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: Just two months ago,

a kindhearted truck driver in Virginia

treated a young homeless man to a hot meal.

Incredibly, this chance encounter

has now become a key piece of evidence

in the strange case of 28-year-old John Cheek.

Cheek, a Memphis businessman, mysteriously dropped from sight

in December of 1993, just days before finalizing

a deal that would have made him a millionaire.

Now his family needs your help to find him.

Earl and Donna Chotvacs scrimped and saved for years

to build a log cabin home of their own,

but when they handed over their life savings

to a smooth-talking contractor named Mark Mitchell,

the Chotvacs never guessed that they'd

become the latest victims of a lucrative million-dollar scam.

In 1917, three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal,

claimed they were visited several times

by a vision of the Virgin Mary.

During the controversy that followed,

they revealed that the Virgin would make one final appearance

and perform a great miracle.

Many of the 70,000 religious pilgrims

who came for the occasion were not disappointed.

Tonight, we'll take you to Portugal to investigate

the fabled miracles of Fatima.

Join me for these intriguing new stories

and more on another edition of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City,

is visited each year by millions of Catholic pilgrims.

According to legend, it was on this very spot

that the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ,

appeared to a Christian convert in 1531.

Catholic authorities have judged the vision to be

a miracle, worthy of belief.

Millions also make the pilgrimage

to the basilica at Lourdes, France,

where Catholic tradition says the Virgin

Mary appeared in 1858.

And then there is Fatima, Portugal.

It was here, in 1917, that many believe the Virgin Mary made

her most dramatic appearance, seen by three peasant children,

10-year-old Lucia Santos, and her two younger cousins,

Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

Their extraordinary account began

in the quiet solitude of rural Portugal,

where the following scenes were filmed.

May 13, 1917, a [inaudible] in the small farming

community of Fatima.

Lucia Santos and her cousins had taken their sheep

to an area known as the Cova da Iria,

land owned by Lucia's family.

As the flock grazed, the children began to play.

[speaking portuguese]

INTERPRETER: They were building a little wall around a tree

when there was a flash of light, and Lucia thought

the flash was a sign of rain.

She thought that it was lightning,

so she said, let's go home so we don't get caught by the rain.

The children glimpsed a second flash

of lightning, which heralded something far greater

than a rainstorm.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Lucia,

a glowing figure said she had come from heaven

and that she would not harm them.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The lady

told Lucia that she and her two cousins

would be called to heaven.

She then asked the children to be her messengers,

and warned them that in doing so they

would endure great hardships.

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The astonishing visitation

was over, but Lucia Santos and her cousins

had become the key figures in an episode

that is now regarded as one of the great miracles

of Catholicism.

Six times, Lucia would claim the Virgin Mary appeared to them.

On the sixth occasion, Tens of thousands

were on hand for a final, dazzling spectacle.

Not everyone, however, was inspired

by the rumors of a miracle.

Lucia's mother was, in fact, furious

at her daughter's involvement.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

INTERPRETER: Her mother punished the reverend now and again.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Joal Marto, Lucia's cousin,

was then a young boy.

INTERPRETER: It wasn't that her mother was bad,

but she wanted to have her daughter

to say that this was a lie.

But Lucia kept saying, how can I say it was

a lie if I actually saw her?

For Lucia Santos, the suffering predicted by the lady

had begun.

But even in the face of her family's hostility,

Lucia returned with her cousins to the Cova da Iria

on June 13th.

They were joined by some 50 villagers, drawn by rumors

of the impending visitation.

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Once again,

the three children said the lady from heaven appeared to them.

As in the first visitation, only Lucia spoke to the vision.

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): [inaudible]

claimed that an unusual cloud of light was visible.

No one else saw the lady from heaven.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When news of the second episode

reached Lucia's mother, she was still

outraged to find her daughter involved

in what she regarded as a hoax.

INTERPRETER: Her mother said, you're

going to go to the priest and you're

going to confess to him in front of the altar in the church

that you lied.

In an act of startling disobedience for the time

and place, 10-year-old Lucia Santos

refused to discuss the lady from heaven

with Fatima's parish priest, Father Emanuel Fahera.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Father Fahera

found himself in a politically delicate position.

The government saw the Catholic Church as a bitter rival

for the public's loyalty.

Fahera feared any endorsement of Lucia's claims

would be taken as an attempt to boost the church's influence,

and would bring the wrath of the politicians upon him.

WARREN CARROLL: The church, for example,

could be taken over by the government,

in the sense that the government would seize all of the church

property in Portugal.

There was the possibility of the government physically

removing bishops, imprisoning them, or sending them out

of the country.

That was done with some bishops, not all.

So there are many things that the government could do.

[speaking portuguese]

INTERPRETER: Well, obviously for a 10-year-old child,

the word of a priest was an important thing to hear.

Lucia left the church with a very big problem.

She had to admit that maybe the demon

had got into her, that this was an illusion created

by the devil.

Perhaps her mother was right, that she hadn't

really seen anything at all.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In her memoirs, which she began

writing when she was 28, Lucia Santos described

her tortured internal debate.

LUCIA SANTOS (VOICEOVER): As I heard people say that the devil

always brings conflict and disorder,

I began to think that, truly, ever since I had started seeing

these things, our home was no longer the same, for joy

and peace had fled.

What anguish I felt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): July 13, 1917, the appointed

day for the third appearance.

By now, word of the miraculous visions had spread.

Pilgrims clogged the road leading to the Cova,

and many beseeched Lucia to intervene with the lady

from heaven on their behalf.

At 12:00 noon, the lady once again appeared, and once again,

only to the three children.

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The lady

reminded Lucia to return at noon on the 13th day of each month.

She also promised that on her sixth appearance,

she would perform a miracle for all to see and believe.

The lady from heaven then invoked

a terrifying vision of Hell, which Lucia would

later describe in her memoirs.

LUCIA SANTOS (VOICEOVER): Plunged in this fire

were demons and souls in human form amid shrieks and groans

of pain and despair, which horrified us

and made us tremble with fear.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Lucia claimed the specter of Hell

was the lady's warning that God was offended

by recent events in Europe.

World War I was then in its third relentless year.

The lady predicted that the war would

soon end, only to be replaced by a more serious threat, Russia.

Lucia knew nothing of that nation or its revolution,

but she claimed the lady deemed Russia an offense to God.

Many believe these words anticipated

the rise of an atheistic government, the communists.

According to Lucia, the lady promised

another destructive war if Russia

was not restored to faith.

Lucy said the lady from heaven made one other pronouncement,

but was adamant that Lucia keep it a secret.

One month later, Lucia's would be severely tested.

August 13, the day of the fourth appearance.

A local government administrator, Arturo Santos,

offered to personally escort Lucia, Jacinta,

and Fransisco to the Cova.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The abduction

was a stunning turn of events.

Lucia and her cousins were whisked away

to an uncertain fate at a government prison

some nine miles from Fatima.

The administrator was convinced the children were perpetrating

a hoax at the behest of the church,

and he was certain he could coax the lady's secret,

if there was such a thing, from young Lucia.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The torment lasted for three days.

All the while, the children's families and angry villagers

clamored at the walls.

Lucia!

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Finally,

the administrator had no choice but to admit his failure.

He allowed the children to return home.

According to Lucia Santos, the lady from heaven

appeared a fourth time and a fifth, as schedule.

As the date for the sixth appearance approached,

excitement built to a fever pitch.

October 13, 1917.

The day of the long-awaited miracle

dawned wet and miserable.

Thousands descended on Fatima, and

an ill-humored crowd milled impatiently outside

of Lucia's home.

There were even mutterings of reprisals against Lucia

if no miracle took place.

These photographs show some of the estimated 70,000 onlookers

who gathered that day.

Many had come from hundreds of miles away.

Soon after Lucia arrived at the Cova da Iria,

the torrential downpour had come to an end.

The huge crowd included both the curious and the faithful.

Shepherds and servants mingled with the nobility.

Also in attendance were skeptical reporters

from the major newspapers.

The local priest, fearing a public fiasco that

would embarrass the church, was among the most

vocal of the doubters.

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The unruly crowd

grew silent as Lucia began to speak,

although to the onlookers, she appeared

to be talking into thin air.

[speaking portuguese]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to many eyewitness

accounts, the sun began to undulate,

ribbons of multicolored light shooting across the heavens,

then suddenly the sun seemed to fall.

Later, many eyewitnesses would say that they

feared being scorched.

The crowd watched, dumbstruck, as the sun

abruptly reversed course and returned to its rightful place

in the sky.

WARREN CARROLL: The miracle of the sun at Fatima

is certainly the most spectacular

physical manifestation, physical miracle, that has

been associated with our lady.

She had to manifest her presence in a grand manner, and a very

convincing and spectacular manner,

because it was important that people all over the world

should believe what she had said.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The awesome celestial display

supposedly lasted for 12 minutes.

A council within a 600-square mile area around Fatima

substantiated many of the firsthand descriptions,

but incredibly, some eyewitnesses at the Cova

claim they saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Still, history has favored the more spectacular accounts.

Avolino de al Meda, the editor of a government-controlled

newspaper, came to Fatima a confirmed skeptic

and left a believer.

AVOLINO DE AL MEDA (VOICEOVER): At the hour foretold,

the rain ceased to fall.

The dense mass of clouds parted, and the sun

began to whirl around in a wild and violent dance,

with such lovely glowing colors passing successively

over the sun's surface.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): years to come,

the events of October 13 will be the subject

of considerable debate.

Some dismissed the spectacle as a textbook case

of mass hysteria, but many found the eyewitness accounts

to be credible, and word spread across Europe

and around the world.

Today, a basilica stands were Lucia

and her cousins claimed to have seen the lady from heaven.

In 1930, the Catholic Church recognized the events at Fatima

as a miracle, worthy of belief.

Jacinta and Fransisco Marto did not live to witness

this official confirmation.

Both died during a worldwide influenza epidemic

within three years of the visions.

Many believe it was a fulfillment

of the Virgin's promise that they

would soon be called to Heaven.

[music playing]

Over the decades, Fatima's call to the faithful

has grown ever more powerful.

The tide of pilgrims has swelled from the thousands

who joined Lucia in 1917 to several million

in recent years.

Even those who remain skeptical of miracles

puzzle over the mystifying events at Fatima

and the 10-year-old girl who many believe

was chosen to be God's messenger.

LUCIA SANTOS (VOICEOVER): While there

were some who admired me and considered me a saint,

there were always others who called

me a hypocrite and a sorceress.

They are all mistaken.

I am not a saint, and I am not a liar.

Only God knows what I am.

Many believe that the lady from Heaven

predicted some of the most important events

of the 20th century, the end of World War I,

the onset of World War II, the rise and fall of communism

in Europe, even the assassination attempt

against Pope John Paul II, which took place on May 13,

1981, 64 years to the day after the appearance

of the first vision.

To the skeptical, it's all simply coincidence.

To the faithful, it is proof that a miracle

did occur at Fatima.

When we return, a family's dream of building a home

is snuffed out by a smooth-talking con artist.

[theme music]

Come on, kids.

Let's get up here and look at the view, all right?

From our property, Alex.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It is hard to imagine

a more beautiful setting for a home

than this meadow in Steamboat Springs, Colorado,

200 miles northwest of Denver.

Don't you think we ought to build a log house right

here, and a big picture window?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was here, on six acres of land,

that Earl and Donna Chotvacs planned

to build their dream home.

For several years, they had scrimped and saved

until they finally had enough to begin construction

on a modern-day log cabin, similar to this one, themselves

and their two children.

But in 1991, the Chotvacs' hopes came crashing down,

shattered not by accident or act of God,

but by the deeds of this man, a sophisticated con artist who

called himself Mark Mitchell.

Here's an ad about a log home company that needs funds.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In April of that year,

Earl and Donna answered an innocent-looking newspaper ad

and talked to the owner of Colorado

Log Homes, Mark Mitchell.

Well, you know, we're kind of a young business,

but we do we have a couple of clients

up there in Breckenridge.

I could, uh--

EARL CHOTVACS: It seemed like a great opportunity for us

because the company supposedly was growing,

which is one of the reasons that we really started going

with this company instead of a more established company

somewhere else.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mitchell's plan was simple.

The Chotvacs would invest $25,000

in his growing business.

In return, Mitchell would give them

a large discount on the construction of their log

cabin, plus the $25,000 investment

will be returned with interest.

--$25,000 on the price of your home.

Isn't that great?

One humdigger.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In early May,

an architect and a salesman from Mitchell's office

came up to inspect the Chotvacs' property.

EARL CHOTVACS: They looked at different views

from our property, and kept using the word stunning.

They could build us a stunning home.

If you're ready to go with us, though, I have

a contract with me right here.

Well, you know, we've got the money down at the bank, and--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After the Chotvacs' attorney approved

the contract, Earl and Donna would hand over a $25,000

deposit to Mitchell's salesman.

DONNA CHOTVACS: We had been saving money and living very

frugally from the moment we got married,

so when we gave them the $25,000,

that was our whole dream.

All right, now.

This is my copy, that's your home, that's mine.

OK.

Come on, I'll buy you lunch.

Congratulations.

OK, thanks.

DONNA CHOTVACS: It seemed like we'd been waiting for such

a long time, and it was all coming true,

and they said it was real, and we believed them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The log yard

at Mitchell's Denver headquarters

gave every appearance of legitimacy.

Workers processed hundreds of logs, and the w of cabins

were carefully pre-assembled.

Supposedly, each shell would later be taken apart, trucked

to a building site, and reassembled

on a concrete foundation laid by one of Mitchell's group.

But after eight weeks, there was absolutely no progress at Earl

and Donna's property.

The critical job of measuring and pouring the foundation

had yet to begin.

The Chotvacs made the four-hour drive

to Mitchel's log yard in Denver to see

for themselves what was wrong.

There you go.

Into your new home, temporarily.

Look at the logs!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): However, Mark Mitchell

was able to lay their anxieties to rest.

Very nice.

DONNA CHOTVACS: They had started our shell,

and it seemed to have all the basic things that

were in our plans, and Earl measured it.

And the kids, you know, we took pictures of ourselves

inside of it, and it just seemed really exciting.

You know?

It seemed like it was really happening again,

so of course then we were back up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But weeks

more passed without any construction of the property.

It took a siege of phone calls for Earl and Donna

to convince Mitchell to dispatch a work crew.

DONNA CHOTVACS: They sent an excavator up,

and we pounded in the nails and measured where

the corners of the house were, and stood in the spot

where the living room was going to be and imagined our view.

This is the foundation, so where you'll be--

you'll first of all be up here with--

the windows will be here.

DONNA CHOTVACS: We were starting to think, well,

it's not going to be done by Christmas,

but it might be done by March.

We still really didn't believe that it wasn't going to happen.

Earl, Donna, I'm sorry I had to keep you waiting.

Please come in and have a seat.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On October 1,

the bitter reality finally hit Earl and Donna.

They had applied to their local bank for a construction loan

and were stunned to discover that the request had

been denied.

Well, I'm afraid the news isn't good.

Now, it has nothing to do with you two.

The problem is with the builder.

It appears this man is in some serious trouble.

He has been taking deposit money,

just as he did yours, and then has not started

construction on the homes.

As a matter of fact, Mark Mitchell

is not even his real name.

It's Wade Mitchell Parker.

I'm awfully sorry.

I wish there were something more that I could do.

DONNA CHOTVACS: At that point, I felt nauseous.

I mean, I just--

suddenly just was sick, feeling as though we

were going to lose all the money that we

had given to Mark Mitchell.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On October 5, 1991,

Donna and Earl once again drove to Colorado Log Homes, where

they had a 10 AM appointment with the man they know

who was Wade Mitchell Parker.

He showed up more than two hours late.

I don't know what to tell you, I'm sorry.

Yeah, we've been waiting for almost 2 and 1/2 hours.

I couldn't get to a phone, I'm sorry.

It's my secretary--

Could have called us before we left home.

I tried. I'm sorry, I just got tired.

200 miles to get down here.

I know it, I'm sorry.

Let's go inside and we'll talk about what I've got.

No, you know, nothing's been handled with our log shell--

Yeah, we've got a little--

What's going on around here?

Well, just-- Earl, just a little hangup.

If we go and sit down and cool off a little,

make a couple of phone calls, we'll get your money out here

to you, we'll get it all done.

Do you have our money?

No, no I don't. No.

You don't have our money? No,

I don't.

I know, but let's go in and sit down--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Wade Parker

agreed to refund Earl and Donna's deposit,

claiming to be short of cash.

He gave them a promissory note, essentially a $25,000 IOU.

Go ahead and sign it.

Alan, you want to witness this, please?

DONNA CHOTVACS: We were still trying to be nice about it,

but I think deep down inside we really

both knew that, probably, we weren't

ever going to see our money.

30 days, folks, we'll get this all wrapped up

and that'll be the end of it.

DONNA CHOTVACS: We finished up the meeting and we left.

And that's the last time we ever saw him.

I spoke to him maybe three or four times after that

on the telephone, but we never saw him again.

Within the month, Wade Mitchell Parker declared bankruptcy

and disappeared.

The Chotvacs never received a dime,

and they soon discovered that they were not the only people

taken in by the con man.

In November of 1991, the Chotvacs joined more than 30

of Parker's other victims at a meeting organized

by Colorado authorities.

As a group, their total loss exceeded one million dollars.

We should've gotten him a long time ago, Jerry.

Yeah.

He's really slick, isn't he?

In the end, I got my plans.

And I guess those probably were worth about $1,000,

and I lost $9,000.

I expected to have a log home from Mark,

I'd expected to have my $20,000 back,

and I expected all of this to happen

within a very expedient amount of time, and it didn't happen.

So I lost almost $25,000 and I don't have a log home.

What did he tell you about the land in Bennet?

DONNA CHOTVACS: When we finally came to terms with the fact

that we lost the money, we felt stupid.

We just felt like we had done a stupid thing,

and when we realized that lots of big-time people, not just

the naive young couple with two small children, a lot

of big-time people lost a lot of money,

too, we didn't feel quite so stupid.

A number of people have asked us

whether we think that Wade Mitchell Parker was just

a bad businessman or whether we think he was a con person

from the very beginning.

$35,000 on the price of your home--

DENNIS HALL: Some of the transactions

he made are just plain crooked.

There's no other explanation for what he did.

Also, we haven't been able to find the money,

and we think it's got to be out there somewhere.

The fact that we haven't been able to find it,

and that Parker fled during the bankruptcy proceedings,

is a real indication to us that this

was a con from the beginning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Some of Parker's wealthier victims

have been able to absorb their losses

or write them off as business expenses,

but for Earl and Donna Chotvaks, and many others like them,

the dream of owning a home has been snuffed out,

perhaps forever.

DONNA CHOTVACS: I don't think that you ever

want to give up on a dream.

And I think that, in a way, we were realizing that we might

have to give up on that dream.

We might never ever get another opportunity to give someone

money to build us a home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Update--

on August 11, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker

was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia,

some 1,300 miles from Colorado.

There, Parker was using two new aliases, Ronald

Anderson and Larry Wheeler.

Information developed from our program

helped reveal his true identity.

On September 26, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker

was arraigned in Colorado on fraud and theft charges.

Our cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom, however,

Earl and Donna Chotvaks made sure they were

on hand to see justice done.

DONNA CHOTVACS: If he'd been an honest man,

we'd be living in our home right now, and raising our children.

I think that anybody who has been ripped off this way

could take heart from this, knowing

that, with enough perseverance, they may get their guy,

you know?

So it certainly gave me a lot of heart when

I was beginning to lose hope.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): a family is reunited

thanks to you, our viewers.

[theme music]

Bill O'Neill of Santa Monica, California

was always told he was just a baby when his father died,

but throughout his childhood Bill

was plagued by the nagging suspicion

that he was somehow different from his older

brothers and sisters.

BILL O'NEILL: I was the only one with hazel eyes,

and everybody else had these bright blue eyes.

My skin was more like an olive skin,

where they were fairer-skinned.

Not that anything was ever said to me or anything

like that that was different than anybody else,

like, my mom didn't treat me any different,

just a feeling inside, like something was lost.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Years later, Bill's suspicions

were confirmed when he discovered

that his father, Hugh Paul O'Neill,

had in fact died two years before Bill was born.

When Bill confronted his mother, she told him everything.

Bill learned that in November of 1958,

Paul O'Neill was a patient at Chicago's VA hospital.

There, Bill's mother met a friend of Paul's

named Jim Burke, a divorced father of four.

So this must be the beautiful lady

you've been keeping from me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sadly, within a month,

Paul O'Neill would die.

Nice

Meeting you.

Nice to meet you.

ROBERT STACK: Before long, Jim Burke

became a familiar presence in the O'Neill household.

Two years later, Bill was born.

His mother was pregnant again when the relationship

with Jim Burke ended.

Bill was stunned when his mother also told him that his younger

sister, who he thought was dead, had actually

been put up for adoption.

In 1990, Bill O'Neill was reunited with his sister,

Karen Althouse.

Together they set their sights on one final goal,

finding their natural father, Jim Burke.

On the night of our broadcast, a woman named Eileen Esler of New

Lenox, Illinois called our phone center

and identified herself as one of Jim Burke's four children

from his previous marriage.

Bill and Karen were saddened to hear that their father had

passed away in 1988, but they were overjoyed

that Eileen and another half-sister, Sheila Anne

Haskins, were anxious to meet them.

A week later, Bill O'Neill, Karen Althouse,

and their families gathered at Karen's house

to await the arrival of Eileen and Sheila Anne.

Hello, there.

Hello.

Hello, there.

Hi.

How are you?

[inaudible]

[inaudible] was going to do this.

BILL O'NEILL: I felt a connection,

a definite connection.

Like, when I reached out to hug them--

I don't know.

I didn't, I honestly, to be honest, I just--

I didn't feel like I was going to be

as emotionally tied as I felt.

KAREN ALTHOUSE: Ditto.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For Sheila Anne Eileen,

the bond was just as strong.

SHEILA ANNE HASKINS: As soon as I saw Bill, as soon as I saw

his face, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind

that he was a brother.

No doubt.

EILEEN ESLER: I felt wonderful.

I mean, like Sheila, I wanted to touch him.

I just wanted to touch him, to have

a baby brother and baby sister.

I know they're not.

They're so much taller than we are.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Later that afternoon, Bill and Karen

sat down with their new sisters to learn

about their father, Jim Burke.

And how it was related to her?

KAREN ALTHOUSE: This is what I've wondered all my life.

Who are my parents?

Do I have more family?

Did I have brothers and sisters?

Things like that.

And it's exciting to finally see them, to touch them,

to get to know them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The reunion was especially

poignant for Bill O'Neill.

His lifelong feelings of isolation

were replaced with a new sense of belonging.

BILL O'NEILL: I just--

I figured, hey, we'll get together with them

and make nice.

KAREN ALTHOUSE: It'll be like being neighbors.

BILL O'NEILL: Yeah.

You know, get some pictures, get some more

information about our dad, but it wasn't like that.

It wasn't like that at all.

It was more of--

it was just an inside warm feeling that everything

was now complete.

That's true.

God.

Trade you.

[inaudible]

For Bill, Karen, Eileen, and Sheila Anne,

this was just the first of many gatherings to come.

Bill and Karen have since met one of their half-brothers,

and next march they hope to meet another at a family

wedding in Illinois.

Also in attendance will be a grandmother,

an aunt, and 12 cousins.

[theme music]

John Cheek seemed destined for success.

At 26, fresh out of business school,

he had been hired as a chief financial officer

of one of the larger real estate companies in Tennessee.

By the age of 28, John had purchased this home

in a comfortable part of east Memphis.

At work, he was engineering the deal of a lifetime.

For months, John had helped lay the groundwork

to take his company public.

He had logged countless 18-hour days

and flown thousands of miles to talk

with investors around the country and overseas.

By December of 1993, a complex plan

was on the verge of completion.

Millions of dollars were at stake.

If the deal was successful, the company

would be thrust into national prominence literally overnight.

ARRENA CHEEK: John was very proud of his accomplishment,

of getting this job, and he worked very hard, nonstop

almost, to see that his duties were fulfilled,

and that every I was dotted and every T was crossed.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In their wildest dreams,

John Cheek's family and friends never

imagined he would end up the focus of an anguished search,

his face peering out from thousands

of flyers plastered around their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

But on December 2, 1993, John Cheek did not show up for work.

At company headquarters, surprise

quickly turned to concern.

DEE REED: I thought possibly that maybe he was just tired,

and he might be somewhere resting.

At least that's what we were all hoping

that's what had happened.

But it was out of character.

And then as the day went on, and then that night,

when no one had heard from John, we

began to know that something terribly was wrong.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Early the next morning,

John's car was discovered.

It had been abandoned on Interstate 55

where the highway crosses over the Mississippi River,

about 12 miles from John's home.

JACK RUBY: There was no signs of foul play on the car.

The car was checked.

Everything appeared to be intact.

The Cheek family examined the car also,

and it appeared to be just the way John would have left it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police theorized that John Cheek had

taken his own life by leaping into the swift waters

of the Mississippi.

However, extensive searches of the river and its banks

failed to locate his body.

To those who knew John, suicide seemed out of the question

from the start.

RICHARD CHEEK: We didn't believe that.

That he could be normal right up until 11

PM one night and then all of a sudden jump

off the bridge the next day.

So we were just left at the same position we are on right now,

that it was just some big mystery that happened to him

and we didn't know what.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two months

passed with no leads, no word from John,

no reason to believe he was even alive, until February 14, 1994.

On that day, a trucker named on Jackson

rolled into west Memphis, Arkansas.

Over the years, Jackson had seen hundreds of missing persons

flyers at truck stops all across the country,

but now he was stunned to find himself staring into the face

of someone he recognized, a young man he had

befriended just the day before.

RON JACKSON: You never really expect

it to jump right out at you and say, hey, I know this person.

Hey, I had breakfast with this person the other morning.

So that was added to my surprise of seeing this poster.

And this identity was so strong, and it just kind of grabbed

hold of me and shook me, like this is the individual, period.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was an Raphine, Virginia, some 700

miles east, that Ron found a young drifter

sleeping inside a truck stop.

Had breakfast yet?

No.

I have no money.

No problem.

Lets go, I'm buying you breakfast.

RON JACKSON: My first impression of this man

when I saw him is that he was not homeless people.

He was not street people.

In the conversation, there was no street lingo.

He was clean, and the white shirt

was so white it looked like it had

just come out of the laundry.

OK.

Help yourself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The young man

didn't volunteer his name, he spoke only

of an Arkansas homeless shelter that

had recently taken care of him.

I was there for a while.

In Little Rock.

RON JACKSON: I didn't press him, he just was rambling on

in the cafeteria line.

So I would have to say that he was definitely not 100%

in all mental capabilities.

You had a good breakfast?

Yup.

Where are you headed?

Richmond.

RON JACKSON: Ron and the drifter were

headed in opposite directions.

Good luck.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Outside the cafeteria,

they parted ways.

RICHARD CHEEK: Now, well, there were several things

about the encounter that made us feel

optimistic that it was a positive identification

for John.

And the first was the white shirt and tie,

because that would be typical for him to be wearing that,

because that's what he wore every day.

He also mentioned the fact that he used very correct English

and sounded like he was a well-educated person,

which was obviously correct.

Is it morning yet?

Oh, yes, it's morning.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For John's parents,

the clincher was Jackson's description of the man's shoes.

Their son had had just such a pair of slip-on moccasins,

a pair that was now missing.

And we knew that John had a pair of shoes like this.

We had not mentioned that to anyone

up until this point in time.

ARRENA CHEEK: It was a very emotional bit of information.

And immediately, my thought was, we've got to find him quick

and get him home.

He's wandering around not knowing who he is.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): No one can be sure

why John Cheek disappeared, but his father believes

John suffered a sudden episode of stress-induced amnesia,

known as the fugue state.

RICHARD CHEEK: It's sort of a self-preservation mechanism.

If something in their past has become so stressful

that they can't stand it any longer,

then that's how they deal with it.

They just block it all out.

And you're no longer John Cheek, and you're no longer

a financial officer, and you're no longer

putting together a big deal.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Since Ron Jackson's

sighting in February of 1994, there has been

no further word of John Cheek.

John has brown hair, blue eyes, and stands six feet tall.

Before disappearing, he weighed 150 pounds.

John Cheek is 28 years old.

ARRENA CHEEK: There's a hole in my heart,

and I'm hoping that all of this publicity

will find someone that can fill that void.

And a mother never gives up.

[music playing]

Join me next time.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[music playing]