Original subtitles

[music playing]

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.

Recently, we were astonished to discover that according

to one medical researcher, 50% of all Americans

who have lost a loved one say they

have later been visited by that loved

one from beyond the grave.

After her husband, John, died, Patti Eggleston

insists that on several occasions he appeared to her

and endowed her with the strength to carry on.

In 1984, 18-year-old Paige Roark left home for an evening out.

Six hours later, she was killed by a drunk driver.

Incredibly, Paige's mother and grandmother both claim they

were visited by Paige's spirit.

Hallucination, or a remarkable, unexplained phenomenon?

When a nurse named Kathleen Belcher began talking

to her mother about blood types, she never

dreamed the conversation would spring the lock

on a deeply held secret--

her mother's post World War II romance

and the true identity of Kathleen's biological father.

Join me for these fascinating stories.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

What happens beyond the grave, when life is over?

Despite a myriad of religious beliefs,

there seems to be one surprising area of consensus.

According to a noted medical researcher,

7 out of 10 widows and widowers in the United States

report that their spouses have come

back to visit them after death.

Hallucination, or does the bond of matrimony

transcend the grave?

January 28, 1989, John and Patti Eggleston, along with their two

young sons, Johnny and Chris, were packing up

after a day of skiing.

Ahead lay a 70-mile drive to their home in a Seattle suburb.

Everything was calm, routine, normal.

OK, guys, as soon as we get home,

I want you right in bed, OK?

OK.

Honey, they'll be sound asleep before we

ever pull in the driveway.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then, disaster.

[crashing]

The Eggleston's car careened off this bridge

and plummeted into the river below, a freefall

of more than 80 feet.

It was pitch dark.

The car rapidly filled with icy water.

Patti Eggleston was badly injured.

Yet at the moment she might have panicked,

Patti was suffused with an inexplicable calm.

I had this feeling come through me

and fill me and fill every pore, every cell of my being

with warmth and love.

It was pure love, and it was guidance.

And that feeling gave me the knowledge and the strength

to do what I needed to do next.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Patti did

not at first realize that her husband,

John, had died on impact.

But she came to believe that it was John's spirit, even

after death, which inspired her, gave her the strength to break

free and rescue her boys.

Johnny and Christopher were saved by the heroic efforts

of their mother and a brave passerby who

plunged into the river to help.

After a brief stay in the hospital,

Patti Eggleston returned home and struggled to be strong.

Patti says that when things seemed bleakest,

she once again sensed John's spirit.

At first it was at night, in the bedroom.

I was woken up from a sound sleep with the feeling

that John had just been there.

I could feel him.

I could smell him.

I could feel where he was in the bed.

The only sensation I didn't have was visual.

I did not see him.

Every other part of it I felt and experienced.

And it was not a dream.

It was too real to be a dream.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eventually,

a Seattle physician, Melvin Morse,

heard about Patti Eggleston.

Dr. Morse has documented hundreds of after-death visits

and believes that such visits actually

happen, that they are not simply the product

of overactive imaginations.

I feel that the fact that these experiences are

emotionally dynamic, that they help to heal grief,

and that people learn from them are a powerful piece

of circumstantial evidence-- and I grant

that it's circumstantial--

but a powerful piece of circumstantial evidence

that that experience is at least as real

as any other human experience.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For Patti, John's presence

became more and more real.

Finally, he appeared in bodily form.

PATTI: I was sitting in my living room

and had the lights on.

And I was sitting on the couch, reading a book.

I just kind of glanced up, and John was there.

I couldn't touch him, but I could see him.

And he started communicating to me.

And I say communicating because he

was not talking with his lips.

SPIRIT: I think Johnny is beginning to feel better.

I think so, too.

PATTI: But it was a conversation.

It was a two-way conversation.

He was talking to me.

I was talking to him.

I don't know if I can do this alone.

SPIRIT: I'm here to tell you that you can.

There a reason you survived.

Remember to trust.

You'll always know what to do.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Patti says that John's visits

continued for nearly a year.

Looking back, I know it was--

he didn't come any more after I had gotten my life together.

I was OK.

I was truly OK.

Things were still rough.

I was still hurting.

But I had gained enough strength, personal strength,

that I could go on without him.

And he wasn't there anymore.

Despite Patti Eggleston's obvious sincerity,

her experience could be written off as a spouse's grief-induced

hallucination.

But widows and widowers are not the only ones

who report after-death visits.

In fact, some studies claim that more than 50% of the population

has experienced this phenomenon.

Many are afraid to talk about it openly,

but the family of 18-year-old Paige Roark

agreed to share their story.

CYNTHIA ROARK: Paige was our baby.

And we were just so pleased to have her.

She was a fun child.

She loved people, even from when she was a little girl.

There was a sparkle in her eyes and in her demeanor.

Bye, mom.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the afternoon of April 14, 1984,

Paige Colleen Roark left her house

in Fall Brook, California, for an outing with friends.

Forget something?

I love you, Mom.

I love you, too.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Six hours

later, Paige Roark was dead.

She and one of her friends had been killed when a drunk driver

smashed into their car.

CYNTHIA ROARK: I have never felt so helpless and hopeless

and out of control in my life.

It was as though my heart was crushed.

You can't see the scars on me because they're inside.

It's almost as if I've marked my life from the moment

I was told that she was dead.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cynthia tried

to escape her grief by running.

It was an activity for which she and Paige had a shared passion.

Two days after the crash, Cynthia

left her house at 5:00 AM.

She ran for more than an hour.

Then as dawn was breaking--

CYNTHIA ROARK: I was coming back towards home,

and there were rays of sunshine coming down through the trees.

And they were beautiful.

I stopped.

And, you know, I looked up into that light, and I was blinded.

It was like it was just white.

And then I heard Paige.

SPIRIT: I'm OK, Mom.

I can see through that light.

I'm with the Lord, and I'm OK.

Paige.

CYNTHIA ROARK: I remember a feeling of joy, of peace.

I didn't expect it.

I didn't try to have it happen.

I feel that at the point I was, I was extremely,

extremely devastated.

And it turned my whole thinking around at that point.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Later, Cynthia

would be stunned to find out that her mother, who lived

1,000 miles away in Denver, had had

an even more vivid experience.

I love you, Grandma.

Paige?

Yes.

I'm OK.

You are?

Yes, and so is Momom.

DOROTHY STERLING: And she said, I have seen Momom.

That's my mother.

SPIRIT: And I'm going to take care of her.

I had never told anyone I'd had this.

I thought maybe they would think something was wrong with me.

But it was very clear to me that I had a vision.

I love you, Grandma.

DOROTHY STERLING: And she was just so beautiful and perfect.

And here we were, worried about her.

And she was comforting us all the time, comforting me.

I'm OK.

DOROTHY STERLING: And it was just very real.

And I know it happened.

I know it in my heart.

Prior to my research, these experiences have been thought

to simply be grief-induced hallucinations,

passive fantasies of the mind, struggling

to deal with a terrible loss.

The difference is that I'm saying

that death-related visions and post-death visitations

are real.

They're emotionally dynamic.

We can learn things from them.

They're actually an interaction between the person who has died

and the person who is seeing the vision.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Barry

Beyerstein, a physiological psychologist, disagrees.

I believe these people are telling us

some very interesting things.

I think they're telling us honest recollections

of what it seemed like to them.

And so I'm interested in their experiences.

Now I don't interpret them probably the way they do.

I think these are things that seemed incredibly real to them,

but probably didn't exist in reality, outside the theater

of their own minds.

I don't want to be perceived as a nut case.

But it is important.

It's very important for people out there to hear this story,

if it helps one person.

And I'll share this story, and I'll

continue to share it for whoever ever needs to hear it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Is there any way

to explain what happened to the families of John

Eggleston and Paige Roark?

Paige?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Can the dead return?

Or are after-death visits simply the

echo of a strong, earthly love?

Perhaps we will never know the answers.

Perhaps it does not matter.

As Albert Einstein once said, "the greatest experience

we can have is the mysterious."

[theme music]

On August 3, 1957, the streets around Saint Bonaventure's

Monastery in Detroit, Michigan, swelled

with some 10,000 mourners.

It was one of the largest funerals in the city's history.

The inspiration for this massive outpouring

was not the death of a powerful cardinal or archbishop,

but rather the passing of a humble friar

named Father Solanus Casey.

For more than 50 years, Father Solanus

was a church receptionist and doorman,

one of the lowest ranking priests

in the Catholic hierarchy.

Father Solanus was a man who really cared for people.

And when people came to him with their worries and fears

and pains, he had a way of simply

giving them courage to live their life the way it was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Those whose lives

were touched by Father Solanus claimed that he

said at the right hand of God.

To them, Solanus was a miracle worker.

Even today, some still turn to Father Solanus for help

when facing a medical crisis.

DAVID WITKOP: I do believe my prayer to Father Solanus

was answered.

It's the first time my prayers have

really been answered like that, in such a dramatic way.

I'm still in awe of what had happened.

I have no other explanation for it.

Joanne, the mammogram was positive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the fall of 1990,

David Witkop's wife Joanne developed a lump in her breast.

I think we should move quickly.

I'd like to set it up as soon as possible.

We were concerned whether this density could be a cancer.

We weren't sure what we were dealing with.

So medically, you have to do a biopsy to see,

is it benign or malignant?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): An appointment with a surgeon

was scheduled immediately.

When David and Joanne arrived at the hospital,

they happened upon a small prayer room.

There hung a portrait of Father Solanus Casey.

I was very desperate.

And I just prayed to Father Solanus

that there would be no more surgery.

And I just wanted Joanne not to have this kind

of operation at all anymore.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Joanne was wheeled into surgery,

and David prepared for a long, anxious wait.

David?

Joanne?

DAVID WITKOP: I looked up, and it was Joanne

out in the hallway there.

I thought, well, maybe they're taking

her down for surgery now.

Hello, Mr. Witkop.

Hello, Doctor.

We did another series of x-rays on your wife.

There's no sign of a mass.

What does that mean?

Well, we took another set of x-rays

today to locate the mass for the surgery,

but the plates were clean.

They didn't reveal any mass. It's over.

David prayed to God that I wouldn't have surgery.

And his prayers were answered, even though a half hour

before it looked hopeless.

And I believe that Solanus and God saw

fit to have a healing that day.

Miracles aren't usually things that I'm comfortable with.

I don't look for them.

I don't expect them.

I'm not a miracle worker.

I think Joanne believes it was a miracle,

and that's good enough for her in my mind.

All I know is it went away, and she's better.

And I'm thankful for it.

Science has coined the term spontaneous

remission to account for sudden recoveries

like Joanne Witkop's.

But the faithful see her case as one more

example of the marvelous healing powers of Father Solanus Casey.

A petition to declare Father Solanus a saint is currently

before the Vatican, a stunning tribute to a one-time Wisconsin

farm boy named Bernard Casey.

Bernard Casey was born in 1870, one of 16 brothers and sisters.

At the age of 21, he was moved to dedicate

his life to the church.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Bernard

was accepted at a seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

where classes were taught in German and Latin.

Bernard, who had not even completed high school,

struggled from the start.

Bernard was ultimately asked to withdraw.

He later enrolled in the Capuchin Seminary

in Detroit, where he was given the name, Father Solanus.

Here, too, he floundered miserably in his studies.

Father Solanus was one of these people who

had difficulty remembering the question and answers

and theology and so on.

And as a result, he never really passed all

the tests in his seminary days.

[speaking latin]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Once again,

Solanus was close to failure.

But a few of his superiors recognized

his spiritual character and proposed a compromise.

Solanus was ordained, but he was barred from hearing confession,

preaching a sermon, or teaching the doctrine, all the most

cherished duties of a priest.

This was a rather humiliating thing,

but I think he accepted it as God's will.

And that act of humility then made him

more pleasing in God's sight.

And so God could work great things through him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After his ordination in 1904,

Father Solanus was sent to New York.

Father, may I have a word with you?

Yes, what is troubling you?

It's my daughter, Father.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Day in and day

out, he would greet the parishioners

at a church in Yonkers.

Soon, it was Father Solanus that the people came to see.

Well, I'm afraid.

You must trust God when you pray.

He will hear you.

Yes.

Yes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Father Solanus served

in New York for 20 years.

By the time he was transferred to Saint Bonaventure's

in Detroit, many had come to regard

Solanus as a divine healer with the power

to intercede with God.

Oh, Doctor, thank goodness you're here.

Now where is the boy?

Right upstairs.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Perhaps the most extraordinary

cure ascribed to Solanus came in the case

of 12-year-old Charles Rogers.

His sister, Helen, eight years old at the time,

remembers vividly.

In 1935, we had the polio epidemic in Detroit.

And at that time, my brother came down

with a severe headache and stiffness of the neck that went

down into his arms and legs.

And eventually, he ended up with spasms.

He would shake.

His body would shake.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Ronald Aethee

was one of Detroit's top polio specialists.

It didn't take him long to make the diagnosis.

What can we do?

Nothing, but we must get him to the hospital, tonight.

HELEN GLEESON: Dad wouldn't hear of it right away.

He wanted to, you know, see if things would change.

Father Solanus, Father Solanus,

pardon me for interrupting you. But--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One of Mr. Rogers' employees

heard about Charles's plight and went

straight to father Solanus.

Will you please pray for him, Father?

I know you have the power to make him better.

Will you pray for him, Father, please?

Don't worry.

He will be better tonight.

[bell chiming]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Helen Gleeson

says her brother underwent a miraculous transformation

that very night.

Dad?

Mom?

Charles?

Charles, is that you?

How are you feeling?

All right.

Let's get you back to bed.

Come on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Aethee

returned, skeptical that Charles's condition

could possibly have improved.

Look at you.

Now give me your hand.

Put it up against mine.

Now push my hand back.

HELEN GLEESON: He told him to put his hand up against his

and push, and do the same with the other hand.

And his muscles were moving.

The paralysis seemed to leave.

His paralyzed muscles seemed to get better.

And walk over to me.

HELEN GLEESON: And Dr. Aethee said, Mr. Rogers,

you did more than pray.

It's a miracle.

He says, this, indeed, is a miracle.

And medical men do not use that term.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Helen,

Charles recovered fully within a month.

He lived to be 64 years old and was never again troubled

by any symptom of polio.

Father Solanus Casey retired in 1956 at the age of 85.

Until his death the following year,

medical problems caused him great suffering,

though he complained little.

His skin became very red and scaly.

At times, it was very burning.

So it was very painful to him.

So at the end of his life, his body, one of the witnesses

described it. He was as red as a lobster.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1966, Farther Solanus

was proposed as a candidate for sainthood, a formal procedure

that often takes decades.

In 1987, 30 years after Solanus Casey's death,

his body was exhumed to allow church

officials to look for signs that might validate canonization.

While his hands and his face were somewhat darkened,

the rest of his body was very natural looking.

And, in fact, the doctor even pressed, and it was pliable.

But there was no sign of any skin disease of any kind.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Usually, after 30 years,

there will be significant decomposition.

The stunning condition of Solanus Casey's body reported

by church officials is said to be

characteristic of some candidates for sainthood.

Following the ritual examination,

the body of Father Solanus was placed in a special sanctuary

within Saint Bonaventure's.

As he did in life, Father Solanus

continues to draw pilgrims and inspire believers

from around the world.

To me, a lot of times, just myself praying to God,

I need help.

Or I might need an interpreter, if I can put it that way.

And I think he does help people do that.

I'm very sick, Father.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Was Father Solanus

a divinely-inspired miracle worker

who somehow had the ear of God?

Or can his cures be explained in more earthly terms?

In the end, like the mystery of faith itself,

the only answer is in the eye of the beholder.

In a moment, when a well-regarded family's secret

is revealed, a woman embarks on a search for her birth father.

In May of 1988 in Plant City, Florida,

a hospital nurse named Kathleen Belcher received an urgent call

from her mother, Miriam.

Kathleen's stepfather was about to have major surgery

and needed several pints of blood

from both Kathleen and her sister.

Yes, I know.

But Bill's mostly afraid of the blood transfusion, AIDS,

you know, things like that.

He wants us to donate blood.

Well, what's his blood type?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kathleen

was only too happy to help.

I'm A positive. I could give him some of mine.

What are you?

Are you A, too?

No, no, I'm B.

Oh, I guess maybe it was Daddy who was A.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kathleen never dreamed

that this conversation with her mother

would prompt an extraordinary revelation.

Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure.

Your father was an O.

KATHLEEN BELCHER: And I said, that's impossible,

because I have A positive.

And I have to have one of your blood types.

Every person has to have either their mother

or their father's blood type.

And obviously, I did not.

I had A. And the man that raised me and I thought was my father

had O. And my mother has B.

My heart went down to my feet.

And I thought, you know, all these years, and now this.

My secret will be out.

Kathleen, I don't want to talk about this anymore, OK?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Miriam Terry

had inadvertently revealed a secret she had kept hidden

for nearly 40 years, the true identity of Kathleen's

biological father.

Miriam was thrown back to the end

of World War II, when she made the most

agonizing decision of her life.

Miriam's first husband, Bud Terry,

the man Kathleen knew as her father,

had flown dozens of bombing missions overseas.

After the war, Bud was a changed man.

Before he was in the service, he was a wonderful man.

When he came out of the service, he was completely different.

Bud could not get jobs anymore because every job he got,

he would write bad checks to customers

and so on and so forth to pay his bills, his gambling debts.

And he was afraid of even being killed

because he owed gamblers.

That's the sweep.

Yeah, OK, you got a four.

MIRIAM TERRY: Bud's gambling was very bad.

I don't really have any idea how much he won, how much he lost.

But he was always in debt.

Come on.

Let's go.

Here we go, all right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In 1945,

Miriam and Bud had a daughter, Kathleen's older sister.

In 1948, Bud reenlisted, hoping military discipline would

restore some order to his life.

It did not.

Bud Terry went AWOL, leaving Miriam and their young daughter

behind.

You've been alone a long time, darling.

And you really need to think about going out.

Mom.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Miriam says

Bud had been gone for several months

when his parents began to suggest Miriam start dating.

They even introduced her to Chet Norris, the bartender

at their local social club in Covington, Kentucky.

He's been looking at you.

MIRIAM TERRY: I didn't know much about him at the time.

He was very nice looking.

He had dark eyes.

I want to introduce you to Miriam, our daughter-in-law.

How do you do?

Hi.

MIRIAM TERRY: He had a good personality.

He was just very nice, and he seemed to be attracted to me.

I really didn't even feel like a woman anymore at this time.

I felt deserted, like I was unattractive,

like I was nothing.

So, uh, what do you like to do?

Hmm?

For fun?

- I like to dance. - Oh.

I-- I love to dance.

Do you dance?

- Uh, no. - Hmm?

Well, not very well.

Oh.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): From its tentative beginnings,

Miriam and Chet's friendship quickly blossomed.

He takes care of a few horses.

MIRIAM TERRY: I wanted a divorce from my husband,

and I wanted to marry Chet.

And he wanted to marry me.

I have some really good news.

You do?

Yeah, I got this job.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Chet began to think

about a future with Miriam.

He quit his job at the club and found work

as an apprentice tile center.

You got the job.

I'm so proud of you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Six months flew by, then

reality came crashing down.

Miriam's husband, Bud Terry, was arrested

by military authorities.

They had found him living with another woman in Indianapolis,

all this while.

And I was so upset because I did not want to go back to him

that I didn't care what I did.

And I felt like I--

I just lost my cool, I guess.

And I got pregnant.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Miriam was

in a quandary, pregnant, and in love with a man who

wasn't her husband.

Can I tell you something?

I'm not sure it's good news.

Sure, of course, what is it?

I'm pregnant.

I-- I mean, I think I'm pregnant.

You can't be.

I don't think I can have kids.

Chet, I'm telling you.

I've been pregnant before, remember?

I-- I feel like I am.

Well, if you are, let's go get married.

I mean, we've been talking about get married, anyway.

So let's do it.

Well, I have to divorce Bud first.

That shouldn't be a problem, should it?

Miriam soon visited Bud in jail.

Hi, Miriam.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): She was determined

to end their marriage.

How are you?

The only reason I'm here is because I want a divorce.

Oh, Miriam, I'm sorry for what I did.

Bud, I've met someone else.

I love him, and he loves me.

And we want to get married.

No.

Bud, you were the one that left Debra and me.

MIRIAM TERRY: Although my husband had been gone all

this while and I didn't feel I loved him anymore,

I was worried about losing my daughter.

I'm back, and that's that.

We are not getting divorced.

Bud, I'm pregnant.

Did-- did you hear what I said?

I said that I am pregnant.

MIRIAM TERRY: He bashed his head against the wall and cried.

And then he said, I want you to come back anyway.

And nobody will ever have to know.

Just come back to me.

So at this time, I felt like I was between a rock

and a hard place.

What about the baby?

What are you going to do about that, tell Bud it's his?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Miriam decided that hiding the truth

was the only way out of the emotional tangle.

She told Chet that she was not pregnant after all.

You're not pregnant?

Jeez, Miriam.

Look, I know things are very complicated right now.

MIRIAM TERRY: It was terribly hard,

but I felt I had no choice.

I felt I had to do that.

It was awful.

It was really awful.

What was I supposed to do, just take Debra and leave?

Yeah, we take Debra and leave.

Oh, be reasonable.

I can't.

You can't just sit there.

You have to do something.

I am doing something.

I'm staying here with Debra and Bud.

MIRIAM TERRY: He was very upset and very angry and said,

this is going to happen again and again and again.

You'll see.

Your life is just going to be one of misery.

I never heard anything about him ever anymore.

It was like he dropped off of the face of the Earth.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Bud Terry

was released from jail after Miriam wrote to a judge,

begging for clemency.

Kathleen was born on February 12, 1950.

And true to his word, Bud raised her as his own.

He never gave me any indication that he

knew that I was not his.

There was no way that I would ever have known.

In fact, I have renewed respect for him

because he never let me know.

He always loved me and loved me equal.

And we spent a lot of time together.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Bud struggled

to make his marriage work.

But his addiction to gambling kept the family

on the brink of bankruptcy.

In 1969, he and Miriam finally divorced.

Miriam remarried in 1974.

But Terry committed suicide around that time,

and Miriam assumed her secret would be safe forever.

More than a decade would pass before circumstance forced

her to tell Kathleen the truth.

Well, I don't know about things like that.

MIRIAM TERRY: I would have taken the secret to my grave.

But since it's my fault, because of me that this happened,

I want to help her, because I love my daughter.

Hello.

Is this the Norris residence?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): With her mother's blessings,

Kathleen Belcher has spent six years searching for her father

using social security records, classified ads,

and computer hot lines.

Do you know anybody, or do you have a relative, with the name

of Chet Lee Norris?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kathleen

has phoned literally hundreds of Norris's across the country.

But today she is no closer to seeing her father than when

she first began to look.

All I can tell you is he was very dark complected,

dark hair, dark eyes.

KATHLEEN BELCHER: I just hope I can find

him before he does pass away.

It would be terrible to know that he

just passed away months ago, and I missed my chance to know him.

It may seem that I'm calm about the whole circumstance,

but deep down I'm not.

I think about it day and night.

I think of what it would be like to look in his face

and see my face.

It would be nice to see where I got my nose, which doesn't look

like anybody's, where I got my ears, just to look at somebody

and see familiarity.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This is the only known

photograph of Chet Lee Norris, taken

when he was about 32 years old.

Today, he would be in his mid-70s.

Chet said he was a Golden Gloves boxer during the 1940s.

He may have had a brother named John.

When we return, authorities need your help

to track down a serial killer.

Tonight, we have a case of the utmost urgency.

Someone is murdering young women in the Midwest.

The authorities need your help.

Please, watch closely.

26-year-old Robin Fuldauer of Indianapolis, Indiana,

wanted more than anything to marry and start a family.

On April 8, 1992, Robin was found shot to death

at the shoe store where she worked.

23-year-old Patricia Smith and 32-year-old Patricia Magers

were both happily married.

They worked side by side at a bridal shop in Wichita, Kansas.

Just three days after Robin Fuldauer was murdered,

both Patricia Smith and Patricia Magers

were shot to death in the back storeroom of the shop.

24-year-old Nancy Kitzmiller of Saint Charles, Missouri,

had just recently qualified to join a government

mapmaking team and was awaiting assignment.

Three weeks after the Wichita murders,

Nancy Kitzmiller was shot to death in the boot store

where she worked as a manager.

Four murders in three different states, separated

by more than 1,200 miles, at first glance,

they seemed to be random killings.

Yet each took place at a shopping mall,

just off Interstate 70 or a connecting highway.

Indeed, there was a pattern, after all.

Raytown, Missouri, another link in the deadly chain,

a Woodson Village shopping center near an access road

to Interstate 70, on May 7, 1992,

37-year-old Sarah Blessing was working alone

in a gift shop at the mall.

At 6:30 PM that day, a local auctioneer noticed a stranger

walking into his auction house.

The stranger looked around briefly, then walked out again.

Tim Hickman, who owned a video store next to the gift

shop where Sarah Blessing worked,

took notice as the man crossed the parking lot

and passed by his store.

Minutes later, Tim heard a loud pop

that sounded like a gunshot.

He reached his front door just as a man was

disappearing around the corner.

Right away, it registered with Tim Hickman

that this was the stranger he had just seen.

A grocery clerk, collecting shopping carts,

also noticed the stranger.

She watched as he climbed the embankment to an Interstate

70 access road and vanished.

Meanwhile, Tim Hickman grabbed a portable phone

and went next door to the gift shop.

I kind of looked in through the door,

and I didn't see anything.

And I was calling, ma'am, ma'am.

And I stepped forward a couple more steps,

And then I saw her legs, sticking out of the other room.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sarah Blessing lay

lifeless in a pool of blood.

Tim Hickman immediately called the police.

In no time, the Raytown tragedy was connected to the earlier

shopping mall killings.

A multistate task force was formed.

Ballistics tests confirmed that all five women had been killed

with the same gun, most likely a semiautomatic,

.22-caliber pistol.

That gun was also linked to the murder of another victim,

this one a man.

On April 27, 1992, 40-year-old Michael McCown

of Terre Haute, Indiana, had been

killed in a shopping mall ceramics store

near Interstate 70.

There were now six victims.

The most promising lead came from Wichita.

Police believe the killer had chosen the bridal shop there

because he thought only a single female clerk was in the store.

Hi.

Can I help you?

Stay calm.

What-- what do you want?

Stay calm.

Let's just walk to the back corner.

I've got money.

Do you want money?

Anything you want.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He was probably surprised

to find two women on duty.

- Are you the only one here? - Yes.

- Is there anybody else here? - No, nobody here.

- Where is your cash register? - It's over there.

You can have whatever you want.

We're just going to the back room.

I'm just going to tie you up, all right?

- Please, don't hurt us. - Calm down.

You can have the money.

Just do what he says.

That's right.

[gunfire]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Moments

later, a customer arrived to pick

up a cumberbun for his tuxedo.

Hello?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): He had no idea

that Patricia Smith and Patricia Magers had just been shot.

Anybody here?

Hey.

Hey, man.

I don't know what's going on here, but I need to just--

Wait a minute.

I want you to come in the back room with me.

Look, man. I can't go in the--

What are you doing? What are you doing?

I-- I-- just need to--

I told you to come in the back room.

Hey, man, I can't come in the back room.

I just want to get out of here.

I didn't see nothing.

I don't know nothing that's going on here.

I just-- I just want to--

Shut up and get the hell out of here

then, and don't call the cops.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Inexplicably, the killer

let the eyewitness go free.

A short time later, he called the police.

Using his description, as well as those of the Raytown

eyewitness, the police artist came up

with this composite drawing of the I-70 killer.

The suspect is between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet tall,

weighs around 170 pounds, and seems to be 35 to 40 years old.

He has reddish hair and a high forehead

and what witnesses describe as lazy eyelids.

According to each of the eyewitnesses,

the suspect was neatly dressed and clear cut.

He appeared to be almost in a trance,

as if he were thinking of something else.

It's important for the audience

to know that a serial killer never stops.

They may stop for a period of time,

but they never stop completely.

And they will always start up again.

So we're trying to find this person

and stop this person before we have six more.

Now, tragically, there are seven victims.

After we filmed this story, the murderer

apparently struck again, killing a young woman

in Arlington, Texas.

Although the bullet this time did not come from the same gun,

the MO is so similar that police are virtually

sure it's the same man.

Once again, the suspect is between 35 and 40 years old,

5 feet 8" to 6 feet tall, with reddish or sandy hair

and thin lips.

On our next "Unsolved Mysteries," 30 years ago

he was America's most notorious criminal, Albert

DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler.

He confessed to killing 13 women in the city

between 1962 and 1964.

But many doubted DeSalvo's story.

And the night before he had promised

to tell the whole truth, DeSalvo was stabbed

to death in his prison cell.

Somebody found out.

Somebody didn't want that interview happening.

And I think they have said before, dead men tell no tales.

Today, some believe DeSalvo was innocent

and that the real Boston Strangler got away with murder.

Join me next time for this controversial investigation

and more on "Unsolved Mysteries."

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