All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S02E12.480p.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: On
Christmas Eve in 1931,

a couple made an
incredible discovery

in a lonely Arizona desert.

A baby girl,
abandoned in a hatbox.

Today, Sharon Elliott,
the so-called Hatbox Baby,

wants to learn the
truth about her parents

and find the couple
who rescued her

on that long-ago Christmas Eve.

For 30 years, Joe Schambier's
been a real-life Santa Claus

for the millions of children who
listen to his radio broadcast.

But this man, who has given
children so much happiness,

is searching for his own child.

Alberta Elaine was given up
for adoption 50 years ago.

Also tonight, we will tell
the story of John Branion,

a Chicago physician and
civil rights worker who

was imprisoned for murdering
his wife 20 years ago,

a crime he swears
he did not commit.

Indeed, there is compelling
evidence that supports

his claim of innocence.

If this is true, then a man
has been unjustly imprisoned.

Tonight, John Branion
makes his final appeal.

[theme music]

Christmas Eve, 1931.

At 8:00 PM, a car broke
down in the middle

of the chilly Arizona desert
56 miles outside Phoenix.

The four people inside were
returning from a day trip

to the mountains.

Ed Stewart took a
look at the engine

while his wife, Julia,
waited in the car.

What's wrong, Ed?

It looks like a
busted fuel line.

I'll just get to
work on it here.

ROBERT STACK: Julia's
15-year-old twin cousins,

John and Betty Mansfield,
looked on from the back seat.

Oh, this is going to
take a few minutes to fix.

JOHN: I'm hungry.

I know you are, kids.

I'm going to
stretch my legs a bit.

All right.

Honey, you be careful out here.

There's scorpions.

Hey, Ed, come here a minute.

What?

JULIA: Come here.

I found something.

What is it?

JULIA: It's a hatbox.

It's probably just some
junk left by some campers.

Of course, it don't
look that weathered.

Open it up.

Oh, my gosh, it's a baby.

ED: Dear Lord.

Who on Earth would
leave a child out here?

I don't know.

I can't believe this.

She OK?

She seems all right.

Did you see anybody
when we drove up?

No.

ROBERT STACK: Ed
and Julia Stewart

saw no sign of the person
who had abandoned the baby.

They carried the tiny
foundling back to their car.

41 miles away, at
the Mesa, Arizona,

police station,
Constable Joe Maier,

was spending his
Christmas Eve on duty.

How's it been tonight?

It's been slow.

You know, Christmas Eve.

People home with their families.

- Evening, Joe.
- Ed.

Julia.

Joe, we got a bit
of a problem here.

We found this baby
in the desert.

You found a child
in the desert?

Yeah.

ROBERT STACK: Ed
and Julia Stewart

told Constable Maier
the incredible story

of how they found the
tiny infant in a hatbox.

She was right down in the box.

What I'll do is--

I don't know exactly what
to do with her, either.

I'll take her to Ma
Dana's for tonight.

That's a good idea, Joe.

We gotta get home.

Been away from our
family all day.

Enjoy your Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you, Joe.

And to you folks.

I'll be back to you for
a statement on this.

- All right.
- OK?

ROBERT STACK: Constable Maier
turned over his young charge

to Ma Dana, a midwife living
near Florence, Arizona.

She sounds real good.

Oh, wonderful.

Real good.

ROBERT STACK: She called in a
doctor who pronounced the child

a healthy seven-day-old girl
suffering no ill effects

from her time in the desert.

She's sure a
nice-lookin' baby.

ROBERT STACK: Local reporters
were quick to turn up

on Ma Dana's porch.

They dubbed the child a miracle.

News of the Christmas Eve
baby spread like wildfire.

People showered the
little girl with love,

gifts, and attention.

HAZEL SHEPARD: We've never
had anything like that

happen around Florence.

That was a new thing.

And everybody was
very family-oriented

and loved their children
and thought of them first.

To think that somebody would
desert a little, helpless baby.

And we felt it was
surely a miracle

that night that that
little baby was saved.

You're such a doll.

You're gonna be just fine.

Yes.

We're gonna get you a bottle.

ROBERT STACK: The
miracle Christmas

Eve baby captured
the imagination

of the entire country.

To a people weathering
the Great Depression,

this tiny baby girl
rescued from the desert

became a symbol of the Christmas
season, an array of hope

in the midst of bleak times.

The baby was put
up for adoption.

On February the
16th, 1932, a hearing

was held at the Pinal
County courthouse

in Florence, Arizona.

You know, I think this
baby must be the most

fortunate baby in the county.

ROBERT STACK: 17 couples
had expressed interest

in adopting the
baby, but the field

finally narrowed to just two.

Judge EL Green faced
a difficult choice.

I might say that, since I
know you have an adopted child

and the other couple
doesn't have one,

I feel under the
circumstances that I am forced

to award the child to them.

Let them leave the
courtroom by themselves.

I'm going to seal the
court records on this case

and we'd appreciate it very
much if you boys would respect

these people's privacy
and let the child

grow up in a normal life.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK: The
reporters and photographers

waited inside while the
baby and her new parents

made their exit.

Only the people
in court that day

knew who had adopted
the Hatbox Baby.

For more than half a century,
the identity of the family

remained a
closely-guarded secret.

Finally, on August the 10th,
1986, the adoptive mother

broke her five-decade silence.

Sharon, honey, there's
something I've got to tell you.

We tried to have
children, and we couldn't.

You're adopted, honey.

We adopted you when
you were a little baby.

I was shocked.

I couldn't believe it because I
had no idea that I was adopted.

Nobody ever said a thing to me.

It was never--

I never even dreamt
that I was-- that was

the last thing I would think
that I would hear from her.

ROBERT STACK:
Sharon's mother also

told her the amazing
saga of how she

had been found in the desert.

SHARON ELLIOTT: No, I have
never heard of the Hatbox Baby,

and I'm one person
that grew up, and I

have a family and everything.

Then I'm looking through
all these pictures

and it just seemed like
it was unreal, kind

of, that this could be me.

ROBERT STACK: Sharon began to
look for her birth parents.

News of her search reached
an organization called

Orphan Voyage, which
reunites adopted children

with their families of birth.

Alice Simon, one of the research
consultants at Orphan Voyage,

took up Sharon's cause.

Both women felt it was vital to
have access to the sealed court

documents from 1931.

The court has
reviewed your file

and determined that it would
be in the best interest

to release these files.

So I will let you look at
them and you can review it.

And after you've
reviewed it, just

leave it with my secretary.

I sure appreciate it.

ROBERT STACK: For
the first time,

Sharon read the Stewarts'
verbatim account

of finding her in the desert.

As she studied the records, she
grew skeptical of their story.

It seemed such an
amazing coincidence

that their car had broken down
at the exact spot in the desert

where the hatbox had been left.

I think it was a setup.

Who's gonna leave a baby in
the desert in the middle--

this is winter.

It's Christmas Eve.

And it's that time of year.

It's cold here.

ROBERT STACK: In
sworn testimony,

Ed and Julia Stewart
stated they left

home at dawn on
December 24, 1931,

to drive up to the mountains.

The Stewarts said
they stopped only once

in Roosevelt, Arizona,
one of several small towns

on their route.

ALICE SYMAN : Mrs. Stewart
had left an eight-month-old

nursing baby at home.

It was Christmas Eve,
the day that most people

stay home and cook their turkey,
wrap their Christmas presents.

I think that they went up to
Globe or Superior or maybe

Roosevelt. They picked up the
baby from someone they knew--

maybe a cousin, a
relative, a friend--

and brought it back to Mesa.

ROBERT STACK: Could
the Stewarts have

picked up the infant
Sharon at Roosevelt

or another small town?

Or did they indeed
find her in the desert,

Sharon's mysterious
mother having placed

her in the hatbox only
seconds before the Stewarts'

car stopped?

It would have been a
carefully arranged ruse,

staged for the benefit of the
teenage cousins, John and Betty

Mansfield, who'd been brought
along as innocent witnesses.

ALICE SYMAN : In that day, if
a girl got pregnant and she was

not married, it was, I guess,
the greatest disgrace that she

could bring upon her family.

I think that probably
they were just trying

to help out a young girl.

Maybe it was a relative.

It could have been a niece.

It could have been her friend.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Maybe they had friends
that had a daughter.

I'm just glad that I survived.

I don't know if I have
any brothers or sisters.

I don't even know the
exact date of my birth,

or even where I was born.

I don't know what heritage
I am, what nationality,

or where I come from.

And I want to know
who I look like.

And I think my daughter
would like to know

about her grandmother, too--

her real grandmother.

ROBERT STACK: The Christmas Eve
miracle has remained a mystery

for nearly six decades, the
vital missing links to Sharon

Elliott's lost
identity or the couple

who found her in the desert.

If they are alive,
Ed and Julia Stewart

would be today in their 80s.

Only they know the truth about
Sharon Elliott, the woman who

began her life 58 years
ago as a poignant baby

in a hatbox, lost in the
chill December blackness

of an Arizona desert night.

When we return, the story
of a Chicago physician who

was convicted of
murdering his wife.

Dramatic evidence
suggests that he may

have been unjustly imprisoned.

December 22, 1967,
Chicago, Illinois.

A 41-year-old physician named
John Branion and his son, Joby,

ride home to pick up
John's wife, Donna.

The family was planning to go
Christmas shopping together.

JOHN BRANION: Joby and I
returned from nursery school

and went into the house.

And the first thing that struck
me was all the lights were on

and two television sets were on.

And I called out to Donna.
I got no answer.

And then when I got to the
kitchen, I looked to the right

and I could see feet,
her legs really sticking

out of the utility room.

And she was dead.

She wasn't breathing.

Her legs were askew and
her skirt was kind of

rickered up over her legs.

I switched off the light and
reached around and grabbed Joby

and ran out of the
back of the house.

ROBERT STACK: After
his grim discovery,

Dr. Branion immediately
called the police.

Five months later, he was
on trial for his life.

Today, John Branion
is serving a 20 to 30

year term in Illinois'
Dixon Correctional Center

for the first-degree
murder of his wife,

a crime he swears
he did not commit.

JAN BRANION WETHERS: I
think it was an atrocity.

I think it was extremely unfair.

I feel that it was a setup.

My father was railroaded because
he didn't kill my mother.

I think he's innocent because
the evidence shows that he

could not have physically
been there at the time

these events were going on.

I think the jury was
emotionally caught up

in the case and just forgot
or didn't pay attention

to the evidence that
overwhelmingly proved that John

couldn't have been the killer.

I couldn't murder the
mother of my children.

I couldn't murder my
high school sweetheart.

Donna and I had known each
other since the age of 14.

I didn't murder her.

It is not uncommon for a
convicted criminal to stoutly

maintain his innocence.

But in John Branion's
case, he is not alone.

Though some say
he is a murderer,

others are convinced
that he was framed.

For John Branion, this
debate is literally

a matter of life and death.

After suffering
five heart attacks,

he desperately needs
a heart transplant.

But because he is a
convicted murderer,

the operation he needs to
survive has been denied him.

This is John Branion's story.

CROWD: (SINGING)
We shall overcome.

ROBERT STACK:
During the mid-60s,

Martin Luther King dreamed
his dreams of equality

for all Americans.

John Branion
marched by his side.

And in 1966, he was King's
personal physician in Chicago.

Chicago was a
racial battleground

during those years.

Branion was often
on the front lines.

He even went so far as to
provide medical services

for the Black Panthers,
the Weathermen,

and other extreme
revolutionary groups.

Not surprisingly, Branion
was viewed with hostility

by the Chicago police.

JOHN BRANION: I've always a
struggled for equal rights

and struggled for
freedom, hoping

that there would eventually
be freedom and equal rights.

And I've done it all my life.

I did it very early in
very left-wing groups,

and I'll do it when
I get out of here.

ROBERT STACK: The son
of a prominent attorney,

John Branion worked at
a busy community clinic

and lived in Chicago's
affluent Hyde Park district.

In 1946, he married Donna Brown
and they had two children.

December 22, 1967.

After being called
by John Branion,

the Chicago police arrived
at his Hyde Park home.

Dr. Branion, how
are you holding up?

I'm doing OK.

Just bear with me.

Do he notice anything missing?

Anything that might have been
taken from the apartment?

ROBERT STACK:
Investigators found

four shell casings
from a 9 millimeter gun

next to Donna's body.

They assumed that she
had been shot four times.

Do you own a 9
millimeter weapon?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: Branion
was an avid gun collector

and says that police
asked him for any weapon

in his collection capable of
firing a 9 millimeter bullet.

He gave them a Luger pistol.

Wait, Dr. Branion.
Let me get that.

ROBERT STACK: Police
determined that the gun

had not been recently fired.

They would later
claim that Branion

had denied owning any
other gun capable of firing

the fatal bullets.

Have a seat here, gentlemen.

ROBERT STACK: The same
evening, at the police station,

Branion gave
detectives his alibi.

Dr. Branion, I know it's
been a long, difficult day.

I'd like to go
over one more time

your whereabouts for the day.

ROBERT STACK:
Branion told police

that he had left the clinic
where he worked at 11:30 AM.

Hey, John.
How's it going?

Morning.

Listen, I'm on my
way to pick up Joby.

I won't be back
anymore this afternoon.

Merry Christmas!

ROBERT STACK: He then drove
to his four-year-old old son's

nursery school to pick him up.

Come on.

Here's your coat.

ROBERT STACK: After
leaving the school,

they went to see his wife's
cousin, Maxine Brown,

to meet her for lunch.

Hi.

Ready to go?

Oh, goodness, I can't go.

What?

I am working on this big
closing this afternoon.

I have to be here
to take care of it.

ROBERT STACK: She was
unable to join them.

Branion told police that
he then proceeded home.

There, he discovered
the body of his wife.

And you arrived
home at what time?

Around noon.

Dr. Branion, would you
submit to a lie detector test?

John, I don't think
that's such a good idea.

No, but I would like to
have a nitrate test, though.

We don't have the chemicals--

ROBERT STACK: A nitrate
test would have determined

whether he had fired a
gun, but the Chicago police

were able to conduct this test.

That night, Branion was
released without being charged.

Morning.

ROBERT STACK: One month passed.

Then on January 22, 1968, the
police made an unexpected visit

to Branion's clinic.

Dr. Branion,
you're under arrest

for the murder of your wife.

You'll have to come
with us right now.

JOHN BRANION: I think
that the police were

under a great deal of
pressure from the black press

at the time.

And I think they saw a chance.

Because 85% of
murders are committed

by either the family or
friends, close friends,

they saw a chance to arrest me.

And they did.

I don't think they thought
they were going to convict me,

but they arrested me, anyway.

ROBERT STACK: On April
4, 1968, Martin Luther

King was gunned down in Memphis
and riots broke out in Chicago.

Racial tensions in the city
were at an all-time high.

In this polarized atmosphere,
John Branion's trial began.

Would you state your
name, please, sir?

Michael Boyle.

ROBERT STACK: His
jury was composed

of 11 whites and one black.

--or profession, sir?

I'm the detective for the
Chicago Police Department.

ROBERT STACK: The
prosecution's case

was built on three assertions.

First, although the murder
weapon was never found,

they claimed that the
bullets that killed Donna

could have been fired from
a Walther PPK that was part

of Branion's gun collection,
a gun they maintained

he had denied owning.

--where the weapon was.

And Mr. Nelson Brown then--

PATRICK TUITE: The detective
testified they went back to him

and said, do you
have a Walther PPK?

And he said, no,
he never had one.

And it turned out that a Walther
PPK had been sold about a year

before to a man named Hooks,
who was one of the good friends

of Dr. Branion.

Police then went to Hooks and
asked him where his gun was,

and he said, no, he bought that
gun for Branion as a Christmas

present the year before.

Now, sir, what,
if any, relationship

did Mrs. Branion bear to you?

She was my sister.

ROBERT STACK: Later during the
trial, Donna Branion's brother,

Nelson Brown, testified that
John Branion had told him

that the day Donna was
murdered, his Walther PPK had

been stolen from his bedside.

He mentioned that there
were two guns missing.

One was a PPK, and the
other was a collector's item

worth $1,500 to $2,000.

ROBERT STACK: In the confusion
following his wife's death,

Branion had not immediately
noticed the theft.

I show you now that which has
been marked as people's exhibit

13--

ROBERT STACK: The
prosecution's second assertion

was that the four shell
casings found by Donna's body

had come from a
box of ammunition

they had discovered when they
searched Branion's closet.

Four shells were
missing from this box.

These are the shells that
I recovered from a shelf

in the den closet.

ROBERT STACK: Finally,
the prosecution

claimed that John
Branion had a motive

for wanting his wife dead.

At the time of Donna's death,
his marriage was in trouble.

For six years, John
Branion had been

conducting an
affair with a nurse

at his clinic named
Shirley Hudson.

His wife knew about the
affair, but the couple

had not divorced.

PATRICK TUITE: Our
theory in the trial

was that it was to get
out of a bad marriage,

or get out of a
marriage without having

to pay all the consequences
of divorce and that.

Certainly I had a friend--

a girlfriend of six years.

It wasn't a
hot-on-the-burner affair.

There was nothing pressing
about our relationship.

Our relationship was
mutually accepted.

Shirley never pressed me.

And I never, ever
thought of leaving Donna.

Why would I suddenly
decide to kill her?

No.

Our theory of prosecution
was that he had planned for--

why that day, we don't know--

to kill his wife.

And that he was going
to leave the hospital;

come home; and kill her--

do it silently.

When that didn't work, he used
the gun; then pick up his son

at school; then pick up
Maxine for the luncheon date

that was made at the very
last minute the night before;

have lunch; have an alibi for
the period of time involved;

and then have either someone
or himself find the body

and have a very good alibi.

ROBERT STACK: Branion's
defense was simple.

He and his attorney were
certain his alibi was airtight.

As they maintained, it
was impossible for Branion

to be in two places at once.

Mrs. Kentra,
when you got home,

did you have occasion
to look at your clock?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: This
alibi was strengthened

when Branion's next door
neighbor testified that she had

heard the fatal
gunshots at 11:20 AM,

while Branion was reportedly
still at his clinic.

If Dr. Branion leaves
the hospital at 11:30,

and I heard the shots at
11:20-- and I'm sure of it.

I was sure then,
and I'm sure now--

that it's impossible for
him to shoot his wife,

to be there at that time.

When you heard those
sounds while you were

putting away the groceries--

ROBERT STACK: Surprisingly,
this testimony would

have little impact on the jury.

The prosecution
pursued their theory

that the murder took place
after Branion left the clinic.

Now, officer, you also stated
that you drove certain routes

and that you
totaled these times,

and the time you arrived at
was from 6 to 12 minutes.

Is that right?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: Police testified
that they had driven and timed

Branion's route on the
morning of the murder

and had determined
that he did, in fact,

have just enough
time to kill his wife

before he picked up his son.

Yes.

And when you arrived
at Dr. Branion's home--

ROBERT STACK: However,
in one of the trial's

most dramatic
moments, the defense

challenged this timetable.

By the way, Officer, when you
arrived at the nursery school,

whose little boy did you use?

I don't understand
your question, sir.

Well, I assume that you
went to the nursery school

to cover some time
about checking on a kid.

Now, how much time did you
allow for him to pick up his son

from the nursery school?

We allowed no time for that.

You didn't allow that?

PATRICK TUITE: I can
remember feeling a chill

in the courtroom when he said
this in that you are moving

a lot slower when you've
got a child in tow

than when you're by yourself.

So I thought that was
an effective point.

The other point is would he
walk into the house knowing

his wife was dead with the kid?

It's a shocking thing to see
if he knew it had happened.

So I thought those
were the strong points

they had going for them.

ROBERT STACK: On May 28,
1968, after deliberating

for eight hours, the jury
reached their decision.

Mr. Foreman, has the
jury reached a verdict?

We have, Your Honor.

JUDGE: Read the
verdict, Mr. Foreman.

"We the jury find the
defendant, John Branion, Jr.

guilty in manner and form as
charged in the indictment."

JOHN BRANION: When the
judge said I was guilty--

The verdict will be entered.

JOHN BRANION: --I felt hollow.

I felt as though
I was no longer.

But I know what I did do.

I remember kind of
sticking my head up.

I don't know why,
but I remember that.

I did that.

I know my shoulders got
a little straighter.

But it certainly hurt
when he said that.

It really hurt.

ROBERT STACK: The three years
Branion was free on bail,

he appealed his verdict.

During this time, he married
his former girlfriend Shirley.

I loved to him, and I
still love him very much.

And I could not desert him as
people were beginning to do.

He was a walking shell.

He'd loved both of us.

He loved Donna, and he loved me.

ROBERT STACK: In April of
1971, his appeal was denied

and John Branion was ordered
to begin serving his 20 to 30

year sentence.

A few days later,
after the Supreme Court

declined to hear his
case, Branion jumped bail

and left the country.

For 12 years, Branion
lived in Africa.

But in 1983, he was
apprehended in Uganda.

He was brought back to
Illinois to serve his sentence.

JOHN BRANION: An
innocent person should be

found innocent in this country.

We've been taught that
ever since we were kids.

So because of that, I had
to flee because I couldn't

get justice anywhere else.

The evidence against me
proves that I couldn't have

done the crime, yet I'm here.

They printed up the crime
scene photos from the negatives

for me to look at.

ROBERT STACK: Currently,
two investigators

had volunteered their
services to Branion's case.

Anthony D'Amato, a prominent
law professor from Northwestern

University, and his wife,
author Barbara D'Amato,

were working with
Branion's wife, Shirley,

to document what they considered
to be a shocking miscarriage

of justice.

When Mrs. Branion said,
my husband was innocent,

I was very skeptical about that.

I don't tend to believe
people's statements

about things like this.

And it was only Barbara's
investigation of the thing

that proved to me that, no
matter what John Branion said,

he couldn't have done it.

That was the amazing
thing about this case.

It was an impossibility case,
not a case of somebody's word

against somebody else's word.

ROBERT STACK: John
Branion is currently

serving his sentence in
Illinois for the 1967

murder of his wife Donna.

He could be incarcerated
until the year 2006.

But Tony and Barbara
D'Amato believe he deserves

to be released immediately.

They claim that, by
reconstructing the events that

took place in the late
morning of December 22, 1967,

it can be proved that John
Branion did not shoot his wife.

The fact is that when
his wife was murdered,

he was a mile and a half
away treating patients

in a hospital,
and that's proven.

That's a fact.

So there's no legal
rule whatsoever

that says an innocent man
has to stay in prison.

Now, stay off of this, OK?

- OK.
- All right.

ROBERT STACK: As it cannot
definitely be proved that

the fatal shots were fired
at 11:20, then it is possible

that Donna was murdered later.

Branion's guilt
or innocence might

rest on the 10-minute window
of time between 11:35, when he

left his clinic, and the time
that he arrived at the nursery

school to pick up his son.

What seems to be
your trouble, Ken?

Oh, my stomach, Doctor.

Lot of pain.

ROBERT STACK: John Branion
spent the morning of December 22

at his clinic, where he
saw 14 different patients.

At approximately 11:35, Branion
left the clinic located here

and stopped outside to
talk with Leonard Scott,

the hospital's administrator.

He was next seen by a teacher
at his son's nursery school

here approximately
10 minutes later.

In order to have
murdered Donna, Branion

would have had to have driven
to his home, shot his wife,

and then raced to
his son's school

all in less than 10 minutes.

No, there's no
way the police could

have made this in six minutes.

ROBERT STACK: During the trial,
police claimed that this drive

could be made in as
little as six minutes,

but according to the
D'Amatos, the police

grossly underestimated
the actual time

this drive would take.

The D'Amatos traveled the
same route several times.

It took them at
least 11 minutes.

ANTHONY D'AMATO: The police
testified that they got it

down as low as six minutes, but
they also said that sometimes

it took them 12 minutes.

Well, that's a huge
disparity between six and 12.

And I just wonder
how they could have

pulled off that six minutes.

And they certainly
couldn't have done it

at a time when there were
other cars on the street

or pedestrians or
snow or anything

else like the
conditions that John

Branion had to drive it in.

It's one thing to say,
well, if you're going to kill

your wife, you can speed
and hurry up to get home,

but you can't drive
through a car ahead of you.

Now, if the streets are filled
with pedestrians and people

crossing the streets
and other kinds of cars,

it was just clearly impossible.

Out of the bedroom,
around the corner,

and she would have
been resisting.

ROBERT STACK: Further evidence
that Branion could not

have shot his wife came
when the D'Amatos consulted

pathologist Douglas Shanklin.

After examining the
original autopsy reports

on Donna Branion, Shanklin
believes he can prove that she

was first assaulted at
least a half hour before

John Branion had even
begun to drive home,

an attack he believes
would have required

at least two assailants.

DOUGLAS SHANKLIN:
It's very important

to note that there were
bruises and other marks

on her body, the most
particular of which

is a groove in her neck.

It was a very deep groove that
began in the anterior neck

and move laterally and
then disappeared behind,

as though somebody was standing
in back with a taut cord,

not strong enough to
strangle a person,

but strong enough
to hold them to move

their body as you wish them
to move, and to restrain them

from escape.

And of course, as
soon as she was shot,

the cord was released.

This groove stayed there.

It's not going to continue
to form after death because

of the loss of circulation.

It takes at least 15
minutes for such a groove

to be formed and
possibly longer.

So you've got a minimum of 15
minutes before the gun is used.

The latest time and
testimony for those sounds

was approximately
11:25, so that pushes

the beginning of the cord around
the neck 15 minutes earlier.

And it seems to
me that the crime

began probably around 11 o'clock
or a few minutes before that.

So if she would lie
that way in the alcove,

and that would mean--

DOUGLAS SHANKLIN: I
think Dr. Branion is

innocent of this crime because
there were two people at least

involved, one of whom held the
victim for a period of time

but could not have
shot at the same time.

Bang, bang, bang.

She falls.

So there had to be two
parties to the final action

of this scenario.

ROBERT STACK: But even if
Donna Branion was killed

by two assailants when
her husband was at work,

former prosecutor Patrick
Tuite believes that Brandon

may still be guilty.

PATRICK TUITE: I always,
even at the time of trial,

had doubts as to whether he
actually pulled the trigger.

That was our theory
of the prosecution.

But I always felt, and I still
feel, that he was somehow

responsible for his death.

He is a man that
deals with facts.

If there are facts that say
that I did not kill my wife

but I hired someone else, then
let him come forth with them.

What gives him the
right, the arrogance,

to say that he
believes something

when there's no evidence of it?

If there was a second
party involved,

why didn't they get the
second party and hang us both?

There is no basis
in the law whatsoever

to say, oh, well
if he wasn't there,

he hired someone to do it.

The jury should
hear if there was

any evidence of anyone being
hired, and if they didn't--

if the state chose not
to present that theory--

then it is legally irrelevant.

ROBERT STACK: Today, John
Branion and the D'Amatos

have exhausted all avenues
of judicial appeal.

Branion's only hope is clemency
from the governor of Illinois,

a clemency that cannot
be delayed much longer,

for John Branion needs
a heart transplant

that will be denied him as
long as he remains in prison.

Convicted
murderers are not put

on the waiting list
for heart transplants,

so he has a double
death sentence.

He's already in prison for a
crime that he did not commit,

and then he can't get
the medical care that he

needs to continue living.

So in essence, he
has a death sentence.

ROBERT STACK: Tonight,
John Branion is in prison,

and for him, time
is running out.

Is he a murderer or
an innocent victim?

If Branion's operation
is delayed much further,

the answer will make
little difference.

In a moment, the poignant
story of a real-life Santa

Clause who has given happiness
to children across the country.

But today, Joseph
Schambier wants a Christmas

present of his own--

to speak with his
long-lost daughter.

All of us are familiar
with the department

store Santas and
streetcorner Santas

who appear each December.

These jolly men are cheerful
symbols of the season.

Yet our next story is
about a Santa Claus

who, behind his jaunty smile,
has been hiding a broken heart

for more than 40 years.

Tonight, maybe you can help
bring about a happy ending

to this story, which
we call "Santa's Baby".

The story begins toward the
end of a Great Depression.

In 1937, the economy was
slowly beginning to improve,

but Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
remained hard hit.

Breadlines were
still a common sight.

Good jobs were hard to come by.

20-Year-old Joseph
Felix Schambier

could find work only as a
Western Union delivery boy.

Against the backdrop of his
bleak depression-hit city,

Joe did, however, find a wife.

He and Garnet
[inaudible] two loners

without family ties of their
own, fell in love and married.

They were both eager
to begin a family.

Two months after the wedding,
Garnet became pregnant.

On June 16, 1939, I was
at work at Western Union.

I had $0.14 in my pocket.

Felix.

Felix!

You better get a move on.

Your wife's just
gone into labor.

What?

Yeah, just came
in on the phone.

My wife's gone into labor.

She's having a baby.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER: Neither I nor
Garnet had any idea that this

would happen so suddenly.

We had given it like an
additional couple of weeks.

The doctor thought it would be
an additional couple of weeks.

But that wasn't solved.

Needless to say, I ran up
the three flights of stairs

and I was excited, very excited.

ROBERT STACK: Garnet was
further along in her labor

than Joe had expected.

The landlady had
called for a doctor,

but he had not yet arrived.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Here.

You just hold on.

Hold on.

Here, hold onto my belt.
There, now pull up.

[inaudible] OK.

I think the baby's coming.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER: I
didn't expect that baby

to come rushing out and
say hello right off the bat

without the doctor being there.

That's quite a
shock to the system.

Little more, sweetheart.

[baby crying]

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER: The two
of us were so you elated.

It was like a package
sent from heaven.

ROBERT STACK: At 1
o'clock in the afternoon,

the doctor finally walked in.

He pronounced both mother
and daughter in good health

and congratulated
the new parents.

Little baby girl, huh?

Garnet had, for the
better part of an hour

or so, had the baby in her arm
and she kept talking about it.

You'd have never known that she
had gone through this misery

of giving birth.

She was so pleased with it.

And I was, too,
because, my goodness,

look at that pretty girl.

She got a little bit tired
and I didn't have a bassinet,

so what I did was wrapped
the baby up in a blanket

and I placed her in a drawer.

We had a dear old dresser
there with three drawers.

The bottom draw was
quite long and large

and so I made a bed
in there and placed

the baby in there, temporarily.

And then Garnet had a short nap
and woke up again and started

speaking in a strange fashion.

For example, Felix, if
anything happens to me,

make sure Alice
Miller gets the baby.

Alice raised
Garnet, so to speak.

There was a relationship there,
more like a second mother.

They were very close.

Just get some rest.

Take care of the baby Alberta.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER:
4:00, she just died.

No fight, no suffering,
nothing of that sort.

Garnet, wake up!

What's wrong?

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER: I was numb.

I was absolutely numb.

So I followed her deathbed wish.

I did what I thought
I was supposed to do.

ROBERT STACK: Joe took his
baby daughter, Alberta Elaine,

to Alice Miller.

You're going to be a
good little girl for Mrs.

Miller, Alberta Elaine?

ALICE: Everything
will be all right.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER:
There was a sense

of relief in that I
knew that the baby

would be well taken care of.

She'd be brought up properly.

You sure it's not
too much trouble?

Oh, no trouble at all.

We'll have a good time.

Well, I appreciate it.

I know this is
what Garnet wanted.

God rest her soul.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER:
Alice was a very

conscientious woman,
very loving, caring

person, good common sense.

She was typical
good American woman.

Don't worry.

Thank you, ma'am.

ROBERT STACK: Good
jobs were still

almost impossible to find.

So one week before Pearl
Harbor, Joe Schambier enlisted.

He felt the army
was his best chance

to give some financial
security to his tiny daughter.

Joe was assigned to basic
training in Fort Devens,

Massachusetts then shipped
out to the Pacific Theater.

His little daughter
never left his mind.

And all during the time
that I was in the service,

I kept a little
prayer book here.

"The Little Manual"
is what it's called.

And inside that manual is
a picture of my daughter.

It's the only picture
that I have of her.

I wrote to the
Millers several times.

I don't know-- five, six times.

I never received a reply.

No communications with Alice
at all all during the time

I was in the army.

ROBERT STACK: In
August of 1943, Joe

suffered a head injury
during air raid drills

in the Panama Canal Zone.

After treatment, he was plagued
with intermittent neck and back

pain, so he was shipped
to a Boston hospital

for further treatment.

On the way, his plane
stopped in Pittsburgh.

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER:
At the Allegheny

airport, when we landed, we
had a half an hour to refuel.

And I asked permission
to call Alice Miller.

After all, she
had the baby and I

wanted to find out about
the baby, how she was doing

and stuff while the
baby was roughly

five years old at the time.

Hello?

JOSEPH SCHAMBIER: This
strange voice, a woman,

answered, and when I
told her who I was,

she said I was
supposed to be dead,

that the baby had been adopted.

Bang, went to receiver.

ROBERT STACK: The nameless
woman on the telephone

left Joe dumbfounded.

She said Alberta Elaine's
adoption records were sealed

and he would never see
his daughter again.

Well, it's a blow.

To say the least, it's a blow.

It's enough to blow your mind.

ROBERT STACK: Despite
Joe's best efforts,

he could not locate
his baby daughter.

He never stopped
trying to find her.

In 1946, he married
for the second time

and then move to New England,
where he worked as a clerk

at the Veterans Administration.

[music playing]

[bells ringing]

Ho, Rudolph!

Ho!

Ho, boy!

Slow down!

ROBERT STACK: One year
later at Christmastime, Joe

phoned a little girl
in his neighborhood

pretending to be Santa Claus.

Ho, ho, ho, ho!

This is Santa Claus calling
from the North Pole!

ROBERT STACK: The little
girl was delighted.

Soon, all the other neighborhood
children were clamoring

for Santa to call them.

By the next Christmas,
a local radio

station had put Joe on the air.

Soon, thanks to newspaper
articles across the country,

telephone operators
everywhere were referring

young callers who asked
to speak to Santa Claus

to Joe Schambier.

What would you
like for Christmas?

I'm writing this
down in my big book.

That's not work.

It's a challenge.

But you know deep down that
you're doing something good,

and at the same time, you
are looking for that needle

in the haystack--

namely Alberta Elaine.

That would be a heaven-sent
to be able to look at her,

be able to sit down
with her, talk with her,

maybe give her a big
hug if she would let me.

Hey, it's my own flesh
and blood and she deserves

to know what took place.

For every mystery,
there's someone,

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps that
someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

[music playing]