Original subtitles

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For more than 20 years,

Mary Clamser has suffered from the debilitating

effects of multiple sclerosis.

Then a violent summer storm swept over Mary's house

and brought with it what can only be called a miracle.

A powerful bolt of lightning that

apparently released Mary from the shackles

of a devastating disease.

July 1986.

A young marine was nearly killed during a brutal hazing

ritual called a Code Red.

If it sounds like a movie plot, it's

because the film, A Few Good Men starring

Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, was based on the incident.

Tonight, the disturbing untold story behind the movie.

Most people know Reggie White as one of the most feared players

in the National Football League, but he's

also an ordained minister.

Last January a tragic fire ravished White's church

in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In the ruins investigators found the unmistakable signs of arson

and the ugly taint of racism.

They call him a taunting bank robber,

but now his flamboyant criminal career has come to an end

thanks to one of our viewers.

Join me for these intriguing cases and much more.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[music playing]

Almost everyone knows about the hit movie,

A Few Good men starring Tom Cruise,

Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore.

But not everybody knows that A Few Good Men

is based on an actual event.

It tells a story of Marines on trial

for attacking a squad member in a brutal hazing

ritual known as a Code Red.

Amazingly, that event still has repercussions today.

Repercussions that may have led to the mysterious death

of one of the Marines who executed the Code Red.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David Cox

of Needham, Massachusetts joined the Marines

straight out of high school.

Being one of the proud and the few was all he ever wanted.

In 1986, David was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Naval

base the US had refused to give up when Fidel Castro came

to power in the 1950s.

Political tensions kept the base on constant alert.

Trouble filtered down to David Cox

when another platoon member, PFC William Alvarado,

wrote to his senator about Marine misconduct.

CHRISTOPHER VALDEZ: We didn't actually decide to have a Code

Red for Alvarado on our own.

Our platoon commander had given us an implied order

that if we were good Marines something

should happen to Alvarado.

Saturday night we went into Alvarado's room.

We blindfolded him and gagged him and then

dragged him off of his bed.

[muffled yellng]

Dave started shaking his head and within five minutes

he had stopped struggling, so we knew

something was wrong with him.

Something's wrong.

He's not breathing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David Cox convinced his platoon mates

to stop the hazing.

Back up.

Back up.

Stop it.

So we removed the gag, untied him,

and he still didn't come around.

He was still unconscious.

So at that point, we started to panic.

Everybody else get to your rooms.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Alvarado

was rushed to the hospital.

He recovered, but his 10 attackers

were slapped with charges.

Relax, Cox.

Sir, yes, sir.

That's relaxing? Come on.

Sit down.

Don Marcari was appointed to defend David Cox.

They're going to charge you with attempted murder.

They got a confession from you and they

got a pretty beat up Marine.

Doesn't look too good.

Sir, I was just following orders, sir.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David claimed

the Code Red started with implied orders

from his superior officers.

They're prepared to offer you an administrative discharge.

It's less than honorable, but there'll

be no court martial proceeding.

And you wouldn't be looking at 20 years

if you were found guilty.

Sir, but I'm not guilty, sir.

DONALD MARCARI: I told David that this

was a defense, obedience to orders,

that had not been successful at Nuremberg.

Had not been successful with Lieutenant Calley at My Lai.

And plus, we had a Colonel denying he ever gave an order.

So we had the additional burden of now saying he

was following an implied order.

That was a very difficult case to win and I told David that.

All right, Cox.

We'll do it your way.

DONALD MARCARI: He decided he wanted

to fight it because he believed in his heart

that he didn't do any wrong.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David's gamble

was a qualified success.

He was convicted only of simple assault

and sentenced to time already served

in the brig. He then completed his hitch,

received an honorable discharge, and returned to civilian life

in his hometown in the Boston area.

Jack Nicholson was so mean.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Six years later,

when A Few Good Men hit the theaters, David felt the movie

makers had stolen his story.

Other than that, there was a lot of parts

that didn't happen like that.

I mean, for one, the guy didn't die.

You know that.

I saved him.

ELAINE TINSLEY: David's reaction was that he was stunned.

Here he was, he was watching his life in front of him

and he wasn't getting any of the credit for it.

The anger came a little bit later because here

was this movie company that was making tons, millions

of money off of his story.

And if it weren't for him, the story never would have

existed in the first place.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David and some of the other Marines

involved in the Code Red filed suit against the movie

production company.

While it was pending, David spoke out about his case

on radio talk shows.

By January of 1994, David and his girlfriend Elaine

had set up housekeeping together.

David was hoping a temporary job at United Parcel

Service would become permanent.

What about the job?

Are they going to keep you?

Oh, I don't know.

I mean, I'm doing everything I should do.

STEVE COX: Dave was very enthusiastic about getting

on board with them.

I think it was something where he felt that he could have

a full time steady occupation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David expected to hear about the UPS

job on January 5, 1994.

Because of a back problem, he spent

the night before on the couch.

I hope UPS calls.

Thanks.

Have a good day.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Elaine left about 8:30.

Shortly after noon, she called home.

David didn't answer, but there was a message for him

on the machine.

[beep] -

JIM (ON ANSWERING MACHINE): Hi.

Message for David Cox.

This is Jim at UPS.

I've got some good news for you.

Give me a call.

Thank you.

So I was really excited.

I was like, oh cool, Dave's going to get this job

and he's going to be so excited.

And then I called back again at 1:00 to check messages

and that message was still there and the UPS guy

had called again too.

David?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At 5:30 Elaine returned home.

David?

ELAINE TINSLEY: I came to the house that night after work.

I realized right away that the doors to all the rooms

were open and our rabbit, who we usually

just kept in the kitchen, was hopping all over the place.

JIM (ON ANSWERING MACHINE): Hi, David.

It's Jim again at UPS. Please give me a call.

Thank you.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David's truck

was still in the driveway, the keys in the ignition.

David had left an uncashed paycheck

on the dashboard and his 9 millimeter gun

in the glove box.

But David himself was gone.

I immediately had a feeling of dread

because I know David well enough.

David would not just disappear.

And right from the start I was very concerned.

As the days went on and there was nothing,

there was no news from him.

I mean, we checked his bank account and his bank account

was--

there was no activity on his bank account.

You start to believe that, you know,

maybe something did happen, but why?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): There would be no answers

until the spring thaw.

On April 2, 1994, the body of David Cox

was discovered on the banks of the Charles River

in Medfield, Massachusetts, approximately

five miles from his apartment.

He was shot, according to the ME, four times.

Once at the base of the rear of the neck

and three times in the left side torso area.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David's wallet

was still in his back pocket, cash and credit cards intact.

It seemed obvious that robbery was not the motive

and police have since ruled out a random attack.

They are convinced David left his home with someone he knew.

SGT. KEVIN SHEA: It's our belief that he

got in the car willingly.

That he knew who was coming to pick him up.

And that he went to this area and walked into the woods

with this person.

We really believe that David was what we would call a scrapper.

If he knew there was some danger loitering ahead,

he would do his best to get out of that.

I think that if it was somebody that was just holding

a gun on him, or something like that,

they would do it within the first 30

or 40 yards into the woods.

David was found almost 3/4 to a mile walk into the woods.

[music playing]

[gunshot]

DONALD MARCARI: I don't know why David was killed.

I personally believe it had something

to do with the military.

He was taken out of his house without signs of struggle.

He was wearing his Marine Corps jacket, which he never wore.

He was found between two hunting ranges

where gunshots would not be unusual.

And he was murdered execution style.

Now, there is a movie opening tonight called A Few Good Men.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After the release of A Few Good Men,

David had been highly vocal about his story

and the US activities in Cuba.

David's family believes he may have talked too much.

To say the least, we were trying to provoke a war.

Pretty much every day.

Because of this colonel?

Yeah.

He would never say anything directly,

but it was certainly implied, absolutely.

JUNE COX: After I heard that interview on the radio,

I spoke to him and I said, I don't like what you're doing,

I think what you're doing is dangerous.

The colonel had implied--

JUNE COX: I think he felt far too

free to just speak his mind.

--to his congressman saying that--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Police checked out the military angle

to David's murder.

We realized there was something

going wrong because he wasn't fighting back after awhile.

SGT. RICK NAGLE: There's nothing here

that shows us that the military in any way, shape, or form

are involved with David's death.

But we're certainly open to anything that comes our way

in regards to the military.

There's this guy there.

He's a supervisor.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David's brother suggested

another possible scenario.

A UPS connection.

They're taking the good packages

and taking them away from the regular--

Stealing?

Yeah, they're stealing.

STEVE COX: A couple of months before Dave disappeared

he had mentioned to me that he had come upon a supervisor

and one of the drivers involved in some type of activity,

what he believed to be, was theft.

I interviewed a number of people.

They were candid with me, I felt.

Certainly, if there was anything there with UPS,

I think, as far as they were concerned,

paramount was David's death.

And they would have certainly told me anything

that UPS was involved with.

At this point, the investigation's still open.

It will remain open until we solve it.

Again, we'll follow any leads that come through vigorously

and remain to do that until it is solved.

I'm angry what happened to my son.

I'm angry that someone can do that and get away with it.

[music playing]

My life has been devastated by his murder.

It really has.

A death would be bad enough, a murder is just dreadful.

At this point, police have only one hope.

That someone saw David Cox leave his home between 8:30

and noon on January 5, 1994.

Perhaps someone saw the person who picked him up

or the vehicle they left in.

Coming up, for a disabled woman a harrowing brush with death

apparently culminates in a miraculous rebirth.

But first, NFL superstar Reggie White

asks for your help to find the arsonist

who burned down his church.

[music playing]

The capture of a criminal suspect

always brings us great satisfaction.

Tonight, another fugitive is in custody, thanks to your calls.

Thomas Dixon is the walking definition of career criminal.

He was paroled in May of 1984 after serving 10 years

of hard time for armed robbery.

It hadn't reformed him one bit.

This is a hold up.

Stay cool.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): During the five months following

his release from prison, Dixon and a series of accomplices

knocked off seven banks in North Carolina.

An FBI raid brought down Thomas Dixon in October of 1984

and he spent another decade behind bars.

He was paroled in 1994, as unrepentant as ever.

This is a hold up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dixon again

hit banks in the Carolinas.

Five in a seven week spree.

He showed up in one surveillance tape after another.

Have you, FBI, ever heard of Thomas Dixon?

No.

Should we?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But there

was a disturbing new twist to Dixon's MO.

Now, he taunted the FBI with advance

notice of his bank jobs.

When one of Dixon's getaway cars was discovered,

federal investigators concluded that he had deliberately

left it for them to find.

Inside were photos of Dixon's impressive arsenal.

In a note, Dixon threatened future robberies

and warned of a bloody showdown if anyone tried to stop him.

SPECIAL AGT.

IN CHARGE DODGE FREDERICK: Dixon was alerting us to the fact

that he is heavily armed and he has

every intention of using those arms in a confrontation

with law enforcement.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One week

before a broadcast, Thomas Dixon struck again,

this time in Pennsylvania.

Here's Keely with the dramatic conclusion to the case.

Bob, thanks to one of our viewers,

Dixons' most recent heist will probably be his last.

After the robbery, Dixon fled Pennsylvania

and eventually made his way to Clarksville, Tennessee.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH (VOICEOVER): In Clarksville, Dixon

took a room in this motel.

Pam Poteete, a resident housekeeper,

first became wary of Dixon when she cleaned his room.

PAM POTEETE: It's the way he acted.

He was weird.

I mean, he stood by the beds, in between the beds

by the luggage.

He wouldn't never sit down.

Didn't want you to make the beds.

You know, stuff like that.

It's like he was on guard, you know.

His luggage.

He just was, you know, ready, watching you.

KEELY SHAYE SMITH (VOICEOVER): When Dixon's story aired,

Pam Poteete recognized him instantly.

Within minutes, Pam had contacted

both the Unsolved Mysteries phone center and

the authorities in Tennessee.

By sunrise, FBI agents had Dixon's hideaway staked out.

SPECIAL AGT.

BRET MURRAY: We knew he was armed and dangerous

and he vowed not to be taken alive.

With that information, obviously, you

want to approach the subject with extreme caution.

But once we got him subdued, he was very cooperative.

All he said is, you got me good.

Basically, that the way that you guys arrested me was the way

you needed to arrest me.

And it was a lot better that way then, quote,

to throw bullets at each other.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): January 8, 1996.

Fire ravages the Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

At first, it seemed an isolated tragedy,

but it would soon become linked to what

may be a series of vicious hate crimes

targeting black churches.

This church, however, has a famous voice

speaking out on its behalf.

Reggie White, the most feared defensive end

in professional football.

But the man opponents see as a 6 foot 5, 300 pound brick wall

with legs, has another career.

God sent Moses away for about 40 years

to get him ready to face Pharaoh.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Reggie White is an ordained minister.

When he's not tackling quarterbacks,

he's back in his home state of Tennessee saving souls.

In 1993, Reggie White and two longtime friends in Knoxville

founded the Inner City Church by merging

two congregations into one.

Their goal, to create a church that would

serve poor people of all races.

Their motto, together we can make a change.

REGGIE WHITE: It's very important and it's very vital.

I believe that our church is doing things in our communities

that no other churches are doing.

You know, the most segregated hour it is in our country

is on Sunday 11 to 12 because blacks go to black churches,

whites go to white churches.

And we wanted to try to have a church

that everybody would feel welcome,

no matter what the color was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was a noble undertaking.

With aggressive community outreach and self-help

programs, the church thrived.

Then disaster.

REGGIE WHITE: I believe in my heart

that it was an attack from the devil himself.

That there were devil inspired people that he

used to firebomb our church.

We had a big snow on the ground.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): David Upton

is the church's senior pastor.

When I arrived there, it was a sickening

feeling in my stomach to see.

The things we had fought for, the things

we had worked so hard to establish

over the years of a ministry, just to see it just

go up in flames.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within hours, agents from the FBI

and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

began to investigate.

SPECIAL AGT.

IN CHARGE RICHARD GARNER: An immediate visit

to this location indicated to us that it was

a very deliberate criminal act.

The sanctuary portion of the building

had been totally destroyed, but there is another building that

sets on the back side of the property that adjoins

the rear of the sanctuary.

It's a building in which there are classrooms and offices.

As the agents went through that portion of the structure,

they found multiple Molotov cocktails.

They found that both floors of this structure

had been saturated with gasoline and kerosene.

And they found gasoline cans and kerosene

cans scattered throughout this portion of the building.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Agents also found

racial epithets scrawled on the walls,

leaving little doubt that the arson was a hate crime.

Reggie White was appalled.

That turned to outrage when he learned that his church

had not been the first.

The only reason that you're hearing about my church

is because of me.

But there have been 22 other churches

that's been firebombed.

That's a problem.

And this problem needs to be rectified.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The statistics are alarming.

The count is now at least 24 black churches hit by arson

in the past three years.

The attacks have occurred throughout the South

in Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi,

Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, North and South Carolina.

The most recent arson fire occurred on March 5, 1996.

SPECIAL AGT IN CHARGE VIRGIL YOUNG: Both the FBI and the ATF

are looking to see if there are any links.

We recognize that someone in Kansas, for example, might say,

let's burn black churches.

And associates in Tennessee and Alabama and Florida

might go out and do those things,

but they might use entirely different methods.

I don't believe it was anyone that would be what

you would call a professional.

Based on the way the fuel was in the building, the way the set

ups were in the building, I think

that they just thought if a little is good,

a whole lot's better.

And that's what they tried to do is put enough fuel

in there to do the job.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Three days

after the Inner City Church fire, flyers

from two white supremacist groups, the BFI Brotherhood

and Skinheads for White Justice, turned up at a bank

that had ties to the church.

However, the possibility remains that both

the flyers and the graffiti were planted as decoys.

SPECIAL AGT.

IN CHARGE VIRGIL YOUNG: With a deliberate act of arson,

the arsonist wants us to look in a different direction

away from him.

So we have to consider the possibility

that the racial graffiti was placed there to divert

us into a different direction.

So we have to consider the racial motivation

as a possibility, but we also have to look

at other motivations as well.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Inner City

Church did not have enough fire insurance

to cover all the damage.

But with hard work from the parishioners and donations

from the community, both black and white,

they hope to rebuild.

But the problem is, because racism

has alienated itself so that you can't touch it

when it afflicts you--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In the meantime,

Reggie and his fellow pastors keep their congregation's

spirit strong with church services held

at a local school auditorium.

That's why we shooting each other today.

That's why we allowing drugs--

This just makes me more determined.

And I know that the only way that you defeat the devil

is that you have to do it as a group.

And that's why I would say, what I would call whites and blacks,

to come together and find out how to work together.

Because what kills the enemy's tactics

is if a bunch of people of all ethnic backgrounds

start loving each other.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When we return, for many years,

Mary Clamser struggled with the crippling effects

of multiple sclerosis.

Though her face never wavered, Mary certainly

didn't believe in miracles until a freak

accident changed her life.

[music playing]

The state of Oklahoma is a natural laboratory for studying

the world's worst weather.

Here at the National Weather Service in Oklahoma City,

meteorologists track an average of one

severe thunderstorm every week.

Sometimes the storms bring tornado force winds,

sometimes softball sized hail.

Not long ago one of those storms brought with it

a gift from the heavens.

What one woman calls a modern day miracle.

[music playing]

August 17, 1994.

Mary Clamser never thought of herself as a warrior.

For 23 years she fought a battle against multiple sclerosis,

a battle she was losing fast.

Mary had no idea that this day an extraordinary event

would erase her years of torment and give her back her freedom.

In 1972, Mary was 19 years old, vibrantly healthy,

and recently engaged to marry Ron Clamser.

Six months before the wedding, she went to the hospital

with what she thought was a bad case of flu.

MARY CLAMSER: We didn't know whether he had some kind

of intestinal bug or whatever.

And shortly after being admitted to the hospital,

a lot of neurological problems started coming up

that we weren't even aware of.

Mary?

Hi.

Hi.

How are you doing?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary and Ron were certain something

was seriously wrong, but the doctors tried to shield

them from the brutal facts.

Can you move your legs at all?

No.

Can you feel this?

I can't feel anything.

I feel pain.

MARY CLAMSER: It was extremely frustrating not knowing

what was going on, feeling so many

different changes in my body.

The left leg was going out, there

were bladder complications.

So many things were going wrong it was like I had

no control over my own body.

Like, they won't tell me anything.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The final diagnosis

was devastating.

Mary had multiple sclerosis.

Ron set out to learn exactly what that meant.

It's a degenerative nerve disease.

It affects the impulses from the brain to the muscles.

So what stage is Mary in?

They don't know.

I mean, one good thing is that she's young.

Ron found out that MS could attack

Mary in waves, each episode lasting a few weeks.

Between bouts, Mary would appear to be disease free, sometimes

for months.

Over the years, however, the attacks could

get worse and more frequent.

MARY CLAMSER: They told me that I probably

would never walk again.

And if we did proceed to go ahead and get married,

I would not be well enough to have children, if I

could have children at all.

And Ron came in shortly after that

and we talked and I said to him, you deserve better.

You deserve a wife that can walk and a wife

that can grow with you and have children with you.

And they're telling me I can't do any of this.

And I took off the engagement ring

and said to him as much as I loved him with all my heart,

the only way I could give love back to him was to let him go.

I just gave it right back to her, and I said, no.

I mean, I just have faith that things will work out

and, you know, when you get married,

you get married for better or worse.

We're engaged to be married for better or worse.

To me, it was the same thing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary spent the months

before her wedding in the hospital, too week

to address the invitations herself.

Just two weeks before the ceremony

the disease relented, giving Mary enough strength

to walk down the aisle.

The wedding day was only a brief respite.

The MS soon returned.

Despite her illness, Mary refused

to give up her dream of being not only a wife, but a mother.

Over the next 10 years, Mary struggled through three

difficult pregnancies so she and Ron could have a family,

two sons and a daughter.

Our children have grown up with a mom that

was in the hospital many times, a mom

that couldn't walk many times.

And it was incorporated into the family life.

Because even when I was ill, my focus always

was Ron and the children.

You know, it wasn't something that was easy,

not that I want to say she was a burden.

But you know, we had to carry her to the car,

we had to take the scooter apart and put the wheelchair in.

So it became, not a hassle, but it was a lot of work.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After 23 years,

the cycles of Mary's illness had become almost routine.

A few weeks, perhaps a few months,

of disability, then another precious period of normalcy.

In the summer of 1992 that cycle abruptly changed.

This attack was different because it went past a year.

And prior to that, no attack had gone past six months.

So we began to wonder, when it went past a year,

how long it was going to last.

I could not leave the bed, literally.

And I would hear the children arguing amongst themselves.

It was your turn to do this or that, or Ron coming home

from work very frustrated.

And I remember one night feeling really kind of--

the only way to describe it was, as if I had died,

but I was laying in the back room listening

to my family fall apart.

[thunder]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Then came August 17, 1994.

It could have been a metaphor for Mary's

life, a beautiful day that suddenly

turned dark and stormy.

Mary decided to take a bath while she could.

As the tub filled, the storm intensified.

[thunder]

MARY CLAMSER: I would have to say,

on that particular day was one of the worst

storms I've ever seen in the 12 years we've been in Oklahoma.

At that particular time, the leg brace

was up against the porcelain part of the tub.

And when I went to turn the knob,

I saw the flash of lightning, but I never heard the thunder.

[buzzing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): At least

10,000 volts of electricity had coursed through Mary's body.

Enough force to launch her six feet across the room.

Mom, are you all right?

Mom, wake up.

Mary was alive.

A miracle by any standard.

But there was an even greater one to come.

Mary?

Mary, I'm Dr. Lee.

Tell me, what happened today?

MARY CLAMSER: I remember feeling like my body was on fire, pins

and needles shooting up and down my arms,

and being totally confused.

One second, sir.

God, my fingers are on fire.

OK, Mary.

Mary, listen to me.

Take a deep breath.

Breathe, honey.

Breathe.

All of a sudden, I'm feeling my legs.

What's he doing?

Why?

I can feel that.

Oh, no. She can't feel.

Yes, I can.

I can feel that.

MARY CLAMSER: And I started to get really, I guess, agitated.

It was like, I feel you touching me,

why do I feel you touching me?

Because you have to remember, for 23 years

I couldn't feel my left leg, and for two years, my right leg.

And now all of a sudden, for no reason to my knowledge,

I feel both of them.

I mean, I was dumbfounded and shocked.

And I didn't know what to think.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Neither did anyone else.

Medical literature includes accounts

of lightning making blind people see and deaf people hear.

But the doctor warned Ron that the effects

are often temporary, usually lasting no more than 30 days.

More often than not, the patient can

go back to her prior condition.

This could just be a temporary situation.

But you ran that think up and down her.

She felt it.

MARY CLAMSER: In the next two weeks

I was in quite a bit of pain.

I mean, I was miserable.

I didn't even get to enjoy feeling my legs.

And every few hours Ron would even call me

and say, I know you're hurting, but can

you still feel your legs?

I mean, that was the $64 question.

It was like, yes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Incredibly, Mary could soon

do more than feel her legs.

Two weeks after being struck by lightning,

she walked across her kitchen without a second thought.

She didn't even realize what she had done until she

found herself at the refrigerator

a dozen feet from her wheelchair.

Ron, honey.

MARY CLAMSER: I was at a part of the kitchen that, to this day,

I can't tell you how I got there.

What are you doing over here?

MARY CLAMSER: And I thought, well,

I can't handle this anymore.

Because now I'm doing things I don't even know how I did them.

You walked?

Yes.

You want to try it again?

OK.

Hold on to me, OK?

OK.

All right.

MARY CLAMSER: I took some real robotic, toddler type

kind of walk.

And I mean, it was like three or four steps

and went into his arms and was like, I just did that,

didn't I?

And he's like, yeah, mom, you did.

[laughing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Mary improved rapidly.

A few days later, when Ron Sr. Arrived home from work,

Mary was waiting with a big surprise.

She had walked out the front door and down the sidewalk

completely under her own power.

No leg brace, no support.

[laughing]

Now, stand back.

Stand back.

Watch.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The Clamsers

were thrilled, but not yet ready to call the cure permanent.

MARY CLAMSER: In the beginning, we did worry about, well,

the 30 days.

You know, what if they were wrong and it was 60 days?

And then I started thinking, I'm not

going to worry about it because whatever

amount of time, that's time I had we never

thought I would have.

It's almost like a second honeymoon.

I mean, it is almost like year one starts over again.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Today, almost two years later,

Mary exercises regularly and lives a completely normal life.

RON CLAMSER: I mean, we can dance again.

We can go out together and walk again.

Go shopping together.

There's just so many things that were missing that we have back.

And it's just, it's just like a rebirth.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When we return,

a tragic accident claims the life of a young woman.

Now, her daughter needs your help to uncover the secrets

of her family's past.

[music playing]

Recently, we received an unusual request from a woman

named Ladonna Alfano.

LaDonna was just a little girl when her mother

died in a terrible accident.

35 years later, LaDonna has no memories of her mother

and only scant details about her mother's family.

Tonight she hopes that will change.

December 29, 1961.

In the early afternoon, a train left

Dallas, Texas heading west.

[train horn]

The route would take it through the heart

of downtown Abilene, Texas.

Kids, are you ready?

Come on, David, Amani.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Around the same time, two army wives

in Abilene, Darlene Alfano and Pinky Johnson,

gathered up their children for a trip into town.

Want your dolls?

[train horn]

Let's go on by McBride's also.

They're having a sale on pot roast.

OK, good.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Around 2:00, Pinky and Darlene

were heading north on Shelton Street

towards the center of town.

No one knows how or why it happened,

but the car ended up right in the middle of the tracks.

[bell ringing]

What's wrong?

Pinky, there's a train.

What's wrong?

[train horn]

I can' get it to start.

What do you mean, you can't get it to start?

It won't start.

There's a train coming.

It won't start.

There's a train.

[train horn]

[breaks squeal]

[crashing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The car

was literally torn to shreds, its roof

sheared completely off.

The human toll was incalculable.

Two of the children died almost immediately.

A third would die in the hospital.

As would one of the mothers, Darlene Alfano.

Her husband, Fred, was by her side.

[alarm ringing]

FRED ALFANO: I was sitting with her, talking to her

and I was holding her hand.

She took a very deep breath, held it for a few seconds,

and very slowly let it out and I knew she had expired.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Fred Alfano found

myself almost completely alone.

He had lost his wife and two of his children.

His other child, LaDonna, had survived,

but was barely hanging on.

FRED ALFANO: They never gave me any hope

for any of them surviving.

They were all almost universally sure that LaDonna would not

survive because of facial damage extended all the way down

to the base of her brain.

LaDonna?

It's me, Daddy.

Hi, Daddy.

Hi.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): LaDonna

had suffered catastrophic injuries to her face and head.

But against all the odds, she began to recover.

See?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Two weeks

passed before Fred could bring himself to tell LaDonna

about her mother and sisters.

What happened to Rosalinda and Trisha?

They're in heaven.

In a playground.

So they can play together.

What happened to Mommy?

Mommy's an angel.

Is she really an angel, Daddy?

She sure is.

LADONNA ALFANO: When my father told me

that my mother and my sisters had died I thought,

oh, the angels had come down and gotten them.

I was happy that there were angels.

And everybody would talk to her in the hospital.

First thing she would tell them was

that my mommy and my sisters are angels in heaven.

I've got three angels watching me.

I knew she would be fine.

I felt if she had taken that attitude, she would be fine.

LADONNA ALFANO: Well, I used to think, why did I live?

Why was I the one that survived?

I believe that, when I was a child,

that I lived for my father.

That my father wouldn't have survived it.

I think her strength gave me strength.

And my only direction in life then

was to take care of LaDonna.

And make sure she survived and had a normal childhood.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Over the years,

LaDonna underwent a series of reconstructive surgeries

on her face.

But there was one thing the operations

could not correct, the loss of her mother, Darlene.

LADONNA ALFANO: I have no memories of my mother at all.

I look at pictures of her and I try to remember something

and it's like looking at a magazine article of a woman.

I have recollections of my twin, and my father,

and my little sister.

My father has told me stories about us

as children with my mom and it doesn't bring

back any memories whatsoever.

None whatsoever.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Compounding

on Donna's heartbreak was the fact

that her father had only met her mother's family a few times.

Eventually, what little contact they did

have ceased altogether.

LADONNA ALFANO: After the accident happened,

which is probably too painful to keep in touch with them.

And now I've just decided I need to get in touch with them.

I'm trying to, you know, get some connection with my past

and try to remember something so it will fill in the holes

of missing my mother.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One of the only clues

LaDonna has is a letter she received

from her maternal grandfather when she was 13.

It contained a photograph of her mother's sister, LaDonna's

aunt, Patricia Ann Hintz.

My Aunt Pat is the only survivor of my mother

that I know of.

I think finding my Aunt Pat will definitely fill my emptiness.

Just being able to touch her and knowing

that she was a part of my mother is the only thing

that I have of my mother.

And it would-- just knowing her, and meeting her,

and hugging her, would be really even enough for me right now.

[music playing]

Join me again this Friday at our regular time

for an all new edition and Unsolved Mysteries.

[music playing]