Original subtitles

[chime]

SHOW 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.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: When a baby girl named Mariah was born three

months early with critical problems

in her undeveloped lungs, her chances of survival

seemed grim.

Then a nurse employed a controversial technique

called therapeutic touch.

But it doesn't have the blessings

of the medical establishment.

Therapeutic touch may have helped save Mariah's life.

The story of Mitchell Shigemoto and James Pearson

is a moving saga of interracial friendship honed to its finest

edge by the rigors of war.

When Mitchell was cut down by enemy fire in Vietnam,

James became his hero.

Tonight Mitchell needs your help to find

the man who saved his life.

On the day David and Alice were married ,

no one imagined that their love and affection would someday

disintegrate into violence.

No one imagined that 14 years later, David

would go into hiding as a fugitive

accused of killing his wife.

Join me for these fascinating case.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

You are witnessing a controversial healing

technique called therapeutic touch, or TT.

It's practitioners, who must complete

a comprehensive training program,

believe that by running their hands

a few inches above the body, they can pinpoint

areas of disease or injury.

TT practitioners also claim that they

can direct energy from their bodies to others in order

to promote healing.

To the layman, therapeutic touch sounds pretty wild.

Although it is taught at major universities across the country

and practiced by tens of thousands

of nurses and doctors, its effectiveness

has long been at the center of a heated debate.

Does therapeutic touch really work?

Just ask Janet Ziegler, a clinical nurse specialist

and experienced TT practitioner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In November of 1984, Janet drove her three boys

to their regular martial arts class.

Besides his interest in sports, Janet's youngest son

Michael was already an accomplished pianist.

If we're late we're going to have to do push ups.

MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR: Go.

Go.

Go.

JANET ZIEGLER: Michael, who was only seven, went in.

And as he was slipping his shoes off,

he put his hand up in the jam of the door.

By that time I had gotten out of the car.

And Michael ran out of the school.

And he was--

I don't think he realized what happened.

He wasn't crying or anything.

But his finger was bleeding profusely.

And he said, mom, I think I pinched my finger.

And I looked down at his finger.

And it was gone.

And I said, Michael where is your finger?

Michael what's wrong?

MICHAEL ZIEGLER: I got my finger caught in the door.

OK, stand very still.

ROBERT STACK: Janet did not panic.

Almost instinctively, she began to treat

Michael with therapeutic touch.

JANET ZIEGLER: This immediately calmed him.

He didn't shed a single tear at all through the whole process.

OK, sweetie.

Let's go wash it off.

I looked in the door jamb to find the finger.

And I found it.

It was actually unrecognizable.

It was totally squashed.

And, of course, the nail was gone.

It really didn't look like a finger.

But it was the only thing in the door jamb.

So I assumed that's what it was.

It was scary.

I hadn't started to cry or anything.

But the blood and seeing my fingers gone

and wondering what's going to happen,

it was just a fear that went through me.

How was I going to be able to keep going?

Mom, where we going?

ROBERT STACK: A friend rushed Janet and Michael

to a local emergency clinic.

Along the way, Janet continued to perform therapeutic touch.

Although the injury was not life threatening,

Michael's promise as a pianist was not in jeopardy.

Hey big guy.

What's your name, huh?

Mike.

What happened here?

His finger was cut off in the door.

I need you to sew it back on.

I'm sorry.

But this is never going to take.

I don't think we can reattach this finger.

JANET ZIEGLER: Well, please try.

He's a pianist.

He's got to have this finger.

ER DOCTOR: I need a suture kit, some staining.

JANET ZIEGLER: The doctor, you know, with my insistence

agreed to do it.

And he turned to me, and he said,

what are you doing to him?

And I said I'm doing therapeutic touch to keep him calm.

The energy of the finger intact.

So he said, well, I don't know anything about that.

He said, but whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it.

Because I've never seen a child so calm in such a situation.

ROBERT STACK: Despite his misgivings,

the doctor reattached the fingertip.

He recommend that Michael see a plastic surgeon

as soon as possible.

The very next day when I went to the plastic surgeon,

he unwrapped it, looked at it, and said, I'm sorry.

This is not going to take.

He's going to lose his finger.

And he just wrapped it up again, a dry dressing,

didn't do anything at all to the finger.

And it went like that every week.

Hello Doctor.

Mrs. Ziegler.

Hello Michael.

Let me see your hand.

ROBERT STACK: For eight weeks, Janet used therapeutic touch

on Michael's finger. - Oh, yes, every week.

ROBERT STACK: For eight weeks-- - Let me take a look.

ROBERT STACK: The plastic surgeon

warned that the reattachment would probably never work.

Look, the scab's gone.

JANET ZIEGLER: Looks great.

They removed the bandage, the scab, and everything.

And I saw like almost a brand new finger

with new skin and everything.

I was totally overwhelmed.

There's a good deal more color than I expected.

I don't think there's any swelling.

Well, appearances can be deceiving.

Can you do this?

JANET ZIEGLER: Can you feel that?

Yeah.

Well, that may not mean anything.

To be honest with you, Mrs. Ziegler,

I think the finger's going to fall

off and probably before summer.

So why don't you make an appointment with me then.

And we'll see where we stand.

All right Michael?

ROBERT STACK: The plastic surgeon was wrong.

Even before the bandage came off,

Michael was back at the keyboard.

Less than a month later, he placed

first in a piano competition.

[piano music]

A decade later, music remains an important part

of Michael's life.

[piano music]

The experience of my accident and what my mom did

for my finger most definitely changed my feelings

about therapeutic touch.

Before it happened, I would go to my mom,

get the treatment from her, but was a little skeptical.

You know, it looked sort of funny.

And we'd joke about it.

After this experience, I was totally, 100%,

believing in her therapeutic touch

and that it definitely worked.

ROBERT STACK: Train TT practitioners

like Janet Zeigler believe that the human body is

a complex field of interacting energies

that can literally be felt and that can be

disturbed by injury or illness.

TT practitioners use their hands to reorder these disturbances.

In Michael's case, his finger mended

perfectly, although two physicians

had predicted the opposite.

Should therapeutic touch take credit for such successes?

Not everyone is convinced.

I think the practitioners are good and honest and kind

nurses.

I think their therapy, which stresses energy feels emanating

from people which they seek to influence with their fingers,

is baloney.

ROBERT STACK: The debate has raged since the 1970s

when a nurse named Dolores Krieger first developed

therapeutic touch and defined what makes an effective healer.

What you were moved by originally is a compassion,

you see, a compassion to help another person.

And it's the power of compassion that

brings you across that bridge.

The good effects are primarily placebo effects.

That means that what the patient believes will happen

will happen.

ROBERT STACK: A couple we will call George and Marie

could care less about placebos.

They learned about therapeutic touch

firsthand when they were a heartbeat

away from a personal tragedy.

In November of 1993, Marie was 6-/1/2

months pregnant when she was stricken with pre-eclampsia.

GEORGE: Two weeks ago.

ROBERT STACK: Her body was releasing lethal toxins

into her bloodstream threatening her life

and that of her unborn child.

We can't wait any longer, George.

We have to do cesarean.

Is my baby going to be OK?

DOCTOR: The baby's fine.

She's very healthy.

When was the last time I saw you?

MARIE: I remember going into the delivery room.

And I felt myself slipping away.

I did feel myself slipping away.

It felt as if it would have been very easy to just let go.

Because things were just so drastic at that point.

But I knew George was waiting for me and this baby

that I wanted more than anything in the whole world.

And I knew I had to live.

I had to survive for that baby.

The next thing I remember, it sounded like a little screech,

like a little cat.

And my daughter was born.

And I had mixed feelings and mixed emotions.

Because I was really worried about my wife.

And I was worried about my daughter.

The situation kept seesawing back and forth.

My wife got a little better.

My daughter got worse.

ROBERT STACK: George and Marie's daughter Mariah

was born nearly three months premature.

She weighed less than two pounds and soon developed critical

problems in her immature lungs.

OK.

Yes.

I'm Father O'Brien.

Oh, hi Father.

I'm very sorry you're having such a rough time.

ROBERT STACK: Little Mariah continued to weaken.

And hospital officials summoned a priest to baptize her.

Yes please.

Should we do it now?

Yes.

All right.

May God bless this water and this child

and all of His children.

Name this child.

Mariah Eugenia.

FATHER O'BRIEN" Mariah Eugenia, I baptize you in the name

of the Father , and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The nurse disconnected the wiring of the tubing,

all the tubing from the baby and put the baby in my wife's arms.

And my wife held the baby.

And she started to cry.

And I thought that was it.

I thought the baby was dead.

ROBERT STACK: In a last ditch effort to save Mariah,

doctors put the tiny infant on a respirator.

After the delicate procedure, one

of the intensive care nurses began treating

Mariah with therapeutic touch.

I spoke to your wife, Marie.

JOANNE O'REILLY, R.N.: She wasn't

slipping drastically under.

But she wasn't advancing either.

I continued to take care of Mariah for the rest of my shift

and, you know, continued to work on her direct energy

and a therapeutic touch manner to her

and continued to do therapeutic touch throughout her process

in the hospital.

GEORGE: Basically, I'm a very logical, bottom line,

shoot straight from the hip person.

And for someone to talk to me about alternative medicines,

they would have to prove it to me.

[soft music]

Her oxygen numbers, the levels are going up.

That's good, right?

She's responding well.

Look at her.

I'm an accountant.

I deal in numbers.

And to see this, I can relate to it.

Every time Joanne took care of the baby, every time Joanne had

the baby, the baby got better.

The baby's numbers, the saturation, the heart rate,

the numbers got better.

ROBERT STACK: Marie was also in critical condition.

Joanne began to use therapeutic touch with her.

MARIE: Joanne did basically the same thing for me

as she had done for Mariah.

And little by little, it worked.

And the pain went away.

And Joanne would not take credit for it.

It was funny.

She would just chuck it off like it, you know,

was just an everyday thing for her.

It was part of her nursing technique.

[music playing]

Her little girl wants her daddy.

ROBERT STACK: Today Marie and Mariah

are back home and healthy.

The terrifying crisis of November 1993

is fading into the past replaced by the busy joy

of caring for a baby.

Still, George and Marie will never forget

how close they came to tragedy.

GEORGE: The bottom line is my baby is alive.

And I have the doctors to thank.

I have the whole nursing staff to thank.

And more so, I have Joanne to thank.

Because I believe without Joanne,

we wouldn't have this baby.

ROBERT STACK: If you ask George Marie or the Zeigler's, they

will tell you that therapeutic touch definitely works.

But we still wanted to find out for ourselves.

A young woman named Vicki Ewald allowed

Unsolved Mysteries to film her first session

with a TT practitioner.

When we began, no one knew how the treatment would turn out.

In 1986 Vicki contracted a stubborn cold that

escalated into bronchitis and then a debilitating case

of chronic asthma.

Such breathing problems can be triggered by either physical

or emotional stress.

But a parade of specialists failed to help Vicki

Well, finally I was just sick and tired

of being sick and tired.

And I did, out of duress, just go see somebody

that could possibly help me.

ROBERT STACK: Vicki went to see Joanne

O'Reilly, the same nurse who attended

Mariah in the hospital.

VICKI EWALD: Joanne had me close my eyes.

I had no idea what she was doing to me.

I mean, I sensed that something was going on around me.

But she wasn't physically touching me.

And I really felt, for the first time today, relaxed.

And-- and I guess, for lack of a better word, centered.

And as we've been around each other today,

I was coughing and wheezing most of the day.

And since Joanne has worked on me, I've coughed once.

ROBERT STACK: After the session, Vicki experienced

a rush of unexpected emotions.

Ah, well, from--

from the onset, I think of asthma

when I first got to the city.

Mm-hm.

I also did lose a sibling, a brother.

That's-- that kind of triggered--

JOANNE O'REILLY, R.N.: Yeah.

The down-- you know, the um--

JOANNE O'REILLY, R.N.: The onset of the asthma.

The onset, yeah.

That's when I got very sick and couldn't get back up.

And then two years ago, I lost my mother and a sister.

JOANNE O'REILLY, R.N.: So you've had a lot of grief related--

Yes.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: In the month after her first session,

Vicki Ewald went for three more treatments.

Vicki reported that her breathing improved to the point

where she felt comfortable reducing her asthma medication.

Even the most dedicated proponents

of the therapeutic touch admit that it doesn't always work.

Perhaps in the future, medical science

will unravel the mystery of this intriguing technique.

In closing, one note of caution.

All the practitioners we talked to emphasize

that therapeutic touch should never be performed by anyone

without the proper training.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: The residents of the Lombardi family

in the Columbus, Ohio suburb of Westerville,

an ordinary townhouse on an ordinary street,

home to a typical middle class family.

But on August 30, 1990, Cheryl Lombardi, a housewife

and mother, would make a tragic discovery,

one that would forever rip the family from the tranquility

of suburban life.

Cheryl would come home at around midnight.

And she assumed that her 22-year-old son

Tony would also be home soon.

She says that around 12:45, she heard a door closing

and the sound of footsteps.

Cheryl went to Tony's room to say goodnight.

[knocking]

CHERYL LOMBARDI: Son?

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: Cheryl was horrified

to find her son lifeless, a single gunshot to the head.

Tony Lombardi was just a few months shy

of his 23rd birthday.

For Cheryl Lombardi, the familiar pattern of life

was shattered.

That morning her home swarmed with detectives

with her son's bedroom the center

of a crime investigation.

In such cases, clues found at the scene

will often read like a book clearly

revealing what took place and implicating any assailants.

But to those investigating Tony's death,

the clues seem to tell two conflicting stories,

two scenarios that would pit Tony's

family against the police.

Our investigation has been concluded.

And our investigation says that Tony committed suicide.

I'm very upset with the fact that I know our son was killed.

I know he did not commit suicide.

And I don't think they have a right to rule someone's death

as suicide when it was not a suicide and just close the case

and go on like it never happened.

ROBERT STACK: This home video, made a year before he died,

shows Tony Lombardi just as his friends

remember him, fun loving and always ready with a smile.

Tony was a hit with the ladies.

In fact, at the time of his death,

he was seeing three women, one of whom

was already living with a man.

Tony worked the swing shift at a baby food factory

setting up cans to be filled with formula.

But on August 29, 1990, Tony didn't show up at the plant.

Early the next morning, Cheryl found him in his bedroom dead.

Police arrived at around 1:15 A.M.

They discovered Tony's car was missing

from the garage, perhaps, stolen by an assailant.

According to the police, the investigation

moved swiftly and by the book.

Our normal procedure is to contact the detectives,

have them come in.

We treat all death scenes as a homicide

until we prove it otherwise.

ROBERT STACK: Inside, on the floor near the body,

police found a 0.38 caliber semiautomatic pistol.

We'll tag this under 93748.

ROBERT STACK: On the bed was a single spent 0.38 shell.

Then investigators found a drunk driving citation

in Tony's pants pocket, which pushed the inquiry

in an entirely new direction.

Two days before his death, Tony had been arrested

for driving while intoxicated.

The impound lot.

ROBERT STACK: Detectives quickly solved the mystery

of Tony's missing car.

Before?

ROBERT STACK: It had been impounded by Columbus Police

at the time of the arrest.

OK, thanks for the info.

ROBERT STACK: In addition, Tony had

faced fines and possible suspension

of his driver's license.

To investigators, a portrait had now

emerged of a young man stripped of his freedom

and despondent over impending legal problems.

Right now, everything that we have,

any evidence that we have indicates Tony's death

was a suicide.

ROBERT STACK: About the only fact not in dispute

is the time of Tony's death several hours

before Cheryl came home at around midnight.

But Tony's family believes his death was nothing

short of cold blooded murder.

I believe that there was a struggle.

Because our son's watch was found broken

off of his arm on the floor.

He had an inch and a half gash over his left eye.

He had a broken jaw.

He had bruises.

The fact that he was found nude, he would

never let anyone see him nude.

Those are all things that I think

should have been looked into.

ROBERT STACK: Based on her observations that morning,

Cheryl believes that not only was her son murdered,

the killer was still in Tony's bedroom

even as she moved about the house.

Cheryl's evidence is disarmingly simple,

the light in Tony's bedroom.

Going up and down steps, you--

you can see in my son's room.

And the door was closed.

And there was no light on.

Going up and down the steps as many times as I did,

there is no way I could have missed the light being on.

ROBERT STACK: Cheryl assumed Tony hadn't yet arrived.

Because the light in his bedroom was off.

Cheryl says that 45 minutes later, she heard the noise.

[door closing]

When she saw that the light in Tony's room was on,

she assumed he had finally come home.

[knocking]

CHERYL LOMBARDI: Son?

When I went to the room, I could immediately see the light

was on underneath the door.

It, you know, was obvious.

Son?

When I opened the door.

And that's when I found my son dead.

ROBERT STACK: Who could have turned on the light?

Cheryl now believes it was the killer trapped in Tony's room

by her arrival home.

CHERYL LOMBARDI: I believe, in my mind,

that I came in on someone that had killed our son.

I believed that I surprised him.

And then when I went to my bedroom to get ready for bed,

they thought that was a good opportunity for them to leave.

And I believe that's what I heard was someone leaving.

She was questioned by a detective

there, later on after she had composed herself a little bit,

as to what the noise was she heard.

He specifically asked her, was the noise a house noise,

say a door shutting, air conditioner kicking on,

step creaking.

And she said, I can't--

I can't remember what it was.

I really don't remember.

They'll never change when I heard

and what made me go to our son's room.

I went to our son's room because I heard him come in my mind.

I heard the door shut.

To me, my son had come home.

ROBERT STACK: To Tony's parents, there was further evidence

pointing to murder.

In the week before he died, Tony was the target

of two different death threats.

A woman who lived next door witnessed

the driver of a white pickup truck screaming at Tony.

What?

You ever cut me off like that again, and I'll kill ya.

You hear me?

I said, do you hear me?

I hear ya.

Where do you live?

I said where do you live?

Right here.

Right here?

Good.

I got it.

[engine starting]

[tires squealing]

We called the police and told them the woman's name

and where she lived, which was a next door neighbor.

To my knowledge, as of yesterday,

they have still never talked to this woman.

ROBERT STACK: Tony's father overheard the second death

threat just a few days later.

TONY LOMBARDI, SR: I was checking my messages.

And I heard this threat on our voicemail of a gentleman,

a young person, telling Tony that he had a gun

and was going to use it if Tony didn't

stay away from his girlfriend.

And at that point, I brought that up to Tony.

And he said not to worry about it,

that he had a friend of his call this person

who knew him well and thought it could be worked out that way.

ROBERT STACK: Tony's best friend, Andy Royer,

agreed to mediate.

ANDY ROYER: I told Tony that I'd talk to the guy

and see what the deal was on it.

And I called him up, and he said to me that ah

his problem was not with me.

It was with Tony and that he would take care of it.

Tony would get what was coming to him.

The lead detective on the case contacted as many people

as he could on the case, either by phone or in person

and attempted to question them about what they had said

or somebody said they had said.

And we found no evidence that Tony

was under any immediate death threats.

ANDY ROYER: The police never contacted me about Tony's death

at all.

Um, I never heard from anybody about anything.

ROBERT STACK: The Lombardi's dispute

the official conclusions drawn from some

of the physical evidence.

For example, a test that revealed Tony had

recently handled a metal object

Any metal is going--

going to give that trace metal detection.

But the conclusion that we come to

is that Tony was holding that gun in his hand

and part of that conclusion stems

from the trace metal detection.

He worked on a can line downtown at the Columbus plant.

He handled cans daily.

Huh, naturally, you would have metal on your hands

from working with that.

ROBERT STACK: The position of Tony's body

and the trajectory of the fatal bullet

also subjects a bitter controversy.

CHERYL LOMBARDI: This was our son's bed

that he was actually killed in.

And when I found him, he was laying on the bed and th--

there were two pillows propped underneath his head,

or underneath his shoulders, I'm sorry.

His head was above the pillows.

He was laying on the edge of the bed.

The pillows were under his shoulders.

His head was above--

above the pillow.

Her son's head was on a couple pillows.

And the detectives examined that, examined the angle,

removed that spent bullet from the headboard,

and had every indication there that that bullet--

the trajectory of that bullet was correct.

And the bullet hole into the headboard

is behind the pillows.

And as you can see, it's down there.

And if you take a pencil and you insert that into the headboard,

you can see that the bullet hole is much lower than the way

I found our son.

TONY LOMBARDI, SR: The bullet hole does not make sense to me.

Unless there was some pressure on top of Tony holding

him down, the bullet would have been

much higher in the headboard.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, Cheryl says, the county coroner

found bruises on Tony's chest directly

under his clenched hands.

To Cheryl proof her son was forcibly

held down by an assailant.

The last minutes of Tony Lombardi's life

remain clouded by controversy.

As far as the police are concerned,

the 22-year-old took his own life,

a conclusion supported by the county

coroner, the Sheriff's department,

and the district attorney.

SGT. MICHAEL HATZO: The Westerville Police sure

have sympathy for the family.

I mean, anybody would have sympathy for the family.

And it's a very sad situation.

And they've suffered a lot of trauma.

But, you know, we have to deal in the facts.

And the facts of this investigation

reveal what happened was a suicide.

Until they open our son's case back up

and change the cause of his death,

I will not stop until the last breath is taken from my body.

And if I do not exceed to be able to get that done,

until the day I die, then I'll fight'em from eternity.

[music playing]

Next

ROBERT STACK: Next, an ex-GI searches for the unsung hero

who saved his life in Vietnam.

[theme music]

[hawaiian music]

To natives of Oahu in Hawaii, the exotic is commonplace.

Most of them would probably drive right by the farm

that Mitchell Shigemoto and his wife Connie run

and never give it a second look.

CONNIE SHIGEMOTO : You fed all the chickens.

I think you overfed them. - Thank you.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK: A passer by would never

guess that Mitchell Shigemoto has a story to tell, in fact,

has an unsolved mystery that he hopes

our viewers can help solve.

Back in 1963, Mitchell was a 17-year-old volunteer

in the United States Army.

He was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 110 pounds.

Nevertheless, he signed up for the demanding

173rd Airborne Division.

Since you ladies don't know how to march,

we're going to take a little run.

ROBERT STACK: Mitchell was the smallest man in basic training

and the only Asian American in his company.

From the start, he faced an uphill battle.

Huh.

Right men, march.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: Due to my size,

I was told that I could never make it being a paratrooper.

So that in itself gave me the incentive to try harder.

What are you looking at?

What are you looking at?

Do you like me?

SGT. MICHAEL HATZO: We started, like, maybe with about 800 men.

And the graduating class was maybe less than 300.

So, you know, it was quite an accomplishment just

to get through it.

Your left.

Your left, right, left.

MARK LUDLOW: It was tough being a part of the 173rd.

It was clearly an elite airborne unit

with its own special Espirit De Corps

created specially to go to Vietnam,

first to be deployed by helicopters in combat.

And the only combat unit to make a parachute combat

jump in Vietnam.

[background conversation]

ROBERT STACK: In February of 1964,

Mitchell Shigemoto became a full fledged member of the 173rd.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: Now where you going to?

ROBERT STACK: The unit was stationed in Okinawa

before transfer to Vietnam.

Mitchell was all too aware of his physical resemblance

to the enemy.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: That's where I initially

started getting some problems.

Because at that time, in the Army we got paid once a month.

And we get paid in cash.

And I put the money away.

And somehow, one way or another, it got stolen from me.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: It was common knowledge around the barracks

that Mitchell was being victimized.

Only one soldier stepped forward to befriend him.

[music playing]

Hey, man, we're going out tonight.

Do you want to come with us?

Oh, I don't feel like it, eh?

It's going to be me a couple of the soldiers.

Come on.

Maybe next time.

[music playing]

He knew that I didn't have any money.

And on his way out, he dropped a 20 on my bunk

and just left the barracks.

That really caught me by surprise.

I was thinking, like, you know, he must be quite a person

to even be generous enough to help out a person was basically

a stranger yet, you know.

Because I was fairly new there.

I didn't get to know very many people yet.

Com on, man.

We're going have fun.

ROBERT STACK: In time, Mitchell became a regular in James

Pearson's group of friends.

They went everywhere together.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: In Okinawa there's this black section

of town they call Four Corners.

And I used to go down there with him and feel comfortable.

And we could sit down and listen to the music.

And as long as they knew that James was my friend,

I had no worries at all.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: In May of 1965, the 173rd Airborne shipped

out to Vietnam at the front.

Mitchel's Asian heritage became a major problem.

And his friendship with James was more important than ever.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: I remember one

particular incident when we came back off of an operation

to our tent city.

And that's our chance to get hot meals.

One of the guys who was serving, he didn't want to serve me.

So when I got in front of him, he--

I just stood there.

And he just looked at me.

And he said, move on, Jap.

Hey, you got a problem?

Yeah, I don't serve zipper heads.

Let's go.

You want to go?

Come on. Come on.

Whoa, hey.

What's the problem?

Why don't you just do your job and serve the soldier?

All right, just relax, OK?

No, no, no, no, no you relax or it's going to be me and you.

All right.

MARK LUDLOW: The business of being an Asian American--

Are you all right, man?

MARK LUDLOW: In combat-- - Let's go eat.

MARK LUDLOW: In Southeast Asia is probably beyond my capacity

to really understand it.

You're a soldier just like the rest of us.

MARK LUDLOW: We were killing people

who looked just like Mitch.

And I don't know how he dealt with that.

It must have been extremely difficult for him.

It's a burden that many of us didn't

have to deal with over and above the burdens of, am

I going to be killed, maimed.

What's going to happen to me today?

ROBERT STACK: By the end of 1965,

the war had significantly escalated.

Nine months after the 173rd Airborne arrived in Vietnam,

they found themselves facing Viet Cong guerrillas

on an almost daily basis.

MARK LUDLOW: The enemy was very good at picking

the times and places that they engaged you.

So often, we were in open positions

and having to confront them in concealed positions.

It was dangerous work.

[bombs]

[hollering ot each other]

[gunfire]

ROBERT STACK: January 2, 1966 A Viet

Cong bullet tore through Mitchell Shigemoto's thigh.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: I can't move the leg.

James was immediately by my side.

There was one sniper that was keying in on us.

James took a position right in front of me,

just like he was trying to block off the shots.

Get outta here.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: And James actually saved my life.

Oh, there was another guy, Salazar

they pulled me to cover.

And then a medic came by.

He asked me what kind of pain I was in.

And he gave me a shot of medication

to try to take the pain away.

And then he moved on to catch up with the company.

Hang in there.

As soon as contact--

Ah, that's when, I guess, James and Salazar

decided to take me back to the evacuation point.

ROBERT STACK: James Pearson feared that Mitchell

would succumb to shock.

He and the GI named Salazar defied regulations

and carried Mitchell to safety.

MARK LUDLOW: Maybe in the military textbooks,

you're supposed to continue with your mission.

And the fulfillment of that mission

actually protects you all.

But, you know, that was his best buddy there.

And I'll never-- I could never fault him for what he did.

If they didn't stop--

James didn't stop to--

to give me aid, I probably wouldn't-- wouldn't be

oriented enough to know which-- which way to go--

Give me a stretcher over here now.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: To get to an evacuation point by myself.

So, you could really say that James actually saved my life.

MEDIC: All right, I'm going to fix you right up.

- Is he going to be all right? - He'll be fine.

Fine. Get back to your unit.

All right, man.

Hang in there. - All right.

- I'll be all right. - Yeah.

I'll see you later.

I'll see you.

ROBERT STACK: Mitchell had no idea that he would not return

to the 173rd Airborne, that he would never serve

beside James Pearson again.

A few weeks later, Mitchell was sent home to Hawaii.

He never saw James Pearson again and never

had the opportunity to properly thank

the man who saved his life.

[music playing]

After our broadcast all that would change

in a most remarkable way.

A viewer in San Bernardino, California, retired Lieutenant

Colonel Truman Plants took it upon himself

to track down James Pearson.

One week later, Lieutenant Colonel Plants

found him in Chicago.

And before long, James, his fiancee,

and his two grown daughters were on their way

to Hawaii to visit Mitchell Shigemoto and his family.

As Mitchell's relatives gather to welcome James,

the two old comrades caught their first glimpse of one

another in nearly 30 years.

[music playing]

Mitchell.

How you doing, man?

Great.

It's great to see you.

Great to see you.

You still look the same.

It was a complete, total joy, happiness.

It's just great to see you.

JAMES PEARSON: I had to compose myself, you know.

Thank you.

JAMES PEARSON: It was just completely overwhelming.

Thank you.

JAMES PEARSON: And unbelievable.

Yes.

Hi Connie.

How are you?

ROBERT STACK: Mitchell's wife Connie

greeted James in traditional Hawaiian fashion.

After all, this was the man who saved her husband's life.

I really did.

And who is this one?

[greeting each other]

Oh, I wasn't going to leave him out there

alone under those conditions.

I couldn't have did it whether regulations permitted

it or rules permit or not.

I just couldn't have did it.

MITCHELL SHIGEMOTO: It took a lot

from a-- from a real special person

to do something like that.

Don't go.

And my wife, she, you know, when she heard that story,

she--

she made it a point to try to locate him with no success

until we found you guys.

That's my next objective coming back here.

ROBERT STACK: James spent a full week in Hawaii with Mitchell.

In another year or two.

ROBERT STACK: The two of them never

stop talking about the past. - Next year, year, next summer.

ROBERT STACK: And the future. - Next summer.

ROBERT STACK: Finding the time they

would see each other again.

Same time, you know.

INTERVIEWER: So how doe it feel to be back together?

They haven't come up with the words yet.

When they come up with that word,

I'll write you and let you know.

There is no word for this feeling,

you know, for-- for right now.

They haven't come up with that word.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: When we return, from childhood sweethearts

to murder.

The tragedy of David and Alice Viera.

[theme music]

[guitar strumming]

June 29, 1974.

In the main church on the Portuguese island of St.

Michael, twin sisters Alice and Georgina Arruda

married their sweethearts.

[vows in foreign language]

Alice was 17.

And her new husband David Viera was just 16.

David and Alice were first cousins.

But such unions are common among traditional Portuguese

families.

On that festive day, no one could have imagined

that 14 years later and 5,000 miles away in America,

Alice would be the victim of a vicious murder.

And some of the same family members

would gather again to mourn at Alice's grave.

[music playing]

Alice Viera's life and death seemed

to have been shaped by age old Portuguese traditions.

She grew up in a society where marriages were arranged, where

a daughter was brought up to obey first her father,

and later, her husband.

It was a devoutly Catholic world where only death

could truly end a marriage.

[music playing]

Alice and David were born on St. Michael,

one of a group of islands west of Portugal

known as the Azores.

When Alice was nine, her family emigrated

to New Bedford, Massachusetts 35 miles south of Boston.

Even in America, Alice's father was determined

that his children would be brought up in accordance

with the old ways.

FATIMA CARDOSO: My dad was very strict with the girls.

We weren't allowed to wear makeup.

We couldn't wear shorts.

And definitely, we couldn't have boyfriends.

You know, it was go to school, come home, do housework,

and stay in the house.

We were not allowed to even sit out on the porch.

That's how strict he was.

ROBERT STACK: Alice was 12 when an unexpected letter

arrived from Portugal.

It was from her cousin David, then 11 years old.

To Alice's surprise, David was proposing that they be engaged.

What some might have regarded as no more than

a child's infatuation was taken very seriously by a traditional

family like the Arruda's.

At first my mom says, oh, you know, you're kind of young.

And my father right away insisted that she

should start writing to him.

Because that was his family.

And knowing that, you know, that'd be nice

being married into the family.

So he gave the OK on Alice.

And she wrote back to David stating that they

would be going out by writing.

ROBERT STACK: The letters continued for five years.

David and Alice never once talked on the phone.

They didn't see each other until the summer of 1974

when Alice and her family returned to St. Michael

for the wedding.

WEDDING VOWS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

FATIMA CARDOSO: AT the time that David asked Alice for marriage,

Alice insisted also on marrying him.

Because she thought it would be better

if she would have a little bit of freedom, which we never had.

[speaking foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: David and Alice eventually

settled near her parents in New Bedford.

Although David spoke little English,

he found work in a textile plant.

Within a year, Alice was pregnant.

FATIMA CARDOSO: Their marriage went off

pretty good, like, maybe I'd say about the first couple

of months.

And then ah, you know, already he

was already starting with her.

You know, she couldn't wear make up.

She couldn't do anything.

You know, he was very jealous, very possessive of my sister.

ROBERT STACK: By 1981, Alice and David had three children.

Hurry up.

ROBERT STACK: Fatima says that as the years went by,

David rarely lost an opportunity to snarl

at Alice or the children.

Aw, come on dad.

David.

FATIMA CARDOSO: She stayed with him

because she figured, you know, he's the father of the kids.

And that's how she was brought up.

You know, you gotta be with your husband.

And that's the way it is, you know.

[speaking foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: According to Fatima,

David's anger seemed to erupt without cause

and continue without end.

[speaking foreign language]

FATIMA CARDOSO: He used to always

say, ah, if you ever leave me, I'm going to kill you.

There's no other woman in my-- you know, for my life

like you are.

You know, you're a good mother.

You're a good cook.

And he always had threatened her that if she

ever decided to leave him for anybody that he would kill her.

But we never took it seriously, you know.

Sometimes she'd go up to my parents

and tell my mom and dad, ah, ma, I can't take him anymore.

He's always beating me up or-- for any little reason.

And he's always beating up the kids.

And um, my parents would always, like, tell her,

you gotta stay with him.

He's your husband, you know.

It's going to be a shame to the family if you divorce him.

We don't believe in divorce.

So they kept shoving her back to him.

[speaking foreign language]

ROBERT STACK: Finally, after 14 years of abuse,

Alice found the courage to defy her parents and her husband.

FATIMA CARDOSO: She finally felt strong enough to say,

I can't take it anymore.

And she decided to get him out of the house.

She finally sat down and says, David I can't take it anymore.

I want you to leave.

ROBERT STACK: David moved out in the summer of 1988.

And Alice began to build a new life for herself.

She enrolled in nursing school fulfilling a lifelong dream.

And she began to see another man.

But David Viera would not let go.

He began to stalk Alice at work and at home, night and day.

[music playing]

FATIMA CARDOSO: Her boyfriend went by the house

to see her that morning.

And ah, David drove up and down.

And I think he spotted the boyfriend's car at the house.

And ah, my brother-in-law couldn't take that.

[pounding on the door]

Sh.

David.

ROBERT STACK:

DRILL SERGEANT: Alice's boyfriend witnessed the attack

and ran a mile to the nearest police station to get help.

Alice had been bludgeoned with a tire jack, the stabbed 24

times with the butcher knife.

By the time authorities arrived at the scene,

the young mother of three was dead.

The knife was found--

ROBERT STACK: David Viera was nowhere to be found.

We learned that he, in fact, had taken a bus from Fall

River, Massachusetts to Boston, Massachusetts

and then from Boston to Canada.

Someone matching his description did, in fact,

get off a bus in Canada near Hamilton, Ontario.

And from that point on, we were unable to find out

where he went.

Update.

David Viera had vanished. .

And for nearly six years he could not

be found until the night of our broadcast.

Our particular segment on that show aired,

our time here in New Bedford, Massachusetts,

at approximately 8:50 P.M. By 9:03 P.M.,

I was receiving telephone calls from Canada right

here into my office with very good

leads as to his whereabouts.

With the first phone call that I received saying that they

knew where he was, I just jumped up with joy

and told my husband, I think we got him, you know.

And ah, I couldn't believe it took less

than 48 hours to apprehend him.

ROBERT STACK: Viera had lived in Montreal for at least two years

and was well known in the Portuguese community.

He belonged to a neighborhood soccer team

and was employed at a local fish market.

Viera's coworkers were stunned to learn about his secret past.

For me it's a dream.

I don't believe the guy do that.

I don't believe.

And know he's ah--

the guys so nice.

Too, because we see the pictures.

Yeah.

If we don't see the picture, he is exactly the--

the man. If we don't see, we never trust.

FATIMA CARDOSO: I seen him apprehended and with handcuffs.

And to me, that was a sign of saying, thank God, I can rest.

And my sister can also be at peace now that he's caught.

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: On our next Unsolved Mysteries,

the fascinating saga of the infamous

gangster Dutch Schultz and his lost treasure.

Legend has it that in 1933, Schultz buried cash, gems,

and bonds worth $7 million dollars near a creek

in upstate New York.

Less than two years later, Schultz was

gunned down by rival mobsters.

And as far as anyone knows, his hidden fortune

was never recovered.

Join me next Wednesday for another intriguing addition

of Unsolved Mysteries.

[theme music]