had another set of
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tapes and I did not find the same
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pollins.
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Other scientists have studied the
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shroud. Optical specialist Kevin Moran
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claims his computer analysis revealed
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that the image has unique optical
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qualities. He believes they confirm the
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shroud's authenticity.
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When I take a normal photograph such as
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this child and I place the child under
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the analyzer, you can immediately see a
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very distorted figure. The nose with
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respect to the cheek is totally
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distorted. And this is because this is a
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reflected image. This image is made by
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reflected light.
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This is not what we see on the shroud.
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The shroud is a very different type of
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image. The image immediately comes into
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a three-dimensional form. The eyes and
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nose mouth relationship are all clearly
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recognizable. The image on the shroud is
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so unique that it almost enters a
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scientific faith factor all by itself.
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There simply is no way that we can
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duplicate this image even today. And
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people have certainly tried.
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Among them was investigative journalist
00:17:04
Joe Nickel. He created this pigment on
00:17:07
cloth replica of the face on the shroud.
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It exhibits some but not all of the
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characteristics displayed by the shroud
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image. This is the Joe Nichols painting.
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You'll note the height of the hair and
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the height of the forehead, the nose,
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cheek. These are all quite at the same
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height. There's no proportioning or no
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shading. Here's the man of the shroud.
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Notice particularly that the nose is
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sticking above the rest of the face. The
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proportions of the cheeks to mouth to
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chin area in respect to the nose are
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quite good. Notice how the hair actually
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stands up a little bit but not too much.
00:17:45
In addition to Moran's findings,
00:17:47
believers claim that the absence of
00:17:50
brush strokes on the shroud proves it's
00:17:52
not a painting. However, skeptics point
00:17:56
out that Leonardo da Vinci's brush
00:17:58
strokes were often invisible.
00:18:01
In an effort to resolve this
00:18:03
controversy, the Vatican allowed samples
00:18:06
to be cut from the outer edges of the
00:18:08
shroud.
00:18:10
Three universities were given a tiny
00:18:12
piece for carbon dating.
00:18:15
Dr. Paul Damon headed the carbon dating
00:18:18
team in the United States. Their
00:18:20
findings placed the shroud's origin
00:18:23
between 1290 and 1360
00:18:26
AD.
00:18:28
With less than 5 minutes, we could see
00:18:30
that it could not possibly be first
00:18:32
century. The difference between 14th
00:18:34
century and first century is so great
00:18:35
that you could see it within a few
00:18:37
minutes in the first measurement. We
00:18:39
made quite a few measurements, something
00:18:41
like 16, but that was enough. The rest
00:18:44
of us would say we have no disagreement
00:18:47
with what they dated, but are you sure
00:18:49
you dated the main body of the shroud?
00:18:51
Or might you have dated a patch or a
00:18:53
rew?
00:18:54
My co-principal investigator who is
00:18:57
Irish from a Irish Catholic family and
00:19:00
tried to be quite blasze about the whole
00:19:02
process, looked very dejected. And I
00:19:05
said, Doug, what's what's wrong? And he
00:19:07
said, I didn't think I'd be
00:19:08
disappointed, but I'm terribly
00:19:10
disappointed.
00:19:12
The Vatican accepted the results of Paul
00:19:15
Damon's carbon dating which matched the
00:19:17
test done in Switzerland and England.
00:19:20
Since then, questions have been raised
00:19:22
about the carbon dating process. The
00:19:25
Vatican has refused to allow further
00:19:27
testing, but it did approve a major
00:19:30
restoration. Critics say that that
00:19:33
restoration will make further research
00:19:35
even more difficult.
00:19:38
Consequently, the real truth about the
00:19:40
Shroud of Trin may never be known, and
00:19:44
many say that it doesn't matter.
00:19:50
Next, a woman claims to have seen her
00:19:52
brother more than 25 years after he was
00:19:56
declared missing in action in Vietnam.
00:20:05
[Music]
00:20:08
Washington DC,
00:20:10
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
00:20:14
Along with the 58,000 who lost their
00:20:16
lives, it also lists the names of
00:20:19
hundreds of GIs who are officially
00:20:22
unaccounted for. The name of Robert C.
00:20:26
Borton, Jr., known as Kurt, can be found
00:20:29
here. But his family doesn't believe
00:20:32
that Kurt's name belongs on this wall.
00:20:36
They are convinced that he is still
00:20:38
alive and has come back to the United
00:20:41
States with a new identity.
00:20:43
I know my brother Curt's alive. I've
00:20:45
seen him on three separate occasions in
00:20:48
Washington DC. And I have not one doubt
00:20:50
in my mind that that was my brother. And
00:20:52
he's very much alive to this day.
00:20:56
When Kurt enlisted into the Marine
00:20:58
Corps, he was 19 years old. And then
00:21:00
only days after arriving in Vietnam, he
00:21:03
was on a patrol near the city of Daang
00:21:06
and he went missing. His father, Robert
00:21:09
Borton, received that visit that every
00:21:11
parent of a Marine dreads.
00:21:17
Yes,
00:21:17
Mr. Robert Bordon.
00:21:19
Yes,
00:21:19
I'm Captain Victors. This is Lieutenant
00:21:21
Jeff, Casualty Office, United States
00:21:24
Marine Corps. Is this about Kurt?
00:21:26
Yes, sir. I'm afraid we do have some bad
00:21:28
news about your son. He has been
00:21:30
reported missing in action.
00:21:33
I didn't know what to think. He really
00:21:35
hit me hard. They said he's missing
00:21:37
action. So, I had hopes they'd find him
00:21:39
right away. Listening news all the time,
00:21:41
hoping someone come up where they'd
00:21:43
found him, but then never did. Never
00:21:45
happened.
00:21:47
Two years passed with not a single word
00:21:50
about Kurt. Then, a glimmer of hope.
00:21:54
Robert.
00:21:55
Yeah.
00:21:56
Come here a minute.
00:21:57
We subscribed to the Marine magazine and
00:22:00
I was just going through it and all of a
00:22:02
sudden I see this picture and it just it
00:22:04
just jumped at me like there's our son.
00:22:06
I wasn't expecting to see a picture of
00:22:08
him
00:22:10
but it was it was him.
00:22:11
Said right then there there's my boy.
00:22:13
Ain't no doubt it is his picture of him.
00:22:17
The photograph had been taken a full
00:22:19
year after Kurt was reported missing.
00:22:22
Then a few years later, the Bortons came
00:22:26
across this frame from a film shot in a
00:22:29
Vietkong prison camp.
00:22:32
I seen that there and and soon as I seen
00:22:34
it, I said, "There's my boy again right
00:22:36
there."
00:22:37
I'm like, "Him, there's our son again.
00:22:39
No doubt. You know your children when
00:22:41
you see them."
00:22:42
Each of the service members in that
00:22:44
photograph have been positively
00:22:46
identified. We've spoken to each one of
00:22:48
them and none of them is uh Robert
00:22:50
Bordon.
00:22:52
But there are other reasons that Kurt's
00:22:54
family believes he is still alive.
00:22:57
Robert says that he was approached by
00:22:59
two strangers who claimed to be agents
00:23:03
from the Department of Defense.
00:23:06
You're Kurt Bordon's father. Is that
00:23:07
right?
00:23:08
Yeah. You got information about him?
00:23:10
Uh, no. We have no information we can
00:23:11
give you, but we do have a letter we
00:23:12
need you to sign for us.
00:23:14
What's this about?
00:23:15
Well, basically it changes his status
00:23:17
from missing an action to killed.
00:23:20
What do you mean killed? Nobody told me
00:23:21
he was killed.
00:23:22
You want to know for my son's own
00:23:23
personal safety? I declare him dead.
00:23:26
They told me I'd get a large sum of
00:23:27
money.
00:23:28
Guys are I don't know what's going on,
00:23:29
but I'm not signing any letters. Now, we
00:23:32
don't work that way. We do things in a
00:23:34
very professional manner. We would not
00:23:35
approach someone that solicit them to
00:23:38
change their son status in a public
00:23:40
parking lot of a shopping mall.
00:23:41
I feel like I should talk to a lawyer
00:23:43
before I sign.
00:23:45
Robert says the two men approached them
00:23:47
several times, always in a public place.
00:23:51
Robert is functionally illiterate and
00:23:53
eventually he signed the document
00:23:55
without knowing what it said.
00:23:58
And so I agreed to declare him dead for
00:24:00
his own safety. When they told me for
00:24:03
his own safety, then I knew he was
00:24:05
alive. Then
00:24:07
Robert says he then received a check for
00:24:10
$43,000.
00:24:12
The men swore into secrecy, but he
00:24:15
eventually told his family about the
00:24:17
strangers.
00:24:19
They decided to go to Washington DC to
00:24:22
further investigate Kurt's case. On
00:24:25
several occasions, the Bortons were
00:24:27
allowed to examine Curt's official files
00:24:30
during the early morning hours of an
00:24:32
unrecalled day in March or April 1966.
00:24:37
What?
00:24:38
Diane claims that the entries regarding
00:24:40
his death kept changing.
00:24:43
They had him killed in March or April of
00:24:45
' 66. In 1967, they have a story of him
00:24:48
being with an engineer crew and being
00:24:50
killed. They had him killed on paper
00:24:52
several times.
00:24:54
I think a lot of what the families read,
00:24:56
it may be the report of a witness. These
00:24:59
people, Vietnam villagers, are
00:25:01
remembering things that happened to them
00:25:02
25 years ago. So, there are often errors
00:25:05
in years. There often errors in months.
00:25:08
Many times they only understand things
00:25:10
from the cycles of planting and
00:25:12
harvesting their crops.
00:25:14
Every time I go and check out his file,
00:25:17
there's something new.
00:25:18
Like what?
00:25:19
Well, this time I went and Did you hear
00:25:22
that?
00:25:23
Yeah, it's probably your call waiting.
00:25:25
I don't have call waiting.
00:25:28
Diane and other family members became
00:25:30
convinced that their phones were tapped.
00:25:33
I started having several phone
00:25:35
conversations with Diane and she was
00:25:36
giving me a lot of the information that
00:25:38
she had. One of Diane's cousins is
00:25:41
certain that the entire family was being
00:25:43
watched. He asked that his identity not
00:25:46
be revealed.
00:25:47
Every morning there would be a car pull
00:25:49
out of the office parking lot and they
00:25:51
would follow me into work and then I'd
00:25:54
find them behind me again on my way
00:25:56
home.
00:25:58
You guys have been following me for a
00:25:59
while. I figured I'd let you know where
00:26:01
I was just in case.
00:26:02
After that, for about a month and a
00:26:04
half, 2 months, I wasn't followed
00:26:06
anymore. And then we started noticing
00:26:08
them again.
00:26:12
Diane's cousin worked at a security
00:26:14
company. She asked them to enter Curt's
00:26:17
social security number in this system.
00:26:20
I entered it into the computer and it
00:26:22
came back invalid entry. That number's
00:26:25
never been issued. That same day I had
00:26:28
left work, was headed home and I was
00:26:30
approached by someone. They very
00:26:31
pleasantly called me by my name.
00:26:33
Hi, how you doing? Listen. What you did
00:26:36
today was really stupid.
00:26:39
I don't know what you're talking about.
00:26:40
Yes, you do. Now, leave it alone.
00:26:48
A few years later, Diane moved to a
00:26:50
suburb of Washington DC where she
00:26:53
believes that she actually saw her
00:26:56
brother.
00:26:56
It looks like it's going to snow,
00:26:58
doesn't it?
00:26:59
I was stunned. It was my brother. And I
00:27:01
didn't even have time to react because
00:27:03
as soon as he said that, he got in and
00:27:04
took off. It didn't look like it was
00:27:06
going to snow. It was October. It was
00:27:07
clear skies and that's the only thing he
00:27:10
said to me.
00:27:11
The next April, Diane claims that she
00:27:14
saw her brother again.
00:27:16
We were headed down 395 and a red car
00:27:18
pulled up beside us. I looked over and
00:27:20
it was my brother.
00:27:22
That's Kurt.
00:27:23
It was the same red car I'd seen at the
00:27:25
gas station. He looked at me and he
00:27:27
grinned and shot in front of us and like
00:27:29
slowed down a little bit and I wrote
00:27:30
down the license number and he sped up
00:27:33
and zipped over in the other lane and
00:27:34
zipped off the exit and which was that
00:27:36
was at Quanico Marine Station.
00:27:40
Diane traced the license plate number to
00:27:42
a man who lived in Virginia, but he
00:27:44
claimed to know nothing about Kurt. By
00:27:47
this time, Diane says that at least one
00:27:49
of Kurt's war buddies had confirmed that
00:27:52
Kurt was alive, but that he had become a
00:27:55
disturbed and dangerous man. And then
00:27:58
she saw her brother again.
00:28:02
Let's go this way. Okay,
00:28:03
Mom. That's Kurt.
00:28:04
Come on. Come on,
00:28:05
Mom. He's right there.
00:28:06
Let's go home.
00:28:07
Mom, please talk to him.
00:28:10
I had been told that he was potentially
00:28:12
dangerous. I had my two children with me
00:28:14
and I just couldn't take that chance
00:28:16
that he could possibly be dangerous and
00:28:18
harm my children. I know now that was a
00:28:20
mistake and if I had it all to do over
00:28:22
again, I would have turned around. I
00:28:24
would have faced him. I would have
00:28:25
talked to him. I would have threw my
00:28:27
arms around him and hugged him. But I
00:28:29
was afraid.
00:28:33
Then Kurt's father received a disturbing
00:28:36
phone call.
00:28:37
Hello.
00:28:38
Is this Robert Morton?
00:28:40
Yes. Who's this? I can't mention any
00:28:42
names. No names. Your son had a
00:28:44
blond-haired babysitter. What was her
00:28:46
name?
00:28:46
Freda Smith.
00:28:48
Freda Smith.
00:28:48
Yeah. Is that my son? Is he there?
00:28:51
So, I knew right then it's him. He must
00:28:52
be in the background. And then they made
00:28:54
a statement they'd be seeing me soon.
00:28:56
I can't tell you anything more, but
00:28:57
he'll be seeing you soon. Don't tell
00:28:59
anyone.
00:29:01
Wait. Hello. Hello.
00:29:02
And I haven't heard another word from
00:29:03
him. I figured he'd probably get in
00:29:04
touch, but I haven't heard no more. And
00:29:05
I hope I didn't jeopardize his life or
00:29:07
anything but telling anybody.
00:29:10
The following year, the Bortons were
00:29:12
asked to come to a meeting at Marine
00:29:15
headquarters.
00:29:16
We have discovered some remains that we
00:29:18
believe belonged to Kurt.
00:29:20
What?
00:29:21
What did you find?
00:29:22
Uh, we found 11 teeth in a grave site.
00:29:26
Where did you find them?
00:29:28
I asked them, "Where's the rest of his
00:29:29
body?" All he have is teeth. They says,
00:29:32
"Well, there was grave robbers and they
00:29:34
came and they robbed the grave and took
00:29:36
the body." And I'm thinking, well, this
00:29:40
is kind of dumb. What do they just leave
00:29:42
the teeth?
00:29:43
We know that there is remains trade in
00:29:45
Vietnam where remains are buried, dug
00:29:48
up, and moved to another place, dug up
00:29:50
again, and sold to remains traders. So,
00:29:53
they miss many of the smaller pieces.
00:29:55
So, often we find only teeth. Forensic
00:29:58
experts tell us that these teeth were
00:30:00
from a deceased person, and the teeth do
00:30:02
match Robert Borton.
00:30:06
Looks like it's going to snow, doesn't
00:30:08
it?
00:30:09
Today, the Borton family believes that
00:30:11
Kurt is or was part of a secret
00:30:15
government operation.
00:30:18
Robert Borton would not be a candidate
00:30:20
for any type of secret mission. He's a
00:30:22
very young man. He was in the Marine
00:30:24
Corps just over 6 months. He did not
00:30:26
have any special skills. He did not have
00:30:28
a security clearance or any linguistic
00:30:30
skills that would have been needed for
00:30:32
some type of a covert operation.
00:30:34
What did happen to Kurt Borton? Despite
00:30:38
the official record, his family remains
00:30:40
convinced that he is very much alive and
00:30:43
that one day he will finally come home.
00:30:50
Coming up, a woman is found tied to her
00:30:52
bed and burned to death. Her killer is
00:30:55
unknown.
00:31:00
[Music]
00:31:05
The Lufkin, Texas Fire Department
00:31:08
arrives at the scene of an apartment
00:31:10
fire. The firefighters waste no time
00:31:13
tracking down the source of the blaze.
00:31:16
It's an apartment 616
00:31:22
water.
00:31:23
As they put out the fire, they find a
00:31:26
chilling scene. Tied to the bed is the
00:31:29
charred body of a woman.
00:31:34
Unit fully involved. We arrived on
00:31:35
scene. The neighbor downstairs.
00:31:36
She had been suffocated with a plastic
00:31:38
bag and her throat had been cut very
00:31:40
deeply. Two different cuts, one on each
00:31:43
side. And uh then the bed had been set a
00:31:47
fire. This crime was absolutely the
00:31:49
meanest thing I've ever seen one person
00:31:51
do to another.
00:31:54
Dental records identify the victim as
00:31:56
Megan Curl, a 26-year-old slightly
00:31:59
[ __ ] woman who had recently escaped
00:32:01
from an abusive marriage. Could Megan's
00:32:04
search for new companionship
00:32:06
have led to her murder?
00:32:10
Because Megan was so trusting and was so
00:32:13
outgoing, she tended to be an easy
00:32:16
target for some of these men. Men
00:32:20
absolutely could tell that Megan wanted
00:32:22
to please, that Megan wanted somebody to
00:32:25
care for her and that she was lonely.
00:32:28
And I think that that is part of what
00:32:30
happened here.
00:32:32
On the night of her murder, Megan went
00:32:34
to a local nightclub.
00:32:37
She was seen talking with a man at the
00:32:40
Electric Cowboy Club, and that man did
00:32:42
buy her one or two drinks. No one at the
00:32:44
club knew who this man was and no one
00:32:47
reported ever seeing him there before
00:32:49
our sense.
00:32:51
She went to another club called the
00:32:54
Sport Shack just a little ways down the
00:32:56
road from the Electric Cowboy Club. She
00:32:59
talked to some people there and caught a
00:33:01
ride with an employee of the Sport Shack
00:33:02
home.
00:33:04
A close friend who lived in the same
00:33:06
apartment complex waited up for Megan to
00:33:09
hear the details of her night out. She
00:33:12
asked that we alter her voice to protect
00:33:15
her identity.
00:33:16
Well, we was standing out there talking
00:33:18
and all of a sudden there was this guy
00:33:21
in this car and he was speeding really
00:33:23
fast and he just did a dead stop.
00:33:26
Hey, you know what? I think that might
00:33:27
be my friend from the club.
00:33:29
Really?
00:33:30
Yeah. I think I'm going to go say hi to
00:33:31
him.
00:33:32
Are you sure?
00:33:32
Yeah.
00:33:33
I go back into the apartment and then
00:33:35
when I went back out, the car was still
00:33:37
there, but neither one of them was
00:33:38
there. They were gone and I was like,
00:33:40
"Oh, Lord."
00:33:44
Megan's friend went up to Megan's
00:33:46
apartment to check on her.
00:33:48
Hey.
00:33:49
Oh, hey.
00:33:50
Everything all right?
00:33:51
Uh, yeah.
00:33:51
You sure?
00:33:52
Mhm.
00:33:52
Yeah.
00:33:53
She says, "I was right. It was my friend
00:33:55
from the club." And I looked down to him
00:33:57
and he just nodded his head slowly and
00:34:00
didn't say a word. And I didn't speak to
00:34:02
him at all either. And I says, "Well,
00:34:05
are you sure you're okay?" And she says,
00:34:07
"Yes, I'm fine." Yeah. Okay. Okay. Call
00:34:10
me tomorrow.
00:34:11
Okay, I will. Goodbye.
00:34:13
That would be the last time she would
00:34:15
see Megan alive.
00:34:19
When Megan Curl's body was found, there
00:34:21
was a remnant of a night gown on her. We
00:34:24
feel like because of that, she knew this
00:34:26
person and was preparing for an intimate
00:34:29
evening with them.
00:34:31
Investigators questioned many of Megan's
00:34:33
male friends, but each had a solid
00:34:36
alibi.
00:34:38
This sketch is based on Megan's friend's
00:34:40
description of the man she saw that
00:34:42
night. He is a prime suspect in the
00:34:45
murder. He is white with blonde hair and
00:34:48
a mustache. He wore gold rim glasses.
00:34:52
Investigators would also like to find
00:34:54
this man. He was seen with Megan at the
00:34:57
Electric Cowboy Club. He has a dark
00:35:00
complexion and may be Hispanic. He is
00:35:03
not the suspect, but investigators want
00:35:06
to know what he might have seen that
00:35:08
night.
00:35:10
If you have any information on the
00:35:12
murder of Megan Curl, please log on to
00:35:15
our website at unsolved.com.
00:35:18
[Music]
00:35:22
Next, a young woman discovers her
00:35:24
mother's secret diary and begins a
00:35:27
desperate search to find her real
00:35:29
father.
00:35:36
Jeannie Wagner felt like a misfit in her
00:35:39
own family. She had a healthy, normal
00:35:42
childhood, but she never really felt
00:35:44
like she belonged. Years later, she
00:35:47
discovered a family secret that
00:35:49
explained why.
00:35:59
From a very early age, I felt very
00:36:02
different. And for a while there, I
00:36:05
thought, well, you know, maybe I was
00:36:06
adopted. And no one intentionally made
00:36:09
me feel that way, I don't think. But it
00:36:10
was just a knowledge I had that was, I
00:36:13
guess, in my subconscious.
00:36:16
Jeanie's mother, Paty, died when Jeanie
00:36:18
was just 21. Only then did she learn
00:36:21
about her mother's secret diary. But
00:36:24
that was just the first surprise. Jeanie
00:36:27
was shocked to find that the man she
00:36:29
knew as her father was not really her
00:36:32
father at all.
00:36:37
In her diary, her mother Paty described
00:36:39
meeting a young enlisted man in her
00:36:42
hometown of El Paso, Texas. She was just
00:36:45
16 years old, and his name was Duncan.
00:36:49
Hello.
00:36:51
Hi. Do you mind if I sit down?
00:36:56
I'm Duncan.
00:36:58
Py, who was already engaged to someone
00:37:00
else, was immediately attracted to this
00:37:03
handsome soldier who was gentle and
00:37:06
understanding.
00:37:07
I'll see you tomorrow.
00:37:09
Soon, they were seeing each other on a
00:37:11
regular basis. Paty was living a lie,
00:37:15
keeping her relationship with Duncan
00:37:17
hidden from her fiance and her family.
00:37:22
In October, Paty panicked when she
00:37:24
discovered she was pregnant.
00:37:27
Her fiance believed that he was the
00:37:29
father.
00:37:31
I think she was consumed with fear. Fear
00:37:34
that her family would think badly of
00:37:36
her. It was her belief that it was just
00:37:39
unforgivable.
00:37:41
Hi.
00:37:42
Hi, Betsy.
00:37:45
There's something I want to talk to you
00:37:47
about.
00:37:47
Sure. Anything.
00:37:49
I've come to a decision. Paty, what is
00:37:51
it?
00:37:51
Don't be upset, but we can't see each
00:37:53
other anymore.
00:37:55
She didn't feel that she could change
00:37:58
some things that were already set in
00:38:00
motion, which were that she was to be
00:38:02
married and she was to be married to
00:38:04
someone that was um known and accepted
00:38:06
by her family. I'm
00:38:08
sorry.
00:38:10
The pain of Paty's dilemma was described
00:38:13
in her diary.
00:38:15
I had to do it. I had to please my
00:38:17
mother. That was the most important
00:38:20
thing in the world. There was no other
00:38:22
way.
00:38:24
[Music]
00:38:28
To you, Patricia Anne Summers. Take this
00:38:31
man to be your lawfully wedded husband,
00:38:34
to have and to hold, to love and to
00:38:36
honor. And
00:38:37
Paty and her fianceé were married. Only
00:38:41
the two of them knew that Paty was
00:38:44
pregnant. Only Paty knew that Duncan was
00:38:47
the real father.
00:38:50
No one suspected a pregnancy. No one. It
00:38:53
was just a wedding and it was lovely.
00:38:55
The night that my sister went into
00:38:57
labor, she said to me, "Tell mother, I'm
00:39:00
sorry."
00:39:02
And what I realized was that she had
00:39:06
been pregnant
00:39:08
um before she was married, but I
00:39:10
certainly didn't realize that it went
00:39:13
any further than that.
00:39:16
Jeanie was born 7 months after the
00:39:18
wedding. In her diary, Paty described
00:39:21
how she prayed for a child with blue
00:39:24
eyes like those of her husband. Paty got
00:39:28
her wish. My firm belief is that secrets
00:39:30
only cause people harm and cause a lot
00:39:34
of suffering. And that's why for me the
00:39:37
truth has to come out and I have to know
00:39:39
who Duncan is.
00:39:45
Update.
00:39:47
The night that Jeanie's story aired, a
00:39:49
woman named Suzanne Gilmore was watching
00:39:52
at her home in South Carolina. At the
00:39:55
time, her husband Duncan was asleep.
00:39:59
Jeanie's mother had written in her diary
00:40:02
that he was the sweetest, kindest person
00:40:04
that she had ever met. I just said,
00:40:06
"That's my Duncan." I knew that it was
00:40:09
my Duncan.
00:40:10
And the next thing I knew, my wife woke
00:40:12
me up and she said, "Were you ever
00:40:16
stationed in El Paso, Texas at Fort
00:40:19
Bliss when you were in the army?" And I
00:40:21
said, "Yeah." She said, "Were you there
00:40:22
in 1958?"
00:40:25
And I said, "Yeah, I was there in 1958."
00:40:28
And she said, "Did you ever know Paty
00:40:30
Summers?" And I said, "Yeah, I know. I
00:40:33
knew Paty Summers."
00:40:34
"Did you sleep with her?" And he said,
00:40:36
"What? What? What?" He just kind of came
00:40:39
awake. And I said, "It's very important.
00:40:42
Did you sleep with her?" And he said,
00:40:44
"Well, yeah." She said,
00:40:45
"Congratulations, you have a daughter
00:40:48
and she's looking for you." and he just
00:40:50
came awake like a shot. It was like,
00:40:53
"She's looking for me." And I said,
00:40:55
"Yes."
00:40:56
As soon as I heard some of the details,
00:40:59
I knew immediately she was my daughter.
00:41:02
And that I don't want to say it was
00:41:04
matter of fact, but I just knew that she
00:41:06
was my daughter and that we had to be
00:41:08
together and we I had to see her and I
00:41:10
had to respond.
00:41:12
Nine days later, Duncan Gilmore and his
00:41:15
wife arrived in Houston to meet his
00:41:17
daughter Jeanie for the first time.
00:41:24
When I hiked my dad, it was a
00:41:26
combination of being really, really
00:41:28
happy, but also there was a little
00:41:31
sadness there that so many years have
00:41:34
gone by and that we've missed out on
00:41:38
each other's lives.
00:41:39
I love you.
00:41:40
I love you, too.
00:41:42
I will always remember Jenny coming to
00:41:44
the door and for the first time seeing
00:41:46
my daughter and and holding her.
00:41:49
When I saw my boys playing catch with
00:41:52
their grandpa, it just felt right. They
00:41:56
needed a grandpa and I can't think of a
00:41:59
better grandpa for them to have.
00:42:03
Never could I have hoped in a million
00:42:06
years or prayed a thousand prayers for
00:42:09
this to turn out as well as it has.
00:42:28
Heat. Heat.
00:42:31
[Music]
00:42:39
[Music]
