1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,040 She was sensuous, charismatic, and talented, 3 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:16,440 one of the bright lights of Seattle's rock music scene. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,120 Everyone said Mia Zapata was destined for greatness. 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,520 Then in July 1993, Mia took a lonely stroll 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,360 through the dark streets of Seattle 7 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,840 and crossed paths with a vicious, unknown killer. 8 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:31,400 Tonight, we're in Seattle, Washington 9 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,200 to investigate the tragic case of this ill-fated young singer. 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,720 Join me for a dramatic profile of life and death of rock star 11 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:43,520 Mia Zapata, as well as these intriguing mysteries. 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,520 Thomas David Dixon is a very definition of career criminal. 13 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,360 When he's not in prison, he's doing what he does best, 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,920 robbing banks and brazenly taunting the authorities. 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:56,760 Michelle Arkin was just a teenager 16 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:58,640 when a late night confrontation confirmed 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,520 what she had long suspected. 18 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,880 Her mother and father were not her biological parents. 19 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:08,960 Now Michelle needs your help to find the family she never knew. 20 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,640 Meet Philip Pauley. 21 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,800 If you think he looks like an average eight-year-old, 22 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,480 think again. 23 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,400 Philip's favorite subjects are geometry and cellular biology. 24 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,840 He prefers museums and archaeological digs 25 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,360 to playgrounds and ball fields. 26 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,000 Philip, you see, is a genius whose extraordinary abilities 27 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,680 make for a fascinating mystery of the mind. 28 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,000 Stay with us for these fascinating stories 29 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,680 in our special report on Mia Zapata. 30 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,320 Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery. 31 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:15,320 MUSIC 32 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,320 Dispatch to unit four. 33 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:32,320 Dispatch to unit four. 34 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,320 Eight miles south, room 15. 35 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,320 Investigate abandoned vehicle. 36 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:42,320 For a sheriff's deputy in Florence County, South Carolina, 37 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,320 it was a routine call until he uncovered the getaway car 38 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:48,320 from a recent string of bank robberies. 39 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:56,320 Polaroids left in the car showed off a formidable arsenal. 40 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,320 A rambling message filled seven pages of a small notebook. 41 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,320 It was signed Tom Dixon. 42 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,320 I know the feds are closing in on me, 43 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,320 but they need an informant, so need to really watch who I trust. 44 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,320 I will not go back to prison under no conditions ever 45 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,320 for any length of time. 46 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,320 It is hardly surprising that Tom Dixon vowed 47 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,320 never to be taken alive. 48 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,320 During the last 22 years, he'd been out of prison 49 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,320 to scan 18 months. 50 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:33,320 When he wasn't doing hard time, Dixon was robbing banks. 51 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:35,320 The FBI pegged him for at least 12, 52 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,320 and there were probably more. 53 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,320 In 1984, after a 10-year stretch in prison, 54 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,320 Dixon and a series of accomplices 55 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,320 terrorized banks across North Carolina. 56 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,320 Dixon's partners may have changed, 57 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,320 but his MO never varied. 58 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,320 Dixon was what we would call a takeover robber, 59 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,320 and law enforcement jargon means that they control 60 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,320 everything inside the bank, 61 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:06,320 which means when you came into a bank, 62 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,320 usually he or his partner would hold somebody 63 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,320 at bay with a weapon, make announcements. 64 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,320 Get up, get up, kick the keys to where I can see him. 65 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:34,320 Do it now! 66 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:35,320 Come on, move it. 67 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:36,320 Just keep moving. 68 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:37,320 Open it! 69 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:38,320 Move it! 70 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:39,320 Don't mess with me! 71 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:40,320 Don't mess with me! 72 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:41,320 Don't mess with me! 73 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:42,320 The money! 74 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:43,320 Just get the money! 75 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,320 After a string of seven robberies, Dixon went underground. 76 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,320 He holed up with a girlfriend in a remote cabin 77 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:50,320 in North Carolina. 78 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,320 Federal agents got wind of the hideout and moved in, 79 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,320 but they weren't taking any chances to get to the bank. 80 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320 The police found the robber's body in the bank. 81 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:04,320 The robber was found in the bank, 82 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,320 and he was arrested for robbing the robber. 83 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,320 The robber was found in the bank, 84 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,320 and he was arrested for robbing the robber. 85 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,320 They weren't taking any chances with Thomas Dixon. 86 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,320 We were able to gather enough information about Dixon 87 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:31,320 to know that he had certain patterns that might play in our favor 88 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,320 in trying to make an apprehension. 89 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,320 We knew that he was a jogger. 90 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:40,320 Dixon has always been in excellent shape, 91 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,320 and he's a good care of himself. 92 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,320 Dixon, you're under arrest! 93 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:46,320 Underground, underground! 94 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,320 What are you guys doing? 95 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:49,320 Let me go! 96 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,320 When the SWAT team wanted to make the search of the cabin, 97 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,320 in addition to his female companion, 98 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,320 there were seven long-barreled guns, 99 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,320 seven handguns of various size and caliber, 100 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,320 25 sticks of dynamite, 101 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,320 and we were absolutely shocked at the amount of weaponry 102 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,320 he had inside the apartment. 103 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,320 What is this, Mark? 104 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,320 You got a weapon! 105 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:22,320 Thomas Dixon was on his way to another decade behind bars. 106 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,320 When Dixon was paroled around Christmas of 1994, 107 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,320 he picked up right where he had left off. 108 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,320 But now, Dixon always worked alone. 109 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,320 Morning. I'll be right with you. 110 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:37,320 This is a hold up. 111 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,320 I got a police scanner, so don't do anything funny. 112 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,320 Just be cool and put the money in the bag. 113 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,320 He doesn't come in as a flashy guy. 114 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,320 He comes in prepared. 115 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,320 He's methodical. 116 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,320 He thinks about things before he does them. 117 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,320 During the summer of 1995, 118 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,320 Dixon showed up and one bank's surveillance tape after another. 119 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,320 Five robberies in a seven-week period. 120 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,320 Have you FBI ever heard of Thomas Dixon? 121 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:16,320 No, should we? 122 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,320 Man, there's one badass bank robber. 123 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,320 Tomorrow he's going to rob a bank in North Carolina. 124 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,320 During the summer robbery spree, 125 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,320 Dixon began to taunt the FBI 126 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,320 with advanced notice of his bank jobs. 127 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,320 Hello? 128 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:36,320 In one call, Dixon targeted a bank in Matthews, North Carolina. 129 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:41,320 Instead, he turned up in Columbia, South Carolina, 80 miles away. 130 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,320 Put it in the bag. 131 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,320 Who's that in the bag? 132 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,320 The best manager. 133 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,320 You be cool. 134 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,320 Dixon's last known heist was September 11th, 1995. 135 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,320 You all have a nice day. 136 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,320 You can turn on that alarm now if you like. 137 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:03,320 Excuse me. 138 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,320 FBI agents see Dixon's flip and self-confidence as a mask 139 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,320 for an unstable personality coming apart at the scenes. 140 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,320 Investigators now believe that Dixon deliberately left the photos, 141 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,320 notebook and getaway car for them to find. 142 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,320 Three weeks after Dixon's last robbery, they got the message. 143 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,320 A deliberate taunt of a criminal ego running wild. 144 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,320 Now I need a really good score so I can go underground for a few months, 145 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,320 get myself back together. 146 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:39,320 I got myself a bulletproof vest. 147 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:46,320 So maybe it'll save my ass long enough to drop a couple of them before I die. 148 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,320 Yes, you keep looking and I'll keep working. 149 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:57,320 We'll meet up someday and we'll see if it's you or is it me. 150 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:05,320 I don't think there's any question that Dixon has become a walking time bomb. 151 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:10,320 Dixon was alerting us to the fact that he is heavily armed 152 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,320 and he has every intention of using those arms in a confrontation with law enforcement. 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:35,320 Next, when a young woman is found dead floating in the Chesapeake Bay, 154 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,320 two old boyfriends emerge as suspects. 155 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,320 The Chesapeake Bay 156 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:59,320 Maryland's Natural Resource Police routinely monitor the state's coastal areas, 157 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:03,320 tracking down poachers and enforcing game regulations. 158 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:08,320 But on the 30th of August, 1993, an NRP patrol pulled the body 159 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:12,320 of an attractive brunette from the Chesapeake Bay. 160 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,320 The woman was identified as Nancy Manny, 161 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,320 one of the few female members of the Seafarers International Union. 162 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,320 Nancy had made a career sailing the world as a ship steward, 163 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:30,320 but now, at the age of 33, Nancy was dead, drowned and possibly murdered. 164 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,320 Who could have killed Nancy Manny? 165 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,320 The investigation quickly narrowed in on an ex-boyfriend named Billy Mesmer, 166 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:44,320 a self-styled poad whose dark rhymes hinted at a dangerous obsession. 167 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:49,320 It looked like a rock-solid theory until rumors seemed to implicate another boyfriend 168 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,320 and some of his associates in the Seafarers Union. 169 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,320 An overshadowing awe was a second murder victim, 170 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:59,320 a young woman identical to Nancy in almost every way. 171 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,320 When was the last time you saw Nancy? 172 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:03,320 Wednesday. 173 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,320 Billy Mesmer was questioned two days after Nancy's body was found. 174 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:12,320 Poems Billy had written to Nancy while they were lovers aroused suspicion. 175 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,320 Perhaps most notable were these lines. 176 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:21,320 Excited breath escapes his lips, but he waits without the light. 177 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:26,320 No one will ever hear your screams as a predator begins to bite. 178 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,320 The poem was signed Sweet Dreams Billy. 179 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,320 The title Night Stalker. 180 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:40,320 I've had experts look at it trying to analyze it and they have concurred that, you know, 181 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,320 he did have an obsession with Nancy at this time. 182 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:50,320 I can understand where they would come up with the word obsessive. 183 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,320 Nancy was the love of my life. 184 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:57,320 I'm a poet. 185 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:02,320 I wrote her poetry constantly, which is a very obsessive thing. 186 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,320 It's full of feelings and emotion. 187 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:11,320 During the 17 months of their relationship, Billy had written Nancy more than 200 poems. 188 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:15,320 Many were sent to her at seaports around the world. 189 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,320 Nancy had sailed to Brazil, Greece, Iceland, 190 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:24,320 and often worked the giant freighters at ferried natural gas from Indonesia to Japan. 191 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,320 She often said she liked to play with the boys toys. 192 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,320 She liked to drive the forklifts and do that kind of work. 193 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,320 She was very feminine. She was very attractive and fun. 194 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:41,320 She, you know, had a lot of boyfriends, but she hadn't really found a person that she was dust 195 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,320 and spend the rest of her life with. 196 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:45,320 She left you for someone else. 197 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,320 I don't understand why you keep accusing me of things. 198 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,320 I really felt that the investigation was going in the wrong direction. 199 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,320 Obviously, they were crawling all over me with a microscope, 200 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:04,320 and I was terribly frustrated that the person who actually did this was going to get away. 201 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,320 Billy Masmer had a plausible alibi. 202 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,320 He also had a suggestion for the police. 203 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,320 Take a look at certain members of the Seafarers International Union. 204 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:21,320 At the time of her death, Nancy had been studying at this Union Run Training Center, 205 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:25,320 the Harry Lunderberg School of Seamanship in Piney Point, Maryland. 206 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,320 She was dating a union member who was connected to the school. 207 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:34,320 Billy says that Nancy came to his apartment a few days before her death. 208 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:35,320 Yeah. 209 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:40,320 Hey Nancy, come over. 210 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:41,320 Hi Billy. 211 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,320 Hey, are you okay? 212 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:51,320 Nancy had a very, very bad falling out with her boyfriend. 213 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:52,320 He had a fight. 214 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:58,320 He had told her that if she didn't do things as he wanted, 215 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,320 he would make things very difficult for her within the Union. 216 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:08,320 She simply said, if you do this, then I will expose you for what you are. 217 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:13,320 According to Billy Masmer, the secret Nancy threatened to reveal 218 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,320 may have had something to do with illegal drugs. 219 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,320 It's been rumored for years that certain members of the Union 220 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:27,320 and of the school down at Piney Point have been involved 221 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,320 in international drug trafficking. 222 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:36,320 Not only that, but possible disappearances within the Union 223 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,320 and within the local community. 224 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:44,320 I've had several people come clandestinely to me to report that 225 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:51,320 they suspected illegal activity at the school was the cause of Nancy's death. 226 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:59,320 Again, it's been unsubstantiated and they fear for their lives or their jobs, 227 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,320 which is why they don't want to be known. 228 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:09,320 After her death, I had received some telephone calls from friends of hers 229 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:15,320 that were also Union members who had told us that they felt that her death 230 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:20,320 was not accidental and that it was possibly linked with the Union and with the school. 231 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,320 For Nancy's sister Linda, the unsettling rumor seemed even more credible 232 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:30,320 when she received Nancy's personal effects from the school. 233 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:36,320 In going through Nancy's things, I had noticed that a lot of things 234 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:41,320 were missing, particularly pictures of her Union boyfriend and his family. 235 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,320 And I know that she wouldn't have thrown them away. 236 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,320 She would have kept those. 237 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:54,320 There was more. Nancy's camera was empty and its internal mechanism jammed, 238 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,320 as though someone had forcibly ripped out a roll of film. 239 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,320 I feel that someone had tampered with her camera 240 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:05,320 and so that led me to be more suspicious that someone in the school 241 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,320 had obviously entered her room. 242 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,320 There are also suspicions about Nancy's final work assignment. 243 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,320 Before entering the school, Nancy sailed on the SS Mayakwes, 244 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,320 a ship which employed many Union members. 245 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,320 She died in August. 246 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,320 In June, I got the slider from her when she was working on the SS Mayakwes. 247 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:35,320 One paragraph says, things are so bad on this ship that I'm getting death threats now. 248 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:40,320 And I let that go and I regret it every day 249 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:45,320 that I didn't demand to know who exactly said that and why and what exactly was said. 250 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:49,320 One more disturbing question hangs over this case. 251 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:54,320 Is there a link between Nancy's death and the 1988 murder of a young woman 252 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,320 named Elizabeth Greenberg? 253 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,320 Elizabeth and Nancy had the same hair color, same eye color, 254 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,320 were nearly identical in height and weight. 255 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:09,320 Like Nancy, Elizabeth was a ship steward, a member of the Seafarers Union. 256 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:12,320 Elizabeth worked in the Navy, 257 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,320 and was a member of the Seafarers Union. 258 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:20,320 Elizabeth worked the same Indonesia to Japan trade route that Nancy sailed a few years later. 259 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,320 Both women were attending the Union's training school when they died. 260 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,320 Although Elizabeth was killed by a blow to the head, 261 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,320 she too was found floating in the Chesapeake Bay. 262 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:37,320 It's eerie when you look at both cases, 263 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,320 the similarities in their life and their lifestyles. 264 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:46,320 As yet, we haven't found a common denominator between the two 265 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:51,320 as far as boyfriends or close friends. 266 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,320 But somewhere along the line, there's got to be a thread. 267 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:03,320 I fear that Nancy's death is going to be simply written off as unsolved. 268 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,320 And even though everyone in the county knows that something wrong, 269 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:14,320 unlawful, cloak and dagger is going on, they're terrified to talk about it. 270 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,320 With the information that has been given to me on an anonymous basis, 271 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,320 over the past two years since Nancy's death, 272 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,320 I'm beginning to fear for my own life. 273 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,320 I'm not afraid of the future. 274 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,320 I'm afraid of the future. 275 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,320 I'm afraid of the future. 276 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,320 I'm afraid of the future. 277 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,320 I'm afraid of the future. 278 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,320 I'm afraid of the future. 279 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,320 I'm afraid of the future. 280 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,320 I'm afraid of the future. 281 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:14,320 It's been said that the human brain is one of the last great frontiers. 282 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:19,320 Despite years of research, we have only a few hints about why some people 283 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,320 become Einstein's and others' forest gump. 284 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:27,320 The source of genius remains secret, a true unsolved mystery. 285 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:33,320 This is Philip Pauli of Denver, Colorado. 286 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,320 He may look like an average eight-year-old, 287 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,320 but Philip is quite literally one in ten million. 288 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,320 Philip's abilities are practically immeasurable. 289 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,320 Philip is a genius. 290 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,320 In fact, Philip is so smart that he is too smart for school. 291 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,320 If you need any help, let me know, OK? 292 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:52,320 Thanks. 293 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:53,320 You're welcome. 294 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,320 Philip's mother teaches him at home because even programs for gifted students 295 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,320 couldn't keep up with Philip's insatiable demand for knowledge. 296 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:10,320 Well, I'm studying algebra and geometry and the milleges and cellular biology. 297 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:19,320 And in the milleges, I'm working on the castle defenses. 298 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:22,320 How do I explain Philip's gifts? 299 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,320 That, to me, is a mystery, to be perfectly honest. 300 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:32,320 I mean, it's not that Philip's dad or I are dumb, 301 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:38,320 but neither of us have the IQs to match, Phil. 302 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:44,320 So, to me, it was a gift to have a son like Philip. 303 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,320 From the very beginning, it was clear that Philip was brighter 304 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,320 and more alert than most babies. 305 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,320 At six months, he started to talk and had enough manual dexterity 306 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,320 to remove the bolts from his crib. 307 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,320 At nine months, Philip displayed a highly mature emotional sensibility. 308 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,320 During an experiment, he was asked to spank a doll three times 309 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,320 to show he understood counting. 310 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,320 Philip refused to strike the doll. 311 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:14,320 Finally, when the examiner thought he couldn't understand what was going on, 312 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,320 he patted the doll three times and then held it and hugged it 313 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:23,320 and protected it from the examiner and tried to soothe the doll's feelings. 314 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:27,320 This is not something his mother taught him to do 315 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,320 because any mother would have a hard time trying to teach something like that 316 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,320 to a nine-month-old. 317 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,320 At 18 months, Philip could already read. 318 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,320 For his second birthday, he asked for a violin. 319 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:44,320 Within days, he was playing simple tunes he had composed himself. 320 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,320 Philip was light years ahead of his peers. 321 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,320 One particular time we took him to church and we put him in 322 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,320 and at the two-year-old level and we picked him up. 323 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,320 And after school, the first thing he says to me is, 324 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,320 Mom, they don't talk. 325 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,320 And he was two and he didn't realize that other kids, his own age, 326 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,320 weren't doing those kind of same kind of skills. 327 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,320 At three, Philip was studying astronomy. 328 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,320 He had little use for Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh. 329 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,320 His hero was astronaut Buzz Aldrin. 330 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,320 Hey, Mom, let's go over here. 331 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,320 OK. 332 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,320 By the time Philip was four, the Denver Museum of Natural History 333 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,320 was his favorite playground. 334 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,320 One day, he even spotted a mistake in a museum mural 335 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,320 that had gone unnoticed by the curators for 30 years. 336 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,320 What's the matter, huh? 337 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,320 The helmets are wrong. 338 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:37,320 What's wrong with them? 339 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,320 Those are French helmets and these are conquistadors. 340 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,320 How do you know that? 341 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,320 Incredibly, Philip had been able to detect the subtle differences 342 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:51,320 between a medieval French helmet and that of a Spanish conquistador. 343 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,320 On another visit to the museum in that same year, 344 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,320 Philip asked the curator why a dinosaur skeleton 345 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,320 was missing several vertebra in his tail section. 346 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:07,320 And the curator explained at the time that the dinosaur was too large 347 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,320 for the area that they had designated for it. 348 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,320 So, but with the new exhibit, they were going to get it correct 349 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:15,320 and not to worry about it. 350 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,320 But he was flabbergasted, he says, 351 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,320 you're the only person that's noticed. 352 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,320 Research indicates it along with heightened mental abilities. 353 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,320 Child geniuses often show hypersensitivity 354 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,320 to humanitarian issues. 355 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,320 He carries the weight of the world on him. 356 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,320 He's worried about the economy within the United States 357 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,320 and the government structure as well as what's going on 358 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,320 around the world and how it affects, 359 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,320 how what we do affects other nations. 360 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:49,320 There's times that he gets so consumed with these worries 361 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,320 that he'll stop eating. 362 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,320 He bites his nails, he loses sleep. 363 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,320 I mean, these are things that we have to talk about 364 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,320 what he can actually do on a personal level to help mankind. 365 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:06,320 It makes me feel sad that America does not value education 366 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,320 and America is becoming more like a Roman Empire 367 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,320 than the great nation it was. 368 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,320 And here's a few reasons. 369 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:20,320 Because, like, one is that we're doing the gladiators, 370 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:25,320 like, in our movies, and we're going to have a worse fate 371 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,320 than the Roman Empire. 372 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:29,320 I just know it. 373 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,320 So where would you expect a child like Philip to play? 374 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,320 A baseball diamond? Not on your life. 375 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:38,320 Try an archaeological dig. 376 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,320 Okay, there you go. 377 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,320 I think Philip working at the site here has fun. 378 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,320 He knows it's important. 379 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:53,320 He understands the value of what he's doing. 380 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:58,320 It's intellectually stimulating, but he's digging in the dirt. 381 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,320 Philip has a lifetime of enthusiasm for each of his favorite subjects, 382 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,320 so much so that when we asked him what he wants to be when he grows up, 383 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,320 he had a tough time picking just one job. 384 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:14,320 A paleontologist, an archaeologist, a conservationist, 385 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,320 and hopefully I'll be the commander to the mission to Mars. 386 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,320 And the chief curator of the Denver Museum of Natural History. 387 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:27,320 And if all of the other jobs fail, 388 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:34,320 I would really want to be a great composer on the line of Baroque, 389 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:39,320 Baroque classical and romantic eras in the music stage. 390 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,320 And the list goes on. 391 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,320 Artifact number 23. 392 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,320 But what makes a genius? 393 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,320 Is it nature or nurture? 394 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:51,320 Scientists truly don't know. 395 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,320 But one of the wilder explanations is that geniuses possess knowledge 396 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,320 and skills acquired in other lifetimes. 397 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:04,320 He told me one time that he had, having it open and he could, 398 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,320 he had looked down and he had chose me as his mom, 399 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,320 because I would be the right one for him. 400 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,320 It's clear to me that many, many gifted children come in knowing 401 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:20,320 more than it would be explainable by scientific standards. 402 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,320 Where they get that knowledge from, I don't know. 403 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:28,320 But I would not discount any possibility, including reincarnation, 404 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,320 that there's something evolutionarily different about them, 405 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:36,320 that the brain structure is different, or the function of the brain is different, 406 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,320 or that they are visiting us from more evolved cultures. 407 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,320 Anything is possible. 408 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,320 Where's Lee? 409 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,320 Philip doesn't have much time left for childhood. 410 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:52,320 In two years, he'll be old enough to take the college entrance exams. 411 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,320 He plans to enroll at the University of Denver. 412 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,320 After that, the sky's a limit. 413 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,320 Do I think that Philip's a genius? 414 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:08,320 I think that the definition that society gives, the IQ test says yes. 415 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:14,320 I think whether he will be a genius or not will be if he uses and utilizes 416 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:20,320 the intellect and the abilities that he has to help mankind. 417 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,320 Then I think he would be a genius. 418 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,320 So what are we going to go see today? 419 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,320 The Hall of Life, the Science of Sports, and... 420 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,320 People used to believe genius was the rarest of gifts. 421 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,320 But children like Philip can crop up anywhere. 422 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:41,320 The danger is that the talents of these special kids often go unrecognized. 423 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:46,320 Experts tell us that even children with learning disabilities may be hidden geniuses. 424 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:51,320 If your child seems smarter or more talented than average, he or she should be tested. 425 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,320 Who knows? 426 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:57,320 You may be nurturing the next Einstein. 427 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:03,320 When we return, an unexpected death puts a young family apart. 428 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:07,320 Perhaps someone watching can bring them together again. 429 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:26,320 Michelle Arkin was 16 when she almost discovered the family secret. 430 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:31,320 Her mother Laverne had to improvise in order to preserve it a while longer. 431 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:33,320 How'd it go? 432 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,320 I didn't get the job. 433 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:40,320 Personal officers said that my birth certificate was phony. 434 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,320 Phony? What do you mean? 435 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,320 He said that it had been amended. 436 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,320 Oh, that's the one thing. 437 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:51,320 I don't know what they're talking about. There is nothing wrong with your birth certificate. 438 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:54,320 Data said that my birth certificate wasn't legal. 439 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,320 That they had things on there that shouldn't be. 440 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,320 And I was very shocked. I mean, as far as I knew, that was my birth certificate. 441 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:05,320 That was what I grew up with. That was correct. 442 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,320 You get a job at another store, okay? 443 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:15,320 Okay. Cheer up. 444 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,320 Laverne Neal had dreaded this moment for years. 445 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,320 Michelle was not her biological child. 446 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:29,320 To tell or not to tell? Then if you tell when? 447 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:35,320 Like thousands of couples who adopt, Laverne Neal and her husband Wilburne confronted these difficult questions. 448 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,320 There are no right or wrong answers. 449 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:46,320 However, parents who decide against revealing the facts will almost certainly face years of fancy footwork to keep their secret secret. 450 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:57,320 Laverne and Wilburne Neal will always remember the day in September of 1965 when they first set eyes on Michelle. 451 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:05,320 The Neals had been married for four years. They were eager to start a family but had been unsuccessful. 452 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:11,320 Hi Wilburne. Hi Raleigh. Nice to see you Laverne. Come on in. We just got home. 453 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:17,320 Out of the blue, their friends Raleigh and Juanita Gore had offered the Neals a chance to adopt a baby girl. 454 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,320 Oh, she's beautiful. 455 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:26,320 The child's mother, a friend of the Gores, was unable to care for the infant herself. 456 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,320 She had entrusted Raleigh and Juanita with finding a loving home. 457 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,320 She's gorgeous. 458 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,320 I loved her right off the road. 459 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,320 I didn't hesitate. I didn't have no doubts. 460 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:45,320 We just looked at each other and said, what we know about raising a baby. 461 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:50,320 Neither one of us did. And so she said, we can learn fast. 462 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,320 For Wilburne and Laverne, Michelle was a dream come true. 463 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:04,320 Two weeks fed by, then Patricia Bonner, Michelle's birth mother called. She wanted to see her baby. 464 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:18,320 I knew that Pat was Michelle's mother and if she wanted to keep her, even though it broke my heart, I knew, you know, I'd have no choice but to let her. 465 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:25,320 Patricia Bonner had been widowed while she was pregnant with Michelle. 466 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,320 She had two sisters in the other room, Vince, now. 467 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:34,320 She already had three young children to raise by herself, so she had reluctantly given up Michelle for adoption. 468 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,320 Pat, are you sure you want to do this? 469 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:41,320 Well, I just don't know what else to do. 470 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:48,320 It'd be different if Johnny was still here, but I can't afford to put shoes on my three children. 471 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:52,320 I could barely feed them. How am I going to keep her? 472 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,320 Maybe things will get better and, you know... 473 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,320 I know you and Wilburne will give her a good home and care for her. 474 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:03,320 Can I just hold her one more time, please? 475 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:05,320 Uh, of course. 476 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:18,320 I knew that lady had to be hurting bad and I hurt for her because I knew I could feel how she was hurting. 477 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:27,320 There's a couple of other things, Pat. We'd like to draw up some papers to make the adoption legal. 478 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,320 That'll be no problem. 479 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,320 But when the Niels returned two weeks later, Patricia Bonner and her children were gone. 480 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,320 Vince, would you go inside and get that bag, please? 481 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:46,320 The apartment was empty. She had moved and she left no forwarding address. Nobody knew where she went. 482 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:53,320 The absence of formal adoption papers didn't prevent Michelle from enjoying a typical childhood. 483 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:59,320 By the age of five, she had a brother named Stephen, Niels' biological child. 484 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,320 Michelle's background was never discussed. 485 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:10,320 Me and Laverne, we talked about it many times. Should we go ahead and tell her? 486 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:20,320 We figured Michelle would feel like she was left out. She wouldn't be equal to Stephen if she's not belonged to us. 487 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:25,320 And we just decided that it would be better to wait until she was older. 488 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,320 The family's secret was safe for a while. 489 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:35,320 When Michelle began school, the Niels had to submit a birth certificate. 490 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:44,320 With the help of a relative in Kentucky, they obtained this one, listing themselves as Michelle's biological parents. 491 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:49,320 By the time Michelle entered high school, the family's secret had started to fray. 492 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:55,320 Michelle began to ask her parents if she had been adopted. The answer was always no. 493 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,320 I don't know what he's talking about. There's nothing wrong with your birth certificate. 494 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:06,320 I felt very bad because I never did like to say anything that wasn't true. 495 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:13,320 And here I was doing just the opposite of what I was teaching my children. 496 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:17,320 And it really bothered it. It hurt me quite a bit. 497 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,320 Finally, the burden became too heavy for Michelle's parents. 498 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,320 Michelle, come in here, please. 499 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,320 Finally, they were ready to talk. 500 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,320 We have to talk. 501 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,320 I know. I'm late. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. 502 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:41,320 No, it's not about that, Michelle. Sit down, please. 503 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:51,320 She said, I've heard from too many sources that I was adopted. 504 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:56,320 She said, you got to tell me the truth. And so I told her the truth about it. 505 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,320 You see, you are sort of adopted. 506 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,320 What do you mean, sort of adopted? 507 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,320 You remember Raleigh and Juanita? You remember us talking about them? 508 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:13,320 I felt that they had betrayed me only because they've always told me the truth when I've asked it. 509 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:16,320 Mom, is this true? 510 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:22,320 It was always, you know, bottom line. This is the way it is. 511 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:27,320 And I just felt that they lied to me. And that's why I was so upset. 512 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,320 I didn't want to hurt you. We wanted to do what we could rather. 513 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,320 Oh, so you just let me live my entire life? 514 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:37,320 Michelle, don't touch me. 515 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:41,320 I moved out two weeks later. I got an apartment with my girlfriend, 516 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:48,320 which my girlfriend, they could not stand. So maybe that was a little bit more of my rebellious act on my part. 517 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:56,320 But, I mean, eventually I came around. I came back to mom and dad. 518 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:04,320 Today, Michelle is herself a parent, the mother of a boy and a girl. 519 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,320 With her parents' blessing, Michelle has begun to search for her birth mother 520 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,320 and the three siblings she has never met. 521 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,320 Hi, is there a Patricia Hensley Barnard there? 522 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,320 No, how about a Vincent Barnard? 523 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,320 Can I just hold her one more time, please? 524 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,320 Of course. 525 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:31,320 I can understand what she did back then. 526 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:38,320 I would just feel better just knowing where I came from, what my relatives, 527 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:45,320 what, you know, just simple basic questions that any person would have. 528 00:36:45,320 --> 00:37:05,320 In a moment, we'll come back to Seattle to investigate the tragic murder of rock and roll singer Mia Zapata. 529 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:22,320 Since 1991, the hottest spot in rock and roll has been Seattle, Washington. 530 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:28,320 Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Allison Chains all came out of the local music scene. 531 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,320 Many people thought the next breakthrough band would be the Gits, 532 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:41,320 a punk rock group funded by Mia Zapata, a charismatic 27-year-old with a tragic destiny. 533 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:54,320 I went through many shows where afterwards people didn't even know I was up on stage 534 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,320 because their eyes were so transfixed on Mia. 535 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:11,320 She was someone who had something to say and she was very, very compassionate and big-hearted person 536 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:15,320 and she brought that into the band. 537 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:21,320 But on July 7, 1993, the good times were abruptly snuffed out. 538 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,320 Around 2 a.m. Mia Zapata left a friend's apartment. 539 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:34,320 An hour later, her body was found two miles away, reportedly laying face up in an almost Christ-like pose. 540 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,320 Mia had been beaten and strangled. 541 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:44,320 Mia Zapata's death set shockwaves with the tight-knit music community here in Seattle. 542 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:48,320 Why had this promising and popular young singer been killed? 543 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:53,320 Was it an obsessed fan, a jealous enemy or a complete stranger? 544 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:59,320 In a near-recoincidence, Mia alluded to her own violent death in one of the last songs she recorded. 545 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:06,320 The haunting lyrics spoke of someone slashing her and hinted that someone might never be found. 546 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,320 You might say Mia Zapata was born to be a star. 547 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,320 She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of two television executives. 548 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:20,320 After high school, Mia went on to Antioch College in Ohio. 549 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:24,320 There she met the other three members of the GITS. 550 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:29,320 After five years together, the GITS were attracting interest for major record companies. 551 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:34,320 The first full-scale U.S. tour was in the works and Mia had a new look. 552 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,320 For the little girl from Louisville, it was like a dream come true. 553 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:53,320 I don't think I can ever remember my daughter looking so satisfied, so content, so at ease with herself. 554 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,320 It was all coming together. 555 00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,320 Here's to the stand. 556 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:02,320 July 6, 1993. 557 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,320 The evening began at one of Mia's favorite bars. 558 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,320 She met friends there about ten. 559 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,320 Mia was in town only briefly. 560 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:16,320 She and the GITS had been on the road for three weeks and the tour was starting in a matter of days. 561 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:24,320 When Mia left the Comet Tavern, she walked a block east up Pike Street to a local rehearsal studio. 562 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:31,320 She then visited a friend who lived in an apartment three floors up in the same building. 563 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:37,320 About 2 a.m. Mia left, telling her friend she planned to take a cab home. 564 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,320 No, I'm going to just go get a cab. 565 00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:41,320 She could have gone anywhere from there. 566 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:48,320 She could have gone out the front entrance, gone down to the corner and hailed a cab as she told her friend she was going to do. 567 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,320 Hey, Mia! 568 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,320 Oh, hi! 569 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:53,320 Hey, where are you going? 570 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:58,320 Because Mia didn't have a driver's license, she took taxis often and knew many of the local cabbies. 571 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,320 You don't need any money. 572 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:01,320 Come on, hop in. 573 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:06,320 This led police and private investigator Lee Heron to one of their first scenarios. 574 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,320 Perhaps Mia was murdered by a cab driver. 575 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,320 You looking good? 576 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:15,320 Mia did not have difficulty expressing her opinion. 577 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:19,320 And sometimes this got into trouble and other people liked it. 578 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:25,320 She could have said something to a cab driver that she knew that just made that person angry that night. 579 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,320 Significantly, no cabbie reported picking Mia up that night. 580 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:36,320 About the same time, the bars were closing and some of her friends were healing cabs of their own. 581 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,320 No one saw Mia. 582 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,320 Scenario number two. 583 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:45,320 She also could have gone into the opposite direction. 584 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:47,320 A friend had asked her to spend the night. 585 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,320 She lived about five blocks away. 586 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:55,320 She could have gone down 11th, passed a reservoir, and something could have occurred there. 587 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,320 In fact, something did occur. 588 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:05,320 Whether it had anything to do with Mia Zapata's death remains a mystery. 589 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:11,320 One of the earliest clues that the police received was from a man who had heard a scream, a terrifying scream that night. 590 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:16,320 He was so distraught by it that he actually rushed to see what was going on, but he saw nothing. 591 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:23,320 He lived, however, very close to the reservoir on 11th where Mia could have gone if she had gone to visit her friend. 592 00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:29,320 Scenario number three. 593 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,320 Perhaps Mia never left the building where she was last seen. 594 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:41,320 The next day, one of Mia's friends stopped by the studio there and discovered a Gitz demo tape and Mia's personal microphone. 595 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,320 This is something that she would have been carrying on her at all times. 596 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:52,320 We don't know whether she left it there after the practice that night or whether she went back to the studio after visiting her friend. 597 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,320 Something happened there and this was simply left. 598 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:04,320 Mia's body was found about two miles from the studio and about three miles from the street where the man heard screams. 599 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:09,320 Despite a thorough search of the area, police found little forensic evidence. 600 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:25,320 This particular investigation has been difficult because we're faced with a situation where we don't know where the actual crime scene was, where the murder took place. 601 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:29,320 We obviously only know where we found Mia at, which we don't believe is the same. 602 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:35,320 Had a dream last night that I was dead. 603 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:42,320 Without a crime scene or witnesses, leads quickly faded. However, the pain of Mia's death did not. 604 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:51,320 People really were mad. They were angered. They were hurt. They were shocked. They were pissed off. 605 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:57,320 And people wanted justice and people wanted to know what had happened. 606 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:07,320 As a police investigation stalled, the remaining gets decided they needed a private investigator and hired Lee Herron. 607 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:15,320 To raise the necessary funds, they staged benefit concerts. The response was overwhelming. 608 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:24,320 Seattle's best musicians took up the cause, including Nirvana in one of Kirk Cobain's final performances and rocker Joan Jett. 609 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:35,320 In their first collaboration, Jett performed Mia's songs with the Gits for a special benefit recording. 610 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:39,320 I want more than anything for them to be able to find out what happened. 611 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:50,320 And so there can be some resolution for everybody because everyone's been working real hard trying to find this person who did this. 612 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:58,320 Who killed Mia Zapata and why? The police believe it was a random murder. 613 00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:07,320 Investigator Lee Herron believes otherwise. She is convinced that Mia knew her killer and that the killer may not have acted alone. 614 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:15,320 I think it's entirely likely that a second person was involved in transporting Mia's body, if not in the actual homicide. 615 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:25,320 I base this on the fact that Mia's body was found with her arms out and her legs crossed, as if two people had been carrying her and laid her down. 616 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:31,320 Also, she had been beaten in the course of her attack, but her face was not touched. 617 00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:40,320 And I believe that this is more the modus operandi of somebody who knows a person and does not want to attack their face but attacks their body. 618 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:51,320 I just remembered the look on her face of contentment and of accomplishment. 619 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:58,320 That last day when we finished the tour and how happy she was and how she was smiling and she smiled at me. 620 00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:07,320 With a look of real sense of accomplishment. And like we had a future. 621 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:19,320 The surviving Gits have gone on with their music, forming a new band, a dancing French Liberals of 48. 622 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:25,320 It is they believe what Mia would have wanted, but it will never be the same. 623 00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:31,320 Playing music without Mia is very difficult. 624 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:38,320 The chemistry that we shared as a band, having that gone forever, is a hard reality to face every day. 625 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:49,320 I remember her as a best friend and a sister. 626 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:55,320 One of the warmest, most caring I've ever met in my life. 627 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:35,320 Join me next Friday for another intriguing edition of Unsolved Mysteries.