All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S07E17.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BTW_track3_[eng]

[theme sound effect]

NARRATOR: 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.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Near Albany, New York,
an elderly couple was brutally

murdered in their own home.

Incredibly, police
solve the case

only after they enlisted
the help of a psychic

named Noreen Renier.

Does Noreen have
remarkable powers

that enable her to
actually experience

a crime from the
victim's point of view?

Tonight you'll see this
unique detective in action.

Imagine that you wake
up one day in a park

in New Orleans unable to
remember your name, your age,

or where you came from.

INTERVIEWER: Well, how did it
feel to not know who you are?

It's horrible.

You don't expect things
like that to happen to you.

NARRATOR: She goes
by the name Gigi.

No one knows what
made her forget,

but perhaps someone watching
can help her remember.

Alfredo and Cecilia Newball
seemed the perfect couple

with a perfect life until
the night Alfredo came home

from work and made
the sobering discovery

that his wife had vanished.

Did she leave her
husband for another man,

or was she the
victim of foul play?

Also tonight, the
poignant drama of a man

who needs your help to uncover
his late father's secret life.

Join me.

Perhaps you may be able
to help solve a mystery.

[music playing]

We are in a police evidence
warehouse in Los Angeles.

An unorthodox murder
investigation is in progress.

What you are watching is real.

It is not a recreation.

MALE: Relax.

Breathe.

Take a breath.

[crying] He heard me.

In the argument, he heard you?

Earlier--

NARRATOR: Noreen Renier is a
psychic from Orlando, Florida

who works with the police.

Yes, yes.

NARRATOR: Among the psychics we
have profiled, she is unique--

a true unsolved mystery.

Noreen Renier claims
that she actually

becomes one with the victims.

She feels their pain.

Speaks their words, and sees
the faces of their killers.

It can be a daunting,
painful, and exhausting way

to make a living.

However, the rewards
for everyone involved

are usually substantial.

To date, Noreen has worked
with the police in 32

different states and
four foreign countries

on some 385 different crimes.

Perhaps Noreen's
most stunning success

was a case involving the
deaths of Jake and Dora Cohn,

an elderly couple from Colonie,
New York, a suburb of Albany.

FEMALE (OVER THE
TELEFONE): Sure.

Yeah, everything's
great here, too.

I'm glad to hear that.

You know what I did today?

NARRATOR: At 9:50 PM on May
15, 1986, Dora was on the phone

with the couple's only
daughter who lived nearby.

Hey, listen.

How about dinner Friday night?

[laughs] I've been
making some new recipes.

Thought I'd try--

NARRATOR: In an
instant, tragedy struck.

Yeah, well, any time's fine.

How about--
MOTHER (OVER THE PHONE): Jake!

Mom?
MOTHER (OVER THE PHONE): Jake!

NARRATOR: Doris screamed out
her husband's name twice.

Her daughter
immediately called 911.

Then she telephoned
her son, James Mariani

and rushed to meet him
at her parents' house.

James.

Mom.

They're not telling anything,
and they're not letting me in

- Mom!
- Ma'am, I'm sorry.

- What's going on in there.
- I'm sorry.

What's going on?

My parents are in there!

Ma'am listen to me.

Listen to me.

I hate to tell you this,
but they've been killed.

[gasp]
I'm sorry.

I'm very sorry.

MALE: The elderly
female was lying

on the floor with the
phone still in her hands.

It appeared that she had fallen
over while on the telephone.

She was shot in the top of the
head on a right to left angle.

The male victim was on
the floor in a hallway.

He appeared to be
shot in the nose.

The only evidence that
we found was the entrance

way door had been kicked in.

Part of the doorstopper was
laying on the kitchen floor,

and there was two empty shells
also laying on the floor.

NARRATOR: When James
Mariani knew at a glance

that the shells
were 25 caliber, he

became a suspect in his
grandparents murder.

The police asked him to take
a lie detector test even

though they knew he had
been at his own home

when the murders occurred.

MALE: Did you shoot
Jake and Dora?

No.

NARRATOR: The test
results were inconclusive,

and the police
remained suspicious.

James had a criminal record and
friends with criminal records.

I was with just
a couple friends--

Larry, Larry and JJ.

The The police
interviewed two men

James had done jail time with--

Keith Snare and Robert Skinner.

Both had alibis.

No.

That's my girlfriend.

What's her name?

Sandy.

NARRATOR: The investigation
eventually bogged down.

Two years went by.

Then Jake and Dora's daughter
heard about Noreen Renier

and asked the police
to contact her.

Noreen knew absolutely
nothing about the case

except the names and
ages of the victims.

Noreen, I sent you
some articles that were

present at the crime scene.

NARRATOR: It was
November of 1988.

Noreen worked long
distance my speaker phone.

MALE (OVER THE PHONE):
--glasses that were Doris.

I'm going to start
with the glasses.

I'm going to start with Dora.

I'm going to try to
tune in and see what she

saw just before she was killed.

[breathes]

She doesn't have
to bowl that night.

We'd loved to come.

MALE (VOICEOVER):
When she was Dora,

she described how she was on
the telephone with a female.

She hears a crashing sound.
[breaks door]

Wonderful recipe if
you don't have the time.

Oh, Jake!

Jake!

Oh, he's shooting me.

I'm being shot.

NARRATOR: Noreen called out
Jake's name twice just as Dora

had before she was shot.

MALE (VOICEOVER):
Well, as she's Jake,

she describes how she
gets up off the couch,

goes down a narrow hallway,
and she's confronted

with someone with a gun.

I know you.

What the hell are
you doing here?

Noreen remembers that she felt
pain in the center of her face

just where Jake had been shot.

My face.

I'm shot in my face.

MALE (VOICEOVER): She had given
a pretty accurate description

of both Jack and Dora
and a fairly accurate

description of the crime scene.

This made me take notice
and feel that she was

credible in what she was doing.

I'm going to count
from five to zero.

As I count, your eyes
will become heavier--

NARRATOR: The police
were beginning

to feel that Noreen
might be able to help

them crack the case.

They asked her to work
with a forensic hypnotist.

One in zero.

Now go back, back in
time to May 15th, 1986.

Dora, tell me
about the intruder.

[breathes]

We knew him.

He was a younger man.

DORA: What do you doing?

NOREEN (VOICEOVER): Brown hair.

And he came to our
house for dinner.

He did some work for my husband.

JAKE: I know you.

What you are doing?

I'm not playing, old man.

Where's the money?

What do you want?

Where's the money?

JAKE: What are
you talking about?

Where is the money?

[struggles] [shot]

MALE: I want you did
tell me his name.

Focus now.
We'll take a letter at a time.

Do you see a letter?

S.

MALE: OK.

Do you see another letter?

Following the
hypnosis session,

we presented Noreen with a
series of 10 photographs.

We had put three of them
in there who we felt

were the suspects at this time.

- --the last couple of years.
- Oh, you know what?

I don't want to see them.

Why don't you just
lay them face down

and let me pick up the
energies from them?

OK.

Noreen took the photographs.

As a matter of fact, her eyes
were closed, and just shuffled

through the photographs,
held them for a while,

held each one.

And then kept placing one,
two, three, photographs down.

I feel the strongest energy
from these three photographs.

And this one in particular.

He might have been the one
that killed Jake and Dora.

NARRATOR: The man
in the first photo

had nothing at all
to do with the case.

But the second photo was Robert
Skinner, a friend of Jake

Dora's grandson, James Mariani.

The third photo was
Mariani himself.

NARRATOR: It was not
lost on the police

that Robert Skinner's last
name began with S. The one

letter Noreen had visualized.

Where were you?

I was with my girlfriend.

What's her name?

Sandy.

NARRATOR: Armed with
Noreen's information,

the police checked Robert
Skinner's alibi again.

It did not hold up.

Eventually the DA
that James Mariani had

conspired with Robert
Skinner and Keith Snare

to rob his grandparents.

All three men are now serving
lengthy prison sentences.

Noreen Renier had proved
vital in solving the case.

When the skeptics ask
me, how does it work,

my answer usually
is, you've been

using your logical, rational
mind for many years.

Explain to me how it works.

How does your memory,
how do you learn math?

How does a brain
work when you spell?

You don't know.

And neither do I, but you can
use your mind and so can I.

If she can help
me, I would welcome

anything she can give me.

NARRATOR: Detective
Jim Tiample of the LAPD

is currently working with Noreen
on the case of 42-year-old

Rosemary Hom, co-owner
of a Chinese bakery

near downtown Los Angeles.

She was kidnapped and stabbed
to death on November 5th, 1994.

The last person to see Rosemary
alive was one of her employees

just before 9:00 AM.

He noticed her van
approaching the bakery.

Rosemary slowed down
and waved on her way

into the parking garage
across the street.

The employee next observed
that an Asian man got out

of a parked car and
entered the garage

just after Rosemary drove in.

He waited for
about a half hour.

She never showed.

He didn't hear anything.

There wasn't
anything suspicious.

But after a half
hour of waiting,

he noticed the garage
door come up again.

And at this time, he saw Mrs.
Hom's coming out of the garage.

But it was the male
Asian driving the car.

Mrs. Hom was nowhere in sight.

NARRATOR: 11 hours later,
Rosemary Hom's was found.

Rosemary was lying
dead on the back seat.

Although no Noreen
Renier usually

works by phone, for this
case, Unsolved Mysteries

brought her to Los Angeles.

With Rosemary Hom's
van parked behind her

and Rosemary's
watch in her hand,

Noreen seemed to
become the victim.

I'm Rosemary.

My eyes are just slightly closed
set, a little close-setness

in the eyes.

There was an oval shaped face.

(VOICEOVER) For the
police to make sure

that my credibility
becomes strong,

I described what the
victim looked like.

Before we start the case, I
don't know anything about it.

So they have no way
of thinking I've

checked on who this person was.

I described the person,
what he looked like,

or she looked like alive,
and then I become killed.

Stay with it.

Stay with it.

Just a little longer.
Stay with it.

NARRATOR: Remember.

What you are seeing
is not a recreation.

Why is he mad at you?

[breathing heavy]

Why is he doing this
to you, Rosemary?

He's jealous.

He's jealous.

He's-- [crying] He's
hurting my neck.

[mumbling] I don't
want to do this.

MALE: OK, OK.

[screaming] Oh, my neck.

My neck.

MALE: Come back, OK?

DETECTIVE: Rosemary starting--
you know counting this one.

The point is that she'd
focus in on the one

woman that really
caused her death,

and it was extremely
painful to her.

That surprised me because that
hasn't been in any report.

That hasn't been in
any news articles.

It hasn't been on
any press releases.

He had very few
lines, but the lines

would be very significant.

DETECTIVE (VOICEOVER):
She talked

about tattoos, marks on the
person that we're looking at.

Just be very complicated.

The tattoo she described
is indicative of a group--

a gang, I guess you might say--

that we have charted
for several years.

My face is more broad.

(VOICEOVER) I have a police
artist that I work with.

And I see the bad guy,
and he draws the bad guy.

If the victim saw the bad guy, I
can see how the victim saw him.

If for some reason, the
victim got shot in the back

or was asleep when
they were killed,

I can go there and observe
as Noreen what he's doing

and what's going on.

So I can be several--

the victim, the suspect, and
Noreen can pop in and out.

I found the most impressive
thing about Noreen was,

going into it not knowing
anything about the crime,

she was able to describe
to me the crime scene,

describe to me where
the body was found.

She identified a
spot as a dump site.

No one knows about
that except us.

So we're going to
look at everything

she says with a great
deal of credibility.

NARRATOR: This is the
full face composite

that Noreen visualized
for the police artist.

This is a profile view composite
based on the description

given by the employee who
last saw Rosemary Hom alive.

[music playing]

Next, a husband
becomes a potential

suspect when his wife and
stepson mysteriously disappear.

[eerie music]

She was beautiful--
a devoted mother,

by all accounts madly in
love with her husband,

and now she is missing.

Seven months ago,
Cecilia Newball

mysteriously vanished along
with her six-year-old son.

At the time, Cecilia was
8 and 1/2 months pregnant.

Today, her husband
Alfredo Newball lives

under a cloud of suspicion.

He says he had no involvement
in his wife's disappearance.

And in fact, he claims to
have an airtight alibi.

But both police and
Cecilia's friends

think Alfredo knows more
than he is admitting.

Alfredo Newborn and
Cecilia Mia met in 1991.

After a passionate two-year
courtship, they married.

At the ceremony, Cecilia's son
from a previous marriage, Rene

Perez, was the ring bearer.

The couple who settled in
Chatsworth, California.

And almost immediately
Cecilia became pregnant.

By September 20, 1994,
Cecilia's due date

was only two weeks away.

That afternoon, she sat
down to write thank you

notes for a recent baby shower.

What was your Uncle George
girlfriend name, babe?

NARRATOR: At around 2:30
PM, Alfredo left for work.

As he reached the
front door, Alfredo

says he was stopped short by
a strange undefined yearning.

INTERVIEWER: Being pregnant,
she looked so beautiful that I

went back and kissed her again.

I love you.

I left her sitting inside
the apartment writing

the thank you notes, and
that was the last time

that I saw my wife.

NARRATOR: Alfredo works
as a nurse's assistant

at a hospital and
retirement home for members

of the film industry.

2 and 1/2 hours after his shift
began, Alfredo phoned Cecilia.

ALFREDO (VOICEOVER): I just had
some kind of very weird feeling

that something was wrong.

But she never
answered the phone.

Um, [ringing] I don't know.

For some reasons, I thought that
she could be visiting with some

friends or being at my mom's.

[ringing]

NARRATOR: Alfredo called several
times throughout the evening.

Finally fearing the
worst, he left work early.

Even as he approached
the apartment,

Alfredo knew that something
was not quite right.

Cecilia's Jeep was
parked on the street

instead of in the
building's security lot.

Cecilia, are you there?

NARRATOR: Inside the
apartment, Alfredo

says nothing was out of place.

There were no
signs of a struggle

or a break in and no
signs of Cecilia and Rene.

But in Cecilia's Jeep, Alfredo
found a sentimental generic

goodbye card.

It was signed simply, Cecilia.

A moment later, Alfredo's
concern turned to bewildered.

Cecilia's wedding
and engagement rings

have been left on the
passenger's seat of the Jeep.

To Alfredo, the
conclusion was obvious.

His wife must have left him.

ALFREDO (VOICEOVER): The
relationship was always good.

We never had any
problems, fights.

Why would she do
something like this?

To leave me a note like that
and to leave the wedding rings?

It was very confusing to me.

NARRATOR: Desperate for answers,
Alfredo phoned the one person

he thought might know
his wife's whereabouts--

her closest friend at
work, Kevin Annabell.

It was this phone call
that would help cast

suspicion on Alfredo Newball.

Hello.

ALFREDO (OVER THE PHONE):
Kevin, this is Al.

Al, what time is it?

I don't know.

It's about midnight.

Is Cici there?

What?

No, Cici's not here.

What's going on?

I don't know.

I mean, she's got to be there.

Put her on.
I came home.

She's not here.

KEVIN (VOICEOVER): And I
was like, you know, Al,

she's not here.

You're really
starting to scare me.

What's going on?

And he was unusually
Calm like if it were me,

I would have been
screaming at the person

I thought where my wife was.

But he was--

I was more nervous and
excited than he was.

I felt like she
needed to be away

for a few days or something.

I don't know.

It was very strange.

But at least I believed that
she was coming back soon.

It appeared that
nothing was taken

by Cecilia or her son Rene.

All his toys were left there.

Clothing was left there.

Not so much as a toothbrush.

Hello, is this
Alfredo Newball?

NARRATOR: The day after
Cecilia disappeared,

the police called Alfredo.

They had been contacted by
one of Cecilia's relatives.

DETECTIVE (OVER
THE PHONE): Can you

tell me, Mr. Newball,
when was the last time

you saw your wife Cecilia?

Ah, yesterday afternoon.

I was getting ready
to go to work.

Then, I gave her a
kiss, and that was it.

Mr. Newball didn't appear
to be that concerned.

And here he has a 8 and
1/2 month pregnant wife,

a six-year-old stepson--

that according to everyone
including Mr. Newball,

they all got along fine.

Mr. Newball just didn't appear
to be the grieving husband

soon to be new father.

NARRATOR: The suspicions
mounted three days later

when Alfredo received
a letter postmarked

to nearby Van Nuys, California.

Inside the envelope was a
card identical to the one

found in the Jeep and
a typewritten note.

CECILIA (VOICEOVER):
Alfredo, I have

gone to Honduras with a
man I met nine months ago

by the name of Arturo.

He's a doctor.

I don't know if this
baby is yours or his.

I love you with all
my heart, but you

will not amount to anything.

And I want only the
best for my baby.

Alfredo, you can't give us that.

Adios.

Cecilia and Rene.

ALFREDO (VOICEOVER):
My first impression

after opening the letter
was that she had left.

But then after reviewing
the letter several times,

some parts don't
sound like Cecilia.

It doesn't strike me
as Cecilia at all.

NARRATOR: Kevin
Anabel also found

the letter out of character.

Cecilia was--

I would say she was
almost obsessed with Al.

And when you're that
in love with a person,

you don't just meet
a doctor and say,

well, I think I'm
going to Honduras.

Let me just write
my husband a note.

That doesn't happen.

I took a look at the
letter, spoke to friends

and family of Cecilia later on.

And I am convinced that that
letter is not from Cecilia.

Whoever typed this letter
knew more about Alfredo's side

of the family rather
than knowing very much

about Cecilia's
side of the family.

My best guess on this is
that Cecilia's disappearance

is not by her will.

I believe there is a third
party involved in this.

Cecilia speaking.

NARRATOR: Was there
a third party?

And if so, was there a
connection to Alfredo?

Six months before
she disappeared,

Cecilia received a
phone call from a still

unidentified woman who may
have been that third party.

What?

She had gotten a call that
a woman had a videotape of Al

kissing another woman
at a baby shower

and that the woman
wanted to see the tape.

And Cecilia had agreed
to see the tape.

OK, yes, I know where is that.

8:00 o'clock?

NARRATOR: The woman
said she would phone

again to arrange a meeting.

That call never
came, and the matter

was apparently forgotten.

[ringing]

Then just A few weeks
before Cecilia disappeared,

a second mysterious call--

this one from a
woman who claimed

to be a coworker of Alfredo's.

[non-english]?

From?

Oh, you work with Alfredo.

A woman had called and
said that she was giving Al--

they were going to give
Al a baby shower at work

and that she had
some baby furniture

and she wanted to
Cecilia to pick out

a piece of that
furniture but to keep it

a secret because the shower
was going to be a surprise.

On the 20th?

Yeah, that's fine.

NARRATOR: Police
later determined

that the call had not been
made by Alfredo's coworker

and that no shower
had been planned.

But by then, it was too late.

Thank you very much.

Bye.

She disappeared
on Tuesday, the day

she was supposed to get
together with this lady

to pick out a piece of
furniture for the baby shower.

Too much of a
coincidence for her

to disappear on the same day.

It appears that someone
is trying to lure her

away from safety, away from her
family, away from her friends,

trying to get her alone.

If she's somewhere,
she doesn't

want to come back to me.

But I just want to know
what happened to them,

and that's what I really need
the public's help finding

something about this case.

It's It's my opinion that
Mr. Newball is not telling

me everything that he knows.

As far as Cecilia's
disappearance,

he may not have been there
when she disappeared.

But it's my opinion that
he knows something now.

NARRATOR: What
happened to Cecilia

Newball and her son Rene Perez?

Were they abducted and perhaps
murdered or did Cecilia run

away to be with another man?

If Cecilia is alive,
as Alfredo believes,

she is now the mother of
their 7-month-old child.

And Alfredo was concerned
both for her and the baby.

ALFREDO (OVER THE PHONE):
Well, I want to tell her,

Cecilia, if she happens to
view this, please get in touch.

If she doesn't want to write
me or talk to me on the phone,

to at least call her dad.

You know, he's--
like, he's not well,

and I just want to tell
her that there's a lot

of people suffering right now
and still because of this.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In a moment, the
strange case of a young woman

suffering from amnesia.

Perhaps someone watching
knows her true identity.

[eerie music]

Imagine suddenly
finding yourself

in a strange and alien place.

You scan your
surroundings for clues.

Even your own possessions
are unrecognizable.

Finally, the terrifying
realization--

you don't know where you are.

You don't know who you are.

You are suffering from amnesia.

FEMALE (VOICEOVER):
It was horrible.

And it's so sudden-- like,
you're not prepared for it.

You don't expect things
like that to happen to you.

And, like, I didn't
know what to do.

I know I had to go
get help somewhere.

The mystery woman
of Audubon park

had the vague notion that
her name might be Gigi.

Other than that, she
knew nothing of her past.

Tonight she is
still asking herself

the one fundamental question
we all take for granted--

who am I. To help
Gigi find the answer,

we turn now to reporter
Susan Roesgen of NBC

affiliate WDSU TV, New Orleans.

SUSAN ROESGEN (VOICEOVER): I
met with Gigi in Audubon park

where her peculiar odyssey
began six months ago.

Gigi struck me as articulate
and well-educated.

What's it like to
not have any past?

What is it like to be a
person living without a past

and not knowing
how you got here?

It's strange.

I feel like I have a blank in
my head and nothing to base

anything on.

So I have to just go by day by
day what I realize day by day.

Gigi, these are the
things that you had when you

woke up here at Audubon Park.

Did you recognize them
right away as your things?

No, I just assumed they were
mine because they were with me.

And there wasn't anyone
else close to me.

So I just assumed
they were mine.

SUSAN ROESGEN (VOICEOVER):
I couldn't help puzzling

over the odd assortment
of belongings

that sum up Gigi's life.

Laid out for display, they
painted a disjointed picture--

four pairs of scissors, a
gold plated table setting,

UPS notices that only company
personnel should have,

and deposit envelopes specific
to banks in the Northeastern

United States.

And finally there
was the makeup.

Gigi was carrying no
less than 26 tubes

of lipstick, 24
lip liner pencils,

and dozens of other cosmetics.

Presumably some of
these things are

clues to Gigi's real identity.

But so far, they
haven't helped a bit.

To date, police have
reviewed hundreds

of missing person's files.

Doctors have probed and tested.

Even sodium amytal, a
so-called truth serum,

couldn't pierce the
fog of Gigi's amnesia.

Now a hospital
official named Doyle

Magee has voluntarily
assumed the job

of uncovering Gigi's past.

--which is totally confusing.

Do you believe
that Gigi sincerely

does not remember her past?

I do.

She has made a conscious
effort to assist me

on every phase of
trying to find out

who she is through the
law enforcement agencies,

through the media.

If she was in fact trying
to conceal her identity,

she would not have
signed the releases

that allow us to do this.

SUSAN ROESGEN
(VOICEOVER): Doyle Magee

is especially mystified by
the total absence of anything

personal in Gigi's
wallet or handbag.

He fears that this
omission is no accident.

NARRATOR: Somebody has
gone to great pains

to make sure that we
don't know who she is.

The wallets are fairly new.

They had absolutely
nothing personal in them--

no personal photos, no
credit cards, no checks.

The purse had no receipts.

And you know, I don't
know of any lady

who didn't accidentally
drop a receipt

or something in her purse.

SUSAN ROESGEN
(VOICEOVER): What could

have triggered Gigi's amnesia?

Experts believe she may
have seen or experienced

something so horrible
that, in defense,

her memory simply shut down.

If someone watching helps
you find out who you were,

are you a little afraid
to find out who you were?

I want to now even then.

because it's been so long
that not knowing that.

It doesn't matter to me
whether it was good or bad.

I just want to know.

What do the terms
past, present,

and future mean to you now?

Well, the past to me
is the past unknown.

The present is this day to
day life here in the future.

It's very uncertain for
me now at this point.

SUSAN ROESGEN (VOICEOVER): Gigi
has been trapped in the limbo

of amnesia since February 1995.

With luck, she will soon
discover her true identity.

Otherwise, she has no choice but
to close the door on her past,

assemble a new legal
identity, and begin

her life again from scratch.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Next, a
man needs your help

to find the truth about his
father's mysterious past.

[mysterious music]

[whispering]

It is a sorrowful event that
we must all face someday--

a death of a parent.

For an 11-year-old
boy named Bob Coleman,

it was a time to reflect on
everything he had ever known

about his father or at least
everything his father had

wanted him to know.

By all accounts, Richard
Coleman was an ordinary man who

lived a fairly uneventful life.

Richard worked as
a vending machine

mechanic in Washington DC.

He had served in the
military and married in 1947.

Bob was born two years later.

And today Bob's strongest
memory of childhood

is a love of baseball he
shared with his father.

He had a passion to play ball,
and we'd go out to the yard,

to the side yard
and the front yard.

And he'd pitch the ball
to me, and I'd hit it.

And it was something that
I enjoyed an awful lot.

And I loved being
outside with him

and playing ball
whenever we could.

NARRATOR: Richard Coleman
passed away in 1961.

A short time later, Bob
received the first hint

that his father had been a man
with many deeply held secrets.

Curiosity drew Bob
to an old trunk

at the foot of his parents' bed.

Inside was a tantalizing
collection of his father's

military mementos.

What are you doing, Bobby?

Just looking at
dad's old stuff?

Was dad in the army?

Yes, he was, but
your dad didn't really

like to talk about it, honey.

He did something in the army
that he wasn't proud of.

Why don't you just close it up?

BOB COLEMAN (VOICEOVER): I
remember many, many times

asking my mom about my dad
and specifically honing

in on the items in
the foot locker.

And she didn't have too
many explanations other

than that she believed that
my dad had done something

he wasn't real proud
of and that his words

were, it's over and done with.

NARRATOR: 14 years past.

Finally in 1975, Bob's own
experiences in the military

drew him back to the forbidden
contents of the trunk.

Bob was flooded
with emotion as he

once again held the
uniform which had

so fascinated him as a child.

BOB COLEMAN (VOICEOVER):
It had the silver bars

of her first-lieutenant
still on it.

It had the insignia,
interestingly enough,

of a Medical Corps [inaudible],,
which would indicate

that the person who
wore that uniform

was a medical
doctor in the army.

NARRATOR: Was it
possible that Richard

Coleman, vending
machine mechanic,

had been a doctor in the army?

For Bob, the very
possibility triggered

a vivid childhood memory.

[screams] Oh, oh my god.

I'm bleeding.
Richard!

Richard!
Oh--

SUSAN ROESGEN (VOICEOVER):
My mom had cut

her hand up very, very badly.

And there was a lot of blood.

She was bleeding profusely.

And I remember my dad taking
control of the situation,

sizing up the emergency.

He applied pressure to
the cut and actually

knew about pressure points
and did something that I don't

remember because I was small.

But he did something that
he actually was able to stop

the bleeding pretty quickly.

And he took control
of the situation

in a way that would lead
me to believe that he

knew more about
the medical field

than somebody who
was not trained.

Atta boy.
See?

Everything's fine.

NARRATOR: Why would
Richard Coleman

abandon medicine to become
a vending machine mechanic?

Bob could no longer ignore
the fact that his father was

not the man he thought he knew.

The trunk yielded
other perplexing clues.

Though the uniform was
from the Second World War,

Bob discovered several
prestigious medals

from the first World War
almost 30 years earlier.

The awards included a
legion of honor ribbon

and a Croix de Guerre,
the French cross of war.

Another items from
the First World War

raised still more questions.

BOB COLEMAN (VOICEOVER): It
was a World War I certificate.

And as I looked at it, I
remember noticing that items

had been written over.

Someone had gone back after it
was issued and put my father's

name, Richard Coleman,
and a service number

and other information
were written

over the original inscriptions.

NARRATOR: The same
envelope which

contained the certificate
held a piece of paper which

appeared to be a crib sheet.

On it, Richard
Coleman had practiced

writing the same words
and numbers that had

been forged on the certificate.

Bob checked with the
Veterans Administration.

He wasn't really
surprised to learn

that the discharge certificate
had belonged to another man.

But a second discovery
left Bob truly stunned.

There was no record
of a Richard Coleman

ever having served in
the Army Medical Corps

either in the First
or Second World War.

That's his room right there.

NARRATOR: The sudden
developments once again

thrust Bob back to his
childhood in the final days

of his father's life.

Hi, Sharon.

Hi, honey.

I'm just glad to see you.

How are you feeling today?

I'm feeling a little better.

Good.

Has anybody come to visit you?

No, you're the first one.

What about your brothers
and sisters and your family?

Shh, shh.

[kiss] We're dad's
family, honey?

Yes.

You are.

BOB COLEMAN (VOICEOVER): I
remember asking several times.

Well, my dad's sick.

He's probably
going to pass away.

Where's his family and why isn't
anyone up here to see how he is

or to visit him?

What a beautiful
dress you have.

And my mom really
wouldn't answer it.

She didn't have an
answer, I guess.

And I never--

I never got any satisfactory
explanation for that.

NARRATOR: Who was
Richard Coleman?

And just what secrets
was he hiding?

The trunk held one
other important clue--

a roster supplement from
a New York City gun club.

It listed Richard
as a member in 1944

and gave his occupation
special patrolman.

From tax records, Bob learned
that his father had been

employed as a security
guard at a bank in Manhattan

from 1943 to 1945.

However, the bank
had no employment

records for a Richard Coleman.

When Bob researched his
father's address from 1944, yet

another startling
detail surfaced.

My father may have lived
with an Alice Coleman.

And I don't know what her maiden
name was, but voting records

indicate that they were married
and that she was a housewife

and that she lived
with Richard Coleman.

I've never been able to confirm
their marriage because there's

no record that I can find.

And indeed, I don't know
where Alice Coleman went to

because, after 1967,
she does not appear

in the Manhattan phonebooks.

NARRATOR: Was there something
in Richard Coleman's past

that made him
change his identity?

Why did he keep his
apparent marriage

to Alice Coleman a secret?

And why, despite a trunk
filled with mementos,

did the military have
no record of his serving

in either World War?

Bob's mother passed away in 1983
without giving him any clues.

Today, Bob Coleman is
determined to find the answers

whatever they may be.

BOB COLEMAN (VOICEOVER): I'm
not trying to judge my father.

I'm trying to learn
about him, and I'm

perfectly aware that
there may be something

that he did 50, 60 years ago
that was pretty bad perhaps

and that would have prompted
him to change his identity

and to obscure his past.

But it's also something
that's very important to me

because it's my father,
and it may be the only way

that I ultimately end up
really knowing who he was

and what he did.

And I'm very passionate and
very committed to doing that

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Can faith
work hand-in-hand

with modern medicine?

On our next unsolved
mysteries, we'll

bring you the
inspirational stories

of a woman and a young boy
who battled serious illnesses

and fully recovered.

Some believe that the power of
prayer helped save their lives.

Join me next time for
another intriguing addition

of Unsolved Mysteries.

[eerie music]