Original subtitles

MAN: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: Shawn and Jodie Bordeaux

had been married two years.

They had great jobs at a Casino on the Kickapoo Indian

Reservation in Kansas and Jody was

expecting their first child.

Tragically, their dream life would

be dealt a devastating blow.

Who wanted to kill Jodie Bordeaux?

For hundreds of working class families,

a school that offered affordable music lessons for their kids

seemed too good to be true.

It was.

One owner loved the limelight, the other

was a comedian who mysteriously changed identities.

Allegedly, both were ruthless con artists.

Over the course of a decade, at least four young girls

vanished under similar circumstances

from towns in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Many suspect the cases are somehow connected.

One day, Gilbert Ortiz was a happily married family man

and the next fighting for survival

After His wife allegedly poisoned him

and ran away with their son.

We'll bring you an update on Ortiz's

heart-wrenching journey.

Join me for these intriguing stories and more

you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music playing]

A dark November night in Powhattan, Kansas.

A small farm house on the edge of the Kickapoo Indian

Reservation.

Jodie Bordeaux and her husband Shawn

have lived here for over a year.

For weeks they have been receiving disturbing

anonymous phone calls.

Hello?

ROBERT STACK: But on this night, they were just calls.

Jodie was sure someone was in their yard.

One night she had heard noises outside of the house

and I tried to convince her that it was probably

a raccoon or a coyote or something

and that she really didn't have nothing to be afraid of.

ROBERT STACK: But Shawn was wrong.

The danger Jodie perceived was very real

and would ultimately lead to her murder.

Shawn and Jodie worked at the Golden Eagle.

It was the first Indian-owned casino in the area.

It held great potential for the Kickapoo Tribe,

with an annual revenue stream in the millions and job

opportunities for the local tribes people.

Shawn, who is part Lakota Indian,

and Jodie were part of the management team hired

to run the casino, although the Kickapoo

Tribal Council retained the final word in all decisions.

Shawn and Jodie were also trying to start a family.

After several miscarriages, Jodie sought out a fertility

expert and within a few months, the couple's dream

had come true.

Jodie was pregnant with a baby girl.

She was absolutely ecstatic over this pregnancy

and her happiness was something that spilled over

into her friends and her acquaintances

and everybody just pretty much felt

happy for her and with her.

ROBERT STACK: Everything seemed to be going Jodie's way.

Soon, her take charge personality

got her promoted to staff supervisor

of the slot machine department.

Jodie she was a little fireball.

She put a lot of energy, a lot of effort into everything

she did.

So to see her in the Casino, you would think

she was running most things.

And even that perception in and of itself,

is kind of a little bit--

it can draw jealousy and envy from some of the people who

may be in the same position, saying, how

does she get all the attention?

ROBERT STACK: Jodie believed that some of the staff

were resentful of her new position.

Morning.

Heard your grandmother died.

ROBERT STACK: For instance, one employee, a slot technician,

accused her of fabricating excuses to get extra time off.

Our busiest weekend?

Good time to have to go out to a funeral.

There's some competitiveness when it comes to these jobs.

And having two people coming from other--

one from another tribe and one from no tribe

at all and going into high positions

in the casino I'm sure rubbed a lot of people

on the Kickapoo Reservation the wrong way.

ROBERT STACK: To complicate things,

as a department supervisor, Jodie's position

required her to oversee job performance.

According to Shawn, Jodie often had to report the slot tech's

bad attitude and tardiness.

He kept coming back with more problems for her.

And eventually, you know, she had to take a little bit more

of a hard line on him and start writing him up and holding him

to the letter of the law as our policies

and procedures mandated.

We are here to talk about some reports we have

about you being late for work.

ROBERT STACK: When things didn't improve,

the employee was brought before the casino

management board for review.

I don't even know why some of those reports

were even written.

It's like everybody else gets away with everything.

ROBERT STACK: He was reprimanded and put on probation.

I'm the one who gets in trouble.

ROBERT STACK: But the problems persisted and the slot

tech was eventually fired.

It was just weeks later when Shawn believes out of vengeance

the slot tech brought a grievance against Jodie

directly to the tribal council.

Yeah.

Look, there's a meeting this afternoon.

You need to attend.

ROBERT STACK: The complaint ultimately

led to Jodie losing her job.

Due to the great cost--

ROBERT STACK: So Jodie spent the next month

petitioning to get it back.

She hoped the tribal council would reconsider.

Can you think of anything else I can add?

Jodie was hoping that she would be rehired at the Golden

Eagle and that was a discussion that her and I had participated

in and there was a possibility that she would have come back

to work at the Golden Eagle.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK: When the news spread

that Jodie might return to the casino,

the anonymous phone calls began.

Hello?

Hello?

Never in my wildest dreams did I

think they had anything to do with having

to worry for our lives.

I had no idea that we were being threatened.

ROBERT STACK: Late on November 21,

Shawn and Jodie were spending a quiet night at home.

Did you find a car seat?

Yeah--

ROBERT STACK: When a strange noise

startled a Bordeaux's dog, Shawn followed him to the back porch.

[barking]

The next thing I hear is a popping noise kind

of over and behind my head.

And then it was like somebody let a 20 pack of firecrackers.

Jodie got to the bedroom and she turned to see if I was OK

and one bullet went into the bedroom.

Jodie?

Jodie?

And that one bullet struck her in the head.

ROBERT STACK: Shawn could see that Jodie was dead.

He quickly dialed 911 hoping to save his unborn baby.

And as I pick up the phone and I look up at the wall,

I notice that it's riddled with bullets.

Jodie didn't suffer in that she died instantly.

But my baby suffered.

You know, here's my little baby in there

and she's relying on mom and next thing you know,

there's no mom and she dies a slow death.

That really hurts.

So I think when I kissed her, I think

it was her calling me in a spiritual way as to say,

I have to go now.

And that was goodbye.

That night, Shawn lost both Jodie and the baby.

And despite an exhaustive investigation,

four years later, no one has been charged with the murder.

The Bordeaux's home was so isolated there

were no witnesses, no weapon was found.

Today, a killer is still on the loose.

Kevin Hill is a county attorney assigned

to the Bordeaux murder.

He has been working with local and state authorities

on the investigation.

We've gone from a point where just about everyone was

a possible suspect to a point where we're focusing

on an individual or group of individuals that may

have been responsible for this.

These individuals were not strangers to Jodie Bordeaux,

the individuals knew her and they

would have had an axe to grind with her due to employment

issues.

ROBERT STACK: But there are a few key roadblocks

to capturing anyone involved.

I believe that part of the problem is just that

there's not a lot of trust with Indian people

and non-Indian law enforcement.

And that's probably part of the problem

with the inquisition and any other investigations

that are taking place.

There's been serious question about retribution

of anybody coming forward.

If there are members of the Kickapoo Tribe

that have any information that would help us solve this,

they have a responsibility to their fellow tribal members,

to their fellow community members to come forward.

This is an unsolved crime here on our lands.

Let's do something about it.

I go through each day thinking of my family,

thinking of what could be, thinking of my little girl.

And so the most difficult thing is just watching

my life go by without a family.

ROBERT STACK: Since the murder, Shawn has left Kansas.

But he still holds out hope that someday there

will be justice for Jodie.

Despite Shawn's belief that a casino employee was somehow

involved in his wife's murder, authorities at this time

have not released the list of official suspects.

They seek your help in providing new information

necessary for an arrest in this case.

In a mostly working class Hispanic neighborhood

in North Hollywood, California, something extraordinary

was going on.

One, two, three.

[playing music]

ROBERT STACK: A new music school head opened

and hundreds of parents eagerly signed up their children

for low cost lessons.

Very good.

Now let's go--

ROBERT STACK: The school was owned by Mario Yunis and Omar

Arroyo who hired veteran instructors

to teach students a lost art of playing the accordion.

I knew they had hold of something big

and I knew it was going to be a lot of money.

I just knew it.

And I wanted it to work.

Give John a round of applause.

ROBERT STACK: Mario Yunis and Omar Arroyo were an odd couple.

Yunis was a studio musician fluent in several languages.

Arroyo, an aspiring salsa singer and used car salesman.

However, there was nothing unusual about their carefully

crafted sales pitch.

Their enthusiasm hit all the right notes.

Wow, that was excellent.

I'm very, very proud of you and I think it's time for you

to move up to the next level.

Wow, that sounds great, sweetie.

Wonderful.

They said that my daughter had won a scholarship to learn

piano accordion in Oregon.

I thought, oh, great, you know?

This is the perfect opportunity for my daughter

to get some lessons.

What I need for you to do is to choose one of those.

I'm going to recommend that [inaudible]

take the Mercedes package--

ROBERT STACK: Mario Yunis acted as the front man.

Charming and persuasive, he often

met with parents while his partner

worked behind the scenes.

Well, the Mercedes package is $2,500

and the Toyota package is $1,800.

Oh, I see.

I think I'll take the Toyota package.

The package was that it was the accordion that you were

buying, but they were going to teach

three different instruments by the end of the three years.

Making $32 increments every month, if that's OK.

And part of it would be also taking them

on field trips like Disneyland.

ROBERT STACK: However, the ink was barely dry on the contract

when everything fell apart.

Early one morning, Martha Gallardo

dropped off [inaudible] for her weekly lesson.

It was a day mother and daughter would never forget.

- Mom, they're closed. - What do you mean?

You sure?

Yeah.

She said, nobody's there.

They're gone.

And at first, I thought, oh, don't be silly, you know?

But then it just hit me and I said, oh my God, fraud.

That's the first thing that came into my mind

because I knew I had given them my credit card.

ROBERT STACK: According to police,

Martha's instincts were right, she

had been targeted for fraud.

Reportedly Arroyo and Yunis even duped their own employees,

lying about the credit card scheme

and paying them with bogus checks.

I got tired of getting bad checks.

I don't know how many bad checks I got from how many

different banks.

And they said, well, we've got another class for you.

I said, I've got to be paid.

And they said, well, after you do this class, we'll pay you.

ROBERT STACK: John Calwell taught the class but he

says he never saw the money.

And when Martha Gallardo received her credit card bill,

she found a single charge for the entire cost

of the accordion, more than $1,800.

Allegedly, it was a cheap import worth about $300.

However, many other unsuspecting families,

unaware of law designed to protect

consumers from credit card fraud,

were reportedly hit much harder.

The parents were mad, they were angry,

they were hurt because they felt like, OK, wait a minute,

we have no money and what are we going to do?

These people, their credit cards were up to $10,000, $20,000.

One particular guy was $39,000.

According to police, Omar Arroyo

and Mario Yunis had swindled the money through identity theft.

By using personal information lifted from music school

applications, Arroyo and Yunis were

able to open fraudulent credit card

accounts, some with substantial lines of credit.

In just over a year, authorities say

there take was an incredible $1.5 million dollars.

But these alleged con men also had another trick

up their sleeves, one that was surprise and shock everyone.

We want some answers.

You're all going to have to leave.

ROBERT STACK: The alleged scheme began

to unravel when Martha Gallardo and some

of the other parents found out the music school

had reopened in a new location.

We want to speak to the owner.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I am--

ROBERT STACK: A confrontation with the school's director,

who police believe was also a pawn of Arroyo and Yunis,

quickly became heated, especially

when a TV reporter showed up.

Oh, I will not speak on camera.

[inaudible] get out of my premises.

[shouting]

You will all have to leave right now.

I'm calling the police.

ROBERT STACK: Moments later, officers

arrived on the scene unaware that the school was

allegedly a front for fraud.

Are you the owner of the building?

No, I'm the manager. these people are trespassing.

- They're thieves. - OK, all right.

ROBERT STACK: The irate parents were immediately

escorted from the building and told to take their grievances

to civil court.

However, many families chose to file criminal complaints,

including Martha and her husband.

Do you have a copy of the contract with you?

Yes, we do.

I have seen some really unique cases

but I've never handled a case as this

where it has so many victims.

We have over, I could say, 200 victims

and it involves a large amount of monies.

Have you seen any two males that might have looked

like the owners of the place?

ROBERT STACK: Detective Baello quickly discovered that the two

alleged swindlers ran a number of music schools

under a variety of aliases.

And cash is OK, yes?

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK: Meanwhile, according to police,

Omar Arroyo and Mario Yunis went on separate spending sprees

with some of the stolen cash.

Arroyo reportedly spent more than $100,000

to cut a Salsa CD under the name Luis Omar.

Yunis had also crafted a new identity

but he was playing a very different tune.

Oh, well, I am his twin sister.

She's from Israel.

No kidding.

ROBERT STACK: Arroyo's real estate agent did a double take.

And with good reason, Mario Yunis had undergone

much more than a makeover.

He was now a she using the name Delia Leon.

Liz, want to go take a look at it?

Yeah, please, feel free.

Take a look, it's great.

Mario Yunis had undergone a sex change operation up

in San Francisco and paid for this operation

with one of the kids' parents' credit cards.

Charges amounted to over $33,000.

ROBERT STACK: And that was only a portion of the cost.

The rest was also reportedly charged

to various credit cards.

Then, according to police, Omar Arroyo and Delia Leon

became lovers.

The couple lived like royalty, renting a luxurious home

in LA's Woodland Hills.

To give the impression they were a family,

Arroyo brought his two daughters from a former marriage

over from Puerto Rico.

--never happened.

You have them fill out an application.

OK.

ROBERT STACK: However, life in Shangri-La

soon hit a sour note when a new office assistant, reportedly

besieged by complaints from angry parents,

decided to go to the police.

So where are you working?

I'm working at Kid's Music Kingdom

and that's in Mission Hills.

It was a break detective Baello needed.

But with only aliases to go on, he

would need to conduct a stake out to nail

the alleged con artists.

JUAN BAELLO: We conducted a surveillance

in order to try to identify the true identity of our suspects.

We were able to come up with their true names.

ROBERT STACK: Detective Baello then followed the suspects

to their upscale neighborhood.

A few days later, armed with a search warrant,

police raided the home.

LAPD, police warrant.

Let me see your hands up.

ROBERT STACK: Reportedly, Delia Leon

attempted to escape through the back yard

but was quickly apprehended.

What are you doing?

I didn't do anything.

Ow.

What are you doing?

ROBERT STACK: She denied any involvement

in the credit card scam.

ROBERT STACK: I was just a consultant.

Watch you head please, ma'am.

ROBERT STACK: Police weren't so lucky with her alleged

partner in crime.

Omar Arroyo had left town just hours before the raid.

I was surprised at not finding Omar.

And I later learned that he had left to Puerto

Rico the night before.

Omar was in the process of doing promotions on his CD.

Thanks to some parents who refused to be victims,

skillful police work by detective Baello,

Delia Leon, a.k.a.

Mario Yunis, was in custody and the music schools

were closed down.

Fortunately, Martha Gallardo was able to clear

the excessive charges from her credit card

but many families paid a heavy price.

On a previous broadcast, we presented the puzzling

case of Sandra Orellana.

She plummeted 10 stories to her death

from this hotel balcony in Southern California.

Investigators were uncertain if it was an accident, suicide,

or murder.

Sandra had come to California on a business trip

with her boss Robert Salazar.

They checked into adjacent rooms on the eighth floor.

The next morning, Sandra's body was found

sprawled on the ground below.

Police interviewed Robert Salazar.

He said he had escorted Sandra to her room around midnight.

He left her alive and well.

But suspicions arose when detectives found articles

of his clothing in her room.

When questioned again, he offered a very different story.

He said that he had, in fact, gone into the room with Sandra

and that they had engaged in sex and that at one point

they were on the balcony.

Sandra had positioned herself on the railing of the balcony

in such a way that she threw one of her legs

over the top of the balcony and lost her balance

and had fallen.

ROBERT STACK: Sandra's family was outraged

by Salazar's allegations.

They asserted she would never have

consensual sex with him, that she was devoted to her fiance.

Police used a dummy to test Salazar's

account of what happened.

We tried it several times and we actually ended up

trying to make it land where she landed and we had

to basically throw the dummy in that direction

to make it land there.

ROBERT STACK: Despite the suspicions of the police,

Robert Salazar was not charged with any crime until now.

On March 2, 2001, nearly five years after Sandra's death,

Robert Salazar was arrested for her murder.

On May 30 he appeared at a preliminary hearing

in West Covina, California.

--another large item.

Your honor, I'm going to ask that this be marked--

ROBERT STACK: Investigators said a reevaluation of evidence

as well as DNA tests led to the district attorney

finally charging Salazar.

One Friday afternoon, Kim Swartz was preparing dinner

when her seven year old daughter Amber

asked permission to play in front of their Pinole,

California, home.

Oh but our friends are going to be here in five minutes.

Please.

KIM SWARTZ: Amber asked if she could

use the jump rope in the hall closet and jump rope outside.

So I walked with her over to the closet and opened up the door

and she grabbed the jump rope.

Thank you mommy, I love you.

And on her way out the door, she just

stopped and turned and said, I love you, mommy,

and out the door she went.

ROBERT STACK: Amber planned to jump

rope until Kim's friend Debbie and her daughter

Marissa came by.

[doorbell]

Hello, how are you two?

Come in.

They walked in the door and, you know,

Marissa instantly asks where Amber was and I she said she

was outside jumping rope.

And so both of them at that point said,

we didn't see her out there.

So I said, well, maybe she was over in a vacant lot.

She's out there.

Go get her.

KIM SWARTZ: So Marissa quickly ran right back

outside looking for Amber.

I'm glad it's Friday.

- Oh, me too. - Yeah.

KIM SWARTZ: She came running back inside saying

she didn't see her.

So at that point, I went outside.

I started hollering Amber's name.

Amber.

Amber.

And she wasn't there.

So I called the only two people that I thought

that Amber may have wandered off to

and I got an answering machines.

So obviously they weren't there.

Amber.

Amber.

Amber, where are you?

Amber.

I couldn't find you Amber.

I was afraid and I didn't want anything to be wrong.

I wanted her to be home.

ROBERT STACK: Kim Swartz would never

see her only daughter again.

The disappearance of Amber was the second devastating tragedy

Kim Swartz was forced to endure.

Her husband Bernie, a Pinole police officer,

was killed in the line of duty when

Kim was pregnant with Amber.

This latest tragedy would transform the widowed mother

of three into an activist.

Following hours of searching, investigators concluded

Amber Swartz had been abducted.

The morning after she disappeared,

a pair of pink socks was discovered

in a park a short distance from Amber's home.

When the park had been searched the previous night,

the socks were not there.

To come back the next morning and find these socks

in a place that had already been searched,

certainly sent up a lot of red flags.

They were just like the socks that Amber had on her feet.

I could say that.

That's because I had helped Amber put her new shoes on

that we had just bought.

We knew fairly quickly that this was going

beyond our resources and we reached out to the FBI

and to the neighboring agencies and pulled in other resources

so that we could conduct a proper investigation.

Mrs. Swartz, I just have a few more questions

that I'd like to ask you, OK?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: When FBI agents visited her home,

Kim was struck by the unusual questions they asked.

Have you been to Social Security

in the last two or three days?

No.

KIM SWARTZ: Questions like had I or Amber

received anything in the mail from someone

that we didn't know?

Had Amber come home with anything she couldn't really

explain who it came from to me?

Had I received phone calls from anyone I didn't know?

Just really bizarre questions.

But the way they were being asked kind of

led me to believe they were so specific that they

had to be about somebody.

ROBERT STACK: In the days following

Amber's disappearance, many strangers offered to help.

But three days after her daughter vanished,

Kim was visited by a man she will never forget.

His name was Tim Bindner.

My name is Timothy.

I'm with the search for Amber, for your dear Amber.

KIM SWARTZ: He was--

it looked like he'd been up all night,

Basically, was saying how he wanted

to be the wanted to save her, he wanted to be the one

to bring her home to me.

I've been searching in a lot of places

that I think some of the authorities

might not be searching for because I know kids,

I love kids.

ROBERT STACK: Bindner's van also caught Kim's attention.

KIM SWARTZ: It almost like a van that he painted himself.

He's got these plates that say love you,

he's got posters on the outside of the van.

So I want you to know, I want to be the one to find her.

ROBERT STACK: According to Kim, Bindner

became extremely emotional as he talked about Amber.

I want to be the one to save her and bring her back to you.

Did you see Amber Swartz on June 3?

No.

ROBERT STACK: Tim Bindner was questioned

extensively by the FBI following Amber Swartz's abduction.

According to authorities, the results of his pantograph

were inconclusive.

Did you speak to Amber Swartz on June 3?

No.

Tim Bindner is a very bright man.

He's a very intelligent man.

He's a Berkeley grad, right up--

ROBERT STACK: John Philpin is a trained forensic psychologist.

He spent more than 1,000 hours interviewing Tim Bindner

for his book "Stalemate."

There are law enforcement agencies

which consider him a suspect.

There's also the perception shared by a number of people

that Tim has done absolutely nothing wrong

and that he is a misunderstood good Samaritan.

ROBERT STACK: Tim Bindner's attorney, John Burris,

maintains that Bindner's actions should

not be viewed with suspicion.

Point of fact is he is trying to be helpful.

He does that voluntarily.

It is a sense that has that he has

an obligation and a duty to go out and try

to find missing children.

ROBERT STACK: According to John Philpin,

Tim Bindner seemed to have a particular interest

in the grave of a girl named Angela Bugay.

Five-year-old Angela disappeared four and 1/2 years before Amber

and was later found sexually assaulted and strangled.

The FBI placed Tim Bindner under surveillance.

His alleged habit of visiting Angela

Bugay's grave site up to 90 times a year

had caught their attention.

To have been to this little girl's grave, this little girl

that he never knew, I just can't imagine anybody going

to somebody's grave that many times in that period of time,

unless there's something else going on in that person's mind.

ROBERT STACK: According to John Burris,

the fact that Bindner visits grave sites

should not cast suspicion on his client.

For him, it has a special kind of significance

that is personal to him but certainly

not an indication that he's put anybody in that graveyard.

ROBERT STACK: 11 days after Amber vanished,

a bloodhound from the Contra Costa County

Sheriff's Department tracked her scent to Angela's grave site.

Police say the dog also picked up

Amber's scent in Bindner's van.

However, California courts are often

leery about the reliability of bloodhound evidence.

Sadly, five months after Amber's disappearance,

the East Bay Area was shocked by the abduction

of another young girl, nine-year-old Michaela Garect

outside a Hayward market.

As Michaela went to retrieve her scooter,

a man forced her into his car.

Michaela.

ROBERT STACK: By now, parents in the surrounding communities

were living in fear.

Then two months later in nearby Dublin,

13-year-old Ilene Misheloff disappeared.

Despite the fact that some suspicion

had been directed at him, Tim Bindner help search for Ilene.

A few years later, a mother in the town of Fairfield

informed the police that her daughter

had begun receiving mail from a man they didn't know.

One young girl was getting letters from Tim.

Oddly enough, these letters were written backwards

and had to be held up to a mirror to read,

which I'm sure would set any parent on edge, you know?

To have your kid all of a sudden get this really weird letter.

I'm going to go play with my friends down the street.

ROBERT STACK: Just a few blocks from where

the letter was received, another young girl disappeared.

Four-year-old Nikki Campbell was playing in her driveway.

Nikki lived on Salisbury Drive in Fairfield.

She had been out playing with her brother in the afternoon.

When mom came home from work asked, where's Nikki?

Well, she's out playing.

They couldn't find her.

ROBERT STACK: Four days after Nikki's disappearance,

her scent, like Amber Swartz's before her,

was allegedly tracked by bloodhounds to Angela Bugay's

grave, the gray that Tim Bindner reportedly

visited so regularly.

You put all of these coincidences together,

you see them pile up-- the dogs, the cemetery, the various

scents in the various places--

and you really have to question--

which is what I believe law enforcement was doing

and I think it's their role to do it--

you really have to question, is this a coincidence

or is there something to it?

If there was something more to it, then you would think,

after all this time, there would have

been some more evidence that was more definitive

and there hasn't been any.

ROBERT STACK: Following the Nikki Campbell disappearance,

the Fairfield Police Department searched Tim Bindner's home

and found nothing.

Believing that his reputation had been unfairly tarnished

by the Fairfield Police Department's handling

of the Nikki Campbell investigation,

tim Bindner brought a defamation lawsuit

against the city of Fairfield.

The city settled out of court for $90,000.

Citing the advice of his attorney,

Tim Bindner turned down a request for an interview.

Although he has been questioned by police,

it's important to note that Bindner has not been charged

with any crime relating to the disappearances of these girls

and he has consistently claimed he is innocent.

Kim Swartz refuses to give up.

Even though Amber would today be in her 20s,

Kim will not rest until she finds out

what happened to her daughter.

Within weeks of Amber's disappearance,

Kim Swartz created the Amber Foundation

for Missing Children.

The foundation's goals continue to be educating parents on ways

to prevent child abductions so that

what happened to Kim Swartz may never happen to them.

On a previous broadcast, we brought you

the story of Gilbert Ortiz who was looking

for his young son, Jonathan.

Authorities suspected that Gilbert's wife had taken

Jonathan after she had been accused

of committing a heinous crime.

After eight years, Gilbert and his son

have finally been reunited.

After serving in the military, Gilbert Ortiz

moved with his wife and child to Redwood City, California.

Though they were happy at first, Gilbert and Elizabeth

fought frequently over money.

When Gilbert received a promotion at work,

he thought that his future suddenly seemed brighter.

But within a week, Gilbert Ortiz was at a hospital

suffering from cardiac arrest, kidney failure, and pneumonia

and fighting for his life.

Doctors worked feverishly to determine what had caused

him to become so violently ill.

After lapsing in and out of consciousness for two weeks,

Gilbert told police he thought he might have been poisoned.

I lift weights and all but I could never get big

and that's the kind of guy she likes.

ROBERT STACK: Gilbert said Elizabeth met him in the store

parking lot to give him a special bodybuilding

drink which had already been mixed

in a plastic sports bag bottle.

It looked like a real shake, like a chocolate shake.

And then when I tried it, it sort of burned my throat

and then my throat was really, really burning

and I was all shaky.

And then I felt like getting sick.

ROBERT STACK: Paramedics came and rushed

Gilbert to the hospital.

Elizabeth Ortiz met them in the emergency room.

Doctors hopped that she could provide

an explanation for Gilbert's sudden mystery illness.

Have you ever seen that bottle?

No, never.

We needed to know where that sports bottle came from.

If it was something that was purchased from a fast food

store and it was really a bad mixture

that really made him sick or whether it

was a deliberate mix.

This is Sequioa Hospital.

I have a poisoning to report.

I need to speak to an officer.

ROBERT STACK: After it had been determined that the shake had

been tainted with a common insecticide,

police obtained a search warrant to see

if they could trace it or the plastic bottle to Elizabeth.

But when they arrived at the Ortiz to apartment,

they discovered that Elizabeth Ortiz had

vanished, along with Jonathan.

And then that's when it hit me, she did it.

And when they told me, I said, where's the baby?

He's gone.

That's the main part that really got me.

ROBERT STACK: With the evidence they gathered, police

were able to make a case against Elizabeth Fuentes Ortiz,

accusing her of attempted murder with special circumstances

for torture.

After following thousands of tips with possible sightings

of Elizabeth Ortiz, Sergeant Katherine Anderson

finally received a phone call from an FBI agent.

Basically, March 14 of 2000 I received a phone call

from the FBI telling me that they had Elizabeth

Ortiz in custody in Mexico.

When Elizabeth was arrested in Mexico, she was by herself.

The FBI gave me their word that they would continue

to look for the little boy in Mexico in the area

that they had arrested Elizabeth in.

ROBERT STACK: Elizabeth Ortiz was brought

to Redwood City for trial.

But where was Jonathan?

Assuming that Elizabeth would want to see her son,

Anderson had an age-progressed composite

created and posted at the jail.

Then Sergeant Anderson received the second phone

call she had been hoping for.

I received a phone call from a deputy telling me that they had

a little boy at the jail and the little boy

was a dead ringer for the composite picture that we had.

ROBERT STACK: Jonathan had been brought to the jail

by a relative.

According to the police, the boy had been living in Mexico

during the time he was missing.

The following day, Gilbert finally

was able to see the son he had never stopped thinking about.

He was two years old when he disappeared

when I got him back, he was 10.

As soon as I saw him, he just came and hugged me.

That's all it took.

One big hug.

I cannot explain what that feels like.

It's just too much of an emotion, I guess.

ROBERT STACK: Gilbert and Jonathan

have begun the long process of healing and getting to know

one another as father and son.

The hardest part of this experience

was losing a little boy that I really loved.

Not what she did, not what I went through, just losing him.

Join me for more intriguing true tales

on the next "Unsolved Mysteries."