Original subtitles

NARRATOR: 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): In 1945, five navy torpedo bombers

took off from a Florida airfield and headed

east over the Atlantic, only to disappear without a trace.

Thus the legend of the Bermuda Triangle was born.

Today an aviation researcher believes

he has found one of the missing planes

and solved the mystery of the Lost Patrol.

When she was a young woman, Marge Rider

faced the excruciating decision to give up a child for adoption

not once, not twice, but three times.

Perhaps someone watching tonight is one of the daughters

she is searching for.

Near San Francisco, a 60-year-old woman

made a brave stand against drug dealers

plaguing her neighborhood and was shot in her own home.

Authorities need your help to find her unknown attackers.

We'll also bring you the poignant story

of six children torn apart by adoption four decades ago.

One phone call may be the final step in bringing

this family back together.

Join me, you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): December 5,

1945, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Five navy Avenger torpedo bombers took off

on a routine training flight.

There were 14 men on board.

The mission was known as Flight 19.

Five hours after they took off, the entire squadron

would vanish without a trace.

Their disappearance became the linchpin of a modern legend

of the supernatural.

It has been called the Triangle of Death, the Hoodoo Sea,

or the Graveyard of the Atlantic, but to most of us

the area where the five planes disappeared

is known as the Bermuda Triangle.

This 400,000 square mile area in the eastern Atlantic

extends from the south of Florida,

northeast to Bermuda and southeast to Puerto Rico.

According to experts, in the last 75 years,

over 100 ships and planes have apparently

disappeared in this region.

Though at least 1,000 lives have been lost,

the Triangle's most famous victims were

the five Avengers of Flight 19.

For the last 45 years, the disappearance of Flight 19

has been used by many as proof that the Bermuda

Triangle does exist.

The five planes were said to have

vanished inside some supernatural vortex

and then whisked away to another world.

But recently, an aviation investigator

named Jon Myhre has come up with a more

down-to-Earth explanation.

He is certain that he has found one of the missing aircraft

just 30 miles off the Florida coast.

If Myhre air is correct, then one

of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries of this century

may finally be explained.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For years, Jon Myhre

has scrutinized Flight 19's flight plan,

radio transmissions, and the weather

on the day of the disappearance.

When I read the story and I read

the transcripts of the radio conversations,

it triggered a response in me.

And I said, if this is true and this is true,

then I think I can find one of the airplanes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Last summer,

using the latest in modern technology,

Myhre mounted his fourth underwater expedition looking

for one of the last planes.

In order to pinpoint its final resting place,

Myhre has carefully reconstructed the last flight

of the lost Avengers.

It all began at the Naval Air Station

in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It was the afternoon of December 5, 1945.

Lieutenant Charles Taylor was assigned to command Flight 19.

Known as a cool, capable pilot, Taylor had logged over 2,500

hours as a Naval aviator.

You are scheduled for a low-level navigational problem.

You will fly 123 miles southeast,

beginning your practice by--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Before takeoff, the crewmen

of Flight 19 were briefed on the routine training exercise

by a senior operations officer.

--12 Miles and the winds are southwest

at 18 knots and gusting.

Again, I remind you it can change momentarily so

please be aware.

Now, I respect your professionalism.

Let's go over your--

Excuse me.

Captain, can I have a word with you in private, sir?

All right.

I'll be back in five minutes.

Relax.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just before

takeoff, Lieutenant Taylor made an my usual request.

Sir, if it's all the same to you, I'd just as soon you

replace me on the flight this afternoon.

I'm just not feeling up to it.

Why, what's the matter?

I just don't feel right, sir.

I'd rather not be in the air today.

Well, the rest of the instructors are off the base.

You're the last one on the roster.

I'm sorry, son.

You've got to go up.

Some people have speculated that he was a party animal

and he was out drinking.

I don't think that's fair to him.

The fact was that for some reason, he didn't feel 100%.

It could have been an ear infection,

it could have been the flu, could

have been any number of things.

And as a pilot, it was his duty to say,

I don't want to fly for whatever reason.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At 2:10 PM,

the five planes left the runway and headed east.

Leaving Fort Lauderdale, the planes

were to head 120 nautical miles southeast,

make a practice bomb run, and then fly 73 miles northwest.

They then would head 120 miles southwest

back to Fort Lauderdale.

Flight 19 consisted of four student pilots who

were qualified Naval aviators.

They each had more hours in the air

than the FAA requires now for a commercial license.

They had gone through all of their training

but this one flight.

FT28 to flight.

I'm making my clearing turn.

The flight was not following Charles Taylor.

He was the instructor pilot who was trailing

behind the rest of the flight.

He was grading their performance,

he wasn't doing the navigating.

The other pilots in the flight were

doing their own navigation.

CHARLES TAYLOR: FT28 to FT36, area is clear,

target is marked.

FT28 to flight, target is it 12 o'clock one while out.

Let's see what you're made of.

FT36, roger.

I'm commencing my run.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Radio traffic

indicated that the men successfully completed

the practice bomb run.

But at approximately 3:10 PM, on the second leg of the mission,

Taylor's compass began to malfunction.

CHARLES TAYLOR: I don't know where we are.

We must have gotten lost after that last turn.

Powers, what does your compass read?

AIRMAN (ON RADIO): Lieutenant, we're at 330 degrees.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Myhre believes the coordinates given

by the students were accurate.

For some reason, Taylor remained convinced that they were lost.

At the Fort Lauderdale Air Station,

the communications center monitoring the flight

became concerned about Taylor's defective compasses.

CHARLES TAYLOR (ON RADIO): At this time

I am over small islands believed to be Florida Keys.

My compass is out.

I'm in the Keys but I don't know how far down

and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale.

I am over land, but it's broken.

I'm going to swing down and take another look.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Taylor had made a critical error.

He thought that Flight 19 was in the Gulf of Mexico,

flying over the Florida Keys.

Myhre believes that in actuality, the flight

was 300 miles northeast of Taylor's estimated location,

flying over the Abaco Islands in the west Atlantic.

From the air, the two chains look remarkably similar.

Taylor ordered northeasterly, then due east headings.

Had they been over the Keys, this route would

have taken them safely home.

Instead, it took them further out to sea.

The students I am sure, because they

had flown the area before, they're saying,

uh-uh, you're wrong.

We're not in the Gulf of Mexico, we're in the Atlantic.

But if the instructor pilot says do it, you do it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): By 5:00 PM,

the short winter day had darkened

and the weather was deteriorating.

Flight 19 was heading east, away from their base,

and they were beginning to lose radio contact.

The base did monitor one of the squadron's last

pilot-to-pilot communications.

AIRMAN (ON RADIO): If we just head west, we'll get home.

Damn it, if we'd just head west, we'd get home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fuel was low

and the time was running out.

According to Myhre, Taylor finally listened

to his student pilots and headed west towards the Florida coast.

JON MYHRE: So he flew due west for 49

minutes until the first airplane crashed.

AIRMAN (ON RADIO): We may have to ditch.

Damn it, I'm going down.

I've got to ditch.

Do you read?

Do you read?

Damn it, do you read?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In Myhre's reconstruction,

the surviving four pirates then made a fatal error.

Although they were only seven minutes

away from the Florida coast, they

still have not spotted land.

They began to believe that they must be

flying over the Gulf of Mexico.

For this reason, they again reversed their course

and headed east.

But instead of going towards Florida,

their new course took them back out to sea.

By 8:00 PM, the other four planes had

disappeared beneath the waves.

The legend of Flight 19 had begun.

Over the next five days, the Navy

mounted the largest air-sea search

ever conducted up to that time.

No trace of the planes or the 14 missing men was ever found.

However, Myhre believes that some of the men of Flight 19

were alive, drifting at sea, slowly

running out of food and water.

JON MYHRE: Two ships sighted flares within five

hours of each other.

And everybody in the investigation

said, no, those flares that were spotted were search aircraft.

Well, you go back to the investigation

and you find out when the search aircraft took off

and where they went, and the search

aircraft weren't where those flares

were sighted by those steamers.

Three days later, another ship spots some blinking lights,

distress lights on the water and discounts them

as being from another ship.

I don't think so.

I think those were people from Flight 19.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After carefully cross-checking all

the available information on Flight 19,

Myhre calculated the impact point of the first plane

is here, just 30 miles off the Florida coast

near Cape Canaveral.

But finding a single Avenger in the ocean

was an overwhelming task, until ironically, a national tragedy

made it possible.

On January 19, 1986, the space shuttle

"Challenger" exploded moments after liftoff

from Cape Canaveral.

Some of the debris fell in the precise location

where Myhre believes the first plane had ditched.

Quite by accident, the underwater search

for the "Challenger" wreckage may have uncovered what

Jon Muhre had been looking for.

Just 30 miles from Cape Canaveral,

the salvage team located a plane wreck

submerged in 400 feet of water.

Believing the wreckage was that of a twin engine DC-3,

they ignored it.

But to Jon Myhre, this discovery appeared to be

the vindication of his theory.

Last July, Jon Myhre was on board

a submersibles that prepared to dive 400 feet

to inspect the wreckage.

He knew that 45 years might have obliterated

many of the Avenger's identifying characteristics.

We knew we had a wreck, but we didn't know

what type of airplane it was.

And to say I was on the edge of my seat,

along with my colleagues, would be an understatement.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As they first approached

the location of the wreck, they could

see nothing in the murky water.

Then the wing of a blame became visible.

DELBERT HECK, JR.: Oh my god, I can't believe I'm here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But was it the right plane?

One distinctive feature of the Avenger

is its bomb bay, located under the fuselage.

The submerged plane is upside down.

Here the bomb bay cavity is clearly visible.

JON MYHRE: I can't believe it.

I'm sitting here in front of this airplane

after all these years.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Another distinctive feature

of the Avenger is its overwheel well.

Here, this well can be seen on the underside of the wing.

JON MYHRE: Oh my god.

Look at that.

Look at that.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Perhaps the

Avenger's most unusual feature is

the ball turret, which protected the gunner behind the pilot.

Even though the plane that Myhre found

was upside down and partially buried in the sand,

the unique crosshatch of the turret's window frame

is clearly visible.

JON MYHRE: There's no question we've got an Avenger, folks.

After all at this point eight years of research

and all the frustrations that we had,

to actually be in a submarine and be

right over top of this wreckage was just incredible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It is obvious

that Myhre has found an Avenger, but is it

one of the Avengers of the lost Flight 19?

Through the manipulation of the submersible's mechanical arm,

Myhre removed the engine cowling.

He was hoping that a serial number could be found

that would confirm that this Avenger had

been part of Flight 19.

But after raising the cowling to the surface,

Myhre was unable to find any serial numbers.

JON MYHRE: The only way to prove whether this is, indeed,

a Flight 19 aircraft is going to be to raise

that sucker out of the water.

I and my partners believe that we're correct,

but it'll remain a mystery until we can raise the airplane.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): If this plane can be identified

as belonging to Flight 19, the legend of the Bermuda Triangle

will have to be rewritten.

It is not as romantic to say that the flight disappeared

due to a tragic chain of simple mistakes,

but if Jon Myhre is correct, this

is precisely what happened.

No matter what the explanation, the 14 men of Flight 19

deserve to be honored not as victims

of the supernatural, but as brave

man who died in the service of their country.

Next, the heartwarming reunion of a young woman and her mother

marks the beginning of a new search

for two long lost sisters.

Jackie Dragon grew up in a typical middle class home

near San Francisco, California.

She knew she had been adopted but had no idea

who her birth parents were.

Curiously, Jackie always had an unusual fascination

with films and television shows about women in prison.

FEMALE PRISONER (ON TV): What's the matter?

Is somebody getting soft around here?

PRISON GUARD (ON TV): Try something and you'll find out.

I'm not sure what it was that attracted me exactly,

but I do know that there was some strange sense of security

that I felt in watching the stories and the women

interacting in their lives and their relationships in prison.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Like any young child,

Jackie had a mischievous side.

At the age of 12, she made an unexpected discovery.

I was scavenging around, sneaking around in my father's

closet and looking through a box of papers,

important documents and things.

And what I found were legal papers,

and as I read through them I realized

they were my adoption papers.

Jackie Stark?

It was a big thing.

It was a turning point.

It was something that I knew from that point on that

someday, I would find those people in that paper

and that I had to, that they were real.

I searched off and on for a number of years,

probably starting around 1982.

And I think it was 1986 when I got the information that I

wasn't born in some hospital somewhere,

but that I was born in prison and that my mother had

been incarcerated at the time of my birth.

I'm sorry, but it's time.

JACKIE DRAGON: When I remembered that I had had such

a fascination with movies with women in prison in them,

I thought, boy, that's bizarre.

Say bye-bye, Mommy.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jackie learned

that she was born at the Dwight Reformatory for Women

in Chicago, Illinois.

Her mother, Marge Rider, was serving

a one-year sentence for her part in an armed robbery.

10 months later, Marge made one of the most difficult

decisions of her life.

She put Jackie up for adoption.

I convinced myself that the best thing to do for Jackie was

to give her a home that I assumed had two

upstanding parents, that there was security in that home,

that she could be guaranteed an education--

all the things that I knew at that time in my life

there was no way I could possibly give her any of that.

And I don't remember exactly when Jackie was taken,

but I do remember that the day she left, after she had left

they came and told me that Jackie

had gone to her new home in some other state and it hurt.

Same as it's hurting now.

That's one memory I didn't lose.

I didn't give her up in that sense.

I knew nothing else to do.

And that's the last memory, basically,

that I have of Jackie.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jackie's adoptive parents

provided a stable home, but Jackie was always

curious about her birth mother.

I wondered whether or not she had been able

to kind of clean it up or whether she'd

gotten in more trouble or whether or not

she was safe or well.

I don't think I ever considered not looking for her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After more than nine

years of searching, Jackie finally

learned of Marge's whereabouts.

On July 26, 1990, she spoke with her mother

for the first time in her life.

Hi.

May I speak with Marge Rider, please?

Speaking.

JACKIE DRAGON: And what I realized when I found out

that I had her phone number or when I realized that I was very

close to finding her was that in a way,

I was setting myself up to feel rejected all over again.

Does that date February 16, 1964 or mean anything to you?

Not for a second did she hesitate.

She was happy that I had called.

And I felt so relieved and so lucky.

Well, do you have time to talk right now?

I've got all the time in the world to talk now, yes.

JACKIE DRAGON: One of the first things

she said was, I never thought any of you girls

would be calling me.

And then she let me know that there were two other sisters.

It was very exciting. I couldn't believe it.

It was like, there's more? You're kidding.

There's something more that I didn't know?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jackie and Marge

talked for more than two hours.

Marge told Jackie about her own troubled childhood,

how she dropped out of high school,

fell in with the wrong crowd, got pregnant at 17.

Marge Rider would be the first person

to admit that she made a lot of mistakes in her early life,

but Marge has managed to rise above her past.

Today she is happily married and lives in Winchester, Illinois.

Inspired by Jackie's open-hearted love

and understanding, Marge now wants

to find the other daughters she gave

away more than 25 years ago.

Marge's first daughter, Laura May,

was 18 months old when Marge went to prison.

She was left in the care of Marge's grandmother.

At the time, Marge was already eight

months pregnant with Jackie.

She claims that once she was in prison,

her grandmother attempted to get legal custody of Laura May.

Paul Myrich.

Hi.

Please sit down.

MARGE RIDER: I hadn't been there too terribly long

and a lawyer came to see me.

Now, when I'm finished with my term,

I want to take Laura May with me.

I want to raise her myself.

Oh, I understand.

And if you sign these, then it'll

help us to all keep Laura May.

Now, what does this say?

Don't worry about this.

This is just some legal jargon.

I need to get you to sign right here, OK?

Right here?

That's it.

MARGE RIDER: I think that he was probably

on my grandmother's side, trying to help her

adopt the child away from me.

And just the courts just stepped in

because she was too old a woman to raise an infant child.

And I think I think they lost her as well as I did.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Laura May

was ultimately taken by the Cook County Welfare department

and became a ward of the state.

Marge never saw Laura May again.

After Jackie was born, Marge cared for her in the prison's

nursery, but 10 months later, Marge

gave in to outside pressures and put Jackie up for adoption.

A few weeks later, Marge completed her sentence

and was released.

She never again got in trouble with the law.

However, she did give birth to a third daughter,

Dawn Marie, whom she also gave up for adoption.

I had often gone over in my mind, what

if they come looking for me?

How do I explain to them that I gave them away?

And I pretty much convinced myself, and I do believe it,

I felt I was giving each child the very

best that I could give them.

- So how was your flight? - It was real long.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On September 20, 1990,

Marge Rider flew to California and had

met her daughter, Jackie, for the first time

in more than 25 years.

I see you've definitely got red and curly hair.

Well, I wonder where I got that.

I had many, many, many questions for her about her,

about her hair, about everything.

It's like, who had red hair?

That was something that I grew up with, red curly hair.

Nobody ever had it but me and it was a curse when I was a child.

And she was great.

I could ask anything I wanted and she

would tell me everything.

This is Laura May and this is you, of course.

Wow.

You can definitely tell it's family.

She really looks the same.

Look at all those knees.

I guess.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For Jackie, the reunion with Marge

marked the end of one search and the beginning of another.

I like to think that somewhere, wherever they are,

that they know that they're adopted

and that they wonder where they came from.

They were mine, I did love them.

I do love them and it would be nice to make

the family complete again.

Thanks to our viewers, Jackie Dragon and Marge Rider's dream

of reuniting their family finally

came true when they were contacted

by Laura May and Dawn Marie.

Dawn Marie, whose adopted name is Susan,

owns her own business in Santa Barbara, California.

Laura May, Marge's oldest daughter,

is now married and lives in Mississippi.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three months after our broadcast,

Laura May arrived at her sister, Jackie's,

home in Glendale, California.

Marge and her youngest daughter, Tracy,

had flown in from Illinois for this very special reunion.

Your sister, Tracy.

LAURA MAY: Meeting her was was really

nerve wracking because it's like I

wasn't quite sure what to expect and what

they would expect of me.

You're You're tall.

And then after I got here, it just all seemed to flow.

It was very natural.

The last time I remember seeing Laura,

she was in a high chair and now here she is all grown up

and I'm still looking for this little girl.

And it's kind of hard.

Hi, Susan.

Oh, it's good to meet you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): A short time later, the circle

was finally completed with the arrival of Marge's

other daughter, Susan.

I grew up knowing that I was adopted,

but I didn't know anything about who my real parents were.

And it's nice to know who your family is

and what your background is and learn more about it.

I think when I first started feeling really comfortable

was when we went out and took some Polaroids.

And it was a really neat feeling to have

a picture right in front of me and see

all of us standing together.

It's a very once in a lifetime kind of a thing to find

a sister that you've never met.

Everybody smile.

Each one is totally individual.

They're all strong, I found out, and they've

done good with their lives.

I'm proud of all four of them.

When any family is torn apart, the scars can last a lifetime.

The saga of the six Heck children of Iowa

is reminiscent of a Dickens novel

with an equally large cast of characters--

Delbert, Jr.; Florence; Jim; Cheryl Louise; Doris Jean;

and little Tommy.

These brothers and sisters were separated by adoption

as children, but through force of will

finally managed to reunite in adulthood.

Today they want to make sure that their life's

story has a happy ending.

They need your help in order to make that dream come true.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Council Bluffs,

Iowa, the summer of 1944.

Come on, you guys.

You're gonna be late for school.

Come on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 10-year-old Delbert Heck,

Jr was the man of the house.

His father was often away from home

and did little to support the family.

It was very rough times.

We didn't have any money for food or groceries.

I mean, it wasn't hard times for us

because that was all we knew.

You don't ever wish for water if you've never had the well.

So we just thought we was doing fine.

We had each other and we had Mother

and we just made the best we could of it.

What did you have for supper last night, Florence?

Puffed rice.

Puffed rice?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In August 1944,

the family was visited by a social worker

sent by the local welfare department.

I'd like to see the kitchen now.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Hecks had to stand by silently

as she scrutinized their home.

FLORENCE HECK-TAYLOR: She opened the cabinets

to see what was there, which there

was nothing there-- maybe a bag of dry puffed wheat

or something.

We didn't have dressers, we didn't have

clothes hanging in the closet.

She saw the mattress on the living room floor

where all six of us kids slept.

And she just explained to Mother that she wasn't able to care

for us properly and they were going

to take us where they could be.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three months later, the State of Iowa

took the Heck children away.

FLORENCE HECK-TAYLOR: She us she was taking us to a movie.

Of course, we hadn't ever been to a movie

so that was really something.

So we went with her willingly.

And Mother stood on the porch and cried.

And I thought there was something

that just wasn't right.

When she crossed Broadway going north,

I knew we weren't going to a movie.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The six

children were scattered across the countryside

like windblown seeds.

Three were immediately adopted, three languished in orphanages.

Seven-year-old Florence was one of them.

[sobbing]

I cried for Mother a lot, but I

cried a lot for the littler ones because I spent a lot of time--

this was my life with the.

And we had a dorm mother that lived

in the end of our building and they'd come get me,

take me to the end of the dorm.

And there was a little pause there.

You are going to sleep here until you learn to stop crying.

[sobbing]

FLORENCE HECK-TAYLOR: That's where

I slept for a good long while when

I first went to the orphanage.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Jim and Delbert

were placed in a different orphanage in Davenport, Iowa.

Delbert was farmed out briefly to foster parents.

DELBERT HECK, JR.: I really think what

they wanted was a farm hand.

I don't think they wanted a child.

I didn't have no contact with Jim

and he was the only one that I knew at that time.

And when I didn't have him no more,

I didn't have nothing to hold onto.

So it didn't last but just a few weeks

and was ready to go back to Davenport.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Delbert and Jimmy

would remain in the orphanage until 1952, when the state sent

the two boys and their sister, Florence,

back to their natural mother.

Jimmy!

Ma.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Maude Heck would never see

her other three children again.

Unbeknownst to the Heck family, one-year-old Sharon Louise

had been placed in the home of Wendell and Helena Jones.

She had been renamed Doresa.

Five-year-old Doris Jean was sent to the home

of Glenn and Gertrude West.

Her new name was Sally.

He's 10, she's nine.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It is assumed

that three-year-old Tommy Heck was also adopted.

His new name, if he has one, is still unknown.

In 1970, Doresa and Sally were reunited.

Both had been adopted through the same orphanage,

which put them in contact with each other.

The two then set out to find their missing family.

I had a lot of information on our biological family

from all of the records that my parents

had given me when I was 16.

Sally didn't have a whole lot of information,

but I had said if I knew where we lived,

perhaps I could start there.

And she said that she had that information

because they had sent her her original birth certificate.

And she was born at home, so she had

our home address, which happened to be Council Bluffs, Iowa.

And I got on the phone and I called

information in Council Bluffs, Iowa

and started making phone calls.

It was like 1:30 in the afternoon

March 29 when I talked to her.

And at 11:30 that night, she called back

and she said, since I talked to you,

I've talked to an aunt in Council Bluffs,

two brothers, and a sister.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): 45 years

after the Heck family had been torn apart,

their day of reunion finally came.

DORESA "SHARON" HECK-DRESSLER: Sally and I

decided to drive to the reunion together, kind of like a team.

We by that time, of course, had known

that the three oldest children had been raised together

and we kind of felt like outsiders

and we wanted to be together.

We didn't really know what to do.

It was like, do you walk up and hug them and tell them

how glad you are to see them after 45 years,

or do you just stand back and shake hands, or what do we do?

But the minute we walked in, it was--

the bond was instant.

And within five minutes, we were like we'd grown up together.

The minute we saw each, you knew

you were in the right place.

You were home.

There was no doubt but what these were brothers and sister.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The reunion was a celebration,

but there was still one person missing.

Oh, there went the cake.

It's important for me to find Tommy now,

or for all of us really.

To me, there's still part of my life that's missing.

Finding Tommy is like if you've

got a car and part of the pieces are not there,

it's not going to run right.

Well, we got a family.

Part of the pieces are not there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): These are the last known pictures

of Tommy Heck, taken when he was four and a half

years old by his adoptive parents

who sent them to the orphanage.

Today Tommy would be 47.

Tommy was adopted through Christian Homes

Orphanage in Council Bluffs, Iowa, most likely

by a Midwestern family.

His most distinguishing physical characteristic

is a double earlobe on his right ear.

We need to find Tommy to make the rest of our family

complete, so that we can just close that family and say,

here we are.

Here we are, world.

This is the Heck family.

Look at us, Iowa.

You separated us, but we're back together now.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Next, the story of a brave woman who

nearly lost her life in the fight

to keep her neighborhood safe from drugs.

[gunfire]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Just past midnight on the first day

of 1990, paramedics and police in East Palo Alto,

California responded to an emergency call.

A 60-year-old woman lay inside her home, shot in the stomach.

Unknown gunmen had fired 35 rounds of ammunition

into her house and car before they fled.

The victim was Mrs. C.W. Roddy, a retired service

representative for the phone company

who had lived in the area with her son, Darnell, for 23 years.

The New Year's Eve attack was a culmination of a three-year

nightmare in which C.W. Roddy had been physically

and verbally threatened by a group of young

men in her neighborhood.

Now she lay in her own home, bleeding from a bullet wound.

Fortunately, Mrs. Roddy survived and the East

Palo Alto authorities continue to search for her assailants.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Palo Alto, California, home

of prestigious Stanford University, is one of several

primarily white upper middle class communities

surrounding the city of East Palo Alto,

which stands in stark contrast.

Formerly a respectable working class community,

it has in the last few years fallen victim

to drug traffickers, whose customers

often come from the affluent suburbs nearby.

The drug dealing on our street was very much

like a drive-up bank window.

They drive up, the dope dealers will

rush to the car in a total frenzy of competition with one

another trying to get the sale.

And it continued like that day and night.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When C.W. Roddy finally understood

what was happening in her neighborhood,

she began to take action.

The first confrontation came when teenage drug

dealers parked their cars in front of a house

she shared with her son.

Excuse me.

Young man, do you have any business with me here?

Lady, lady, we're just taking care of a little business.

We'll only be here a few.

OK?

Go wax your wheelchair or something.

If you don't have business with me,

I'd really like you to move your cars.

Lady, I'm not moving.

I will be taking your license number

and giving it to the police.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): C.W. reported the young traffickers

often, but the understaffed local police simply

were unable to cope with the enormous problem.

I've always felt that your home is your castle,

and what you do in your home is your business.

But when they bring their drugs out

in front of my house in the streets,

that makes it my business and I don't do that kind of business.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In February of 1988,

Mrs. Roddy was physically threatened.

Watch yourself, old bag.

We gonna blow your damn house up.

See what I'm saying?

And I said to him, are you gonna make sure that I'm in it?

And I looked up and saw a police officer sitting

directly across the street.

You better watch your back.

Officer, did you hear with the young man said to me?

No, I didn't, ma'am.

He threatened to bow up my house.

Do you wish to make a citizen's arrest?

- Yes, I do. - You do wish--

I do wish to.

So he did.

And he took him off but he was back with a matter of minutes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Over the next 18 months,

the situation worsened.

During certain hours of the day, the neighborhood streets

resembled a rush hour traffic jam.

In their off hours, the dealers used C.W.'s front curb

as their personal parking lot.

- Do you know whose car this is? - It's my car.

You seen me park it there.

Don't act stupid.

I would look to have it moved.

Why I gotta move my car?

Let somebody else move their car.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then in October of 1989,

the confrontations suddenly erupted into violence.

He picked up a piece of wood and I was infuriated.

And I said to myself, this is stupid.

So I started back across the street

and they said, yeah, go call the police.

Go call the police

After getting to the police station, the boy was on his way

back home before I even finished with the police report.

Hey, you guys are gonna pay for this.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In December

of 1989, C.W. became involved in another confrontation.

Chris Thomas, a new neighbor, was wounded

when he came to her defense.

--my own neighborhood.

They cut him very badly in the face

and they had to take him to the hospital and get stitches.

And someone called the police.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police arrested the young man

who had attacked Chris Thomas.

For the next 10 days, things were quiet--

until New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve in East Palo Alto, for some strange reason

a lot of citizens like to shoot guns.

They just shoot up in the air.

At midnight, Mrs. Roddy was sleeping

when the gunfire awakened her.

I heard all the shooting.

And I looked up at the clock and I

said, oh, they're just celebrating

New Year's Eve, right?

So I got up and then I went into the living room.

I noticed across the street three young men.

They were standing around talking

and there weren't any cars coming up and down the street

at that particular time.

I would say about 20 minutes after midnight,

it had all quieted down.

All of a sudden, I heard all these shots.

[gunfire]

I hit the floor.

I was about to get up and I heard my mother scream in pain.

Mama, are you all right?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): C.W. Roddy

had been shot in the stomach.

Her son, Darnell, immediately called for help.

C.W. RODDY: I think the attack on my house

was a planned attack and they were planning to kill us.

My mother's been shot.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The police arrived within minutes.

As they fanned out to search the street,

they found that C.W.'s new neighbor, Chris

Thomas, and his wife had seen the attack.

We heard this big, loud, rattle of gunfire

outside our house.

And I turned towards the window and I

could see the blue flames from the gun through the blinds.

When I looked outside, I saw two young black men.

It was really scary because I could see bullet holes

in the windows and the walls and the doors and all

over the garage.

The car had bullet holes in it.

And I thought that they had killed her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Investigators located shell

casings from three weapons, a .39

revolver, a 380 semiautomatic pistol,

and possibly an assault weapon.

When the local police completed their own investigation,

they called in the FBI.

We know that there were three to four individuals who

were responsible for firing these rounds

into the home of Mrs. Roddy.

This is a neighborhood that has been somewhat paralyzed because

of the amount of violence that has been

generated from those who took a stance to come forward and say,

no more.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Despite

an extensive investigation, no concrete evidence

has been unearthed.

But even though C.W. Roddy's assailants have not been found,

the attack has galvanized her neighborhood.

A group of mothers have taken charge of the local park

and attempted to move the drug dealers out

of their neighborhood.

They have had success in the park,

but the women realize that this is only the first step.

I went by a couple of Saturdays

ago and just observed the children out there playing.

And it was such a beautiful sight

and it made me feel so good.

It brought tears to my eyes.

So it's looking better.

It didn't all happen in one day and I don't expect

it all to change in one day, but I do

see the beginning of a change.

And the future looks bright and I am hopeful.

Out of the near tragedy of Mrs. Roddy's brush with death,

the rebirth of her neighborhood has begun.

A new drug task force has been formed, and for the time being,

drug trafficking on her street has been curtailed.

Still, the neighborhood wants C.W. Roddy's

attackers brought to justice.

For every mystery, there is someone

somewhere who knows the truth.

Join me next week for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]