Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tonight

on "Unsolved Mysteries," in Los Angeles,

22-year-old Matthew Chase made a midnight trip

to an automated teller machine.

Matthew has not been seen since.

The hidden bank camera showed Matthew next

to a mysterious figure.

On Valentine's Day in 1986, a Houston housewife was murdered.

Her husband was a suspect.

He steadfastly maintains his innocence.

His alibi is airtight, or is it?

Dolores Valadez has no parents, no past.

She wants to find the mother she never knew

and answer a question that has haunted her entire life.

Where is her real family?

[theme music]

We also tell you the touching story of a refugee family

immigrating to America.

During World War II, they fled their home in Hungary

and were forced to live in a boxcar, barely

surviving in war-torn Europe.

43 years later, they're trying to find

a mysterious American soldier who one memorable Christmas

changed their lives forever.

Join me.

You may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

During the Christmas season 43 years ago, a Hungarian family

who'd escaped from the ravages of the Second World War

met an American GI named Philippe.

This refugee family was living a hand-to-mouth existence

in an abandoned train in rural Austria.

The kindly soldier offered them friendship when they had

few friends, food when there was often hunger,

and faith when despair seemed insurmountable.

With Philippe's help, the family survived their ordeal.

They now live in America.

And they want to reunite with their benefactor

so they can thank him for a Christmas

that changed their lives.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): May, 1945, as Hitler's Third Reich

crumbled, refugees from Eastern Europe choked the highways

and rural roads, some escaping the Nazis, others

the vengeful Russian army.

Carl Dentai and his family fled from Budapest in Hungary,

one step away from the guns of the Red Army.

CARL DENTAI: The Russian army, just a few miles behind us,

so I have only one thing in my mind,

just to get the family with me out from there.

You know, it's a very strange feeling when you leave

a country when you was born.

But thousand, thousand family was leaving,

just leave everything behind, just running away.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After their perilous journey,

the Dentais and other refugees found

temporary sanctuary in Austria in a town

occupied by the Americans.

As a fall turned to an extremely cold winter,

a family was forced to live inside a boxcar.

Despite their hardship, Carl and his wife,

Teresia, managed to survive and provide

a shelter for their five-year-old daughter

Brigitta.

CARL DENTAI: The winter coming, we have a tough time

to get food.

We have no clothing.

We have no other place to go.

One thing I was very happy, my family never once complained.

My wife never complained.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A few days

before Christmas, an American soldier named Philippe came

to meet Brigitta's parents.

He had met their daughter at her American-run school.

Somehow managing to surmount the language barrier,

Philippe asked if Brigitta would come as his guest

to a Christmas party given for the refugee children

by the American Occupation Force.

I want to take Brigitta to a Christmas party.

Christmas, ho, ho, ho, ho.

Christmas.

PHILIPPE: Santa Claus, right.

CARL DENTAI: Brigitta?

PHILIPPE: Yeah.

Yes.

PHILIPPE: Yes?

Yes, Christmas, yes.

PHILIPPE: She'll have fun.

Thank you.

PHILIPPE: OK, see you later, OK.

Bye.

Brigitta, woo.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Carl

was able to scavenge some material,

Teresia made a party outfit for their daughter.

CARL DENTAI: She never experienced

any Christmas party before.

And after living already so long in that little freight car, no,

no candy, no sugar, no hardly anything,

you know, hardly any food, so this was a big gift for us,

to knowing how happy she will be.

And she was happy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Over 40 years

have passed since that night, but to Brigitta,

it seems like only yesterday.

BRIGITTA: He looked very, very handsome, like Prince Charming.

And I remember that shiny US button on his lapel.

Philippe made me feel very, very special.

Aside of making me feel safe and happy,

he made me feel like a big girl.

I felt like a princess.

It's like someone opened a magic door.

There was lights and music and a very happy atmosphere.

It was like the lights went on.

I remember the food was very, very fancy.

I had not seen anything like it probably ever.

I felt like I was in a dream.

I never wanted the dream to end.

CARL DENTAI: It probably changing her life,

a little happiness gave us back a lot of confidence

of the human race.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Oh, what a big package.

You're back. Open it.

CARL DENTAI: When they're coming back from the Christmas party,

we had just like a little celebration.

Brigitta started opening her present.

We were very happy to see our daughter so happy.

We met somebody very nice.

It was a nice Christmas for all of us.

After the war started, it was the first Christmas

we ever had a happy time with somebody because of Philippe.

It's a memory you'll never forget it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That evening, Philippe

and the Dentais discovered that though they

didn't share a language, they shared a friendship.

[indistinct conversation]

CARL DENTAI: We had a difficult time to communicate but he

was so friendly, you know.

We had a lot of laughing, a lot of good time.

We was happy that night.

We never expected him to coming back.

We thought so Christmas party over and you know,

we have a beautiful memory.

That's the end of it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But Philippe did come back.

He became a real-life Santa Claus,

giving the children candies and the parents food

and other necessities that helped

the family endure the many hardships of life

without a homeland.

[indistinct conversation]

But one day, their friendship came to an end.

PHILIPPE: I came to tell you I'm leaving.

Soon?

PHILIPPE: Yes, tonight.

I want you to have this to remember me by.

Thank you.

PHILIPPE: Bye.

CARL DENTAI: One afternoon, Philippe

show up and told us his troop is transferred to France.

He's very sorry he have to leave.

He give us his photograph, give us his address.

Bye.

CARL DENTAI: I was wondering, we're

going to ever see him again?

It was just like you leave part of the family.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It took 11 years of struggle

and hardship for the Dentais to finally

make their way to America.

Though Teresia passed away a few years ago,

Carl and Brigitta currently live in Michigan.

Unfortunately, during the family's flight across Europe,

they lost most of their possessions,

including Phillip's address.

All they have to remember him by is this picture.

Based on the appearance of Philippe's uniform,

military experts believe he was a private.

Philippe also told Carl and Brigitta

that he was from Maine.

These may be important clues as to Philippe's whereabouts.

Within an hour of our broadcast,

Mrs. Paulie Doftie of Augusta, Maine,

called our 800 number to say that the man

named Philippe in our story was her cousin Philippe Pelletier.

He's a retired postal worker who lives in Hammond, Indiana.

We immediately called Carl and Brigitta Dentai

and helped to arrange a reunion.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On Wednesday, December 28, 1988,

Carl and Brigitta's 30-year search for Philippe

came to an emotional end.

[knocking]

Brigit? BRIGITTA: Yes.

Philippe?

Oh, yes, ah.

Hi.

Oh, I can't believe it.

[interposing voices]

Hi, you must be Celia.

I feel like I know who you are.

Nice to see you.

PHILIPPE: Well, it's really pretty hard to tell you just

how I feel after so many years and trying to recollect

everything that we went through together, you know,

it's very hard.

It's very exciting.

It's almost unbelievable.

Oh my gosh.

Nice to see you.

It's something like a Christmas miracle.

Because when he left, I was thinking,

well, did I ever see him again.

And here we go after 43 years be back together

again, that's just like a dream came true, hard to believe it.

Sometimes I had that feeling I'm going to wake up.

PHILIPPE: Because you were five, right, at the time

at the Christmas party?

BRIGITTA: Right.

The minute that I saw him, I could see the warmth

and the happy look on his face, smiling,

and like we really never had lost touch in a way.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Carl, Brigitta, and Philippe

spent the afternoon looking through photographs

that brought back memories of that special time they

spent together.

CARL DENTAI: We're going to stay in touch.

We're going to try to visit each other as much as possible.

We're going to renew the friendship,

what we had before, you know.

That's a friendship forever.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, the story of a young man

who went to get some cash at midnight from an automated

teller machine and disappeared.

[theme music]

Every day, thousands of people do business with their banks

using an automated teller machine.

It's become a normal part of our life.

However, anyone standing alone in front of a bank at midnight,

withdrawing cash from the automated teller,

would naturally feel apprehensive.

It is hard not to nervously look over your shoulder

as you wait for the computer to take care

of your financial business.

At midnight on June 8th of this year,

a young man in Los Angeles visited one of these machines.

What happened to him suggests our fears might

be more real than imaginary.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Los Angeles,

June 8, 1988, 11:45 PM.

Oh, I forgot to deposit my check.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Returning home from dinner

with his roommate Teresa Dahl, 22-year-old Matthew

Chase remembered that he needed to deposit his paycheck.

TERESA: Say, why don't you take my car?

MATTHEW: OK.

Great.

Oh, and by the way.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Teresa lent Matt her car

and asked if he could pick up some cat food on the way home.

OK, see you in a few minutes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Matthew Chase

had known Teresa and her brother Steve since childhood.

They all moved to Los Angeles from Medford, Oregon.

That night, when Matt left their house,

he took only his bank card with him.

He left his wallet at home.

It should have taken Matt approximately 10, 15 minutes

to run the errand.

The bank was about two blocks from our home.

And normally he walked.

And that particular evening, he'd

taken my car so at the most, 15 minutes would be sufficient.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): We know

that Matt did arrive at the automated teller that night,

but he never returned home.

Five months later, his friends and family

are still searching for him.

The next morning, when Matt still hadn't come home,

his roommates called the police.

Hello, my name is Matthew Chase.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They then called the bank.

And by using Matt's Social Security number,

convinced them that it was Matt calling.

They wanted to find out if he had used

his bank card the night before.

There have been transactions, great.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The bank said he had several times.

Can you tell me what time they were made?

What day and--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Steve and Teresa

called the police again.

SCOTT BURKHART: A light came on, indicating

that this is not going to be a normal run of the mill case.

It's going to be something that requires

some in-depth investigation.

And it may, may not turn out to be a good case,

as we call them.

[computer tone]

SCOTT BURKHART: When we reviewed the bank records,

it indicates that he made a successful deposit

of a paycheck, received cash back, and then

returned to the same branch approximately 30 minutes later

and attempted to withdraw $280, which

he knows is over the amount of cash he can receive per day.

The theory there would be that either he was being forced

to attempt to withdraw these amounts,

or he was signaling to the bank, to the computer for help.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): That night, two more attempts

are made to withdraw cash.

The first was for $200.

It was refused because of insufficient funds.

Then a minute later, $100 was requested.

Again, as Matt's paycheck hadn't posted,

this amount was also refused.

11 minutes later, the card was used at another branch

in a different neighborhood.

Again, the withdrawals are unsuccessful.

This time, a hidden camera took photographs of Matt.

Then, a strange man appeared, standing at Matt's shoulder.

SCOTT BURKHART: According to these surveillance cameras

at the branch, the person standing next to Matt

was somewhat shorter, somewhat stockier.

And overall, he shouldn't have been in the photograph.

No one is going to let someone stand that close to him

while they're using an ATM machine where

they can see the PIN number.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police suspect that Matt may have been

abducted by the man in the photograph

while he was making his first transactions.

Then in an attempt to call for help,

they speculate Matt may have deliberately

entered erroneous amounts, hoping to attract attention.

Over the next day and a half, there were

five more withdrawal attempts.

By this time, Matt's paycheck had cleared.

So $400 was paid out from his account.

Finally, the card was confiscated by the machine.

STEVEN DAHL: We put a freeze on the card,

thinking that number one, getting the card back

would tell us where the bank was,

possibly where these people are, and where Matt might be.

And number two, that the police might be able to get

fingerprints off the card.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When the card was dusted for prints,

none were found.

Police believe that either the card was wiped clean

or that Matt's abductor used gloves.

Matt's mother and father came down from Oregon

to search for their son and the car he drove to the bank

that night.

If you see the person in this picture,

would you please call that number?

MR. CHASE: At first, we had great hopes, I think,

that we were going to stumble onto the car

somewhere in the near proximity of where they lived.

I believe after a couple three nights of doing this,

we became very frustrated.

SUSAN CHASE: Los Angeles can be a dangerous place at night.

We saw a lot of things that were very frightening, I think,

and that only made it more real to us

that something perhaps very serious had happened Matt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police believe that Matt may have

been injured in a mugging and was walking

the streets with amnesia.

Steve and Teresa distributed Matt's picture

at a local rescue mission.

Hi, could you do me a favor and keep

an eye out for this guy?

TERESA (VOICEOVER): I talked to several of the people there,

and a couple of the volunteers that worked at the Midnight

Mission said, when I showed them just his driver's license

because I'd run out of posters, said,

oh, yes, we have seen him.

He's been in here several times eating.

He's really-- and then they just started to describe him to me.

And they said he's very tall and thin, isn't he, and very lanky.

And I said, yes, exactly.

And for them to get that from one

of those tiny pictures from a driver's license

is really miraculous.

And we thought, well, wow, they really have seen him.

And we thought we were just so close to finding him

at that point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On June 27th, almost three weeks

after Matt's disappearance, the car he had been driving

was finally found by the police, abandoned, close to

where Matt had vanished.

SCOTT BURKHART: When they found that car,

they ran the license plate via the SVS system.

And it indicated that it was associated with a missing

person, and that I wanted the vehicle

held for latent fingerprints.

The criminalist dusted it for fingerprints, looked at it

for other evidence of a crime.

And the car was completely void of fingerprints.

And just finding the vehicle with no fingerprints

would be very unusual in that you and I driving

our vehicles in a normal manner will leave

prints on certain items within.

And this vehicle had absolutely no prints inside.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police did find one clue

in the car, a blue bandana.

This bandana did not belong to either Matt or Teresa.

And investigators believe it may have

been left by Matt's abductors.

I don't know what happened.

I know that I hope none of the things

that I dreamed about and wake up in the night

and think about are the things that

could have happened to Matt.

I am very hopeful that he's somewhere,

and that he's all right.

And I really think that, that I will

be with him again sometime.

Today, I sense that he's still alive.

And that has kept us going.

And we'll never stop looking for him until we find him,

and I know we'll find him.

TERESA (VOICEOVER): He means a lot to me.

He's my best friend.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Matthew Chase

is 22 years of age.

He is 6 feet, 2 inches, 150 pounds

and has brown hair and brown eyes.

He also has a small tattoo of a dollar

sign behind his right ear.

On March 29th, one chapter of this mysterious case

came to a close when the Los Angeles

Coroner's Office positively identified

the body of Matthew Chase.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): His remains

were discovered in a ravine in nearby Pasadena on September

the 17th of last year, three months after he disappeared.

Identification was delayed by the difficulty

in tracking down dental records.

The cause of death was a gunshot wound.

LIONEL SALGADO: We had estimated that he had been

down in this canyon area since the last week

in June of last year to September when he was located.

This case is being handled as a robbery homicide at this point.

The man in the bank photograph is

wanted for questioning in the disappearance

and death of Matthew Chase.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This as an artist's rendering

of the prime suspect in this case,

based on computer enhancements of the bank photographs.

Matthew's car was also stolen and later abandoned.

The killer may have been seen driving this car in early June.

It was a red two-door 1983 Volkswagen GTI.

When this car was recovered a blue bandana was found inside.

It is thought the bandana may have belonged to the killer.

TERESA: I do hope to find his killer.

And I think that we need to see this through,

and we will see it through.

And this person must be brought to justice.

We extend our condolences to Matthew's family and friends.

We strongly share the Chase family's desire to see

their son's killer apprehended.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In a moment, the story

of a Houston housewife, murdered on Valentine's Day

three years ago.

Her family believes she was murdered by her husband,

but he maintains his innocence.

[theme music]

At 10:06 on the morning of February 14, 1986,

Valentine's Day, a young affluent Houston

woman, Marilu Geri, was found in her home shot four times.

She was rushed to the hospital.

There she was pronounced dead.

She had been murdered.

Marilu's parents believe that their daughter was murdered

by her husband, Stephen Geri.

Stephen is adamant that he was not

involved and has a minute-by-minute alibi

for the morning of the crime.

You will hear both sides of the story.

On the one side, the anguish of the loving parents who have

lost a daughter.

On the other, a grieving husband who has to deal

with a weight of suspicion.

You'll be able to analyze the evidence in this brutal slaying

but watch closely.

The details of time and place could be crucial.

Hello, Maria?

Happy birthday, Maria.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Marilu's body

was discovered at 10:06 AM.

At 8:15 AM, Stephen Geri called Marilu's mother, Maria Serrato,

and asked her to go over and help Marilu

prepare for a lunchtime party.

If you could go over a little bit early and help

Marilu get ready for it.

Super.

As soon as I hang up with him, I dial Mary's number,

and she didn't answer the phone.

And it got me very concerned because I thought, how strange.

She's supposed to be already running around the house doing

the last things.

Where, where is she?

So I left.

It took me about 20 minutes to get to her house.

To my surprise, there was no answer at the back door.

And everything looked in perfect condition.

Nothing was disturbed

The front door was not locked.

And that was a shock right there for me because Mary

was a very careful person.

Her door was always locked.

Mary?

Marilu?

Mary?

Marilu?

Donde estas?

Where are you?

I thought something was wrong.

So I walked to the back of the house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Maria searched systematically.

She found Marilu lying on the floor.

She looked like she had fainted or something.

And I started to kiss her in her face and touching her.

And she looked like she was dead, and it got me completely.

I was just like a wild person.

I thought I was in a nightmare.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10:30 AM, the paramedics

tried to revive Marilu, attempting to restart

her heart with an injection.

Marilu was already dead.

Unfortunately, this procedure would

later make it impossible to determine

an exact time of death.

Marilu had been shot four times with two different guns,

a .380 and a .22.

There was no sign of a gun in the house,

nor were there any physical signs of a break-in.

In the bedroom, Marilu's jewelry box was open.

Could robbery have been a motive?

MARIA SERRATO: There was jewelry laying in there,

like she had been selecting jewelry or something

that she was going to wear.

Whoever killed Marilu didn't come

in the house to steal anything.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Marilu's husband disagrees.

Well, there was many things taken.

The gross value was, um, ah, about $25,000 to $30,000,

maybe $40,000 worth of jewelry, a fur

coat, er, um, other valuables.

There were a lot of valuable things in the house,

and nothing was disturbed.

This was a well-planned murder.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Marilu and Stephen had

been married for three years.

Stephen was an insurance agent, and Marilu worked for him.

The couple went on vacation to Hawaii and Europe

and appeared to be happily living the good life.

It was extremely exciting and the most

fulfilling relationship that I have

ever had with an individual.

It was a torment of a marriage.

The last two and 1/2 years of her life,

it was nothing but crying about one thing and another.

They were fighting over money.

She brought out the strongest qualities

in me, made me more productive than I'd

ever been in my entire life.

Allowed, we allowed each other to develop to the fullest.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As Marilu's husband,

the police naturally viewed Stephen Geri as one

of the possible suspects and requested permission

to inspect his handguns.

The ballistics report proved that Stephen's guns

were not used in the shooting.

We'll get back to you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Stephen

also gave the police a detailed account of his movements

on the day of the crime.

Normally, he worked in his office

at home in the early morning.

This time, he changed his routine.

Ahem.

I woke up at about 5:00 that morning.

I went upstairs and worked on the computer.

I had an extremely busy day.

There were some things that I had to finish up.

Marilu was still in bed.

I told her that I would call at 7:00.

I, uh, know that the security system was on when I left

the house at about 6:25, 6:30.

I went down to 7-eleven and got another cup of coffee.

I left there and went to the post office,

picked up our mail for the day.

From there, I went to a donut shop and picked up donuts.

Good morning.

Yeah, I'd like, uh-- Then I went to Precision

Glass, Don Richardson's company and talked

with him for a moment.

I started to leave, realized that I had forgotten to call

Mary.

I went back in at the reception desk

and called her at almost 7:30.

She was up.

She said she was busy, busy, busy.

So I told her goodbye.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): From 7:30 when he called Marilu

to 10:06 when Marilu's body was found,

Stephen was often in the company of witnesses who

have corroborated his alibi.

A private investigator, Bill Elliott,

hired by Marilu's parents, examined

Stephen's alibi in detail.

BILL ELLIOTT: The witnesses that we interviewed indicated to us

that it was not his habit or pattern

to leave the house before 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning.

And this particular day, he claims to have left the house

between 6:00 and 6:30.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Stephen left home,

his first stop was at the 7-eleven, only two blocks away,

less than a five-minute drive.

BILL ELLIOTT: We interviewed the people at the convenience store

where he went first.

And it was their recollection, and very positive

recollection, that Stephen did not get there until three

minutes until 7:00 o'clock, a variation in the alibi that

would have given him time to do things

as far as getting rid of evidence

and that kind of thing.

STEPHEN GERI: Could I get a receipt?

BILL ELLIOTT: The curious thing is Mr. Geri had not only

gone to these places that morning but

the following day, he went back and reminded these people

that he had been there the day before,

which is something that I found unusual.

DAN KEY: The evidence regarding the time of death

is clouded because of the EMS crew moving in to attempt

to resuscitate Marilu Serrato.

The time of death is questionable.

Therefore, the alibi that he gave may be good and may not.

I have no way of determining this.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two years earlier,

Stephen had purchased insurance policies on both their lives.

Each policy had a total value of $435,000.

Mr. Geri was a big spender, liked to spend a lot of money

and like to live the high life, at a higher

level than his income was capable of supporting.

In Harris County, I found a little

over $120,000 of hard cash judgments

that he had against him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10 months

after the murder, Stephen filed to collect the $435,000.

Outraged, Marilu's parents went to court to prevent

him from collecting the money.

They claimed he had been the cause of Marilu's death

and would attempt to prove it in court.

MIGUEL SERRATO: We've learned things

about the insurance money.

And he was on my daughter's name.

So all that made us suspect that something was wrong

and that he was in part or responsible

for the death of my daughter.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Stephen Geri

believes there is another reason that the Serratos filed

the lawsuit.

Um, well, there's two things that make the world go round,

and that's sex and money.

And it definitely wasn't sex, was it?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just as the trial was beginning,

after the jury had been picked, an out-of-court settlement

was reached between Stephen Geri and the Serratos.

But which side had requested the settlement,

Stephen or Marilu's parents?

My attorney came and got me and said

that the Serratos had made an offer to settle the case.

You can imagine that we--

MIGUEL SERRATO: We didn't.

They did.

We didn't have a reason to.

Why, why, why do we want to do that?

I was adamant that, um, when my attorney presented this

to me, that it would not be as an admission of guilt.

And that rather that the Serratos would realize that I

was not involved, or why would they make the offer,

and that we would settle on it.

If it had been my daughter, and I thought

that person was involved, there was no way

I would ever take a settlement.

And, uh, but they did.

You're not to discuss any aspect

of the settlement of this case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The court

documents can't reveal who asked for the settlement

since Judge Sklar ordered the records sealed for two years.

And I assume that you wish me to approve

the judgment at this time.

Yes, your honor.

All right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After Marilu Geri was buried,

the headstone on her grave was smeared with mud and vandalized

and then stolen.

The headstone has been replaced.

It now reads, "Marilu Serrato."

MARIA SERRATO: It is very uncomfortable for us

to go on living knowing that somebody

did something horrible, and it's not being punished.

No, I did not kill my wife.

Marilu was the perfect woman for me.

We had a wonderful life together, exciting.

We traveled.

We built one hell of a business, and a fantastic

complement for each other.

The police continue their search for information

about the two weapons that were used,

a .380 caliber and a .22 caliber pistol.

They feel these guns will lead them to the killer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, the story of an orphan, Dolores

Valadez, who was told by her stepmother

that she was left on the doorstep in a suitcase.

She wants to know where she really came from.

Maybe you can help.

[theme music]

Dolores Valadez has no parents, no history, no heritage.

She doesn't even know how old she is.

The stepmother who raised her, Maria, the only one who

could tell her who she really is, lies

buried in an unmarked grave.

What Maria did tell Dolores is a chilling story.

She said she found Dolores when she was an infant,

abandoned in a suitcase on the front

porch, an early companion, a black kitten.

The story has haunted Dolores all her life.

DOLORES VALADEZ: It scared me, the fact

that I could have possibly been left at the doorstep.

And I never wanted to believe it,

and I was determined to find out the truth.

I feel like there's relatives of Maria that know the truth,

but they're still afraid of Maria in her grave.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dolores

feels that the mysterious power of her stepmother Maria

reaches beyond the grave to keep Dolores'

identity buried with her.

Every day, Dolores wrestles with a simple question, who am I?

Who am I?

Every time Dolores Valadez looks in the mirror,

she can see her Spanish heritage but she can't prove it.

Her lack of a documented past has caused

her many practical problems.

She's not been able to get a passport.

She's barred from receiving money due her

in her stepfather's will, and her daughter could not

qualify for Mexican-American college scholarships

because Dolores' birthright is a mystery.

Dolores Valadez is looking for a past, an identity.

Perhaps someone in our audience can

help Dolores find the answer to her question, who am I?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1947, the year Dolores believed

she was born, San Bernardino, California,

was a bustling city, swelling with its new

Mexican-American population.

San Bernardino was the town where Dolores grew up

in the home of Maria Valadez.

Maria was a midwife, and a powerful "curandera,"

a healer who worked with potent herbs and ointments.

She was respected and even feared in the community.

Maria had been told that she could not have children

of her own, so she adopted two, a boy named Mingo

and a girl named Vickie.

For some reason, she never adopted

Dolores, the baby she said was left

on her doorstep in a suitcase.

As a child, Dolores felt isolated.

And although Mingo and Vickie were

told who their natural parents were,

Dolores' background was left a mystery, a topic to be avoided.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): I never felt

like Maria really wanted me.

I never really felt accepted by her.

I felt a lot of resentment.

I felt afraid of her many times.

Maria always would tell me various stories

about how I didn't really belong in the family and so

forth and so.

Mommy, where do I come from?

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): She would tell me

that I arrived in a suitcase and was left in front of the steps.

Tell me the truth.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): And I really

didn't want to believe it.

But I would tell her, well, tell me the truth.

Why don't you just tell me the truth?

Where did I come from?

And she would just turn around and ignore me.

It's a real strange feeling to think

that nobody really wanted you.

VICKIE MONTOYA: The only thing I can remember

is my mother said that Dolores came in a suitcase.

And that's it.

It was dropped right there.

And I thought they were just kidding.

You know, I was just a little girl myself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When Dolores

was in the fourth grade, Maria died.

Dolores drifted from orphanages to foster homes,

until in 1963, she settled down and began

to turn her life around.

She completed high school, trained as a flight attendant,

and got married.

In 1970, after the birth of her daughter,

Erika, Dolores decided she had to know

the truth about her own birth.

Starting at the San Bernardino Hall of Records,

she pursued a paper trail that she hoped would lead

to the identity of her parents.

Despite her high hopes, there was no record that Dolores

had ever been born.

With no trace of her birth, Dolores went looking

for a record of her baptism.

Finally in a church five miles outside San Bernardino,

she found a baptismal record with her birth date

and the name of Maria Valadez.

Dolores also found a new clue.

And I have godparents.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The record

showed that Dolores had two godparents, Rodolfo

Minjares and Rufina Rodriguez.

DOLORES VALADEZ: I never knew them.

Boy, I'd sure like to get to--

Back in the '40s, people were more inclined

to think of children being out of wedlock

as something to hide.

So there's a possibility that Dolores' godparents

are her parents because I've seen

that before in other cases.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dolores

had one other clue to her past.

Maria had told her that as an infant,

Dolores had been hospitalized for diphtheria.

Hi.

Hi.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): One of my searches

was going to the county hospital in San Bernardino.

And on the admissions card, they listed a woman

named Esther as my mother.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dolores

had never heard the name of Esther Valadez before.

The hospital form stated that Esther was deceased.

But in fact, no death certificate

was found in the San Bernardino Hall of Records.

Strangely, Dolores' admission forms

also stated that Maria was Dolores'

aunt, not her stepmother.

And Dolores' birthdate was listed as September

the 17th, which was not the birth

date she had always celebrated.

Clearly, the records may have been falsified, but why?

Several times we have run into cases where in Mexican families

who have had large numbers of children

have given a baby, one of their children away,

one of their newborns, away to one of the other family

members who've been childless.

If this was the case with Dolores,

none of the family members would ever talk about it.

And they would virtually carry it with them to their graves.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If someone gave Dolores

to Maria, who did it and why?

Perhaps the answer lies in Maria's years as a midwife.

Dolores had heard a family rumor that Maria once kept

a baby girl she helped deliver.

According to the rumor, the baby's mother

was a family friend.

Dolores decided to question her.

Hello?

DOLORES VALADEZ: Hello, my name is Dolores Valadez.

And I grew up in the L Street area of San Bernardino.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): This lady

lived in the Valadez's home around the time

that I could have been born.

Well, yes, come on in.

DOLORES VALADEZ: OK, thank you.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): She was nervous and couldn't

keep her composure very well.

DOLORES VALADEZ: I've heard rumors that you're my mother.

Are you my mother?

No, I'm not your mother.

And as much as I would love to be your mother,

you have not given me any, any proof.

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): And I look very much

like her daughter's picture.

I could be her twin.

But she keeps denying that she is my mother.

Well, she's mad.

I mean, she wants to know who are her parents.

You know, she doesn't, she doesn't

want anything from them.

All she wants is what is my name, when's my birthday.

That's all she wants.

She doesn't want nothing else but that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dolores

had isolated three possible mothers:

Esther, the woman named in her hospital records;

Rufina, her baptismal godmother; and the reticent family friend.

But none of the leads had paid off.

My mom, I know--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dolores felt her last hope

was Mingo, Maria's adopted son.

He had been reluctant to talk.

So while we were interviewing Mingo, Dolores confronted him.

Dolores claimed that when they were younger,

Mingo had told her that he knew the truth.

DOLORES VALADEZ: Oh, you didn't?

I'm positive that years ago you told me that you

couldn't tell me the truth.

- No, I don't remember that. - Do you remember that?

MINGO ARRIOLA: I don't remember that.

DOLORES VALADEZ: You don't remember that, huh.

No.

DOLORES VALADEZ: So you don't know anything--

DOLORES VALADEZ (VOICEOVER): Sometimes

I get the feeling that he's still afraid of Maria

even in her grave.

And there really isn't anything to be afraid of.

People don't come back from the dead.

I had felt very frustrated and very discouraged.

But I still have a feeling inside of me

that there are people out there that know.

They're just afraid.

I have prayed a lot about my parents coming forward

or somebody coming forward with the truth.

I don't want to hurt anyone by them admitting

that they're my parents.

Then if they want to come forward

and acknowledge that I'm their daughter,

that would really make me happy.

I have a very strong feeling that somebody out

there is looking for me, too.

Tonight, we've seen four stories without endings,

four stories in which ordinary people

have been thrust into the center of an unsolved mystery.

Perhaps someone tonight can help them.

Perhaps they were watching.

Perhaps it's you.