All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S07E11.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BTW_track3_[eng]

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: Legend has
it that off the coast

of northern
California divers have

glimpsed the remains of a
sunken World War II submarine.

But is there more to the
story than mere legend?

Several Navy veterans
remember sinking a sub

near San Francisco in 1945.

Now they fear it might
have been one of our own.

In Oklahoma, abject
poverty forced a couple,

along with their six children,
to set up housekeeping

in an old school bus.

When that meager
shelter was taken away,

Lela and Roy Lee
Stallings were arrested,

the children were separated.

Perhaps someone
watching can help

reunite the school bus family.

And the strange saga of
John and Linda Sohus.

In 1985, the young
couple left their home

in a well-to-do Los Angeles
suburb for a two week trip

to New York.

They never returned.

Then this past spring,
workmen installing a pool

at their former
residence were stunned

by the discovery of a
dismembered human skeleton.

Almost overnight, an inactive
missing person's case

became an intriguing
murder mystery.

Join me for these
intriguing new stories

and more on another edition
of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

May, 1994.

San Marino, California,
just north of Los Angeles.

Excavation for a
backyard swimming pool

came to an abrupt halt when a
workmen made a grim discovery,

three plastic bags
and a fiberglass box

containing dismembered
sections of a human skeleton.

We didn't really know
who this person was

and we were later told
by uniformed officers

from San Marino that
in 1985, the people

that lived in that house had
reported two people missing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The two missing persons

were John Sohus and his wife
Linda, both in their late 20s.

Their sudden disappearance
had mystified

everyone who knew them.

The grisly discovery was a
macabre twist in a nearly

10-year-old mystery.

It suddenly appeared that either
John or Linda Sohus may have

been the victim of foul play.

Detectives proving
the disappearance

encountered a cast of
characters that might have been

dreamed up by a mystery writer.

Though married for two
years, John and Linda still

lived with John's
mother, Didi Sohus,

by all accounts, an alcoholic.

However, the most
intriguing character

would prove to be a mysterious
young man who went by the name

Christopher Chichester.

For about two years, Chichester
was a tenant in a guest house

on the Sohus property, located
behind the main house occupied

by Didi John and Linda.

According to friends,
John and Linda

felt trapped living
with Didi Sohus

and looked forward to escaping
to a place of their own.

That looks great.

John held several
part time computer

programming jobs and
Linda was beginning

to find success as an artist.

Linda was happy with her life
and John approved of everything

she had to do and say
about life and what she

wanted to do and be in life.

And I thought that
was great for her

because she'd never had a
supportive man in her life.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Early in 1985,

it appeared the young couple
had finally gotten the break

they had been hoping for.

Linda announced
that she and John

have been asked to interview
for important new jobs.

Linda called me
and informed me

that John had a job
with the government

and she couldn't release
any information to me.

All she could tell
me was that he's

got a job with the government
and they want us both.

and we have to go to New York.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Linda told Sue

that the trip was scheduled
to last about two weeks.

However, the return day came
and went, no Linda and John.

The mystery would deepen
in the coming months.

Hi.

We're going to be gone
for about two weeks.

Will that cover it?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Prior to the trip,

Linda had boarded her six
cats in a local kennel

and paid in advance
for a two week stay.

But at the end of
eight weeks, she

still had not claimed her pets.

The kennel owner tracked
down Linda's sister, Kathy.

I immediately thought
that something was wrong.

If they were not
going to return,

they would have taken
their pets with them.

I feel inside very strongly
that Linda would not

have left her animals behind.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Kathy telephoned John's mother,

Didi Sohus, hoping she
had an explanation.

Hello.

Didi, it's Kathy,
Linda's sister.

Is Linda back from her trip yet?

I'm not supposed
to tell you anything.

Tell me what?

What can't you tell me?

A mission.

Mission?

What mission?

What are you talking about?

KATHY JACOBY: It was
very frustrating in all

my conversations with Mrs.
Sohus to get the same stories,

slightly altered, but still the
same story about Linda and John

being on a secret mission and
unable to contact any family

members.

Well, that's all
I can tell you.

It did appear to me as
though she had been drinking.

Sometimes it depended
on what time of the day

you called as to how
wild the story became.

[knocking]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): April, 1985.

Responding to a missing person's
report filed by Linda's family,

San Marino police tried
their hand at getting

information from Didi Sohus.

Missing persons report
on John and Linda Sohus.

Do you know where they are?

They're not missing.

Everybody keeps asking me
and I keep telling them,

they're on a secret mission.

OK.

Can you tell us how
we can reach them?

I have a source.

Everyone keeps calling
here and I keep

telling them the same thing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Didi
refused to identify the person

she called her source.

With no evidence of foul
play, the authorities

were powerless to
investigate further.

Finally, a full three
months after the Sohus' had

supposedly left,
Linda's friend Sue

received this picture postcard.

But it had not been
mailed from New York.

Far from it.

I have no clue as to
how going to New York

could ever wind up being France.

And I read the back of it.

I was like, I can't wait.

She's finally going to tell me
where she is, what's going on.

And all it said was "Dear Sue,
kind of miss New York, oops.

But this can be lived with.

John and Linda.

Nothing about I'll call
you later, can't talk now.

Nothing.

It just didn't sound like her.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Another card was sent

from France to Linda's family.

My mother received
a postcard from Linda,

I believe it to be from Linda.

It did not say when
she would return

or how she had come
to be in Paris.

If they were planning
a trip to Europe,

she would have been
very excited about going

and would certainly have
expressed that to my mother

and perhaps myself as well.

When I first
talked to the police,

I thought I knew
what was going on.

Now--

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Three months

after refusing to
help the police,

Didi Sohus had an
inexplicable change of heart.

She, too, filed
a missing persons

report on John and Linda.

Have you had any contacted
all since they left?

Well, I've been sending
their mail through my source.

The man has been
contact with them.

He's been the one telling
me what's been happening.

We'll need to talk
to this individual.

You can't.

That's why I'm worried.

He's gone, too.

Just disappeared.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
According to Didi,

the mysterious contact was
none other than her guest house

tenant, Christopher Chichester.

However, he had recently moved,
leaving no forwarding address.

Didi also reported that
her son's pickup truck

was now missing,
though she could not

say when it had disappeared.

However, there
still was no proof

that a crime had been committed
and the investigation stalled.

If I think of anything
else, I'll call you.

OK, please do.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Soon
after filing her missing person

report, Didi Sohus
would sell her house

and move to a trailer park.

As soon as we hear
anything we'll let you know.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): She died

in February of 1988, the fate
of her son still a mystery.

Nine months later, the case
unexpectedly sprang to life.

The Sohus' truck turned
up 3,000 miles away

in Greenwich, Connecticut.

A man calling himself
Christopher Crowe

had tried to sell the pickup
to the son of a local minister.

Well, this is it.

That's a great looking truck.

Yeah, I told
you you'd like it.

One thing though, I
don't have the title

paper so you're
going to have to get

them from the California DMV.

The reverend's sun decided
not to purchase the vehicle

based on the fact that there
was an outstanding lien

on the truck.

The San Marino police department
wanted me to also look

for an individual by the name of
Christopher Chichester who they

felt had information
on the whereabouts

of John and Linda Sohus.

My continued investigation
in attempting

to locate Mr.
Chichester ultimately

ended in me discovering that
Mr. Chichester and Mr. Crowe

were the same individuals.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
It was a stunning discovery.

Crowe, Chichester, by any
name, the enigmatic ex-tenant

seemed to be one person who
might be able to shed light

on the Sohus' disappearance.

But Christopher Crowe, alias
Christopher Chichester,

had vanished again.

Consequently, the
investigation stalled

again until the
dismembered skeleton

was uncovered in May of 1994.

After extensive analysis,
a forensic anthropologist

determined that the remains
were consistent with physical

descriptions of John Sohus.

However, a lack
of dental records

prevented conclusive
identification.

Police could only speculate
about how the body

came to be buried in the
backyard of the one-time Sohus

residence.

Nothing about the
bones themselves

that say there was murder.

There was no bullet
holes, anything like that.

But the fact that
the bones were buried

in three separate plastic bags
and the head in a separate bag,

makes one think that
there was murder involved.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Detectives hope

to learn more in using a
controversial chemical called

luminol.

Though it is highly toxic
and dangerous to use,

luminol will emit a
distinctive glow when it

comes into contact with blood.

Even where the stains were
wiped away years before.

Luminol was applied
to the cement floors

in the guest house in the
former Sohus property.

Within moments, it would
become apparent if there

was evidence of murder.

[inaudible]

The telltale glow
was unmistakable.

[inaudible] what do
you think about that?

Looks like it could be blood.

That's a whole lot
of blood, [inaudible]..

Although luminol can detect
chemicals in other compounds,

this was not just a
trace element situation.

There was a copious amount of
something put on that floor.

And in our opinion,
that was blood.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
But whose blood?

Was Jone Sohus murdered
in the guest house,

then buried in the backyard?

If so, what happened to Linda.

Officially, both John and
Linda Sohus are still missing,

perhaps having the
time of their lives

gallivanting across Europe.

I believe that it would
have been possible for John

and Linda to relocate
and have a new life

and choose not to
contact family members.

But I do believe that after
so many years have passed,

that at some point,
at least once Linda

would have made contact.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
There is one curious footnote

to this perplexing case.

According to the kennel
operator, in June of 1985

a woman showed up and
asked for Linda's cats.

Faced with the alternative
of destroying the animals,

the kennel owner complied.

She never saw the woman again.

And there is no
clue to her identity

or whether she has any
connection to the case.

Authorities would like to
speak to the young man known

as Christopher Chichester.

They now know that he is
Christian Gerhartsreiter,

a native of Germany.

[music playing]

Next, a mystery submarine
sunk during World War II.

Could it have been one of
our own attacked mistakenly?

The 840 mile coastline
of California

is a treasure trove
of natural beauty.

Its long stretches
of beach coupled

with fabulous rock
formations have made

it a haven for deep sea divers.

Over the years, a kind of
beach town urban legend

has sprung up along the coast.

Rumor has it that divers between
Santa Barbara and San Francisco

have sighted something
very unusual.

We're about 15
miles off the point.

I'm on the six pack.

We're down about 120 feet.

Now, listen, I got
real good visibility,

maybe 30 or 40 feet.

Really?

And sitting off a point
there at the bottom right

on the reef is what I think
a World War II submarine,

a u-boat.
- A submarine?

- Yeah.
- Out here?

Yes.

Deck guns, the whole thing in
place right there at the reef.

Crystal clear.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Today, it seems preposterous,

an enemy sub that close to
the continental United States.

But in World War II,
America's coastline was

vulnerable to enemy sub attack.

A German u-boat was sighted
off the coast of New England

in May of 1945.

Later that year, an oil rig
near Santa Barbara, California,

was fired upon by a
Japanese submarine.

Despite the obvious threat
that existed 50 years ago,

rumors of a sunken sub
remain just that, rumors.

But, in fact, there are a
few aging American sailors

who remember a submarine
hit in 1945 just

off the coast of
northern California.

At the time, of course, they
assumed it was the enemy.

But curiously, no record
of the incident exists.

Now the old sailors are afraid
they might inadvertently

have sunk one of our own.

During 1944 and 1945,
the USS Willard Keith

was one of a fleet
of Navy destroyers

patrolling the Pacific coast.

For the most part,
life on board was

all practice and
drill with the k-guns,

better known as depth charges.

Then came March 21, 1945.

The Willard Keith was cruising
south of San Francisco

when a general
quarters alarm sounded.

An enemy sub was below.

Chet Gardner was a 19-year-old
Seaman on the Willard Keith.

His duty, set the depth
of the explosive charges.

CHET GARDNER: I can see
it just plain today as I

could the day that it happened.

Starboard k-gun,
ready to fire, sir.

CHET GARDNER: It's something
I'll never forget because I

was pretty excited about it.

Boy, the water flew everywhere.

I thought, oh my gosh,
we've made a mistake.

Looked to me like we
were going to blow

the ship right out of the
water, it was so shallow.

But as we watched then word
it came down from the bridge

that they got a hit.

There's something coming
up, there's oil coming up.

It was a tremendous
explosion, you know.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eugene
Sheridan, then 24 years old,

manned a k-gun on
the Willard Keith.

We saw all greenish looking,
oilish looking stuff coming

to the top of the water
and it's not the seawater,

you're in there all
time, you can tell

the difference of color of it.

And we made three or four
passes around and back and forth

and crisscrossed
and everything else

and we never did
pick it up again.

After we had made
our turn and came back,

they couldn't pick it
up on the sonar anymore.

There was no more sound.

We assume it was just laying
on the bottom there some place.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Bill Anderson,

a laundrymen on the main
deck, was just 18 years old.

Even then, Bill had
his doubts and began

to wonder whether, in
fact, the sunken submarine

did belong to the enemy.

Indeed, Bill felt
strongly enough

to question a junior officer.

Because we're too
close to shore, Anderson.

But, sir--

If it was an
American submarine,

it'd be on the
surface, not below it.

Yes, sir.

It was kind of a
sobering thought, you know?

I mean, you had maybe 50, 60 men
dying below you at that time,

or we thought this was the case.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Bill Anderson

has never been able
to shake that haunting

image, nor the nagging
suspicion that the dying

man were his own comrades.

He has petitioned the Navy and
received the deck log and war

diary for the Willard
Keith but there is

no record of the submarine hit.

The war diary we got doesn't
mention any enemy contact,

doesn't mention this depth
charge run whatsoever.

There didn't seem to be any
information in Washington

on a submarine being sunk
off the coast of California.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): In 1932,

Bill Anderson and a partner
pool their resources and boat

a boat called the Echo Hunter.

Using radar, underwater
sonar, and divers

they are determined to
find the sunken submarine.

[inaudible]

BILL ANDERSON: We think
the odds are good enough

that we've spent
most of our money

on this project to find it.

It's became an obsession
with us to find the sub.

I say, we either sunk it right
there or we crippled it bad

and it crawled off
someplace else.

Maybe got away or maybe
who knows, you know?

But I definitely do
know that we dropped

the depth charges on them.

The Navy denies
that it happened.

But it did happen.

Why they say it didn't
happen, I don't know.

Unless they are covering
it up, you know?

Unless it is one of our subs
and they don't want it known.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Did
the USS Willard Keith make

a direct hit that day in 1945?

If so, regardless of whether
the dead are American, Japanese,

or German, the
Willard Keith sailors

hope to turn the
sunken submarine

into a monument to honor the
memory of those who fought

and those who died.

At our request, the US Navy
checked their archives.

They gave us the
following statement.

"We have no record
of the USS Willard

Keith sinking a submarine
in the spring of 1945.

Additionally, we have
no record of any sub

sinkings in the
eastern Pacific Ocean

during that same time frame."

Bill Anderson and his
comrades remain undaunted.

They plan to
continue their quest.

Next, the mysterious death of
a Cook County Illinois police

captain.

Was it suicide or was
it a contract killing?

[theme music]

According to those
who knew him best,

Captain Michael O'Mara of
the Cook County, Illinois,

Sheriff's Police was the
straightest of straight arrows.

He was a devoted
husband and father.

The only officer in
the Sheriff's Police

trained at the FBI Academy.

In the 60s, O'Mara became
celebrated as a scourge

of the Illinois mafia.

By 1988, however, Michael O'Mara
had been relegated to a desk

job in the records department.

It should have been the gentle
twilight of a brilliant career.

Should have been, but wasn't.

May 30, 1988, shortly
after 9:00 PM.

At the Cook County Courthouse,
the sheriff's police patrolman

pulled into the private
service area to gas up his car.

An unmarked police car
was parked at the pumps

with a gas nozzle in the tank.

Yet no officer was in sight.

Anybody here?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): As the
patrolman's flashlight played

over the lawn around
the service area,

he caught a glimpse
of a gruesome scene.

Michael O'Mara's body
was slumped over a rock

in the middle of the lawn.

He had been shot once
through the head.

His wallet in his briefcase
had not been touched.

Even though there was
no sign of a robbery,

Michael O'Mara's
reputation as a crusader

against organized crime made
murder seem a possibility.

--Just north of the
Markam Courthouse pumps.

You approach a death seen as
possibly a homicide, initially,

that, you know, who did this?

There was a gun to the
right side of the body

near the right hand.

And there was a very visible
gunshot wound to the forehead.

There was a flashlight
found next to a rock

and that we can identify as his
flashlight, the gun is his gun.

And there was one
bullet that was

discharged from that
cylinder of that weapon.

You've got nothing in
any way, shape, or form

to say that there were
anybody else there.

The victims pockets were
intact, his money was intact,

his car was intact.

If you are going to weigh this,
there would be more weight

towards a suicide or
an accident than there

would be towards a murder.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks
after Mike O'Mara died,

a Cook County coroner handed
down a ruling which confirmed

investigators suspicions.

The official cause of death
was listed as suicide.

It all seems so final, a tragic
end to an otherwise spotless

career.

But it was not the end.

Mike O'Mara's friends
and family felt there

had been a rush to judgment.

Despite the coroner's
ruling, they were convinced

that Mike had been murdered.

What they didn't know was who
could have done it and why.

But they were sure that Michael
O'Mara had not killed himself.

The last person known
to have seen Mike alive

was his wife Barbara.

She recalls he left her house
that night in good spirits,

saying he had to fill his
department vehicle with gas.

Right before he left, he said
he was going to stop on the way

back to get yogurt
and he asked everybody

what flavor they wanted.

And, of course, the day
before payday and he

didn't have any
money in his wallet

so he asked me for
some money to go.

Barbara, do you have any cash?

Yeah, my purse is in
the hallway on the table.

Thanks.

BARBARA O'MARA: Why would he
take my last couple of dollars

to get the yogurt if he was
planning on not coming back?

It doesn't make any sense.

In this case you can
take any isolated fact

and say it can be
consistent with suicide.

The problem is the
whole scenario.

When you look at that,
it's not that of a suicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
In 1989, Barbara O'Mara

hired Dr. DiMaio to
review the case, including

the coroner's findings
and the events leading up

to Mike O'Mara's death.

When I reviewed the background
information in this case,

it was evident that there was
no reason for the individual

to have committed suicide.

There was no financial
problems, no personal problems,

no fatal disease.

That does not completely
rule out suicide,

but it kind of
makes the conclusion

that a death of suicide a
little more difficult. The man

is found dead in a field
with a flashlight next

to him and his gun.

His car is parked
nearby with a gasoline

nozzle inserted into the tank.

This does not sound like
a suicide, you know,

unless the man
just drove up there

and as he was filling his
gas tank says, hey, gee,

I don't have
anything else to do.

Might as well commit suicide.

It was kind of bizarre.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Based on his investigation,

Dr. DiMaio has come up with
a scenario for a murder.

The evidence at the scene
suggests that Mr. O'Mara began

to fill the tank of his car
when he saw or heard something

in the field he then took
the gun from his briefcase

and went to investigate.

When he got into the field,
he met somebody or a number

of people and he was shot.

I think that if someone was
screaming that a crime was

occurring and he was standing
right at his vehicle,

I don't know why he
wouldn't ask for help first.

Also, it's my understanding
from reading the file

and talking to the
investigators that persons

who heard a shot fired did
not hear those other things.

They didn't hear somebody
calling for help.

When our investigators
went to the scene

and they looked in the field,
it didn't appear that there was

any struggle in the field, if
not by him and somebody else,

by that, quote, possible
offender and a third party.

There was no evidence
of a struggle.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Who would have had

a motive to kill Mike O'Mara?

Could it have been a
long-forgotten enemy nursing

a vendetta for
more than 25 years,

ever since O'Mara and his
raiders went after the mafia

in the 60s?

Or could Mike O'Mara have
had an enemy closer to home?

Perhaps even in the
sheriff's police.

If anyone knows,
he's not saying.

But Dr. DiMaio points
to one additional fact,

which he believes
argues against suicide.

When people shoot
themselves, they

tend to put the gun
firmly against the head

at the time of discharge.

In this case, the
muzzle of the weapon

was between two and four
inches away from the skin.

And you could see that by the
powder tattooing on the skin

around the entrance wound.

He may have chosen to have
it not be a contact wound

because he taught
homicide investigation,

I mean, he taught courses
and he taught about suicide.

So he knows-- if he
wanted to make it look

like something other
than it was, he may

have deliberately done that.

So I don't think you can
really get into someone's head

if they are about to go and do
something as drastic as this.

He left the house with
the intent to get gas.

He told his wife that
and I'm going to bring

some frozen yogurt home.

So he played that scenario out.

He just didn't come home.

Based on the
information that I have

in front of me in
reading the entire case,

it tends to be suicide.

I don't have any
evidence in front of me

that would conclude
that this was a homicide

and we're looking
for the offenders.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
What happened

to Captain Michael O'Mara on
the night of May 30, 1988?

Is it possible he chose
to end his own life,

a life which would have been
the envy of any police officer?

Or is there a killer
still at large, still

unidentified, still a danger?

Mike O'Mara's friends and family
believe the answer is obvious.

Mike O'Mara was not a
man to commit suicide.

One of the reasons that I
don't believe this would have

been a suicide, it just
wouldn't have been his nature

to do something like
this, either to his family

or to his religious beliefs.

It wasn't an accident,
he was purposely shot.

And why it's being covered
up or whether they know

or anybody knows, I don't know.

I can't believe it's a
suicide at all, knowing Mike.

It was totally
foreign to his nature.

He was never one to
give up on something.

You know, it just
doesn't fit him.

You know, what
happened out there?

I'll never know.

But suicide I'll never believe.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the
evening of October 2, 1961, Mr.

and Mrs. Earl
Betcher and their son

Alan were leaving
Baptist Hospital

in Jacksonville, Florida.

When Alan ran ahead
to the family car,

he made a startling discovery,
a baby girl had been carefully

placed in the back seat.

The child became
a local celebrity.

Newspapers dubbed her Baby
Girl X. Within a year,

she was adopted by Mary Lou and
William Christie of Tallahassee

and named Terri.

Terri grew up happily, doted
on by her parents and an older

brother and sister.

By the time she was
a teenager, however,

she began to ask questions.

I kind of rebelled and
wanted to know, you know?

That's when we went to the
library and looked it up.

And then I got
excited, I was proud.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Together, Terri

and her adoptive mother
Mary Lou searched

for clues to the identity
of Terri's birth mother.

Let's roll it, see
what else we can find.

I believe she had a heart.

She put me somewhere
safe, where I was

going to be well taken care of.

And I appreciate that.

I just want to meet
her and see how she is.

I would like to
find a beginning.

- Did you see anybody around?
- No.

OK.

Thanks to our broadcast,
Terri Christie Derby

now knows the answers
to all of her questions.

Sadly, Terri's birth
mother, Edith Campbell,

died on August 17, 1993.

Just a few months before
our segment aired.

But out of this sadness,
a happy ending did emerge.

Terri was delighted
to learn that she had

a sister and three brothers.

They were delighted as well.

None of them had ever
known that Terri existed.

On July 8, 1994, Terri went
to a hotel in Miami, Florida

to meet three of her
siblings, Phillip,

Paul, and Cecilia, face-to-face
for the first time.

Hey.

Hi.

Hi.

Hey, Terry.

How are you?

It was the neatest
experience of my life.

I walked in and there was
everybody I wanted to see.

Next to me giving
birth to my own kids,

this is the best thing
that's ever happened to me.

Best thing.

My experience is
that there's more

than just a biological
thing in the family,

there's also a karmic--

a sense of underlying
destiny that lies

underneath the whole thing.

And this-- you know,
you meet somebody--

I meet Terri, it's
like, she is my sister.

I knew right away, you know?

There's no doubt.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
At the reunion,

Terri and her adoptive
mother finally

saw a picture of Terri's
biological mother,

Edith Campbell.

According to a family member,
Edith had given Terri up only

because of extreme
financial desperation.

Knowing what a loving
person she was,

she cared about nothing but
her children her whole life.

And I can only
imagine the anguish

that she went through when
she decided to do this.

Hi.

How you doing?

[inaudible]

They make me feel wanted.

They make me feel like
I'm not an outcast.

I kind of felt like I
was in the past, but--

I can feel their vibes,
love, whatever, you know?

It's kind of cool.

Come on, let's go.

Let's go, come on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The next day,

Terri met her
other brother Chris

who had been called
out of town on business

on the day of the reunion.

That's right, snuggle up.

Brothers and sister.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): At last,

the family circle is complete.

When we return,
perhaps you can help

reunite a family torn apart by
poverty and misunderstanding.

[theme music]

In the year 1948 a family
tragedy began to unfold

just north of Tipton, Oklahoma.

You coming home
after work today?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Roy Lee and Lela Stallings,

along with their six
children, existed

on the edge of abject poverty.

The Stallings actually
lived in an old school bus.

Roy Lee worked sporadically
as a sharecropper

and was rarely at home.

He gambled away what
little money he brought in.

In his own way, he
was fatherly by trying

to make a living for us.

But as far as being home,
he wasn't home that much.

My mother was the one
that was a disciplinarian.

To the cooking the
food and supplying

the meals and everything.

It was mother's job.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): In
spite of almost insurmountable

odds, Lela Stalling struggled
to maintain a home life

that was as normal as possible.

Mary, why don't you take him?

[inaudible] mama.

Thank you.

We always had something to
do and we had toys to plan with

and each other to play with.

So we didn't think of
ourselves as being different.

Do you want to hear the
story of Noah's Ark again?

Yeah.

OK.

One day the Lord told
Noah to build an ark.

MARY SMITH: Mother couldn't
read nor write, but her Bible

meant a lot to her.

And she'd see pictures
and she'd tell us Bible

stories from the pictures.

And we grew up with
a very direct sense

of what was right and wrong.

40 days and 40 nights.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
To the children,

the old school bus was home,
a haven and a safe place.

But others, notably Melvin
Purdy, a family friend,

had different ideas.

And Melvin did not hesitate
to make his feelings

known to Lela Stallings.

Melvin, you want to
separate our family?

Lela, you don't have a
prayer over in that old bus

with them kids.

Melvin, I will see you
dead before you get my kids.

Lela, Lela, that's no
way for you to act, now.

I want you to leave and
never, never come back here.

You're not going let me take
little David Ray, are you?

No, you can't have him.

Well I'm going to
tell you something,

I think you ain't going to have
any of them kids very long.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The only child

Melvin wanted to raise himself
was four-year-old David

Ray, the youngest boy.

But Melvin thought all the
children who are neglected.

From the baby, two-year-old
Norma Ruth, to the eldest,

12-year-old Roy
Jr. Mary was then

10, the oldest girl
and the second mother

to the younger ones.

Joe was both big
brother and role model

to six-year-old Earnest Lee.

The bus is gone.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The final straw

came a few weeks later when the
old school bus was taken away.

Apparently Roy Lee Stallings
had lost it in a poker game.

Melvin Purdy, along
with several others,

wasted no time contacting
the authorities.

The State of Oklahoma
versus Lee and Lela Stallings.

You've been charged with the
crime of omitting to provide

for the care of minor children.

How do you plead
to these charges?

Not guilty.

Based on evidence
presented to this court

there is due cause to have
you bound over for trial.

Until further
decision, the children

are placed in the care of
the child welfare department

under your supervision.

Yes, your honor.

Mr. and Mrs.
Stallings, at this time

you are placed in the
custody of the Tillman

County Sheriff's Department.

MARY SMITH: I remember seeing
them both in handcuffs.

And that was the last
time I saw mother as they

lead her out the side door.

And that was something
very strange to us.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Over the next few days,

the Stallings children would
all be taken to foster homes.

Mary vividly remembers
the last time she saw

her three youngest siblings.

MARY SMITH: I put
Earnest Lee in the car,

told Earnest to get in the car,
and I put David in the car.

And Normy was holding onto
me and wouldn't let go

and they pulled her out of my
arms and put her in the car.

You go in the house.

MARY SMITH: Earnest Lee
was pulling at the windows,

they had rolled the windows up.

And that's the last
time I saw them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Within a week,

the charges against Lela and
Roy Lee Stallings were dropped.

But the damage had
already been done.

Lela was told that
all of her children,

except the oldest, Roy Jr.
Had been put up for adoption.

Two years later, after
Roy Lee and Lela divorced,

Mary was allowed to go home
and live with her mother.

Joe was reunited
with them in 1959.

Lela passed away in 1989.

But Mary and Joe still
desperately want to be reunited

with their brothers and sister.

MARY SMITH: We've
never given up hope

that they all are
still alive and that we

will be able to find them.

Curious as that what
they've grown up

like, their family life, what
they've made up themselves.

And definitely hoping that if I
do find them that none of this

will ever hurt them.

I have tried every
avenue that has

came before me to try and locate
these brothers and sister.

And I'll never quit until
the last day of my life.

"Unsolved Mysteries"
appeared to be the last hope.

And happily the day
after our broadcast,

35 years of frustration came
to an end for Joe and Mary.

A man named Lee
Shulien of Owasso,

Oklahoma called
our phone center.

He identified himself
as Earnest Lee

Stallings, who
was only five when

the family was split apart.

Lee was thrilled to
hear that his brother

and sister were looking for him
and was anxious to meet them.

Three weeks later, Lee arrived
at a hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma

to be reunited with Joe.

Hello.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): The two

brothers had not seen each
other in nearly half a century.

I've been talking to you
on the phone quite a bit.

I've waited for this
moment so many years.

I know, that's what I heard.

I don't know how
to describe it.

It's such a wonderful feeling.

About time.

It's definitely time for this.

Walking in this morning,
he walked in and we met,

hugged each other.

No body can realize the feeling.

We were separated
for too many years.

- Yeah, about 40, 46.
- 47 years.

About 47, so--

I really didn't know
how I was going to react,

you know, we've been
separated 46 years

and I felt a lot better
than what I thought I might.

I was really-- it felt
real good to hug him.

We've already started
making some plans

to get together and go fishing.

So we got a future
ahead of us to be

together and enjoy each other.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Sadly,
Joe and Lee's sister Mary was

unable to attend the reunion.

However she has spoken
with on the phone

and they plan to get together
in the very near future.

[inaudible] a
picture of our dad.

Right, yeah.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: On our next
"Unsolved Mysteries,"

a remarkable story
of faith and healing.

When Vera Marie Calandra
was two years old,

her parents were told that
she had just weeks to live.

Vera Marie's mother immediately
undertook an arduous journey

to Italy to ask for
a special blessing

from an aging priest
named Padre Pio.

Within weeks, doctors
were stunned to find

that Vera Marie was well
on her way to recovery.

Today, Vera Marie Calandra
is a normal, healthy adult.

What she saved by a miracle?

Join me next Friday for
this uplifting story

and much more on
"Unsolved Mysteries."

[music playing]