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This program is about unsolved mysteries.

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Whenever possible, the actual family members and police

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officials have participated in recreating the events.

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What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

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Luis Gasparado of Brazil is no ordinary artist.

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He works at a frenzied pace, often completing drawings

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and paintings in less than five minutes.

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Incredibly, Gasparado claims that his every move is guided

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by the spirits of long dead artists, creating new works

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from beyond the grave.

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Does Luis Gasparado possess stunning psychic powers?

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Tonight you can judge for yourself.

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For nearly three years, Tara Breckenridge was a waitress

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in some of Houston's most fashionable adult nightclubs.

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Then one evening in 1992, she left work in mysterious places

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and vanished.

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Tara's family believes she was a victim of foul play

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and that her boyfriend knows more than he is admitting.

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December 1944, the Second World War

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still raged across Europe, but for a brief moment,

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peace reigned in one tiny corner of Belgium.

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On Christmas Eve, three American GIs

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and four Nazi soldiers put down their guns

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to share an unlikely holiday dinner.

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Now the young boy, who helped make friends out of bitter enemies,

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needs your help to find the man

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who gave him an unforgettable Christmas.

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To his fellow parishioners in Virginia Beach, Virginia,

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Carlos Garcia was an honest, devout Christian.

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No one suspected that Garcia was in fact a devious con artist

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who would eventually scam his church

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and the people in his community out of more than $2 million.

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Join me for these intriguing cases.

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Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

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For those who love art, it is tempting to wish that the great masters

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could return to paint just one more glorious canvas.

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Utterly impossible? Of course.

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Unless you believe in the extraordinary claims

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of a man named Luis Gaspareto.

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As he whips color across the page, Gaspareto seems a man possessed.

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Indeed, if Gaspareto's astounding assertions are true,

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as every gesture is directed by the spirits of long dead masters

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who continue to create new works from beyond the grave.

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Bando, Monet, Renoir,

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Montaigua, all gone now for more than half a century.

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But believe it or not, Luis Gaspareto says that these paintings

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are nothing less than their recent work channeled through him.

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Is Gaspareto a gifted psychic, as he claims?

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Or a flamboyant showman, as common sense would dictate?

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We invite you to see for yourself.

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Luis Gaspareto grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city.

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The culture here is laced with mysticism,

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and many consider psychic experiences part of everyday life.

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The Gaspareto family is no exception.

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Luis's mother, Zibia, has written 13 books,

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works she says were all channeled from the spirit world.

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Luis was just a boy when he first began to believe

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that he too possessed psychic abilities.

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At the age of 13, Luis was overwhelmed by stress,

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sleeplessness, and trouble at school.

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Zibia thought he needed counseling

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and took him to see Madame Laiís,

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one of the city's best known clairvoyants.

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I was embarrassed because it was the first time there

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and, uh, but I started to feel the old that my body's shaking

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inside and all that energy.

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And something was holding my throat,

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and I tried to control myself,

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and that gets worse, so I had to let it go.

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Gaspareto recalls feeling pain and tingling in his arms.

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To Madame Laiís, it was a sign he would be able to channel writing

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much like his mother.

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But quite unexpected, Luis began to draw.

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Gaspareto had found his calling.

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Gaspareto says that over the past three decades,

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he has channeled more than 20,000 paintings by some 50 artists.

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His claims go largely unchallenged in Brazil,

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and Gaspareto's reputation has begun to spread around the world.

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In January of 1995,

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we asked to film one of his channeling sessions ourselves.

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When you invite me for a presentation,

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I ask them if they want to, if they want to come,

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because I cannot do it myself.

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So if they say yes, I just, you know, accept the invitation.

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Our invitation was apparently accepted,

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and we filmed Gaspareto in New York City.

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Gaspareto works with such intensity,

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an assistant holds down the work.

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The sensation of coming in, involving me, you know,

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involving my arms, and I just let it go.

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And the arm goes by that force.

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Well, me, it's not coming from the inside,

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it comes from the outside.

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During the frenetic session,

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Gaspareto completed six drawings and three paintings,

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most in less than five minutes.

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He moved easily between different artistic styles.

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I try not to control anything,

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I try not to put my thoughts or my ideas.

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But you see, people think that if you are unconscious,

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there's going to be somebody else coming through you

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or taking your body, that's impossible.

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Nobody takes your body, you know.

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It's just an energetical influence through you.

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So I just want to be passive.

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During the 45 minutes we were filming,

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Gaspareto says he channeled works by seven artists

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among the greatest of all time.

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An impressive accomplishment,

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but is it proof that the great masters

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are hard at work in the afterlife?

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Perhaps some comparisons are in order.

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A painting by Pierre Auguste Renoir completed in 1877.

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Auguste Renoir 1995,

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a channel through Luis Gaspareto in roughly five minutes.

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Claude Monet, 1880.

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Claude Monet, through Gaspareto.

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Vincent Van Gogh, 1890.

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Van Gogh, through Gaspareto.

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Art experts in the United States are hardly convinced.

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The notion that any one of these artists,

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take Van Gogh for example,

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a man of extraordinary intensity

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and seriousness of purpose,

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to think that he would want to come back after his death

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and produce third, fourth, fifth rate imitations

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of what he successfully did during his life

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seems to be incredible.

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Gaspareto certainly seems to be possessed by some force.

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I mean, perhaps it's the force of his own subconscious

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playing back images that he's seen in art history books,

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or perhaps he's really receiving these images from the afterlife.

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I mean, I certainly can't say.

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The painters are coming through me

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because they want to show that there is life after death

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and they want us to think about eternity.

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They want to help the evolution of our consciousness

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and the evolution of our conceptions of life.

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They want us to see life in a different way.

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Is Luis Gaspareto a window to the metaphysical side of art?

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Can there possibly be any substance to his stunning claims?

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No matter what you may believe,

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even a skeptic has to admit

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that Luis Gaspareto puts on a great show.

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Next, a search for a beautiful young waitress

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who mysteriously vanished in 1992.

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The Men's Club in Houston, Texas is an upscale adult night spa.

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Clientel is mostly male.

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The entertainment, topless.

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For many of us, it is tempting to make assumptions

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about the type of women who dance and work here.

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But don't be deceived.

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Consider the case of Tara Breckenridge,

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who waited tables at the Men's Club from 1989 to 1992.

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Tara grew up in Del Rio, Texas, population 34,000.

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She was a third of five children

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in an upstanding, devoutly religious family.

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Tara was a very caring type person,

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a very loving type person, very nurturing type person.

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She was always very upbeat, very cheerful.

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Just a real wonderful daughter to have.

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Shortly after graduating from high school in 1987,

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Tara set off for Houston to pursue a career in photography.

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But in the end, financial reality forced her to take up waitressing

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and ultimately landed her at the Men's Club.

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Yes.

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Tara wasn't the type of person you would think would work

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in a place like that.

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It was more just for the money, you know.

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She was going to school and stuff,

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so it made her the money that she was comfortable with

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and she was happy with that.

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When Tara Breckenridge arrived in Houston,

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she was no different than thousands of small town girls

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with big city dreams.

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But for Tara the dreamer,

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he had ended in a horrible nightmare.

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In 1992, she vanished without a trace.

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The police and her parents fear the worst.

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They believe that Tara was murdered.

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And high on the list of possible suspects

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is Tara's boyfriend at the time,

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a young man named Wayne Hecker.

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They met in 1989, two years after Tara arrived in Houston.

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Even though Tara had never danced at the Men's Club,

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Wayne was less than thrilled about her job.

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She was working before I met her in those kind of places

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and she loved the money and she loved the atmosphere

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and I guess that's just something that you want to grow out of

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and I'm not going to tell her where to work, you know.

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Wayne was not happy about Tara working at a topless club,

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but he, you know, accepted it because it was paying the bills.

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And so Tara, you know, worked at night

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and, you know, Wayne wasn't working at the time,

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so he didn't have much of a choice.

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Despite Wayne's misgivings,

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the young couples soon moved in together.

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At first they seemed happy,

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but as time passed, the relationship became more and more contentious.

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Tara and Wayne's relationship was kind of rocky to say the least.

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She was always talking about moving out

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or thinking about moving out,

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and we would discuss it at times

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and she would say she needed to talk it over with him

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and occasionally we talked about her doing it

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without talking it over first.

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In July of 1992, Tara made a visit to her parents' home in Del Rio.

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Tara's mother says she felt that something was not quite right.

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I think maybe her problems were a lot bigger than we would have guessed

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and we had no way of really knowing because she didn't talk to us about it

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and we didn't know to ask at the time.

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Two weeks later, on August 3rd, 1992,

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Tara was back in Houston working at the men's club.

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It was a slow night and management decided to send two waitresses home early.

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Hey, Tara.

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Anybody want to go?

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I'll go home.

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You want to?

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I need one more. Any volunteers?

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I'll go home.

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I'm kidding.

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Yeah, it's slow. Not much happening.

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Everyone was surprised when Tara volunteered to leave.

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It was strangely out of character.

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I don't think so.

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It'd be a little unusual for Tara to ask to go home.

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She wasn't always interested in leaving.

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She was there till 2 o'clock to see if she, you know,

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till closing time, make as much money as she could.

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Tara changed into street clothes in a 1229 a.m.

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She punched out for the night.

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Tara, when she left, walked past the doorman without saying,

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you know, goodbye or without responding to his goodbye.

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And that would have been unusual.

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Security guard indicated that he carried her tote bag that she had

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when she left the club.

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He physically took it from her and carried it as he escorted her to her vehicle.

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It's really slow in there.

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He washed her, got in the vehicle.

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He told her to be safe as she drove home and then saw

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that she exited the parking lot.

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We asked him if anybody followed her or if he saw anybody follow her

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and he said he did not.

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At the very moment Tara was leaving the men's club,

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her boyfriend Wayne Hecker says he was in a pool hall 15 minutes away.

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Wayne had phoned Tara earlier that evening but never spoke to her.

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Never spoke to her.

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I didn't really think anything at that time and they told me that she was on the floor.

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I probably got home at around 5 and I expected to see Tara,

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either laying on the sofa or in bed and she wasn't there.

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So at that point, I mean, I would do like anybody else would.

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I was in low as I'm one or I went to find her.

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Indeed it would be Wayne who found Tara's car at 7 a.m. abandoned by the sight of a busy freeway.

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When I saw the car, the first thing that comes to my mind is what's it doing there?

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Apparently, she drove the car there.

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The car alarm wasn't even on, the flashers weren't even on.

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That really surprised me.

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Tara's car was locked and a can of mace was inside.

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She always carried her mace on her and when I saw the mace in the car,

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I thought why is the mace in the car and why aren't the flashers on?

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And why isn't the car, we did have a car alarm while I was in it engaged.

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The police fear that Tara had met with foul play.

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Before long suspicion began to set her on Wayne,

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investigators were especially curious about his activity the night Tara disappeared.

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We have employees of a club that indicated that he left the club approximately midnight 12.30

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and was next seen at approximately 1.45 in the morning.

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The pool hall is located here, 15 minutes from the men's club.

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Tara's car was found here just three miles from the club.

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Wayne's alleged absence from the pool hall was a full hour and 45 minutes.

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There's certain actions and reactions that we've got from Wayne

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that cast suspicion upon himself.

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Obviously, we don't have any evidence to support a belief that he may or may not be involved in this,

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but he certainly has not been eliminated as a suspect either.

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Later, we put the question directly to Wayne Hecker.

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To tell you the truth, I don't know an explanation to anybody but the Lord and the Lord has given me.

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I'm waiting here for something and it's from him.

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I can't answer anybody because there's not an answer.

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I have only he has it and until there is an answer, I don't think anybody will be satisfied.

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I might be pinpointed for the rest of my life and there's nothing I can do about that.

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There's a lot of people that have said things, made a lot of derogatory statements and that's...

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I can't help them.

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With no concrete evidence of foul play, Tara Breckinridge was officially listed as missing.

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Then the police obtained a series of love notes that indicated there had been another man in Tara's life.

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One note said, please don't be scared, do what your heart tells you.

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I'm very excited that you'll marry me.

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But another one said, the more you hold out, the longer you jeopardize what I feel for you.

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According to people at the club, Tara's admirer was a frequent visitor and often lavished her with $100 tips.

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He apparently had intimate knowledge of her difficulties with Wayne.

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But the notes seemed to indicate that in the end, Tara rejected the man's advances.

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There was nothing threatening in those notes.

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We interviewed the individual, our opinion at this point,

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it's he was just an individual that had an attraction toward Tara and nothing more.

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But if Tara's admirer was not a suspect, who was?

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Once again, a shadow of doubt was cast upon Wayne Hecker.

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Wayne did know about the guy, but, and I do honestly think there was some jealousy,

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but I don't think that, you know, it would cause him to do anything stupid.

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I haven't been charged with a crime, no. Not at all.

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I didn't commit a crime, so I can be charged with one. Simple as that.

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I love the woman of death. She's the best thing that ever happened to me.

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She's a great girl. Yeah, I do. I love her. I love her with all my heart and, and I hope the whole world hears that.

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Tara Breckenridge was today be 26 years old. She's 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds.

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Her car was found abandoned in the 1200 block of the West Loop North in Houston, Texas on the morning of August 4th, 1992.

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Next, the remarkable story of an unlikely friendship between bitter enemies,

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three American GIs and four German soldiers.

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The story you're about to see is one of the most remarkable tales to ever come out of the Second World War.

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Remarkable for the fact that it involves no fighting and no bloodshed.

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In 1973, Readers Digest magazine published the account, and in 1985, it was a focal point of a speech given by President Ronald Reagan.

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Tonight, we need your help to find three unknown American GIs and write the closing chapter of this amazing saga.

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December 1944, the battered German army launched its last great offensive along an 85 mile front at Belgium's Ardennes Forest,

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the infamous Battle of the Bones.

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Nearly 16,000 American soldiers would lose their lives. Another 60,000 would be wounded or captured.

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It was the costliest battle the United States would wage in any war.

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Within your shot of the fighting, on the edge of the Ardennes Forest stood a small, isolated cabin.

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There Fritz Winken, a 12 year old German boy, lived with his mother Elizabeth.

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Fritz's father Hubert had moved his family to the cabin for safe keeping, but life in the forest was difficult.

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While Hubert served as a civilian baker for the German army 20 miles away, Fritz and his mother struggled to put food on the table.

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My father thought like everybody else that the war would be over by Christmas, but it was not to be.

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And our stay in this shack was longer than we anticipated.

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Christmas Eve 1944, a ride with an air of sadness and uncertainty.

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Hubert is still not returned, and his family was resigned to the fact that they would be spending the holiday without him.

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Fritz's mother tried to make the evening as festive as possible. She scraped together a Christmas meal of a few potatoes and a scrawny rooster.

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Father?

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My mother blew out the candle and went to the door and I went with her. She opened the door and there were these soldiers.

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Yeah, bitter?

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00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,000
Um, kidding me ma'am. Do you speak English?

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00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:21,000
No.

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00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,000
Uh, we're Americans.

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00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000
They tried to talk to us, but my mother didn't speak English.

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00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,000
Our friend's been shot.

330
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,000
Can we come inside for a while, please?

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My mother just looked and she looked at the guys in the snow.

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Come inside.

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00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:49,000
Until finally my mother, after, it seems to be like an eternity to me, she asked them to come in.

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Fritz's mother knew full well that harboring the enemy was punishable by death, but she was more than willing to take the risk.

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00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,000
The injured soldier had been shot in the leg and had lost a great deal of blood.

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00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,000
Elizabeth did her best to make him comfortable.

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00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,000
What's she saying?

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00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,000
I don't know.

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00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,000
Ask her she speaks French.

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He said they had lost their unit and were wandering for the adents for the past two days and two nights.

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00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,000
She's going to change his bandage.

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00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,000
My mother was all motherhood.

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She worried for them and she worried for the wounded men and she did everything she could.

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00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,000
They were very nice, like big boys from the neighborhood, you know.

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00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,000
How you doing, kid? Have a nice Christmas, son and boy.

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00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000
Fritz's mother made the American GIs feel right at home.

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00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,000
He doesn't understand a word we're saying.

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00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,000
The men began to relax in anticipation of an unexpected Christmas dinner.

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We thought automatically this must be more Americans.

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And I went to the door and opened the door.

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00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,000
And there were four German soldiers.

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00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,000
I was petrified with fear.

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00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:41,000
He said we have lost our unit and we would like to warm up a little bit.

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00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:51,000
So my mother said you not only be allowed to warm up but you get a nice dinner if you accept our guests.

355
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:58,000
And my mother said this is Christmas night and there will be no shooting around here.

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00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:06,000
Put your arms in the wooden shed and then we come out and have a nice, nice Christmas.

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00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:14,000
Meanwhile my mother had turned to the Americans who by then had noticed that some Germans were coming and had turned to their guns also.

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And I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

360
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,000
I'm sorry.

361
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,000
I'm sorry.

362
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,000
I'm sorry.

363
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,000
I'm sorry.

364
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,000
I'm sorry.

365
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,000
I turned to their guns also.

366
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000
My mother said to me get more potatoes and more water.

367
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,000
We had more mouths to feed.

368
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:08,000
For about a minute or two, maybe three, there was a tension.

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00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,000
Good evening.

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00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:20,000
But then it was warm, it smelled good and right away there was a sense of hospitality.

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00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:22,000
He speaks English.

372
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,000
Your Conray.

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00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,000
He's wounded?

374
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000
Yeah, he got around in the thigh earlier.

375
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:42,000
One of the German soldiers went over to the Americans that were wounded and asked the Americans in English what was wrong with him.

376
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:46,000
So what do you think?

377
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,000
He's lucky.

378
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000
He's lost a lot of blood but the cold has prevented the wound from getting infected.

379
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,000
He should recover, provide him with some rest nourishment.

380
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,000
Good, good.

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00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:03,000
He had some first-aid kits and he applied the dressing to the wound.

382
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:08,000
And the whole evening he would every now and then go and look after him.

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00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:20,000
That night, hostility ceased in at least one corner of the forest as American and German soldiers sat down together to honor the Christmas spirit.

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00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,000
My mother said, Grace.

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00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,000
Dear Lord, we thank you.

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00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000
It must have been a regular prayer, it was something spontaneous.

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00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:42,000
And she said that that's all. Thank the Lord for being together tonight.

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00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:50,000
Peaceful in this terrible war and let's enjoy dinner, the little things that we have.

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00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:56,000
And let's promise to be friendly to each other forever if possible.

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00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:03,000
Let's also pray for an end of this terrible war so that we all can go home very soon.

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00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,000
And by that time, by that time they were all crying.

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00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:16,000
Not profusely, but the tears were rolling. Even the German sergeant, I was very surprised.

393
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,000
And then we ate and the tears disappeared.

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00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:26,000
But from then on there was a feeling of friendship that permeated the whole room.

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00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,000
It was wonderful.

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00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:36,000
After dinner, the soldiers drifted outside one by one. Elizabeth and Fritz soon joined them.

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As they gazed heavenward, each gave thanks in his own way.

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00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,000
And the soldiers were all very happy.

399
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,000
And they were all very happy.

400
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,000
And they were all very happy.

401
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,000
And by that time, they gazed heavenward, each gave thanks in his own way.

402
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,000
That night the men would sleep side by side under the same roof.

403
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
The differences of war temporarily set aside.

404
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:15,000
They were so peaceful. You never think that there are two different kinds of soldiers.

405
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:19,000
That one day before they would have shot each other.

406
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:26,000
Fritz remembers that the spirit of brotherhood continued the next morning.

407
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,000
The German soldiers helped construct a makeshift stretcher for the injured G.I.

408
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,000
And then gave the Americans directions back to their line.

409
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:45,000
That same day, Fritz and his mother left with the Germans and were soon reunited with Fritz's father.

410
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,000
Five months later, the war would end.

411
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,000
In the early 1960s, Fritz Winken immigrated to the United States.

412
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Today he is an American citizen living in Hawaii.

413
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,000
Like his father before him, Fritz owns and operates a bakery.

414
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,000
But their special night in 1944 remains a defining moment of Fritz's life.

415
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:17,000
He now hopes to find the American G.I.s who helped him learn the true meaning of Christmas.

416
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,000
It showed me what my mother could do.

417
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:28,000
And it showed me what one single human being can do to avoid bloodshed and to bring peace.

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00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:33,000
And it also showed me at a very early age that we're all alike.

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00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:40,000
Even though no matter what uniform we wear, we have the same charge, the same soul.

420
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:42,000
The same problems.

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00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:47,000
And it was a very significant experience. I never forgot it.

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00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,000
On a previous broadcast, we told you of Earl and Donna Shotbacks,

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00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:21,000
a young couple intent on building their dream house on this breathtaking site,

424
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,000
200 miles north of Denver, Colorado.

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00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,000
Don't you think we ought to build a log house right here, big picture window?

426
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:36,000
In April of 1991, Earl and Donna hired a builder they knew as Mark Mitchell,

427
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,000
who especially was log cabin homes.

428
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,000
There you go. Into your new home.

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00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000
A contract was drawn up and reviewed by the Shotbacks and their attorney.

430
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Earl and Donna gave Mitchell $25,000 as a deposit, their entire life savings.

431
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,000
Then they waited for their dream house to take shape.

432
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:03,000
But weeks stretched into months and no structure ever rose on Earl and Donna's property.

433
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,000
Every time they questioned Mitchell, he had an excuse and told them not to worry.

434
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,000
The final blow came six months later when the Shotbacks banker turned up

435
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:17,000
disturbing information about Mark Mitchell.

436
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:19,000
Well, I'm afraid the news isn't good.

437
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Now, it has nothing to do with you two. The problem is with the builder.

438
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,000
It appears this man is in some serious trouble. He has been taking deposit money,

439
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,000
just as he did yours, and then has not started construction on the homes.

440
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:39,000
Matter of fact, Mark Mitchell is not even his real name. It's Wade Mitchell Parker.

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00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:48,000
At that point, I felt nauseous. Suddenly, just was sick, feeling as though

442
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:54,000
we were going to lose all the money that we had given to Mark Mitchell.

443
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,000
Wade Mitchell Parker, alias Mark Mitchell, left town soon after.

444
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:07,000
He allegedly disappeared with more than $1 million stockpiled from at least 30 other fraud victims.

445
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:14,000
Parker avoided arrest for nearly three years, until just after the most recent broadcast of this story.

446
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:22,000
On August 11, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia,

447
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,000
some 1,300 miles from Colorado. There Parker was using two new aliases,

448
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:35,000
Ronald Anderson and Larry Wheeler. But information developed from our program helped reveal his true identity.

449
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:44,000
On September 26, 1994, Wade Mitchell Parker was arraigned in Colorado on fraud and theft charges.

450
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:53,000
Our cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom. However, Earl and Donna Chotnacks made sure they were on hand to see justice done.

451
00:35:54,000 --> 00:36:01,000
If he'd been an honest man, we'd be living in our home right now and raising our children.

452
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:09,000
I think that anybody who has been ripped off this way could take heart from this, you know, knowing that

453
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:21,000
with enough perseverance they may get their guy, you know, so it certainly gave me a lot of heart when I was beginning to lose hope.

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00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:45,000
These days, the church seems like one of the few places where you can expect to be safe from the harsh realities of the outside world.

455
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,000
Certainly, it's the last place you'd expect to find a con artist at work.

456
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:57,000
But for a devious swindler named Carlos Garcia, the hallowed sanctuary provided the perfect setup.

457
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:07,000
The Holy Family Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia serves a small, tight-knit Hispanic community.

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00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,000
Parishioners are honest and hard-working, but by no means affluent.

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00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:23,000
In 1985, the church welcomed a new member, Carlos Garcia, who was a friendly middle-aged businessman who soon managed to ingratiate himself in the community.

460
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:35,000
What really struck me about him when he first came to us was how honest he seemed to be and how concerned he seemed to be for the people of our community,

461
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:48,000
for the Hispanic people, especially with the Mexicans. He was extremely close to the Mexican community, and he earned their trust immediately, just like he earned mine.

462
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:52,000
Let me just say how excited I am. We've had a great year.

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00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:00,000
By 1988, Carlos had been elected president and treasurer of the local pastoral council, which oversaw the church budget and expenditure.

464
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:13,000
It was an important, prestigious position. No one yet suspected that Garcia was, in reality, a brazen thief who would end up stealing $2 million from his church and his fellow parishioners.

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00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:17,000
On all the items that are haven asterisks, you'll find the explanation on page two.

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00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:30,000
There was, for many people, almost an immediate trust that this is somebody who has come to this country, who has become successful and now is helping other people.

467
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:39,000
Unfortunately, we found out that the trust that had been put in Carlos had been betrayed in just in many ways.

468
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:50,000
Garcia used his position in the church to attract clients to a seemingly legitimate tax preparation business.

469
00:38:51,000 --> 00:39:01,000
Over several years, Donaciano and Irma Naranjo gave Carlos more than $13,000 to turn over to the IRS. The IRS never got a penny.

470
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:13,000
We didn't know how the system worked here for paying taxes and all that. As we come from Mexico, we didn't know a thing.

471
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:21,000
He helped us arrange our citizenship, our immigration cards, and he always helped us with everything.

472
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:30,000
So that's why we trusted him so much and that's why we trusted him with our taxes.

473
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:38,000
He takes advantage of the fact that a great many of the individuals he comes in contact with are unfamiliar with federal income tax laws.

474
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:48,000
They trust him to guide them through what really must appear a maze. Unfortunately, they don't realize that he has no intention of taking them anywhere but to the cleaners, so to speak.

475
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:58,000
But Garcia's tax preparation scam was just the tip of the iceberg. He obtained privilege and confidential information from hundreds of community members.

476
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:05,000
He then used that knowledge to order credit cards in the names of his fellow churchgoers and their deceased relatives.

477
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:15,000
He would use the information that he obtained about other people to build resumes, obtain credit cards, establish bank accounts,

478
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,000
and with his credit cards he even assumed the identities of females.

479
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:30,000
And he would charge things on these credit cards and nobody would ever question the fact that he was signing what would appear to be a female name simply because it was Hispanic.

480
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:38,000
And he would explain to them that sometimes a name that you would assume would be female was not because it was a Hispanic name and he got away with it.

481
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:45,000
For most con men that would have been enough. But Carlos Garcia was also something of a ladies man.

482
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:53,000
One woman whom we will call Anna dated Carlos for six years and never got the slightest inkling that he was up to no good.

483
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:05,000
When Carlos learned that Anna's mother had a large sum of money to invest, he encouraged her to put the funds in a CD.

484
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:17,000
He had told her that the interest rate would be better at his credit union and he had already picked up the signature cards and everything and brought those with him.

485
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:24,000
So she filled out the application and signature card and he took the money and he put it in the credit union.

486
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:26,000
It's an excellent investment.

487
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:28,000
Well thank you Carlos.

488
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:33,000
Unbeknownst to Anna and her mother, Carlos co-signed the signature card.

489
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,000
Before long he had emptied the account to the tune of $25,000.

490
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:48,000
It hurts, you know, it hurts that you know that all of these years you thought that someone cared about you and really they were just using you.

491
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:52,000
For eight years Carlos Garcia operated at will.

492
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:58,000
Finally one of his class became suspicious and contacted the IRS inspection office.

493
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:09,000
The taxpayer alleged that she had given Carlos cash monies for three consecutive years for Carlos to apply and send to the Internal Revenue Service.

494
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:16,000
She subsequently learned that Carlos, that IRS did not have any record of her filing or any payments made to the Internal Revenue Service.

495
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:21,000
In 1993 the client made a phone call to Carlos to discuss her situation.

496
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:26,000
Carlos had no idea that IRS inspectors were listening in.

497
00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:31,000
Carlos I'm calling because I've received some letters from the IRS.

498
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:36,000
Carlos, I'm calling because I've received some letters from the IRS.

499
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:40,000
And they say that they haven't received payments from me.

500
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,000
And you know I paid you in cash and I don't have any record of it.

501
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,000
Obviously there's been a terrible mistake.

502
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,000
I will call them on Monday morning and straighten this whole situation out.

503
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,000
So you do have the record then, you can prove to them that I gave you the payment in cash.

504
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,000
Yes, I've got those records, I know you paid me, I've got everything right here.

505
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:01,000
I will take care of it.

506
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:02,000
You understand?

507
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,000
Okay then I'll wait to hear from you.

508
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:07,000
Thank you Carlos.

509
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:09,000
Bye bye.

510
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,000
Carlos Garcia was arrested a few days later.

511
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:16,000
He soon posted bail.

512
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:20,000
Within a week Garcia slipped out of Virginia Beach and vanished.

513
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:26,000
When investigators searched through Garcia's records and documents they discovered his record was missing.

514
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:31,000
When investigators searched through Garcia's records and documents they discovered his true identity.

515
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:33,000
Fernando Zapico.

516
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:43,000
Zapico, a native of Argentina, is a career con artist whose life of crime spans more than four decades and includes at least 17 aliases.

517
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:50,000
Authorities say that Zapico has built hundreds of victims up and down the East Coast out of millions of dollars.

518
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:58,000
Probably even greater than the loss of funds from our Hispanic community has been the loss of trust.

519
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:09,000
And the real betrayal that people have felt of someone whom they loved and respected and truly looked up to as a leader of our community.

520
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,000
And now they find that they've been betrayed by him.

521
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:19,000
Our dreams came crashing down and now we can't trust anyone anymore.

522
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:27,000
We're afraid something like this will happen again because he was a man who belonged to the church.

523
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:35,000
It was impossible to concede that he would steal from the church and yet that's what he did.

524
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,000
I still have time when it's hard for me to accept this.

525
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:46,000
I still have times when I feel like crying, when I feel depressed because I trusted him.

526
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:48,000
I believed in him.

527
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:54,000
He took money from people that were simple people.

528
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:56,000
Again, people that trusted him.

529
00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:58,000
And that's what he did.

530
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:01,000
He took money from people that were simple people.

531
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:03,000
Again, people that trusted him.

532
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,000
And these people will never be the same again.

533
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,000
The whole community will never be the same again.

534
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:42,000
Join me next Friday for another intriguing edition of Unsolved Mysteries.