All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S05E18.480p.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):
Shortly after the death

of his grandfather,
Don Decker's life

took on a disturbing, almost
supernatural dimension.

Suddenly, wherever Don was, rain
mysteriously began to appear,

leaving his friends to wonder if
he had somehow been possessed.

But for Don Decker, the
rain was only the beginning.

February 24, 1992 was an
unseasonably warm night

in the San Francisco Bay area.

For Michael Hunter, it
seemed a perfect evening

for a motorcycle ride.

He had no idea what
was waiting for him.

When Irene Love was 16,
she was startled to learn

that she had been adopted.

That discovery led to
a stunning revelation

about Irene's long lost
best friend from childhood.

We'll also introduce you
to a man who apparently made

his living as a professional
hospital patient

until one of his feigned
illnesses turned fatal.

It is one of the oddest scams
we have ever encountered.

Perhaps you can help unravel
it on Unsolved Mysteries.

[theme music]

We commit his body to
the ground, earth to earth,

ashes to ashes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
February 24, 1983,

in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania,
the funeral of James Kishaugh

is in progress.

He had died of cirrhosis of
the liver at the age of 63.

The Lord look upon him with
favor and give him peace.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
His grandson, 21-year-old Don

Decker, had been granted a
furlough from the county jail

to attend the funeral.

We would like to invite
you to come forward

and pay your last respects.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Don was serving a four to 12

month sentence for
receiving stolen property.

It was a capstone of a
troubled adolescence.

What no one knew was that Don
had been keeping a dark secret.

He says that his grandfather,
James, the man he was now

obliged publicly to
mourn, had abused

him physically from the
time he was seven years old.

No other part
of the family knew

anything about what happened.

And I was like good fighting
evil, basically, I put it.

The evil was gone,
and I was hoping

that everything would change.

In fact, things would
change, and drastically,

but not in the way Don Decker
could ever have imagined.

After the funeral,
Don was completely

unnerved by the way
his parents glorified

his grandfather's memory.

He decided to spend the
night with his friends,

Bob and Jeannie Keiffer, whom
he had met a few months earlier.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
It was at the Keiffers' home

that all the uneasy feelings
stirred up at his grandfather's

funeral came back to haunt Don.

Suddenly, the air around him
vibrated with a deep chill.

Almost simultaneously,
water began to drip

from the living room walls.

Don fell into an eerie,
trance-like state.

Jeannie?

JEANNIE: : Yeah?

Have you got water
running back there?

JEANNIE: : No.

Come take a look at this.

We've got a leak.

Oh my God.

Look at that.

It's all over the wall.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At a total loss,

they decided to notify
the landlord, Ron Van Why.

Get some pots or a
bucket or something.

I'm gonna call Ron.

Hi, Ron.

This is Bob Keiffer.

The phone rang, and I got
a call from my tenant, Bob.

And he said, you
have to come down.

We have a problem.

And I said, well,
what's the problem?

He says-- well, he
says, I can't tell you.

He says, just come down.

He says, but he says you
have to come down right away.

Hey, Bob.
What's up?

Thanks.

We got a leak here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
When Ron arrived,

he was just as puzzled
as the Keiffers

about the cause of the problem.

Look, it's on the walls too.

Sure is.

RON (VOICEOVER): We decided
that maybe some plumbing,

but there were no pipes in the
front end of the house to leak.

The plumbing's in the back.

RON (VOICEOVER): There was
basically nothing there

that the water could
have come from.

It could be some
condensation or something.

Ice melting or
something like that.

After watching
it for a while, I

discovered that it wasn't only
coming from the ceiling down.

It could come from the wall
over, or from the floor up.

There was no-- no
basic direction

that it was coming from.

It could come from anywheres.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Ron Van

Why telephoned
his wife, Romayne,

and police officer John Bojan.

Officer Bojan didn't know what
to make of the strange scene

inside the Keiffer house.

He brought in his partner,
patrolman Richard Wolbert.

I'm not sure I'm
seeing what I'm seeing.

If you don't tell
me what's going on,

I'm not gonna go in there.

At this point, he was
telling me, I just want

you to walk into the house.

And I said, Well, I'm not
walking into the house

unless you explain to me
what I'm walking into.

He says, trust me.
Trust me.

Just walk into the house.

I walked in the door, and
he came right in behind me,

and I couldn't have got two
steps inside the front door,

and I was absolutely pelted.

Now you say what
I'm talking about.

What is this, water?

Yeah, it's coming
from everywhere.

They have a broken pipe?

There are no pipes.

We were standing just
inside the front door,

and there's a droplet of
water traveling horizontally.

And it just passed
right between us

and just traveled out
into the next room.

It happens all the time.

Unbelievable.

And this is only
happening in this room?

The rest of the house is dry.

Come look in the dining room.

It's not happening there.

I literally had a
chill going up my spine.

It made the hair
stand up on your neck.

That's how I felt.
This was a situation

where things were
happening that I never ever

dreamed could possibly happen.

And there was no way of
explaining what was going on.

We're gonna get you
outside, and we're

gonna take it from there.
Let's just go outside.

Come on.
- I'd like to stick around.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At this point,

Officers Bojan and Wolbert
left to report the incident

to the police chief.

I can't force you to go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): While
the Keiffers and Don Decker,

who'd gone hours without
food, walked across the street

to get something
to eat, Ron Van Why

and his wife remained behind.

They left, and
everything else left too.

The rain stopped.

The house was normal.

Ron, look.

It's stopping.

We were kind of thinking that
maybe it was coming from them.

And we weren't sure at
that time which one,

but we kind of figured because
when they left, it left.

So we were sure it had something
to do with one of them.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): It had now

been 23 hours since the
mysterious rain began.

Pam Scrofano, who
owned the restaurant

opposite the
Keiffers' house, had

visited them earlier that day
and seen the rain firsthand.

- Worse than this morning?
- Yes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Pam was convinced

it was the devil's
handiwork, and that the devil

was acting through Don Decker.

No, no, no.

You should probably
call the church.

have the priest come over
and take a look at you.

You look at Donnie and
he was like in a trance.

He would look at you, but not
knowing that you were there.

I said to Jeannie, he's
got to be possessed.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

We're sitting there, a couple
seconds later, there's water

all over the pizzeria too.

You have a crucifix?
You have a crucifix?

No.

PAM (VOICEOVER): I've
never seen anything

like that happen in my life.

So I went in the cash register.

I had a crucifix there.

I took it out, put it on him.

And the minute I put it on
him and touched the skin,

and he got burned.

It burns.

Just leave it on.

PAM (VOICEOVER): The cross
burned him and it turned black.

This boy is possessed.

You have to call-- you
have to call the church.

You have to have the priest
come and look at him.

BOB: I'm going back to the
house to wait for the police.

There's no way
that anybody could

have played a joke like that.

This was real.

Donnie was doing it himself.

And he was doing it without
realizing that he was doing it.

Take him to the church
and have the priest

have a look at him.

That's what you should do.

Give me a call.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Even Don

Decker had begun to believe
that he was somehow responsible.

The rain in the restaurant
was the final straw.

And now it's stopping.

DON (VOICEOVER): It
made me more sure that I

had something to do with it,
because it was following me.

And it didn't start raining in
the house until I got there.

They were living there.

Nothing ever happened.

And that's when I started
realizing that it was me.

It's not a coincidence.

They think it's him.

I don't buy it.

This is horrible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Back
at the Keiffers' house, Romayne

Van Why confronted Don Decker,
accusing him of somehow causing

all the trouble on purpose.

This is your fault!

You made it rain
in the living room.

You made it rain at Pam's place.

This is all your fault!

It's you, Donnie.

You're the one that's doing it.

You have to make it stop!

The pots and pans that
were over the stove, they

started rattling.

That's when I got
levitated off the floor.

I was just floating.

Then it was like a push, but
it wasn't like somebody taking

your hand and pushing you.

It was like feeling it all
over your body at once.

And I'm a big guy.

I always have been
assertive, and that

made me feel like a newborn.

I'm scared right now just
talking about it, really.

I believe that there was--

I don't know if you'd call it
an evil spirit or whatever.

A demon possessed his
body and caused this.

Well, this better
be good, gentlemen.

You wake me up in the
middle of the night.

I'm out here--

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): A few hours

after the strange
incident in the kitchen,

Officers Bojan and Wolbert
arrive with their chief,

a hardened skeptic in tone.

I got a 7:00 meeting with
the mayor tomorrow morning.

JOHN (VOICEOVER): When the
chief got to the house,

he was pelted with water
just as Rich and I were.

I got the impression that
he was put on the spot,

maybe a little bit embarrassed,
like we expected something out

of him that he could answer.

This looks like a
problem with your pipes.

There was no way to
explain what happened,

and I think he was put in a
position where he might have

felt a little uncomfortable.

Dry as a bone on the other
side of the house, Chief.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania chief

of police would be one
of the only eyewitnesses

from that bizarre night who
denied that anything out

of the ordinary had happened.

You got me out
of bed for this?

Chief--

This isn't a police problem.

This is a plumbing problem.

This is a police problem.

These people are helpless.

These people are
having a joke with you.

They're having
their way with you.

Look, nobody is being hurt here.

Nobody's being frightened,
so we're out of here.

We'll talk about it outside.

OK.

All right.

Don't worry.

We'll take care of it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The police chief

ordered his officers to
leave the Keiffer house.

He instructed them
not to file a report.

In fact, he directed them not
to speak of the incident at all.

I think he just wanted out.

He could not give us
an explanation for it.

He couldn't help us.

He couldn't provide
us with anything

more than what we
had experienced

and what we had come up with.

Well, he just
flat out denied it.

It didn't happen.

And he tried to convince
me that nothing happened.

And he wasn't gonna do that.

I saw it, and that's
all there is to it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The next day,

acting against the specific
orders of the police chief,

three of his veteran officers
went to the Keiffer home

to try and figure out
what was going on.

Nice and loose.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One
of the officers was Bill Davies.

This will just take a second.

Bring your hands
behind your back.

BILL (VOICEOVER): We
were standing there,

and I gave Mr. Decker
this gold cross to hold.

Just hold on to
that for a minute.

BILL (VOICEOVER):
The next thing,

he says, it's burning my hands.

It burns.

BILL (VOICEOVER): And there's
no explanation for it.

When you picked it up,
when you grabbed it,

not hot hot, but it's hot.

And I held on to it.

Hey, what's going on here?

JOHN (VOICEOVER):
All of a sudden,

he lifted up off
the ground, and he

flew across the room
with the force of as

though a bus had hit him.

Oh my God, Donnie.

Working

JOHN (VOICEOVER): And there was
three claw marks on the side

of his neck, which drew blood.

Oh my God.

Look at his neck.

Come on.

I had no answer
for it whatsoever.

And I just draw a
blank, even today.

I've been a cop 40 years,
and I never ran into anything

like this here never.

I mean, there's
always an explanation

when something happens.

If you can investigate it,
you come up with something.

This is why it happened.

This case here, there
is no explanation.

There's an evil
upon this house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Finally, on the third night,

Ron Van Why was able to convince
an evangelical preacher, whom

we would call Rev. Johnson,
to come to the house

and attempt an exorcism.

We all must kneel and pray.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Every Protestant minister

and Catholic priest
in Stroudsburg

had turned Ron down.

The Van Whys and the Keiffers
kept vigil while Reverend

Johnson prayed for Don.

Our Father who art in heaven.

As she started to pray, Donnie
went into like a convulsion.

He started to shake.

He pulled himself
up into a ball.

And the longer she prayed,
he started to relax then.

His whole body seemed
to quiet completely down.

And as you're standing
there watching this,

you could feel the house
itself seemed to take

on a totally different feeling.

Those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

By the time she got done
praying, the water was gone.

And that was the last that
we saw any water at the house

at all.

Amazingly, the
rain had stopped.

Don Decker appeared to
return to his old self.

Some witnesses believe that
Rev. Johnson had performed

a miracle, or an exorcism.

But whatever it was,
the results would

prove to be only fleeting.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
After his furlough,

Don Decker returned to
the Monroe County Jail.

Within a few days,
the mysterious rain

had once again materialized.

Guard, guard,
get me out of here!

- What's the problem here?
- Look at me.

I'm soaking wet.
It's all wet.

Now get me out of here!

Drake, Drake, can you
get him out of here?

DON (VOICEOVER): They put me
in a maximum security cell,

and I was in there
with another inmate.

And I was thinking, I wish
I could make it rain here.

And all of a sudden,
water just started

coming out of a concrete floor.

And at that point, I
thought I could do stuff.

What are you doing?

Are you throwing water onto
the cell walls from the sink

or from the toilet or something?

I can control it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
This time it was different?

This time, Don felt powerful.

He realized he could
manipulate the rain at will.

I can control it.

You can control the rain?

I'll tell you what, if
you can control the rain,

make it rain in the
warden's office.

Make it rain in Dave
Keenhold's office.

I was sitting at the desk,
and I was writing a report,

and I was all by myself in
the administration area.

Nobody else was around.

It was approximately
8:00 in the evening.

At the time, I
didn't feel anything.

My shirt was drooping down.

[knocking on door]

Yeah, come in.

Excuse me, warden.

I was just down talking to--

KEENHOLD (VOICEOVER): I
didn't know what was going on,

and the officer told
me to look at my shirt.

But it's a brand new shirt.

And right here, on about
the center of my sternum,

about four inches
long, two inches wide,

I was just saturated with water.

And he said he could make
it rain if he wanted to.

KEENHOLD (VOICEOVER):
I was startled.

I'm was scared.

So was the officer.

The officer was very frightened
at that particular time.

And I just didn't have an
explanation of why it happened.

All of a sudden, I
received this frantic call

from a sergeant in a jail.

His name was Keenhold.

And he said, can you come over?

We need you.

We need your help.

Reverend Blackburn.

Nice to meet you.

Sit own, please.

Thank you, officer.
We'll be fine.

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER):
So they brought

this very meek and mild mannered
young man into the room.

And he was asking me my help.

What is it?

What's going on?

I can make it rain.

They put a cross around
my neck and it burned,

a rosary in my
hand and it burned.

Son, don't you
think it would be

a lot simpler if
you just stopped

all this nonsense right now?

You're making all
this up, aren't you?

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER):
All of a sudden,

like that, the demeanor changed.

And this smell
came into the room.

Nurses and doctors,
medical people,

will tell you that when
you walk into a room

where someone is dying with a
cancer or something, usually,

there's a smell.

You can tell when
you walk in a room.

And I smelled a smell like that
multiplied five times at least.

Evil, foreboding.

I have powers you don't.

I can make it rain.

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER): And at
that point, he raised his hand,

and he rubbed his
fingers together.

And all of a sudden,
it started to rain.

It was like the devil's rain.

It was a mist.

I was in the presence of evil.

I'm gonna pray for you.

I don't want you
to pray for me.

I don't care whether
you want me to or not.

Prayer is my prerogative.

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER):
And I opened up the Bible

and started to read to him,
but the pages never got wet.

So help me, it was
a frightening thing.

Wickedness was found in you.

Through your widespread trade,
you were filled with violence.

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER): I think
I was praying more for me

than I was for him.

I prayed, and it was
only a brief period,

and the rain stopped.

I bind you in the
name of Jesus Christ.

BLACKBURN (VOICEOVER):
He subsided,

and you could feel a peace.

And he said, thank you.

He got tears in his eyes, and we
hugged, and we prayed together.

He was possessed.
There's no doubt in my mind.

There is no way that
a human being could

do what he did in that room.

There is no way
that he did anything

but what he did was spiritual.

And it wasn't of God.

Guaranteed it was not of God.

Well, it's over, and
it hasn't happened again.

So basically I'm just
hoping that it never will.

And I just go day by day.

And as for my grandfather, I
think what had happened was his

doing, because he abused
me when I was young,

he got a chance
to abuse me again.

I think what makes
this case very unique

is that all of the
witnesses are so credible.

We're dealing with very good,
well seasoned police officers

that were obviously rather
frightened and shaken by this,

but also had the
powers of observation.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Chip
Decker, no relation to Don,

and Peter Jordan, are
the principal paranormal

researchers on this case.

They believe that
somewhere there

is information as yet
undiscovered which may

help them unravel this mystery.

The Donald Decker
case, the rain boy case,

is by far the singularly most
fascinating and important case

I have ever personally
been involved in.

That does not mean that I
believe that it necessarily

is proof positive to me
of demonic infestation,

but it is the case in my
own personal experience

up to this point that comes
the closest to that hypothesis.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
What happened to Don Decker?

In all, nine eyewitnesses,
10, counting Don himself,

are willing to go
on public record

claiming they saw,
heard, and felt phenomena

apparently not of this world.

Is it possible that Don
Decker, somehow mesmerized

by the pain of a
childhood trauma,

stumbled into another world
which none of us can fathom?

Or was Don Decker
perhaps trapped

in some murky region of his own
psyche, his power to do good

and his power to do evil
locked in combat with Don's

own body as a battlefield?

After all, as John Milton
wrote in Paradise Lost,

the mind is its own place, and
in itself can make a heaven

of hell, a hell of heaven.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Next, a champion motorcycle

racer is gunned down in an
apparent robbery turned lethal.

The shimmering lights
of San Francisco Bay

can be seen from more than a
dozen surrounding communities.

On the evening of February 24,
1992, one of those communities

became the scene of a
tragic unsolved murder.

At 8:33 PM, a man
slowly approached

a gas station in
Emeryville, across the bay

from San Francisco.

He was hunched over
his motorcycle,

weaving in an erratic
and perilous fashion.

Police and paramedics were
dispatched to the scene

and attempted to revive
the stricken rider.

Give me ventilation.

Give me another one.

OK, continue compressions.

[inaudible] Let's
get him out of here.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
His pulse was feeble,

and he was barely alive.

The absence of any
external injuries

left the authorities mystified.

There was no bleeding
at all the site.

If it had been a reported
motorcycle accident

or some kind of an
accident, you would expect

to see some kind of blood.

But there was absolutely none.

OK, back over.

1, 2, 3.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The unknown motorcyclist was

rushed to a nearby hospital.

It was later discovered that
he had been shot three times

by a small caliber weapon.

1, 2, 3.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
One of the bullets

had shattered his knee, a second
had lodged in his abdomen,

the third and fatal bullet
had punctured his aorta.

The wounds were nearly
invisible but had resulted

in massive, internal bleeding.

The victim never
regained consciousness,

and was pronounced dead
shortly after 9:00 PM.

The victim was later identified
as 30-year-old Michael Hunter,

an avid motorcycle
racer had survived

100s of dangerous
competitions, only to perish

on a lonely bayfront road.

What happened
to Michael Hunter

is unfortunately an all
too common occurrence

in today's big cities.

An innocent person is murdered.

The killer walks away,
and the police are left

without a suspect or a motive.

Even in the highly competitive
field of motorcycle racing,

Michael Hunter was known
as a man with no enemies.

He lived for one thing
and one thing only--

high speed racing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
During the mid-1980s,

Michael Hunter suited
up for competitions

throughout California,
earning a reputation as one

of the area's top cyclists.

He said that racing
gave him probably

the highest high that he'd
ever had in his whole life.

He said that there was nothing
that beat this excitement

and the thrill of the racing.

And I think the
competition was maybe

almost incidental to the
thrill of the racing.

He was always sharing,
always teaching.

Mike took me in hand
from the beginning

and taught me how to ride,
taught me how to ride safely.

He taught me how to ride clean.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The evening

of February 24th began like
many others for Michael Hunter.

At 7:45 PM, he climbed aboard
his red, white, and blue sport

bike, apparently just
to go for a ride.

February 24th was
a beautiful evening.

It was almost like a
summer night, crystal

clear, no breeze.

It was just very
pleasant to be out in.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
A few minutes

after Michael left
home, he stopped

off at an ATM half a mile away.

As he withdrew $20 from
his checking account,

a security camera in the ATM
recorded the transaction.

From the photographs
that we have,

it would appear to be an
uneventful withdrawal.

So we don't have any reason
to think that he was robbed

or shot at the ATM machine.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Michael

next showed up at
a liquor store,

half a block from the ATM.

There, he purchased the pint
of whiskey which was later

found in his jacket pocket.

What happened next
is pure conjecture.

The police believe that
Michael may have headed

to a frontage road,
three miles from the gas

station, known for its
breathtaking view of the Bay

Bridge.

It was here, while enjoying
the fresh winter breeze,

that Michael Hunter
may have encountered

his killer or killers.

The police theorize that
someone may have robbed Michael

of his wallet at gunpoint,
and then demanded

his motorcycle, a
customized Honda

VFR Interceptor sport bike.

Probably Mike's
love of his motorcycle

would cause him to be
reluctant to turn it over.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Michael apparently

tried to outrun the bullets.

It was a race he had
no chance of winning.

I think that he was
probably pretty scared,

and I like to think--

I really like to believe that he
didn't know what was going on.

It would have taken him a long
time to get to that station.

That's not a short stint
to ride when you're hurt.

Michael had very few minutes
to live after he was shot.

The bullet that
shattered his leg

would have caused him to
be in a great deal of pain.

And it was his past
experience and training

that enabled Michael to make
the ride into the gas station

where he knew there would
be some kind of help.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): An hour

later, Michael Hunter was dead,
leaving his family to wonder

who killed him and why?

I think all the time he raced,
I knew that something could

happen to him, because
he was living beyond what

most people do as far as what he
chose to do for his recreation.

Had he died that way, it was
a choice he would have made,

and a conscious
choice he'd made.

And I think that it would have
been a lot easier to accept.

There's just no
information coming our way

about a person that was
on a red, white, and blue

motorcycle dressed
the same kind of way,

obviously very noticeable.

I believe that somebody saw
Michael Hunter in the last 40

minutes of his life.

And we need those
people to come forward

to tell us that little piece of
information that will identify

the killers of Michael Hunter.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Michael Hunter's friends

and family have raised a
$10,000 reward for information

which may help solve this case.

When we return, a nationwide
search for the true identity

of a hospital-hopping con-man.

Just before 9:00 AM
on February 11, 1992,

the emergency team at a
Danbury, Connecticut hospital

springs into action.

The patient, a man
registered as Tom Hughes,

is in the grip of a
severe cardiac arrest.

For 90 minutes, doctors and
nurses labor to revive him.

However, all their
efforts are in vain.

At 10:20, the man known as
Tom Hughes is pronounced dead.

When the hospital dutifully
attempted to contact the man's

wife, they discovered
that her name

and phone number were bogus.

So were the patient's social
security number, address,

occupation, and employer.

Tom Hughes simply did not exist.

Among that man's
possessions were

a receipt from a
hospital in California

and a bus ticket stub from
Pennsylvania to Connecticut.

Starting with
these meager clues,

authorities soon uncovered
a peculiar fraud scheme.

Until he died, the man
known as Tom Hughes

had essentially been a
professional hospital patient.

It was a scam that
may have killed him.

You say this happened
while we were working?

Yes, I was helping my
brother do some work on a house

he's buying over in Ridgefield.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The con man

would stay in a hospital
for three to seven days

before sneaking out and
leaving his bills unpaid.

And the next thing I know--

It appears that Tom would
check into a hospital with some

sort of small, self-inflicted
wound and have a complaint

of a lower back pain.

We think that he was checking
himself into the hospitals

to obtain the pain pills.

OK, well, I'm gonna prescribe
something a bit stronger.

And I'd like to
suggest that you check

yourself in for
observation for a few days.

Any objection?

Well, whatever you say.

You're the doctor.

OK.

We were able to determine
that Tom had essentially

been traveling
across the country

and staying in one
hospital after another,

and taking a bus from one
destination to another.

We were able to track him from
California all the way to Rhode

Island and points in between.

Yes, my name is Thomas Hughes.

I need to speak with someone
about a personal injury case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The con man had

made 16 calls before he died.

I'm a civil engineer.

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Investigators

traced them, hoping to locate
friends or family members.

Instead, they uncovered
yet another facet

of his unusual scheme.

Every single call had
been made to an attorney.

We think he called the
attorneys with a story

that he wanted to have a
lawsuit because of his injuries

at work.

But I think the real
reason he called

the attorneys was to, again,
tell his story to someone

and borrow some money.

He needed travel
money, and he would

obtain this by borrowing small
amounts from the attorneys.

Oh, listen, I need
to ask you this.

Would you do me a favor?

Shoot.

Well, I'm expecting a
package from my wife today.

It's coming COD.

Could I borrow $40
until tomorrow?

Yeah, I guess I could do that.

I'll just add it to my bill.

$40?

We know that Tom had been
traveling from hospital

to hospital for a year, two
years, or possibly longer,

and each time taking excessive
amounts of painkillers.

And we believe that
could be a contributing

cause of his death.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
This photograph

of the unidentified
man was taken

just hours before his death.

He weighed 277 pounds, although
authorities caution that he may

have put on much of
the weight since he

began living in hospital beds.

Next, a woman needs your help
to find a childhood friend.

It turned out to be much
more than just a friend.

Most of us who have
read Alice in Wonderland

have pondered what it
might feel like to fall

through the looking
glass into a place where

nothing was quite as it seemed.

For a Los Angeles
woman named Irene Love,

the looking glass was an old
strongbox harboring her mother

Minnie's private papers.

Once Irene opened it, her
parents and her best friend

turned out not to be at
all what they seemed.

1962, mid-city Los Angeles.

16-year-old Irene Love was
killing a Saturday afternoon

in her mother's bedroom.

I used tor played
music a lot, my records.

I would sometimes even go
through my mother's drawers

and just be nosy.

I've always been nosy.

I looked around, and
there was a metal box.

I opened it up, and
there were some papers

that were dated 1942.

And I thought, God,
Mom keeps this?

And there was another
piece of paper folded up,

and it was a birth certificate.

And it had "Irene Wynn" on it.

And I go, hm, same
first name as mine.

Then I noticed the
father's name was Glenn,

mother's name was Ramona,
County General Hospital.

The date, that was
what caught me.

The date was the same
date as my birth.

And by that time, a little bit
later on, my mother came home.

Hi, honey.

I'm home.

What are you doing in here?

[inaudible]

What's that?

IRENE (VOICEOVER): And
I showed her the paper.

Where'd you find this?

Over there.

What are you doing,
snooping through my things?

You know those are
private papers.

Are you my real mother?

Irene, I love you so much.

And it came to light that I
was adopted, and she and my dad

had adopted me three
days after I was born.

And she was fearful that I
was going to, at that point,

leave and go and search
for my real parents.

And I told her, no.

I just wanted to know what
was the story about it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Minnie
and Forest Love had brought

Irene home on June 3, 1946.

We're home, Irene.

We're really home.

Why's she crying?

She's fine, honey.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
They could not

have children of
their own, so Minnie

and Forrest were
especially thrilled

with their new daughter.

Look at that baby.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): They
provided her with everything,

even a best friend.

Dolores Ford, just one
year older than Irene,

was the only child of Minnie
and Forrest's best friends.

They would bring her over
every day or every weekend.

We went on camping trips.

We went to the park.

We went everywhere,
to the lakes.

We never really argued.

It was like we knew each other.

We connected.

If one wanted something,
that other one knew about it,

and it was always there.

We were just connected
so close that there was

like a great friendship there.

Every holiday, they would
come over and bring the gifts,

and we exchanged gifts
there in the living room.

It was basically, we
got the same toys.

So they didn't deny us anything.

They made sure that
we were happy kids.

Merry Christmas, baby.

IRENE (VOICEOVER): I don't
think a child in this world's

had a better
childhood than I have,

because I had my mom, my dad.

I had Billie and Ford.

There were just like
my mother and father.

I had Dolores.

We just had a fun time.

They occupied every
minute of our lives

when we were children together.

And that was fun times.

Is there anything
else you should tell me?

Well, honey.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): That day

in 1962, Minnie
asked Irene to think

back to her happy childhood.

She asked her to
recall a restaurant,

Clifton's, where
Minnie and Forrest

had taken Irene every Sunday.

Now Minnie explained
why they have

always gone to the same place.

[praying]

Irene's birth mother,
Ramona, who is Hispanic,

worked at the cafeteria.

This was her only opportunity
to watch Irene grow up.

Don't look at me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At some point,

Irene's birth father, Glenn,
began to work at Clifton's too.

Minnie and Forrest would
alternate their seating

locations in the restaurant so
both Glenn and Ramona could see

the daughter they
had been too poverty

stricken to raise themselves.

FORREST: What's the
name of this play?

Caught the Butterfly.

MINNIE: And she's
Madame Butterfly.

Mhm.

FORREST: That's nice.

I never faulted them
for what they did.

They had to do what
they had to do.

And I'm thankful that they gave
me to a family, to the family

that they did give me too.

So I was lucky in that way.

Irene, and Dolores,
and their parents

lived happily until 1956.

Then Dolores's mother Billie
died of a kidney disease.

Suddenly, Dolores seemed
to vanish into thin air.

Irene never saw her again.

Only years later, when
Irene's mother finally

told her the truth,
did Irene learn what

had happened to her friend.

OK, come on.

Let's go.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Shortly after Dolores's mother

died, her father came
to the sad conclusion

that he could no
longer raise her alone,

that she needed a mother.

Dolores, this is Ramona.

Hi, Dolores.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
He took Dolores

to live with Glenn and
Ramona, the couple who

worked at Clifton's cafeteria.
- I'll take that.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): But why?

Finally, the shocking
news came out.

Dolores was also the child
of Glenn and Ramona Wynn.

Dolores and Irene were sisters.

Irene was thunderstruck.

Her mother explained
apologetically

that she had been afraid to let
Irene continue seeing Dolores

after Dolores moved in
with Ramona and Glenn.

I was afraid if I told you
the truth that I would lose you.

No matter what, you'll
always be my mother.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In
1989, after both of her parents

passed away, Irene found
herself irresistibly drawn back

to the old neighbor,
reliving her happy childhood

with Dolores.

In my mind, I can see
us playing together.

Get on this side
of the road now.

Here we go now.

Budge, budge, tell the judge.

Mama's got a newborn baby.

IRENE (VOICEOVER):
We were like twins,

but not knowing that
we were sisters.

So that's why I want real
bad to meet with her.

She's a part of my early life.

She's a part of me.

I feel things that I don't
think anybody else could feel

right now, because it's
like an emptiness that's

going on inside of
me due to the fact

I don't know where she's at.

And I hope one day soon
that we can come together

and be the silly
little girls that we

were when we were growing up.

Because I'm still a silly
little girl at heart,

and I want to be with
her as soon as possible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Irene also has

a message for her birth
parents, Glenn and Ramona Wynn,

who watched so lovingly from
a distance while she grew up.

IRENE (VOICEOVER):
Ramona and Glenn,

I want to get to know
you also and bring

you back into my life.

I don't have any anger.

I believe you did
what you had to do.

And I love you.

Just, if you're out there
listening, please call me.

I want to hear from you also.

Today, Glenn and
Ramona Wynn will be 72

and 67 years old, respectively.

They divorced in the '50s.

And Ramona, whose
maiden name was Via,

married a man named Richards
or Richardson, with whom

she also had children.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
These are two of the last known

photographs of Dolores Ford.

In 1956, when she
was 10, Dolores

moved to 2nd Street in
downtown Los Angeles

to live with Glenn
and Ramona Wynn.

This July, Dolores
will be 48 years old.

Her last known address was
also in the Los Angeles area.

Join me again next week.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]