All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S05E10.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

ANNOUNCER: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see
is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
It sounds unbelievable,

but many people say
that this man has

uncanny psychic abilities,
which enable him to communicate

with those who have
passed away and comfort

those who mourn them.

His name is George
Anderson, and tonight, we

will examine his
claims and witness

an actual psychic session,
which has surprising results.

In September of 1988,
David and Cynthia Dowaliby

were shocked by
the brutal murder

of their 7-year-old
daughter Jaclyn.

Two months later,
their nightmare

became a descent into
hell when authorities

charged them with a crime.

Also tonight, a
heartwarming update.

Thanks to our viewers,
a woman has finally

found her long lost brother.

Join us on another edition
of Unsolved Mysteries.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
During the past five years,

Unsolved Mysteries has
broadcast several stories

about people who seem to have
uncanny psychic abilities.

One of them was Dorothy
Allison, a New Jersey housewife

who had envisioned several
clues which helped police locate

the body of a young
boy, drowned when he

fell into a rain swollen creek.

Later, we hear the haunting tale
of Teresita Basa, a murdered

woman who purportedly
spoke through a friend

to name her own killer.

When police arrested
the man, he confessed.

And finally, there was the story
of Coral Polge, a British woman

who draws eerie portraits.

Her clients say that Coral's
drawings uncannily resemble

their deceased loved
ones, people whom

Coral could never have met.

What these stories
have in common

is that no one, not even
the most hardened skeptic,

has come up with a rational
explanation of what appear

to be genuine psychic episodes.

That is also true of the
man you're about to meet,

George Anderson of
Long Island, New York.

He seems to have
an uncanny ability

to communicate with the spirits
of those who have passed on.

At times, it does seem even
for me that I am literally

listening to them, or
listening to a conversation,

or feeling I'm listening.

I don't want people
to get the impression

it's all, like,
I'm hearing clearly

as I'm hearing you right now.

It's a feeling
that you're seeing,

a feeling that you're hearing.

A sensation more.

It's like getting an electrical
charge all through yourself.

I was hosting a
popular late night

radio talk show
on a rock station

on Long Island,
where I had been--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Joel Martin first heard

of George Anderson in 1980.

On the radio station
and the format,

we dealt heavily with
unexplained phenomena.

Just answer me with yes or no.

Don't add any more
information than that.

We'll let the
spirits do the work.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Martin
called George in for a reading.

According to both men,
they had never met before,

and George says he knew nothing
about Martin's background.

When George conducts
readings, he

sometimes makes
random marks on a pad

to enhance his concentration.

George himself does not
appear in our recreations

of his readings, which
are based on eyewitness

accounts and transcripts.

And he started to talk about
Shirley, my late wife who had

been killed the year before.

In 1979, she was hit
and killed by a car

crossing a street in New York.

Do you take the
name of Shirley?

Shirley, does that name
mean something to you?

Yes.

She says you know her.

She recently passed on suddenly.

She points to her face
and to her head, pain.

Maybe something happened?

I'm feeling-- the pain is
coming through me, a feeling

pain in the head and the face.

Maybe a car accident?

How do you know that?

Well, she's standing
right behind you.

No, no.

You can't see her.

Only I can see her.
She's a spirit.

She's-- she's right there.

Then he did something that
made me realize something

legitimate was going on that
could not be explained by any--

any way that I could reason.

She's pointing her finger.

She's waving it back
and forth very quickly,

very quickly, like that.

Stop it, stop it.

Whenever she was annoyed
at me, she would say,

you're like a little boy.

You're just like a little-- but
that was only a private thing

that she and I knew.

Nobody would have known that.

So now I'm figuring
how the heck?

I could not have
told that to anybody.

There's no way he
could have known this

or should have known it.

That's a very private thing.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Joel Martin

persuaded George
Anderson to undergo tests

with the acting
chief of neurology

at a New York City hospital.

According to Martin, George's
EEG was extremely unusual.

While George conducted a session
with an off screen subject,

half of his brain
registered sleep while half

showed normal waking patterns.

The neurologist
who conducted those

tests, he said he had never
seen anything like it before.

And is it what we expect to see?
No.

Is it what's supposed to happen?

No.

Is something unusual going on?

Yes.

Joel Martin had always
considered himself a skeptic

in matters of the paranormal.

After meeting George Anderson,
he became a believer.

Martin began to give George
a significant block of time

on his radio call-in
show, and George Anderson

became something of a
celebrity in his hometown.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
George was born in Lindenhurst,

Long Island, New York in 1952.

When he was six, George was
stricken with a severe case

of chicken pox.

He almost died.

And immediately
afterwards, he says

he began to hear voices
and see visions of people

who had recently passed away.

Eventually, George's parents,
strict Roman Catholics,

resigned themselves to their
son's apparent abilities.

George began to earn his living
by conducting psychic readings.

To date, he has
held such readings

for thousands of people.

Barbara and John Licata
contacted George Anderson

in 1982, four months after the
death of their 16-year-old son,

David.

David had gone out to a party.

If I'm quiet, I can still
hear his footsteps going out

and the door slamming shut.

He had to be in by 12:30.

I went to bed, but I laid
there awake, because I don't

sleep until my kids are in.

And at 1:30, I got up because
it was unlike David not to call.

[knocking on door]

I'll get it.

David?

- Mr. Licata?
- Yes.

Mrs. Licata?

Mhm.

I need to talk to
you about your son.

And then I knew.

It was a night of hell.

You know, if anybody wants
to know what hell is like,

that's what it's like.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
David Licata had been

killed by a hit and run driver.

John was troubled by Barbara's
deep depression over David's

death and by their
oldest son's overriding

bitterness toward the driver
who had killed his brother.

At Barbara's request, John
reluctantly agreed to a session

with George Anderson.

George Anderson claims
that with the Licatas,

as with all his clients,
he had no prior information

about them.

He only knew that the
family was in mourning.

You recently lost a son?

Yes.

In some sort of
accident, passed suddenly.

I'm seeing-- I keep seeing
a vehicle of some kind.

Yes.

He's saying he was at the
wrong place at the wrong time.

16, was he about 16?

Yeah, he was 16.

He's telling me--

it's very confusing
because he's very restless.

Was he very emotional?

Yes.

Very emotional, because
he's talking a mile a minute.

I can recall their son David
coming through very strongly.

Very high spirited
personality, no pun intended.

And also very anxious to
reach out to his parents

and give them and his
family the assurance

that he was all right.

There were a lot of
things, very specific pieces

of information that came
forth in this reading

that there was no way that
George could have known,

because he didn't even know
who I was, much less link

me to this information.

A lot of hostility.

He's saying hostility
about this, his brother.

Yes.

Very hostile, still
holding bad feelings?

Yes.

He saying forgive.

Gotta forgive.

If he can forgive, everybody
else should be able to forgive,

because he's the one over there.

I felt this enormous
relief when we made contact

with David through George.

It was a total relief, because
I felt like you arrived,

you're in the other
world, you're still alive,

and I will see you again.

And there's a reason
for all of this.

I don't know what the reason
is, but I will see you again.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Six years almost to the day

after David Licata died, another
boy, David Elliot of Rochester,

New York, was killed in
a snow skiing accident

at the age of 17.

Several weeks later, the
deaths of the two boys

would become oddly
intertwined when

John Elliott bought a
book about George Anderson

called "We Don't Die."

The book dealt with the
case of David Licata.

While John Elliot
was reading it,

he dreamed he had a session
with George Anderson.

In the dream, George said
he saw John's son David

standing with David Licata.

Do you take the name "David?"

Because I'm seeing David
Licata with a soccer ball,

and he's telling me that your
son's name is also David."

The dream seemed so real that
I decided I ought to pursue

a reading with George.

My background is in
science and engineering.

Circumstantial evidence doesn't
prove anything to myself.

I need the hard facts.

And so I wanted a number
of things out of any vision

or any trip to
George to convince

myself that he was doing
something like what's

claimed in his book.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): A month

and a half after John
Elliot had his dream, he

and two of his other sons,
Mark and Jack, attended

a reading with George Anderson.

John Elliot sat at
the back of the room

and his sons sat at the front.

John claimed that George
Anderson had no idea who they

were or that they were related.

And I decided I would
sit back and be the skeptic

and give him no information.

You prove it to me.

The man in the back had
his son pass recently.

Uh, yes.

He's saying--

I'm sorry.

I've lost the signal.

I wanted to see that
there was a signal involved.

I wanted to know that he
wasn't reading my mind.

And he goes, "I
have to stop now.

I lose the signal."

Quote, signal.

"When lightning storms arrive."

And I sat there, like, with my
pen checking off number one,

there's a signal involved.

It's not real clear
but something about 17?

17?

Does that mean anything?

Yeah.

GEORGE: His age?

Yes.

GEORGE: He was 17
when he passed?

Passed suddenly?

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
George Anderson's attention

then shifted to one
of John Elliot's sons.

Do you have--

do you take the name Madel--

Madeline?
- Yes.

Uh-huh.

A mother vibration,
maybe grandmother?

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Grandfather Donald,
married to Donald?

Yes.

They're around you now.

Now your grandparents are moving
over behind this young man

here.

They're saying-- protecting--
are you two brothers?

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Yes, they're saying yes.

Sport.

I'm getting a lot
of sports here.

Do you play--

I'm seeing some sort of
basket, a hoop, and a ball.

Maybe basketball?

And then Mark
spoke up at soccer.

I play soccer.

And George says, "oh,
this is really strange."

And I'm listening to all
this and saying, "now, what

could be strange to a psychic?"

Now, what was really strange
in my mind is if he's

got this vision of the Licata
boy with a soccer ball,

now that would even be
strange to a psychic.

Oh.

OK, now I understand, because
I'm seeing-- all of a sudden,

I'm seeing David Licata is there
dressed in his soccer uniform.

I'm seeing David Licata.

He's wearing his soccer outfit.

Here's a clue.

The name David and soccer.

Do you take the name of David?

Yes.

Yes.

You're-- you're David?

You're father of these two boys.

Yes, I am.

And you-- you've lost--

now-- now, he's coming through.

OK, you've lost a
son named David.

You've lost a
brother named David.

Finally, he's coming through.

Boy, that was freaky.

I didn't know why
David Licata is there.

He's saying, yes.

Now-- now, your son
is coming through.

They're talking and
almost laughing about it.

He used him as a--

very clever, but very freaky.

I'm sitting there having
George relive my dream

and my parents identified,
and I would call myself numb.

I sat there and was amazed.

Why, just about
everything I'd asked for

happened, and I came
away without being

able to doubt him.

I definitely have changed
my attitude towards a life

after this.

Over the years, I've learned
to accept and believe

that David, as well as all
the rest of my relatives,

are with us all the time.

I constantly question it.

I constantly say to myself,
gee, if this is real,

why doesn't it work like this?

It should work like this.

I should be able to do this.

But I can't doubt it just
because it doesn't work

the way I feel it
should work or the way

you feel it should work.

It's working the way
it's supposed to work,

and I guess it's easier
just to accept it as it is.

To satisfy our own curiosity
about George Anderson's

apparent ability to
communicate with the dead,

Unsolved Mysteries
asked a bereaved family

from Queens, the
Kenneth Silvermans,

to meet with George.

As far as we were
able to ascertain,

George Anderson and the
Silvermans had never met,

nor did he know
anything about them

or their son, who had
recently passed away.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
33-year-old Barry Silverman

died last February, a victim
of a virulent form of cancer,

which spread to his lungs.

Barry's parents and his sister
Joy agreed to his session

with George.

What you are seeing
is an actual reading

conducted by George Anderson,
shot with multiple cameras.

It has something
to do with health.

Well, there's definitely two
male presences around you,

and I'm sure there's
two males close to you

passed on someplace,
so don't say anything.

Let me just go with it.

Someone also claims your dad.

Your dad passed also?

Yes, because somebody
is behind you.

Does your father have
a good sense of humor?

Yes.

Because he joked.

He said he doesn't want
you to feel left out.

He claims your boy is with him.

So you obviously must have
lost a son, because he keeps

saying your boy is with me.

And I'm sure he passed
on as a young adult,

but he's still your son.

He's still your boy.

I hear the name "Barry."

Does the name "Barry"
mean anything to you?

Yes, that's our son.

Barry says the message
that I just gave you,

this is how you'll know it's for
real, that it comes from Barry.

Why do I feel as
if I lose my air?

Does that make sense?

The injury I feel is in here.

And he says you lose--

I'm losing my air.

So there's, like,
pressure in my chest

as if I'm injured in the chest,
but I'm obviously feeling

whatever the circumstances are.

Were you concerned
you let him down?

Yes.

Because he keeps saying
"you didn't let me down,

you didn't let me down,
you didn't let me down."

But he directs it at
you more specifically.

Because he pointed at you.

He keeps saying, "you
didn't let me down."

I did let him down.

I'm glad he said that.

Very sensitive, warm guy.

He sends his love
to the three of you.

And he says to you specifically,
now when you leave--

it's like he's giving orders.

He says when you leave here,
you leave here with peace.

He says you didn't
fail me, and he says,

now you stop feeling guilty.

And he says, you let that go
and put your heart at rest.

He says, because he's all right.

He's at peace.

Until we meet again,
go on with your lives.

Try to be as happy
as you can be.

Until we meet again, know
that you'll be with me again.

One thing about
him, he's honest.

You hear from him, you'll
know it's for real.

And with that, he
withdraws with the others.

Pray for us until we meet
again, and there they go.

OK, you can relax.

Away they went.

I feel a lot better.

I really do.

I feel that Barry's
really with us,

and we'll be together
someday, and that doubt is--

human beings are funny.

I guess you never get
rid of it completely,

but I feel much more convinced.

I am just so relieved to
hear that he's not suffering

and that he's happy.

And I do believe he spoke
with George Anderson.

And there are so
many things that he

has told us that were so true
that I feel so much better.

I feel very relieved.

I'm still skeptical.

I still have my days
where I'll walk upstairs

and I'll call my best
friend in New York City

and I'll say to him, ah, this
stuff's all a bunch of bull.

I don't know why
I keep doing this.

But then that's few
and far between.

Then there are all
the times where

you know something is happening
that you cannot explain.

Plus, when you see
the effect it has on

the people in a positive
way, where it helps them.

I guess it's my job to mind my
own business and stay out of it

and just continue
to be the instrument

and let the person receive
what comfort comes from it.

And that's what I try to do.

As much as we might want to
believe in George Anderson's

abilities, our rational, logical
minds tend to discount them.

Still, after seeing
George Anderson in action,

one might speculate, to
paraphrase Shakespeare,

that there are more
things in heaven and earth

than are dreamt of
in our philosophies.

Next, the tragic
story of a couple

charged with the murder
of their own daughter.

Plus, an update in which our
viewers help close a case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
1947, a small California

town near the Oregon border.

A woman walking home
from the grocery store

found an abandoned
two-year-old girl

who had been severely beaten.

Are you all right?

Oh my God, come
with me, sweetie.

We'll get some help for you.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Through newspaper articles,

the little girl was
identified as Mary

Jane Medlin of Selma, Oregon.

Police arrested Mary's
mother and her boyfriend

on charges of child
abandonment and assault

with attempt to commit murder.

Both were sentenced
to 20 years in prison.

Mary, her older sister Leoma
and her baby brother Jimmy

eventually became
wards of the state,

and were placed with
different families.

In 1991, Mary finally
found her sister Leoma.

They immediately joined forces
to find their younger brother

Jimmy, whom Mary
had only seen once

when he was just an infant.

I feel that the missing
link is Jimmy to make

our family complete.

And I would like to know where
he is, what happened to him,

what kind of a life
he has, and like him

to know that we're here
and that we're his sisters.

The night of our
broadcast, Jimmy

was not watching
Unsolved Mysteries,

but his adopted sister was.

She immediately
called her mother,

who then contacted Jimmy.

His name is now
Donald Barrow, and he

was just as anxious
to meet his sisters

as they were to meet him.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Two weeks

after our broadcast,
Donald and his family

drove from their home in Fresno,
California to Mary's home

in Placerville.

Donald, Mary, and Leoma had not
seen each other in 45 years.

You must be Donald!

I am.

We didn't think you
were gonna make it.

The one thing that
I was concerned about

is, was it going to be OK?

God, you look so good.

There is a resemblance.

And I knew when I met him out
at the old car that it is OK.

And I am so happy.

There's one for you.

We didn't think
good, because we just

thought of that this morning.

I just think that seeing
him and knowing that he's

had a good life, that
was something that Mary

and I both were concerned with,
that we wanted to make sure

that he had had a good life.

And knowing that he did
makes us very happy.

I'm not very good at emotions,
so I don't know how to explain

all of them hat were
going through my mind,

but there were a lot of them.

And there still are.

I didn't think this
was ever gonna happen.

Now I'm gonna find out what
it's like to be a baby brother.

And I still get to
be the oldest sister.

And we all know
I'm the middle child!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
September 10, 1980

began as an ordinary
Saturday morning

in Midlothian, Illinois.

David Dowaliby and his
son David were up early.

They were careful not to
wake the rest of the family,

including David's mother, who
lived in a basement apartment.

At around 7:15, David Dowaliby
noticed that the front door

was partially open.

My first reaction was that
my mother must have come home

and left it open.

I went into the kitchen and
I looked in the driveway

for her car, and her
car wasn't there.

And again, the
first reaction was

that she must have came
home in the middle of night,

went back out and left it open.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Two hours

later, David's wife, Cynthia,
got up and went in to wake

their seven-year-old
daughter Jaclyn.

Hey, Dave, have
you seen Jaclyn?

Dave, have you seen Jaclyn?
- No, isn't she in her room?

No is she with your mom?

No, I don't think Mom
came home last night.

Well, we should
probably find her.

David and Cynthia
initially assumed

that Jaclyn was out playing with
friends in the neighborhood.

Jaclyn was Cynthia's daughter
from a previous marriage.

After Cynthia and David married,
he felt so close to Jaclyn

that he legally adopted her.

After thoroughly
searching the house,

David took his son with him to
look around the neighborhood.

Hey, Paula, you haven't seen
Jaclyn around here, have you?

No, not this
morning I haven't.

I had checked
two or three homes,

and then we went out
in my truck and we

drove around the neighborhood,
going to friends who lived

a little further down, and
just driving around the blocks

and getting out of the
truck, looking in backyards

where there's swing sets.

Jaclyn, Jaclyn.

Jaclyn?

I started to get more
nervous, started to walk quicker

and call louder.

When I went back into
Jaclyn's room and I

noticed that her
comforter was missing,

and that it was very
unusual for her comforter

to be missing because
she doesn't play with it.

Did you find her?

No, we've been to every
house in the neighborhood.

No one's seen her.

I've been through
the whole house.

She's not there.
And her quilt's gone.

You know where that is?
- No.

All right.

Well, I'm gonna go
check the Morgans.

I was cutting
through my yard to look

into my neighbor's
backyard, and that's

when I noticed the window.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The window

to the basement apartment
have been broken into.

It appears that an
intruder had used

it to gain access to the house.

Dave, call the police!

Is this a picture of Jaclyn?

Yes.

Mind if hold on to it?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Within
hours, the Dowaliby household

was swarming with police
and FBI agents who assumed

that Jaclyn had been kidnapped.

They set up wire
tapping equipment

to record any calls which might
come in with ransom demands.

But a kidnapper never called.

[radio chatter]

Four days later, Jaclyn's
body was discovered

in a vacant field in
the adjacent community

of Blue Island, Illinois.

Found at the scene were
the comforter from her bed,

her nightgown, and a 26 foot
length of rope which had

been wrapped around her throat.

It is difficult to imagine
a parent's agony upon losing

a child, but imagine
the additional horror

of being accused of
killing your own daughter.

That is exactly what happened
to David and Cynthia Dowaliby.

Indeed, to this day,
some investigators

are still convinced
that David and Cynthia

murdered Jaclyn, despite
their long standing

claims of innocence.

Four years later, the
authorities continue

to ask the same question--

if the Dowalibys did not kill
their daughter, then who did?

Would you like to
sit down or something?

No, it's fine.

What else, what else?

What time did you
get up this morning?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): From
the moment they were notified,

the police investigation
into Jaclyn's disappearance

was two pronged.

He said he didn't
know he had seen her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): While
they pursued the possibility

of a kidnapping, they began
a detailed questioning

of both Cynthia and David.

Your wife was still asleep?

She was still asleep.

Well, isn't that
kind of strange?

I know in my house with my
kids, one of the kids get up,

it's like the whole family's up.

Well, no.

They like to sleep,
so we let them sleep.

It was hard answering
their questions,

because telling the police
that you woke up around 8:00

isn't good enough.

They wanted us to get
it as close as possible.

And so we were forced to try
to get really close to times

when really all that was
on our mind was Jaclyn.

I didn't want them
asking me questions,

although you answer
them as you're

walking past them and pacing.

But it was just totally chaotic.

And the repeated questions of
what did you do in the morning,

it seemed so senseless,
because I always said you know,

where's my daughter?

Just find Jaclyn.

That's all I wanted them to do.
- Yes.

All of her girlfriends?

Yes, we did all this!

I know they'll
tell you that they

felt as though they were being
harassed and being accused.

I think any reasonable
individual has

got to-- got to understand
that you're in the house,

your daughter is missing,
you're a suspect.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Investigators

naturally directed
their attention

to the basement window.

Sharp glass and--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Initially, they

believed that the window
had been smashed by someone

on the inside to suggest
that an intruder had

broken it to gain entry.

Do people call you "David?"

DAVID: Yes.

Are you over 21 years old?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On
Sunday, September 11th, a day

after Jaclyn disappeared, David
agreed to take a polygraph test

at FBI headquarters in Chicago.

Did you help or plan
with anyone to cause

Jaclyn's disappearance.

No.

Please remain
facing the front.

Did you help or plan
with anyone to cause

Jaclyn's disappearance.

No.

Are you withholding
any information.

As I left, I asked the
agent next to me if I passed,

and he said I passed
with flying colors.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Three days went by.

The police still had no leads
to Jaclyn's whereabouts.

They requested that David
and Cynthia sit and wait.

I remember the
days were very long.

You know, the days
seemed like weeks.

And in the night, Cindy and
I would be in the room trying

to imagine where she might be.

I just remember that's
all that was on our minds,

is trying to figure
out where she could be.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the
very day Jaclyn's body would be

found, David Dowaliby
was asked to take

a second lie detector test.

Of course I wanted
to know why and what

was wrong with the first one.

And their answer was
something to the effect

that the state likes
to use their own.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
results from the second test

were inconclusive.

The report cited David as
an uncooperative subject.

However, he believes
the results stem

from a disagreement he
had with a state agent

administering the test.

At one point, he
asked me to answer

yes to all of his questions.

In other words, he
wanted me to lie

so he could see how his tests
would result in me lying.

And I said, OK.

And the second question
he asked me was,

did you kill your daughter?

And he wanted me to
answer yes to that.

And I told him I can't do it.

And he got into a
little argument with me.

He was turning red
in the face, and he

said we have to do it this way.

You have to lie.

And I don't mind
telling him my name

is not Dave, Dave Dowaliby.

And I don't mind some things,
but I told him I can't say

yes to a question like that.

And it upset him.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
After the second test,

David was interrogated
for another five hours.

Finally, an officer interrupted.

We think we found Jaclyn.

Is she OK?

I'm sorry.

She's dead.

DAVID (VOICEOVER): I was
convinced that these police

were lying to me
about my daughter's

death as a last ditch
effort to try to get

me to confess to something.

You liars.

DAVID (VOICEOVER):
Because of the way

the interrogation was going,
they were getting frustrated.

David, Jaclyn is dead.

DAVID (VOICEOVER):
I didn't believe it.

And I probably didn't
want to believe it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When
David returned home and saw

his wife and mother, he knew the
police had told him the truth.

[sobbing]

Oh God.

DAVID (VOICEOVER): Cindy
was on the couch crying,

and I ran up to her, and I
asked her if it was true.

And she said yes.

We lost our daughter.

No.

The feeling was,
well, it can't be.

It's impossible.

It's just too much of a
bizarre nightmare to be real.

And you feel like
it must be a dream.

It was hard to
accept, very hard.

The first thing I
said was, who did it?

Who would do this?

I can't explain how
I felt, because I--

I think I went into
shock because I

just laid on the couch, crying.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): An
autopsy was unable to determine

when Jaclyn had been murdered.

On September 17, 1988,
she was laid to rest.

The joint investigation now
included the Illinois state

police, the Midlothian
police, and the police

in Blue Island, where
Jaclyn's body had been found.

For two months, they
collected evidence and built

a case against the Dowalibys.

Finally, in November of 1988,
David and Cynthia Dowaliby were

charged with Jaclyn's murder.

Cynthia was two months pregnant.

In April of 1990,
David and Cynthia

Dowaliby went on
trial for the murder

of their daughter Jaclyn.

All rise.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The prosecution

built its case largely on
circumstantial evidence.

Would you tell us what
the car looked like, sir?

It appeared to
be a dark-colored--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
One prosecution witness,

a transit worker named
Everett Mann, picked David

Dowaliby out of a photo lineup.

He claimed that on the
night of the murder,

he saw a man with a
prominent nose like David's

in a parked car
near the site where

Jaclyn's body was discovered.

Did you make out any
features of that person?

Yes, it was the
nose structure.

And could you tell whether
it was a man or a woman?

Everett Mann's claim was
that from 75 yards away,

3/4 of the length
of a football field,

on a moonless night
in a dark parking lot,

he saw a profile
of a nose structure

that resembled David
Dowaliby's nose structure.

I've been there.

The police have been there.

Every rational person
knows that that's

a physical impossibility.

The photo spread that
Everett Mann was shown

was five photographs all of
white males, all frontal.

He saw the man in the
parking lot from a side view.

Also, David
Dowaliby's photograph

was 30% larger than the other
four photographs in the spread.

So therefore, by definition,
David Dowaliby's nose

was the largest.

If he saw a very large nose,
he picked out David Dowaliby's

photograph because
that was the largest

nose in the photo spread.

Didn't mean that he
saw David Dowaliby.

You remember what
time of day it was?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Before the trial,

two other eyewitnesses
had claimed

they saw Cynthia Dowaliby's
car in the same area

shortly after the murder.

However, those sightings
were later discredited.

At the exact times the
car was allegedly seen,

it was actually parked in
front of the Dowaliby's house.

Another central issue in
the prosecution's case

was a broken window which led
into the basement apartment.

The entire law enforcement
investigation in this case

was based on a
faulty assumption,

namely that the basement window
had been broken from inside

as part of an effort
by the Dowalibys

to cover up a crime
that they had committed.

Well, it turned out
that they had already

arrested and indicted
the Dowalibys

before the official
forensic report came back

on the window, which
conclusively showed that they

had been wrong and that the
basement window had indeed

been broken from the outside.

But by that point, there
was no turning back.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
prosecution also questioned

whether it was
possible for someone

to enter the house without
disturbing the items which were

perched beneath the window.

I found it very difficult
to believe that theory

that someone would break
in a window in the middle

of the night and traverse
over a nightstand, a towel

rack, a TV tray,
makeup and nail polish,

and not disturb anything.

It's incredible to
imagine someone even

kicking in a window and
making that kind of racket

in the middle of
the night, knowing

there's people in the home.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To
prove that such an entry was

possible, David Dowaliby shot
this videotape of a neighbor

crawling through the window.

The prosecution was telling
the judge and the media

that if someone were to come
in, they would have to step

on this towel rack and bend it.

So we put the tower
rack under the window,

and we had my neighbor
crawl in while we

were shooting it with a camera.

And what happened is he
slid in on his belly,

and right before he
got to the tower rack,

he wedged his foot on the
wall and held himself out,

hanging off the window ledge.

So we proved it to
ourselves, and we tape

recorded it so that
if there was a chance,

we could prove it to others.

I ask that the indictments
against David and Cynthia

Dowaliby be set aside for--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The Dowalibys never

testified on their own behalf.

Before closing
arguments, the judge

addressed attorneys from both
sides without the jury present.

It's my position that
there is sufficient evidence

for David Dowaliby's
case to go to the jury.

As to Cynthia Dowaliby
and as a legal matter,

I'm ruling that there
is insufficient evidence

for her case to go to the jury.

The court was
adjourned for a while,

and we just kept telling David
in the hall that he was next

and he was next, that
this is obviously

where the jury's heading also.

Have you reached a
verdict in this case?

WOMAN: Yes, your Honor.

We have.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
jury deliberated for three days

on the fate of David Dowaliby.

I was really up.

I felt for sure we were going
to get a not guilty verdict.

Will the defendant
please rise?

Of course I'm so
anxious, I was trying

to read into the judge's
eyes, into his reaction

of what it could be, but
I was getting nothing.

We, the jury, find the
defendant, David Dowaliby,

guilty of murder in
the first degree.

We, the jury, find the
defendant, David Dowaliby,

guilty of concealment
of a homicidal death.

I think I went into shock.

I wasn't even conscious
of anything around me.

It was unbelievable.

And it didn't matter
what to me at that point,

because I really wasn't
there, even though I was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
David Dowaliby

was sentenced to 45 years in
the Stateville maximum security

prison in Joliet, Illinois.

But even as he began
serving his sentence,

a grassroots movement
was being organized

by Cynthia and friends of the
family to reverse the decision.

Their efforts caught
the attention of Chicago

journalist David Protess.

In a series of
newspaper articles,

he criticized the
official investigation.

Well, Carol, the Dowaliby
trial ended in a split decision

because it was a
circumstantial case.

There was no physical evidence.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Later,
television reporter Paul Hogan

collaborated with
Protess in a series

of investigative reports.

It didn't have to be that way.

Our expert says the state police
evidence technician, whose

primary job was to seek out and
collect all physical evidence,

should have
immediately collected

and inventoried the glass.

Instead, he waited three days
and then had to retrieve it

from a trash basket.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The news reports

and shifting public sentiment
brought about a stunning turn

of events.

Is he just about out?

He's just about
ready to come out.

- Oh, that's great.
- Did you get a call?

Did somebody call you?

Yes, we just got
the phone call.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In October of 1991,

the Illinois court of
appeals unanimously

overturned the
verdict and dismissed

David Dowaliby's case.

He was released from prison
after serving 18 months.

Today's not a day to be
bitter or to look back.

I'm just looking forward
to seeing my family.

So maybe in a few weeks
or so, once it's sunk in,

I might look back and decide
what to do next, but--

What are you going
to say to the kids?

And the appellate
court, in my mind,

did not find David
Dowaliby innocent.

They released him
for lack of evidence.

Someone in that home was
responsible for Jaclyn's death.

And I still believe that.

I haven't discovered
any evidence

or been told any other, given
any other facts that would lead

me to believe any differently.

We're left with the mystery
of what happened to Jaclyn,

and we wonder all the time what
could have happened to her.

Who could have hurt her?

We just want the
ability to try to go on,

but we want to find out
what happened to Jaclyn.

We want justice.

What it all boils down to is
we lost a precious little girl.

And nothing beyond that is
as bad as losing Jaclyn.

Going to prison, being accused
of this crime, it's all bad,

but it doesn't compare
to losing Jaclyn.

So that was the
hardest part of it

all, and we keep falling
back on the same, on Jaclyn.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Update,

after we aired this story, two
viewers called our telecenter

with crucial information
which refuted

the alibi of one of the
original suspects in the case.

As a result of the
new revelations,

the state attorney's office
reopened the investigation

of Jaclyn Dowaliby's murder.

However, at this time,
there are no plans to file

new charges in the case.

Join me next time.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

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