1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,680 This program is about unsolved mysteries. 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,280 Whenever possible, the actual family members and police 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,280 officials have participated in recreating the events. 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,280 What you are about to see is not a news broadcast. 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,320 In 1991, a weekend fishing trip off the coast of Mexico 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,160 apparently ended in a tragic death 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,200 for four young Americans. 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,560 But two of the bodies were never recovered. 9 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,520 Ever since, repeated sightings of a strange young man 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,360 have been reported up and down Mexico's Baja Peninsula. 11 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,600 Convincing many that one of the victims, Gordon Collins, 12 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,880 is still alive and suffering from amnesia. 13 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,240 Tonight, Gordon Collins' family needs your help. 14 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,240 Perhaps you hold the crucial clue that can bring their son 15 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:49,920 back home. 16 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,240 Join me for this intriguing new case and more 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,240 on another edition of Unsolved Mysteries. 18 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,120 In the 1940s and 50s, a mysterious and terrifying 19 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:02,520 epidemic swept the United States, polio. 20 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,520 The victims were almost all children. 21 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,320 Thousands died. 22 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,920 Thousands more were crippled for life. 23 00:02:10,920 --> 00:02:16,120 In 1952, Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against polio. 24 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,720 It was nothing short of a miracle. 25 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,120 But for many children, it was a miracle that came too late. 26 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,520 Such was a case for Judy Davis of Beverly, Ohio. 27 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,480 Judy was just five years old in 1949, 28 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,560 when both her legs were hopelessly crippled by polio. 29 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,800 My attitude toward polio was it was a challenge. 30 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,080 My parents decided that I was going 31 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,360 to live as normal life as possible. 32 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,240 And regardless, the doctors wanted 33 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,240 to put me in a convalescent center. 34 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:54,480 And my mother just hit the roof. 35 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,200 She says, no way. 36 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,360 That child is going to live as normal as possible. 37 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:00,960 And I did. 38 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,800 When she was eight, Judy was enrolled in a special elementary 39 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:07,840 school. 40 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,960 Then at the age of 12, she entered a regular school, 41 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,040 where her braces and crutches provoked fear, stares, 42 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:15,800 and uncomfortable giggles. 43 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:21,160 September 1956, the first day of junior high for Judy Davis. 44 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,520 Here, Judy would be the only handicapped student. 45 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,320 Here, she would, for the first time, 46 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,880 face a world which might be unintentionally cruel. 47 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,760 I was petrified because I didn't know anyone in the school. 48 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,680 So I was really, really scared. 49 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:40,680 I was scared. 50 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:41,680 I was scared. 51 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:42,680 I was scared. 52 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:43,680 I was scared. 53 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,960 So I was really petrified. 54 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,800 My father, he was the type of person 55 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,520 who encouraged me to do things for myself. 56 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:06,160 And he kind of instilled in me that there was nothing 57 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,880 I couldn't do as long as I tried. 58 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,480 Daddy, I want to do it myself. 59 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:12,080 OK, honey. 60 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,680 I was able to get in and out of the car by myself. 61 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,880 And I would have been able to climb the stairs to the school 62 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:23,280 if there was a railing. 63 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:25,200 But there was no railing. 64 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,920 So I was resolved to let my father 65 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:29,120 carry me into the school. 66 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:33,480 It's OK, honey. 67 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,840 Seeing all the kids stare at me when I am in the car, 68 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,720 seeing all the kids stare at me when I entered the school, 69 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:52,320 it was really an awkward feeling because I was, 70 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:53,560 it was something new for me. 71 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:54,880 And I'd never had that before. 72 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:05,040 My father carried me up the steps and sat me down 73 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:06,720 at the top of the stairs. 74 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,160 And this girl comes over and she says, 75 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:10,920 hi, I'm Becky. 76 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:12,280 Can I help? 77 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:13,200 Thanks. 78 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:14,360 When home home are you in? 79 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:16,120 The letter said 1-0-2. 80 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:17,120 I know the same one I'm in. 81 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,440 It's Mr. Hopkins. 82 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:19,320 He's pretty good. 83 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,520 Come on, I'll show you. 84 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,080 OK. 85 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:24,120 Bye, Daddy. 86 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:25,080 Bye, honey. 87 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,840 Judy had made a real friend. 88 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,400 In the weeks it followed, she and Becky Terry 89 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:35,960 would become inseparable. 90 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,240 Becky was a very warm person, very warm, very outgoing. 91 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,240 I mean, she had to be to be so open with me 92 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:46,440 the first day of school. 93 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:48,720 One, two, three. 94 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,960 But the other kids in the school, it was like, 95 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,200 I was an alien from outer space. 96 00:05:55,200 --> 00:06:00,000 And I felt that way, except when Becky was around. 97 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,040 When you're at your next step. 98 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,520 When you're at your next step. 99 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,160 Around Becky, I felt like everything was possible. 100 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,480 She made me feel like there was no braces, 101 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,400 there was no crutches, that I was just like her. 102 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:21,040 All through seventh grade, the girl's friendship grew. 103 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,000 In eighth grade, Becky and Judy even 104 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,320 took to coordinating their ward roles. 105 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,160 They were often mistaken for sisters, 106 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:32,080 and in fact, no sisters could have been closer. 107 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,480 Becky and I talked about music, we talked about boys, 108 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,040 we talked about marriage, we talked about everything 109 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,240 under the sun. 110 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,800 But Judy and Becky's favorite subject was definitely boys. 111 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,240 At the junior high, serialized horror movies 112 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,920 were shown each day at noon. 113 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,360 Before long, a boy began sitting next to Becky. 114 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,040 All of a sudden, he wasn't just sitting there, 115 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,520 he was holding Becky's hand. 116 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,480 Knowing Becky had a boyfriend was, I don't know, 117 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,840 it was kind of sad for me, because she had a boyfriend 118 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:13,680 and I didn't have a boyfriend. 119 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:16,480 So I felt kind of left out. 120 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,520 Becky's boyfriend was David Major, a fellow seventh grader. 121 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,200 But Judy was so shy that she couldn't bring herself 122 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,560 to talk to David or to any other boy. 123 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,480 Judy, I can't help you toot your books. 124 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,800 Well, one day Becky had a big load of books, 125 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,280 and she wasn't able to carry my books on top of her books. 126 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:42,200 I'll be fine. 127 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:43,120 Are you sure? 128 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:44,640 I mean, give David and one of those other boys to help you. 129 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:45,440 They're right there. 130 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:46,240 Can't ask boys. 131 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,600 Yes, you can if it means you might fall. 132 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:50,640 I'll be fine. 133 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,000 Are you sure? 134 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:53,360 I'm sure. 135 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,360 I was so shy, I would rather have died 136 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,320 than to ask a boy for help. 137 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:03,320 I was very shy at that age, especially around boys. 138 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,840 So here I was trying to carry maybe three or four books, 139 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:13,840 plus pencils, and a notebook, and they fell all over the floor. 140 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:15,560 Oh, here, let's help me with that. 141 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,920 I had a class with David, so I knew who David was 142 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,760 even before Becky and he became involved. 143 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:34,760 I mean, shortly after Becky and David became an item, 144 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:36,480 they broke up. 145 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:41,640 And Becky decided she liked this boy named Gordon, 146 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,400 and evidently he liked her because they 147 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,080 started holding hands in the movies. 148 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,320 And David started holding my hand in the movies. 149 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,720 So I was really thrilled about that. 150 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,240 It was real exciting, because now we 151 00:08:58,240 --> 00:08:59,160 both have boyfriends. 152 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,080 A few months later, Becky came to Judy's house 153 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,440 in a somber mood. 154 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:09,880 The girls had been through everything 155 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,360 two friends could experience, except separation. 156 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:21,720 Hi. 157 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:25,840 What's wrong? 158 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:30,040 Something awful has happened, really awful. 159 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:31,480 My dad got a job. 160 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:33,040 But that's good. 161 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:34,040 It's in West Virginia. 162 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,240 We're moving. 163 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:37,840 Moving? 164 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:38,640 We're moving tomorrow. 165 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,720 He says it can't wait. 166 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:42,720 Tomorrow? 167 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:44,720 No. 168 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,720 No. 169 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:48,720 No. 170 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:49,720 No. 171 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:50,720 Are you all right? 172 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:51,720 Are you OK? 173 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:52,720 No. 174 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:54,520 I'm OK. 175 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:55,800 I'm OK. 176 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:56,800 I'm OK. 177 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:03,160 I was brokenhearted when Becky told me she was leaving. 178 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,160 Becky's friendship to me meant that I 179 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:12,160 was able to be accepted by the other students in the school. 180 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:18,160 And it made me feel like I was more like everyone else, 181 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,600 and that there was no difference between us. 182 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:26,440 And at the age of 12, that meant a lot. 183 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,480 And it still means a lot. 184 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:32,360 Becky and Judy wrote to each other for several years, 185 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:34,840 and Becky even came back to visit once. 186 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:36,800 But eventually, they lost touch. 187 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,840 In 1960, Judy's condition deteriorated, 188 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,400 and she was confined to a wheelchair. 189 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:49,000 Nevertheless, Judy went on to marry and have four children. 190 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,120 She also became an outspoken advocate 191 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,760 for the rights of the disabled. 192 00:10:54,760 --> 00:11:00,240 In 1979, Judy divorced and later moved to Tucson, Arizona. 193 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:02,800 Through it all, her friendship with Becky 194 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:04,200 has been an inspiration. 195 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:11,160 I would really like to find Becky. 196 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,600 I'd kind of like to tell her how much she meant to me 197 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:16,520 as a friend. 198 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:18,800 And I'd like to get that friendship back if it's possible. 199 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,740 Stop, stop, stop! 200 00:11:48,860 --> 00:11:50,500 September 1991. 201 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,480 A young American, disorienting, penniless, 202 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,680 and obviously out of place, wandered 203 00:11:56,680 --> 00:12:00,240 into the Mexican village of Colonia Vicente Guerrero, 204 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,760 300 miles south of San Diego, California. 205 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,800 He lingered for months, living on handouts, 206 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,600 depending on the charity of strangers. 207 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:14,000 For one California couple, tales of the young stranger 208 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,160 were a ray of hope in the search for their 34-year-old son 209 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:22,160 Gordon Collins, who had been missing for five months. 210 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,200 I know he's alive. 211 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,440 We have our priority now to try to find him. 212 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,880 And I can't get on with my business. 213 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:34,360 I can't get on with nothing until we get him home. 214 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:39,240 Inside your heart, you're always longing to just, 215 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,520 to that day, you're going to be able to hold him 216 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:42,400 and know it's for real. 217 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:51,600 The strange saga of Gordon Collins began on April 19, 1991. 218 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,800 News vacationing with his girlfriend, Anastasia Seals, 219 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,320 and another couple near Santa Rosalia, 220 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:01,080 a popular deep sea fishing spot midway down the Baja Peninsula. 221 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,240 Four days after they arrived, the group 222 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,880 secured a boat at a local hotel. 223 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:10,720 Gordon's friend Wayne Schwartz had 224 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,240 fished off the Baja Coast many times and knew the area well. 225 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,320 As the group left port, a fisherman on his way in 226 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,040 warned them that a storm was brewing. 227 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,840 The fisherman's warnings apparently went unheeded. 228 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,040 Several hours later, a fierce storm would indeed hit the area. 229 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,600 Gordon Collins and his friends never returned. 230 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,800 The next day, a hotel employee was set out to search for them. 231 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,560 His search ended 28 miles northeast. 232 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,880 Wayne Schwartz and Gordon's girlfriend Anastasia Seals were dead. 233 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,520 But Gordon Collins and Schwartz's wife Arlene Burlington 234 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:20,680 are nowhere to be found. 235 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:22,840 I guess I eat! 236 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:26,120 The bodies and all a pair of finalia out of the boat 237 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,440 was all within one square mile of each other. 238 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:33,080 Because I talked to the fellow that fished the bodies out. 239 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:37,320 And so we say, hey, where's the other two jabs? 240 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:38,960 Where's the other two people? 241 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,840 For three days, the United States Coast Guard 242 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,160 searched a 250 mile area of the Sea of Cortez 243 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,080 in the Baja shoreline. 244 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,480 Finally, they suspended the search, pending further evidence. 245 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,680 Scott, you got anything on the left side? 246 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:55,720 No, I don't. 247 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,360 It seemed obvious that Gordon Collins and Arlene Burlington 248 00:14:58,360 --> 00:14:59,800 had perished. 249 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:02,880 The US consulate in Mexico asked Gordon and Arlene's parents 250 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:04,480 to sign death certificates. 251 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,880 However, reports that Gordon was still alive had already 252 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,760 begun to filter across the border. 253 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,920 His parents came to believe that he'd been picked up 254 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,560 by a fishing boat and brought ashore. 255 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,040 They were certain that Gordon was suffering from amnesia 256 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:18,560 and was unable to find his way home. 257 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,280 John and Mary Lou Collins traveled from Moreno Valley, 258 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,200 California, to the area where the two bodies had been recovered. 259 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,280 They combed Santa Rosalia. 260 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:34,200 Desperately hoping for a clue to Gordon's whereabouts. 261 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,240 We got flyers made of them. 262 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,440 And so we were spreading them all out 263 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,560 when two Mexican fishermen come running up to us 264 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:45,840 and kept pointing to the flyer. 265 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,880 He said they seen a guy out of the water, come out of the water. 266 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:51,480 He just had shorts and he was all cut up 267 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,840 waiting there trying to get on a bus there at the bus station. 268 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:57,240 And he said, I don't know. 269 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,840 I was very excited. 270 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:03,040 Things started fitting together because this is where 271 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:04,760 the accident happened. 272 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,920 They found the bodies just a mile and a half off of this shore. 273 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:10,320 It's got to be Gordon. 274 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:11,320 Pause. 275 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,960 Around the same time, Gordon was also 276 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,480 sighted on a nearby beach by a man named Jose Peralta. 277 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:24,040 You have your blanket? 278 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:24,920 OK. 279 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:26,080 You have your blanket. 280 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:27,080 I'm cold. 281 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,000 Is that one of them? 282 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,400 Jose said that Gordon said he was waiting for friends. 283 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:33,840 He went fishing. 284 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,120 And could he have Jose's blanket because he was going 285 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,840 to sleep on the beach there at Cabo and wait for his friends? 286 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:40,840 Hey, Riddle. 287 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:41,840 You're coming. 288 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:42,840 Neither lead panned out. 289 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,840 And the Collins returned home. 290 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,840 And the others were waiting for him. 291 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:48,840 And he said, I don't know. 292 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:49,840 I don't know. 293 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,080 Neither lead panned out. 294 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,120 And the Collins returned home. 295 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,680 It was a beginning of a frustrating, seemingly 296 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,160 endless pattern. 297 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,680 I would go down until I wouldn't get any more sightings. 298 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,040 And then I'd go back home. 299 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,760 And we'd get a phone call or something. 300 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:08,080 And so, boom, I'd get on a plane. 301 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,880 And we'd head back on down and hit these areas 302 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:17,120 where the sighting was evidently was that. 303 00:17:17,120 --> 00:17:19,680 On one trip, we're headed toward the pause. 304 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,240 And we stopped at a few of these taco places. 305 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,760 And they said, yeah, I've seen him an hour ago. 306 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,800 So we went on down for probably another three or four miles. 307 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,520 And we stopped again. 308 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,760 The guy says, yeah, we've seen him about 30 minutes ago. 309 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:37,040 So we finally got right into town. 310 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,840 And they said, yeah, within five minutes. 311 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,160 And then they seen us all, seen us together. 312 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:45,280 And I don't know what happened. 313 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,040 But everybody just clammed up. 314 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,480 We couldn't get no more information. 315 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,160 I don't know if they thought we were the police, the FBI, 316 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,720 or the DA, or what. 317 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:58,320 We couldn't get no more information. 318 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,680 And bam, it was just stopped. 319 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:05,800 Over the next three months, Gordon Collins 320 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,840 was spotted at least 50 times in seven different locations, 321 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,360 all in the area of La Paz and Cabo San Lucas 322 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,480 at the southern end of the Baja Peninsula. 323 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,880 It almost seemed that Gordon Collins had wanted to disappear 324 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:22,840 and might be hiding out. 325 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:24,600 But Gordon had called his parents the day 326 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,520 he left for Mexico, so they would know where he was. 327 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,600 John and Mary Lou Collins are adamant that Gordon would never 328 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,040 desert his 10-year-old son, Christopher, 329 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,560 and cause his family such pain and suffering. 330 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,280 I believe he can't remember what happened 331 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:43,440 and cannot make the choice to return home, 332 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,760 because he doesn't know who home is. 333 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,720 And you can't leave your child wandering around 334 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,760 in a country aimlessly. 335 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,800 And not only were we exhausted, but our money was exhausted. 336 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,240 And we began to think we weren't doing it right. 337 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:06,240 We decided we needed a professional at this point. 338 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,680 The Collins hired Bill Garcia, a private investigator who 339 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,240 alerted newspapers in Baja. 340 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,840 After the articles ran, Garcia received several calls 341 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,080 from the village of Colonia Vicente Guerrero. 342 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:24,160 It was four or five months here in town. 343 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,320 He never worked here, never worked. 344 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,760 And he only hang around here in town. 345 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,360 He was walking all the time, moved too much here. 346 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:36,880 And almost in the town, everybody knows him. 347 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,160 We've shown them pictures, and everyone recognizes him. 348 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,800 And they're positive that it's him, the people that have talked 349 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,480 to him know some things about him, about Gordon, 350 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:55,240 and feel confident that he is there, or was there. 351 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,820 According to Amador, Gordon was eventually 352 00:19:57,820 --> 00:20:00,120 arrested for stealing food. 353 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:03,800 The local sheriff, or Delegato, brought in James Hatfield, 354 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:08,000 an American living in the village, to translate. 355 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:08,920 Hello. 356 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:09,880 My name's James. 357 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,840 What's yours? 358 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,960 Hi, I'm Gordon. 359 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:14,840 Gordon, good to have you. 360 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:18,520 I got to have something to say to you. 361 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,000 There's no doubt in my mind it's Gordon, 362 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,000 because when we met him in jail, I introduced myself to him, 363 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,360 and he gave me his name, Gordon. 364 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:29,240 And then when the flyer came out, it's right there 365 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:30,440 on the flyer, Gordon. 366 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,840 And you can't get the two pictures mixed up. 367 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,720 It's the same. 368 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,160 He moved on shortly before we were able to get to that area, 369 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:43,080 and we haven't been able to find where he's gone from there. 370 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:45,920 Gordon seems to be just wandering 371 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,880 through the different towns in Baja, 372 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,600 not really knowing where he's going. 373 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,440 I don't think he's attempting to get home, 374 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,440 because he seems to go north, and he 375 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,360 seems to travel back south. 376 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,400 Over the next year, sporadic sightings of Gordon continue. 377 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,600 The last was near the village of Rosarita, 378 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,520 25 miles south of Tijuana. 379 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:11,200 The US consulate has now officially reversed its position, 380 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:16,480 and no longer presumes that Gordon Collins is dead. 381 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,240 You just can't up and give up, because it's your son. 382 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,000 I know it keeps me driving, it keeps me going, 383 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:28,360 and I want to get him home, to get him home safe, 384 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:30,280 and back to normal again. 385 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,800 Recently, we featured the story of W.B. Mac McDonald, 386 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,720 a self-made millionaire who was searching for his heir, 387 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,600 a child whom Mac had seen but once 43 years ago. 388 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,200 Mac's story began in 1948 in Pomona, California. 389 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,160 That summer, he fell in love with a 16-year-old girl 390 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,120 named Mary Helen Carr. 391 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:05,360 But their courtship was cut short by Mary Helen's mother, 392 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:08,400 she threatened to have Mac arrested if the romance continued. 393 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:15,120 My whole life was revolving around her. 394 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:24,120 It upset me, you know, because I was in love with a girl, 395 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:28,440 and we were planning on a future together, 396 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:32,560 and here were these tremendous stumbling blocks 397 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,200 being thrown out into the path. 398 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,080 Mac moved to Houston, Texas. 399 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,120 Three weeks later, Mary Helen ran away from home and joined him. 400 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:46,880 I got a new neighbor. 401 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,080 Posing his husband and wife, the young lovers moved in together, 402 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,080 but their happiness was short-lived. 403 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:57,080 Hello? Just a minute. 404 00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:58,080 Who is it? 405 00:22:58,080 --> 00:22:59,080 I don't know. 406 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:04,080 A friend tipped off Mac that the police are on the way to the apartment. 407 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,080 Mary Helen's mother had made good on her threats. 408 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:11,080 Authorities carried wards charging Mac the statutory rape 409 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,080 and illegally living with a minor. 410 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,080 That's fine. I'll call you. 411 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:22,080 Mac made his escape with no time to spare. 412 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,080 I was devastated again. 413 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:30,080 They jerked her back to California, 414 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:34,080 and I hadn't a way of contacting her again. 415 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,080 A year later, Mac returned to California 416 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,080 and was shocked to learn that he was a father. 417 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:45,080 He visited Mary Helen and met his child for the first and only time, 418 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,080 but fearing that authorities were still looking for him, 419 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,080 Mac fled after only five minutes. 420 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,080 He never returned to California. 421 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,080 He was only five minutes. 422 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,080 He never even learned if the baby was a boy or a girl. 423 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,080 Now a wealthy businessman, 424 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:08,080 Mac wants to find the child he left behind 43 years ago. 425 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:14,080 I feel that the youngsters are entitled to my estate, 426 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:20,080 and I'd want that youngster to know that I love them, 427 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,080 and I want them to have the best. 428 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,080 The night of our broadcast, 429 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,080 Mac MacDonald learned that he had a daughter named Sherry. 430 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,080 The long-awaited news came from a viewer in Dallas, Texas, 431 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,080 Mary Helen Carr, Sherry's mother. 432 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,080 Unlike many of the reunions we have featured, 433 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,080 the end of this search evoked decidedly mixed emotions 434 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,080 for Mac, for Mary Helen, 435 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,080 and especially for their daughter Sherry, 436 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,080 who'd been raised by a loving and caring stepfather. 437 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,080 I'm 43 years old and pretty well set in my life and everything, 438 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,080 and I didn't know what to think. 439 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,080 You know, I'm very happily married and I have two great kids, 440 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,080 and we just are a normal American family, 441 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,080 and this is quite a shock to everyone. 442 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,080 One week after our broadcast, 443 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,080 Mac MacDonald arrived at Sherry's home in Denver, Colorado. 444 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,080 For Mac, the reunion would bring a bitter sweet, 445 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,080 and at times, unsettling reconciliation with the past. 446 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,080 Hello. 447 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,080 Come on in. 448 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,080 Yes, hi, Mac. 449 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,080 It's hard to describe the feeling that I had for my daughter 450 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,080 when I opened the door and she was there, 451 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:46,080 and I was able to hold her. 452 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,080 I just wanted to sit down. 453 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,080 I just wanted to sit down and I would hold you. 454 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:56,080 I just tried to come to the realization 455 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,080 that it really was my father standing there, 456 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:03,080 and I just, you know, to see, does he look like me? 457 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:04,080 Does he act like me? 458 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,080 You know, I have all these things I need to learn about him. 459 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,080 I don't know what to say. 460 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,080 I'm still on a state of shock. 461 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,080 At this point in my life, to find that there is someone who is my father 462 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,080 who has established a relationship with me 463 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,080 is just emotionally very traumatic. 464 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,080 Apparently he wants to be part of her life. 465 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:28,080 And if that's the case, it's okay. 466 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,080 I hope since he's gone to this much effort to find her 467 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,080 that he doesn't bring any sorrow to her. 468 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,080 The fact that I didn't stay and fight the battle, 469 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,080 it's most unfortunate. 470 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,080 I don't believe I would do it that way again. 471 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:51,080 However, yesterday unfortunately can't be redone. 472 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,080 I'd like to. 473 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,080 No matter how you look at it, 474 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,080 he left my mother with a tiny baby, you know, 475 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,080 and I have to deal with that. 476 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,080 I have to deal with the fact that I have a father 477 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,080 who loves for me, who has raised me, who has cared for me, 478 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:16,080 that I believe there's enough room in this family for everyone. 479 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:18,080 And I sincerely mean that. 480 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,080 On the afternoon of March 11, 1992, 481 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,080 paramedics were dispatched to an emergency 482 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,080 at a toy store in Redwood City, California. 483 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,080 Inside, sprawled on a table in the employees' lunchroom, 484 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,080 was 23-year-old Gilbert Ortiz. 485 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,080 He was sweating profusely and experiencing severe convulsions. 486 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,080 All the cramps in the stomach? 487 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,080 Gilbert, where did you drink? Did you drink or eat something? 488 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:58,080 Shake. 489 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,080 Shake. What's in a shake, Gilbert? 490 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,080 Gilbert managed to tell the medics that he'd become ill 491 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,080 after drinking a high-protein amino acid milkshake, 492 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,080 commonly used by bodybuilders to help them bulk up 493 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,080 and strengthen muscle. 494 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,080 Gilbert, where did you get the shake from? 495 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,080 Friend. 496 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:14,080 Friends? 497 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:18,080 And how long ago did you drink this, Gilbert? 498 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,080 Gilbert began to slip in and out of consciousness. 499 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,080 His wife was contacted, and paramedics rushed him 500 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,080 to nearby Sequoia Hospital. 501 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,080 Is that the shake right there? 502 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:37,080 Doctors in the emergency room were baffled 503 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,080 by Gilbert's condition. 504 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,080 They found him in the plastic bottle, 505 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,080 which had contained the shake and set it aside 506 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,080 so the contents could be tested later. 507 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,080 Within moments, Gilbert's wife, Elizabeth, 508 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,080 arrived in the emergency room. 509 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,080 Doctors hoped that she could provide an explanation 510 00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,080 for Gilbert's sudden, mysterious illness. 511 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,080 The paramedics just brought him over here 512 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,080 just a few minutes ago, and they said that after taking 513 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,080 that sports drink over there, about 15 minutes later, 514 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,080 he started vomiting. He's very disoriented. 515 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,080 Anything straight out of him. Have you ever seen that bottle? 516 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,080 No, never. I've never seen it. 517 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,080 You know what we're thinking? 518 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,080 We're thinking he might have had an overdose of drugs, 519 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,080 maybe some street drugs or maybe something else. 520 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:20,080 Gilbert doesn't do drugs. Are you sure? 521 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,080 No, I'm serious. Gilbert doesn't do drugs. 522 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:23,080 OK. 523 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,080 By 10 o'clock that evening, Gilbert had developed pneumonia, 524 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,080 and his kidneys had failed. 525 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,080 He was admitted to the intensive care unit. 526 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:34,080 He would later suffer cardiac arrest and slip into a coma. 527 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,080 As his life hung in the balance, doctors worked feverishly 528 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:41,080 to determine what had caused him to become so violently ill. 529 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,080 Sometime that afternoon, the plastic milkshake bottle 530 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,080 similar to this one mysteriously disappeared. 531 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,080 It was a first in a series of bizarre incidents 532 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:56,080 that would lead authorities to believe that Gilbert Ortiz 533 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,080 had been poisoned by someone he thought he could trust. 534 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:04,080 In 1987, Gilbert was serving in the army 535 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,080 when he met Elizabeth Fuentes. 536 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,080 They married three years later, 537 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,080 shortly after the birth of their son, Jonathan. 538 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,080 Gilbert took an entry-level position 539 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,080 in the toy store in Redwood City, 540 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,080 but he and Elizabeth frequently fought over money. 541 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,080 In March of 1992, Gilbert received a promotion, 542 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,080 and the future suddenly seemed brighter. 543 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,080 Less than a week later, Gilbert was in the hospital, 544 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,080 fighting for his life. 545 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,080 OK. 546 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,080 Gilbert's mother and sister soon joined Elizabeth at the hospital. 547 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,080 They said that while they were in the waiting room, 548 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,080 Elizabeth received a strange phone call 549 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,080 which seemed to upset her. 550 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,080 Yes, yes. OK, bye. 551 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:52,080 She got nervous when she came back from that phone call. 552 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,080 I don't know why, I don't know what they told her. 553 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,080 I'm gonna go home, and I think I should check on Jonathan. 554 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,080 I need to get something ready, too. 555 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,080 And so she decided that she was gonna go see Jonathan, 556 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,080 that she was concerned about Jonathan for some reason. 557 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,080 And she was gonna go to Gilbert's work 558 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,080 because she knew the combination for the locker, 559 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,080 and she was gonna go see if she could find anything, 560 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,080 because Gilbert wasn't getting any better. 561 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,080 He's got Jonathan, that man has Jonathan! 562 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,080 Elizabeth, what's going on? 563 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,080 About two hours later, she came back. 564 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,080 She was hysterical, and she kept saying, 565 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,080 somebody has Jonathan, this guy has Jonathan, 566 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,080 Jonathan, somebody has Jonathan. 567 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,080 What happened? 568 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,080 That man outside has Jonathan. 569 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,080 What man? 570 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,080 That man outside in the parking lot, 571 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,080 he said he was gonna hurt Jonathan. 572 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,080 Wait, he has Jonathan outside? 573 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,080 No, yeah, no, he's a man said he was gonna kidnap him. 574 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,080 Wait a minute, I thought Jonathan was with your mother. 575 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,080 And so I was like, wait, your mom has Jonathan. 576 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,080 I'm gonna call your mom. 577 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,080 And I went and I called her mom, 578 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,080 and her mom, you know, I asked her, 579 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,080 you know, is Jonathan there? 580 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:00,080 And then she's all like, yeah, he's right here. 581 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,080 I'm like, why? 582 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,080 Because Elizabeth just said that some guy had him. 583 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,080 While Brenda was on the phone, 584 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,080 Elizabeth blurted out a disjointed frightening story. 585 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,080 She said she had been approached 586 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,080 by a small boy in the hospital parking lot, 587 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,080 who then directed her to a masked man 588 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,080 in a parked car. 589 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,080 Did you know him? 590 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,080 No, he was wearing a mask, I couldn't see. 591 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,080 What kind of mask? 592 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,080 I couldn't see his face. 593 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,080 What did you do? What did he say? 594 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,080 He said that he knew what had happened to Gilbert, 595 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,080 and that Gilbert had drank the wrong stuff. 596 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,080 What? 597 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,080 The stuff in the bag. 598 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,080 He said Gilbert drank his stuff. 599 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,080 Inside the paper bag was a bottle of liquid insecticide. 600 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,080 I'm calling the police. 601 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,080 No, don't call the police. 602 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,080 He said if you call the police, he was gonna hurt Jonathan. 603 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,080 I'm calling the police. 604 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,080 The ICU nurse immediately made two phone calls, 605 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,080 one to the National Poison Control Center, 606 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,080 and the other to the Redwood City Police. 607 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,080 This is a Coyote Hospital. 608 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,080 I have a poisoning to report. I need to speak to an officer. 609 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,080 I don't know. I didn't see it after the paramedic. 610 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:00,080 Five days later, Elizabeth was questioned 611 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,080 about the mysterious masked man 612 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,080 she said had handed her the insecticide. 613 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,080 So tell me about the little boy that ran after you. 614 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,080 Well, when I was in my car, 615 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,080 I turned on my car and I was... 616 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,080 For about the first hour of the interview, 617 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,080 she maintained the story that she had given the officers 618 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,080 and the nurses to the police. 619 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,080 I don't know. 620 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,080 The man with a mask and a little boy. 621 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,080 And she told me that she thought 622 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,080 it was definitely a strange story, 623 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,080 but it was the truth. 624 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,080 Elizabeth, if what you're telling us is the truth, 625 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,080 how would this guy have known that Gilbert drank this thing? 626 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:32,080 How should I know? 627 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,080 Well, how would the little boy know? 628 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:36,080 I don't know. I don't know. 629 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,080 I've never seen anything before in my life. 630 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,080 Your story doesn't make sense. 631 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,080 I just... I still couldn't believe what she was telling me. 632 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,080 And so my partner and I, 633 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,080 I had to go to the emergency room 634 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:52,260 was telling me, and so my partner and I started to jam her by, you know, telling her certain 635 00:33:52,260 --> 00:33:56,860 things to see how she would react like we knew more than we actually did. 636 00:33:56,860 --> 00:33:58,960 And that man gave me the bottle. 637 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,260 There was a witness in the parking lot. 638 00:34:01,260 --> 00:34:04,460 He didn't see a man with a mask and he didn't see a little boy. 639 00:34:04,460 --> 00:34:05,900 All he saw was you. 640 00:34:05,900 --> 00:34:09,420 There was no masked man and there was no little boy. 641 00:34:09,420 --> 00:34:11,420 Okay, alright. 642 00:34:11,420 --> 00:34:12,420 Okay. 643 00:34:12,420 --> 00:34:14,780 I made that part up. 644 00:34:14,780 --> 00:34:15,780 Why? 645 00:34:15,780 --> 00:34:21,060 Because the doctor, you know, he said that whatever Gilbert drank was in the house, okay? 646 00:34:21,060 --> 00:34:25,280 And so I went, he asked me if I had any insecticides and I looked, I searched in the house and 647 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,120 that's when I found the bottle. 648 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,240 Why did you make the story up about the man with the mask and the little boy? 649 00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:32,240 Because I was scared. 650 00:34:32,240 --> 00:34:35,440 I didn't know if Gilbert had done this to himself on purpose. 651 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:39,540 She told me that maybe he was trying to hurt himself and so I asked her, you mean you think 652 00:34:39,540 --> 00:34:41,800 he was trying to take his own life? 653 00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:46,940 And she said, yeah, maybe, maybe he was depressed and I didn't want him to get in trouble. 654 00:34:46,940 --> 00:34:49,860 Elizabeth, would you be willing to take a lie detector test? 655 00:34:49,860 --> 00:34:52,660 Look, I have a job interview, okay? 656 00:34:52,660 --> 00:34:54,540 So I gotta go. 657 00:34:54,540 --> 00:34:56,660 What about the lie detector test? 658 00:34:56,660 --> 00:34:58,380 Okay, when? 659 00:34:58,380 --> 00:35:00,180 Later this afternoon, after your interview. 660 00:35:00,180 --> 00:35:03,740 Okay, I'll be back. 661 00:35:03,740 --> 00:35:07,020 Elizabeth never returned to the police station. 662 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,360 The next morning, Detective Anderson reached her at her mother's house in San Francisco, 663 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,480 20 minutes in Redwood City. 664 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,880 This time, Elizabeth refused to come in. 665 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,360 Can you talk to your lawyer about it please and give me a call back? 666 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,880 Gilbert, I'm gonna ask you. 667 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:28,040 Eleven days later, Gilbert regained consciousness and police suspicions were finally confirmed. 668 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,080 Gilbert had apparently been poisoned by his own wife. 669 00:35:31,820 --> 00:35:38,900 Elizabeth, she was working for some people and she called me about 12 or so and told 670 00:35:38,900 --> 00:35:40,980 me she wanted to have lunch with me. 671 00:35:40,980 --> 00:35:45,140 Gilbert explained that Elizabeth had told him about a coworker's son who had bulked 672 00:35:45,140 --> 00:35:48,420 up by drinking amino acid milkshakes. 673 00:35:48,420 --> 00:35:56,620 You know, I live weights and all but I could never get big and that's the kind of guy she 674 00:35:56,620 --> 00:35:57,620 likes. 675 00:35:57,620 --> 00:35:59,420 Do you know this guy? 676 00:35:59,420 --> 00:36:00,860 No. 677 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:02,880 The guy she worked for. 678 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,600 So she mixed something up and brought it for you to drink? 679 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:11,920 No, no, the guy, the guy mixed it up, gave it to her, she came to my work lunchtime and 680 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,720 dropped it off. 681 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:19,440 Gilbert said Elizabeth met him around 2 p.m. in the toy store parking lot. 682 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,440 The shake was already mixed in a plastic sports bottle. 683 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:24,960 You mean it's a shake? 684 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,680 Tell me to tell you to drink it before you eat anything. 685 00:36:30,660 --> 00:36:31,660 It smells like chocolate. 686 00:36:31,660 --> 00:36:33,660 What did you say was in it? 687 00:36:33,660 --> 00:36:35,660 Amino acid. 688 00:36:35,660 --> 00:36:37,660 They're supposed to make me stronger? 689 00:36:37,660 --> 00:36:38,660 Yeah. 690 00:36:38,660 --> 00:36:42,940 This guy is real big, he's real buffed and he said it might taste a little nasty but 691 00:36:42,940 --> 00:36:44,420 that's okay, it's supposed to. 692 00:36:44,420 --> 00:36:48,100 Well actually I didn't open it until I got inside, it looked like a real shake. 693 00:36:48,100 --> 00:36:50,100 I mean like a chocolate shake. 694 00:36:50,100 --> 00:36:52,100 That's what it looked like. 695 00:36:54,100 --> 00:36:58,740 So I kind of tried it right and then I want to try to sort of like burn my throat a little 696 00:36:58,800 --> 00:36:59,800 bit. 697 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:02,920 I said maybe that's the way it's supposed to taste, I don't know. 698 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:09,560 I don't know if it was supposed to be sour or, I don't know, spicy because it was spicy 699 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,000 but I thought that's the way it just was. 700 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,000 And I kept drinking and drinking and I didn't touch the food at all. 701 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:21,520 And pretty close, I almost finished the bottle. 702 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:26,760 And then I started feeling really hot and my throat was really really really burning 703 00:37:26,780 --> 00:37:28,780 and I was all shaky. 704 00:37:29,780 --> 00:37:31,780 And then I felt like getting sick. 705 00:37:34,780 --> 00:37:36,780 Then I passed out. 706 00:37:36,780 --> 00:37:39,780 Then I was in the emergency room. 707 00:37:39,780 --> 00:37:41,780 Well, Gilbert, what I'd like to do... 708 00:37:41,780 --> 00:37:45,380 Police obtained a search warrant to see if they could trace the poison or the plastic 709 00:37:45,380 --> 00:37:47,380 bottle to Elizabeth. 710 00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:51,380 But when they arrived at the Ortiz apartment, they made a startling discovery. 711 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:59,000 Elizabeth Ortiz had vanished, along with a couple's two-year-old son, Jonathan. 712 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,000 Then that's when it hit me. 713 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000 She did it then. 714 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000 It really really hurt it. 715 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,000 You know, especially when it told me, so where's the baby? 716 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000 She's gone. 717 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,000 That's the main part that really got me. 718 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:21,000 Her, you know, fine, she's gone, she's gone, but the kid. 719 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,000 You know, I was too attached to the kid. 720 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:26,000 I'm still him. 721 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:33,000 Nearly one year has passed since Gilbert Ortiz was poisoned, but he still has not fully recovered. 722 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:37,000 The insecticide caused serious damage to his liver and nervous system. 723 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:42,000 His right foot is numb and he has difficulty walking without assistance. 724 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:49,000 Doctors don't know if I'm going to get back to normal or if it's permanent damage to my nerves. 725 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000 Same thing with my hands. 726 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000 Tip of my fingers. 727 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000 Numb. 728 00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,000 Can't feel anything. 729 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:07,000 And that really messed up my life because if I can't do anything with my feet, I can't work. 730 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:14,000 Jonathan Fuentes Ortiz has not been seen since March 17, 1992. 731 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:20,000 He was born on May 13, 1990 and has brown eyes and black hair. 732 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:30,000 An arrest warrant has been issued for Elizabeth Fuentes Ortiz, the charge attempted murder with a special consideration for torture. 733 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:37,000 Elizabeth is 23 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. 734 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:42,000 She has black hair, brown eyes and a prominent cleft in her chin. 735 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:16,000 On a previous broadcast, we featured the agonizing story of a young Englishwoman, Delia Fezzani. 736 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:23,000 In 1964, she was 18 years old, unmarried and had just had a baby whom she named Michelle. 737 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:29,000 At her father's insistence, Delia was staying at a convent until the baby was adopted. 738 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:35,000 Two weeks after the baby was born, Delia's parents visited the convent. 739 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:42,000 Delia hoped once her father saw Michelle, he would relent, but he wouldn't even look at his granddaughter. 740 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:50,000 In the end, Delia had no choice but to give up her daughter for adoption. 741 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,000 You've only got 30 minutes to say goodbye. 742 00:40:54,000 --> 00:41:02,000 What you try to do is look at her face to burn the impression into your mind. 743 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:16,000 So you feel the shawl and maybe because it's wool, but you're feeling her body because that was the last time you were going to see her. 744 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,000 And that was it. 745 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:25,000 I can't explain, one minute I had a baby, next minute it was gone. 746 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:37,000 Two photographs were all that Delia had to remember Michelle and she never stopped trying to locate her. 747 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:43,000 Finally, after 15 years of frustrated research, Delia's efforts began to pay off. 748 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:48,000 Last July, Delia learned that her daughter had been renamed Laura 749 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:52,000 and adoption's official agreed to send a letter to Laura that Delia had written. 750 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:59,000 In the brief note, Delia said that she would soon appear in Unsolved Mysteries and asked her daughter to view the broadcast. 751 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,000 In New York Mills, New York, on the evening our program was aired, 752 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:13,000 Delia's daughter Laura Franklin experienced firsthand the heartbreaking events leading up to her adoption. 753 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,000 When I found out my birth mother was searching for me, 754 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:35,000 that was pretty touching to know that she had looked that far to try to find me. 755 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:47,000 After the broadcast, Laura contacted our telecenter and asked to be put in touch with her birth mother. 756 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,000 Against nearly impossible odds, Delia had at last found her daughter, 757 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:56,000 a continent away amidst a population of millions. 758 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:04,000 On September 19, 1992, Laura, her husband, their two children and Laura's closest friends 759 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,000 assembled at Syracuse International Airport. 760 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:14,000 The separation of birth mother and daughter that had lasted more than a quarter of a century was about to end. 761 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:21,000 There was a lot of anticipation, a lot of what she was going to think when she sees me 762 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,000 and what is she going through right now? 763 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,000 I was so surprised. 764 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:54,000 She was everything and more that I'd expected, absolutely everything. 765 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:58,000 She's a beautiful girl, proud of her. 766 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:06,000 Before Laura's adoptive mother died in 1989, she had shared all she knew of Laura's background. 767 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:12,000 Delia and Laura could now fill in the remaining gaps in nearly 30 years of family history. 768 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:21,000 Finding my birth mother now, I don't think it's really changed my life as much as it has probably enhanced it 769 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:28,000 because now I can find out some about my past and my history and things that I never thought that I would ever find out about. 770 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:36,000 I can't replace her mother, but I'd like to think that I could be pretty close. 771 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,000 The September reunion is only a beginning. 772 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:44,000 At Christmas, Laura and her family plan to travel to England 773 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:50,000 where they will spend time with Delia and the many relatives looking forward to meeting them for the first time. 774 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:57,000 The End 775 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:05,000 Join me next time. Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery. 776 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:26,000 The End 777 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,000 .