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The End

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Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries

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Mizar clues to a murderer left for the police.

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A woman's skull and an anonymous note.

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Was young Linda Sherman killed by her husband?

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Hey!

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Or did her tragic fate lie in someone else's hands?

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From the moment John Fuget began dating Erica Richardson,

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it seemed like they were destined to be together.

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But Erica soon found out that Fuget was a ticking time bomb

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and the fuse was burning.

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Donna Tyson claims her digital clock

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suddenly began to blink the exact time

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of her son's fatal car crash.

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Sharon Troupe believes her deceased daughter

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appears to her in ghostly visions.

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Is it possible these mothers are receiving messages

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from their dead children?

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It seemed that she had the perfect life,

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but in truth Donna Morrow was suffering

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silently in a troubled marriage.

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Six days before Christmas, Donna mysteriously disappeared,

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leaving behind four children.

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Did she voluntarily walk away escaping her unhappy life?

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Or was Donna Morrow a victim of foul play?

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Join me for this fascinating edition

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of Unsolved Mysteries.

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Brighston, Missouri, the Casa Gallardo restaurant.

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Two women having lunch notice something strange

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outside the window.

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Is there a...

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a serve?

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A shocking piece of evidence that would turn

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an unsolved missing person case into a murder mystery.

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There in the bushes was a human skull.

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It's a very well manicured area,

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plants and gravel and what have you.

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And the way it was situated, it would give one the impression

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that somebody put it there so that you would see it.

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The skull was determined to be that of an adult female.

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Third row examination revealed little else.

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Well during that time period there was the relocating

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of a cemetery that was in the area and a lot of bodies

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were being exhumed, graves were being moved.

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So it gives you the impression now that this may be a prank

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and there'd be no reason to suspect that there

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were any foul play.

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The skull was catalogued, stored in the evidence room

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at the Brighston County morgue and forgotten.

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One year later, 25 miles away at the Vanita Park police station,

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a mysterious letter arrived.

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It stated that the Brighston police had L. Sherman's skull.

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Give me the Brighston police department.

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Dental records confirmed that the anonymous skull was

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the remains of Linda Sherman, a 26 year old wife and mother

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whose last seen April 22, 1985.

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Her disappearance is clouded with intrigue,

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involving an allegedly jealous husband and an unknown lover.

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Years later, troubling questions still remain.

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Who killed Linda Sherman?

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Why was her skull left outside a local restaurant?

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And where is the rest of her body?

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At 16, Linda Sherman was a typical teenager.

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She grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Vanita Park,

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the youngest of four.

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With siblings more than 10 years older,

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she was sheltered, quiet and reserved.

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Linda was kind of a shy girl, I guess, growing up.

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She wanted to be more outgoing and more athletic, I think,

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but she was more at home type of a girl, I guess.

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Linda was a junior when she fell for her high school sweetheart,

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17 year old Don Sherman, and got married.

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Hi, Mama. Hi.

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When her daughter Patty was born,

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the young mother was determined to finish school.

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Linda's mom would watch the baby while she completed her senior year.

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Dad, get out here.

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To support his new family, Don took a job at a local gas station.

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It was hard, but it was rewarding.

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We were very happy together.

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The relationship was rocky later on in our marriage several times,

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but not in the early years.

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Working opposite shifts and money trouble

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strained their relationship.

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In their nine-year marriage,

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Linda had taken Patty and moved out several times,

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but the couple always reconciled.

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When we be home.

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I'll call you later.

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Hello.

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Come on, Don.

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According to Linda's older brother, Dennis,

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Don was obsessed with knowing Linda's every move.

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This is not your fault in that, Don, all right?

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No, she's not here.

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Don was very possessive over her.

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She said, when I get off of work, if I'm not home within five minutes,

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he wants to know what's going on, who you're seeing,

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what are you doing out that late?

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He was always hitting her, and things just weren't right.

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I go to work every day, and I come home.

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I don't run around on you.

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Linda told her family that she feared Don's violent temper

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once she even got a restraining order to keep him at a distance.

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Some family members claimed by April of 1985 she had had enough.

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Linda was making final plans to take Patty and leave.

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She'd already made a decision to move out.

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She had filed for divorce,

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and she had definitely made plans to start a new life.

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We can't do this anymore. We're leaving.

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She was going to do it this time, and she really meant that

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she was going to leave Don for good.

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On April 22nd, Linda left her night job at 2.16 in the morning.

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What are you doing?

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She accepts 3 o'clock in the morning.

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Yeah.

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Where you been?

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I've been working.

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She didn't come home from work until about 3 o'clock in the morning.

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You made me sick.

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We got into an argument about the fact that she wouldn't tell me where she'd been.

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And we stayed up until at least 4 o'clock in the morning discussing that.

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Linda was still on the sofa later that morning when Patty left for school.

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She always took me to school.

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But my dad took me to school that day,

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and I remember her laying on the couch with her face to the back of the couch.

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And she didn't get up.

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She didn't get up to kiss me goodbye.

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She didn't say anything to me.

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She was just laying there.

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That would be the last time Patty saw her mother.

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Don claims that when he returned to the house that afternoon, Linda was on edge.

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When I came back home, Linda was still there.

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She should have been at work by then.

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I'm gonna go home late.

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Hold on, I just got home.

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I'm gonna have to go.

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She was mad because she was running late.

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Don says Linda drove off at about 6 p.m.

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But there are no witnesses that saw her leave.

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Linda never arrived at work and never came home.

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When she didn't come back, I assumed it was typical of the previous times that she had left.

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And I thought that she took off with somebody.

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Although Linda's family suspected she was having an affair,

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they had reason to believe something terrible had happened to her.

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We knew that if she left, there's no way she's leaving without the daughter.

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And the daughter was still at home.

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And so, there was definitely foul play.

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I was coming home from a meeting.

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According to the Millers, at their insistence,

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Don went to the Vanita Park police station and filed a missing persons report.

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That's the last time I've seen her.

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That was Monday.

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Meanwhile, Sam and Fran frantically searched for Linda.

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On a hunch, they headed to the local airport.

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As we pulled into the short-term parking,

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there was Linda's car sitting right there.

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Is that her car?

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I know my sister's car.

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Yeah, I know.

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We could see inside the car and we could see her school books and her hat and everything.

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So we contacted the airport police and they come and the car was locked,

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but they tried the trunk and the trunk was open.

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And when they opened the trunk,

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they'd say, well, we fully expected Linda to be in there.

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And she wasn't.

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Could it be possible that Linda had abandoned her daughter

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and run off with another man?

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Don claims he saw Linda with another man, days after her disappearance.

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She drove past him in a van and quickly ducked out of sight.

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Hey!

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Five years later, when Linda's skull appeared, suspicion fell on Don.

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In a bizarre coincidence, her skull was found outside the Casa Gallardo restaurant.

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One was sitting there eating and she looked down and saw a skull looking right at it.

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One of Don's favorite hangouts.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I was at the restaurant that evening after the skull had been found.

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I'd heard about it that day when it happened,

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but never had any connection to it until later on.

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No one connected it until a year later,

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when the anonymous letter arrived at the Vanita Park police station.

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I was rather astounded.

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It was obvious to me that someone wanted us to know

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that we had obviously missed something and was trying to tell us

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that Linda's remains had been recovered.

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It was scary.

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Somebody that put those remains there at the restaurant

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obviously knew me, knew that I hung out there.

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I mean, it wasn't...

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We're not talking about a place that I casually visited.

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We're talking about a place that I would visit two or three times a week.

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Did Don have reason to be frightened?

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Or did he have a secret motivation for placing the skull there himself?

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Some speculate Don was making plans to remarry and needed proof Linda was dead.

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For Don, the skull provided the perfect evidence of Linda's demise.

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But for Patty, the find was devastating.

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When the skull was found, I just kind of lost all hope in life.

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I didn't know that she was dead.

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I guess there was always some hope that she had just left.

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16 years after the murder, Lieutenant Webb still hopes to find Linda's killer.

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The only suspect that I've been unable to eliminate is Don Sherman.

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At this point in time, he has never been ruled out as a suspect.

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In my heart, I think that he might have done it.

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You know, I can't think of anybody else who would have.

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I had nothing to do with Linda Sherman's disappearance, nor her death.

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I still think that she left with someone and obviously met with foul play.

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And died.

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I would really like to find the rest of her wherever it's at so that we can have a proper burial for her.

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She can rest in peace.

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And I'd like to know what happened to her and who did it.

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And they should serve the agony that we have for 15 years.

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Linda Sherman, a young mother's life tragically taken and shrouded with uncertainty.

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Today, police hope new technology and soil sampling will someday lead them to Linda's body and eventually her killer.

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In a quiet neighborhood in Tampa, Florida,

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Erica Richardson was excited and a bit apprehensive about her first date with John Fuget.

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Thank you.

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Erica was shy and dated infrequently.

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She was a little bit shy and a little bit shy.

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But she was a little bit shy and a little bit shy.

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Erica was shy and dated infrequently, while Fuget had a reputation as a ladies' man.

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But they hid it off right away.

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And as a relationship developed, they seemed more and more like the perfect fit.

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Erica's family found Fuget likable and charming.

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When I first saw them together, they looked nice and I thought that, you know, they would make a good, a nice couple.

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A couple that soon became inseparable.

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Erica was literally swept off her feet by Fuget, who held down a steady job as an electrical technician.

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Erica was convinced John Fuget was Mr. Right.

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Apparently she was wrong, dead wrong.

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Family and friends first became concerned when Erica invited Fuget to move in with her.

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The decision seemed out of character.

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Erica was a smart, successful woman who held a degree in microbiology,

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managed a large pharmacy, and valued her independence.

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However, despite a good job, great friends and a close knit family,

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Erica was missing a special man in her life, a boy she hoped John Fuget would fill.

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Okay, honey.

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I am off to the mall and I will be back in about a couple of hours.

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The mall?

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Yeah, go to the mall.

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The trouble started not long after Fuget moved into the comfortable home Erica had recently purchased.

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Look, don't be paranoid.

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I could see that he was wearing a mask.

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I discovered him to be a jealous, mean, controlling person.

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He was just too possessive.

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He wanted Erica all to himself.

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Don't be so paranoid and jealous.

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I am not being jealous.

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Yes, you are.

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I'm going to the room you're going with.

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Not only was he possessive,

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he wanted to isolate her, not only from her family, but from friends too.

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Over the next several months, the relationship continued to unravel.

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According to police, Fuget was on a downward spiral.

253
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,000
A friend and lover turned abuser and stalker.

254
00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:18,000
Pharmacy.

255
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,000
It took you so long to get to the phone, girl.

256
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000
John, you cannot continue to call me here at work like this.

257
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:24,000
We talked about this.

258
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:32,000
He exhibited wild mood swings and repeatedly called Erica at the pharmacy, accusing her of being unfaithful and making unreasonable demands.

259
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:36,000
All right, thank you very much.

260
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,000
Fuget moved out of the house, but his erratic behavior persisted.

261
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000
What was that?

262
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:48,000
Reportedly, he began showing up at Erica's workplace unannounced, harassing her and threatening physical harm.

263
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:49,000
What are you doing here?

264
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,000
You got to get smart with me. Answer my question, girl.

265
00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:02,000
Erica was really afraid of John because of the threats, what he said he would do to her.

266
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Erica was forced to fight a restraining order.

267
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,000
Still, Fuget would show up at the house at all hours.

268
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:17,000
Finally, with the help of her father, she found the courage to call the police and have him arrested.

269
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,000
No need to trouble, let's go.

270
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,000
Undeterred by the threat of jail time, Fuget continued to pursue Erica.

271
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Watch your head.

272
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,000
A few weeks before Christmas, she met her mother at a local mall to do some shopping.

273
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,000
They bought some gifts and a comforter.

274
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:39,000
It was too big for us to carry so they said that we could pick it up in the back.

275
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:48,000
When we came to the car, we heard somebody say, hey there.

276
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000
Hey, babe, come here.

277
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000
Don't worry, Mike, I can handle it, OK?

278
00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,000
What is it?

279
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:00,000
I miss you.

280
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:01,000
You miss me, and?

281
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,000
I just want to talk, that's all.

282
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:11,000
Erica's mother heard little of the conversation, but she says she wasn't surprised when her daughter agreed to Fuget's request to meet.

283
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:12,000
I don't know.

284
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:21,000
Well, John was a tight person that he could sweet talk a lady, and he made promises that, you know, things were going to get better.

285
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000
He was going to do better.

286
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,000
And of course, she took him at his word.

287
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000
Fuget's behavior followed an all too familiar pattern.

288
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000
And the sight of him following Erica out of the parking lot was alarming to her mother.

289
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,000
Still, Imogene Richardson believed there was little she could do.

290
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000
Sunday came and went.

291
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,000
Imogene heard nothing from her daughter.

292
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,000
I didn't hardly sleep that night thinking about it.

293
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,000
Monday morning, I called Erica's house, and I didn't get an answer.

294
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,000
So I called her job.

295
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,000
The conversation was short and chilling.

296
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000
Erica had not shown up at the pharmacy, nor had she called in.

297
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,000
Frightened, Imogene went over to her daughter's home.

298
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,000
John's pickup truck was in the driveway.

299
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,000
I went to the door.

300
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,000
And that's when I looked in the window.

301
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,000
And nothing seemed to have been disturbed.

302
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000
I started to my car, and something told me to go back.

303
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:53,000
And I went back, and I looked through another window.

304
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000
And that's when I saw a knife and blood.

305
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,000
And I knew then something had happened to my daughter.

306
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,000
Minutes later, police confirmed Imogene's worst fears.

307
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,000
Erica had been stabbed repeatedly in the upper body.

308
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,000
The shock and grief was overwhelming.

309
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:24,000
Erica was my daughter, my friend.

310
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:31,000
She was successful, she was bright, she was caring, loving.

311
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:37,000
She was just a daughter that any mother would love to have.

312
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:41,000
When I lost Erica, I lost part of me.

313
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:46,000
While Erica's parents tried to make sense of a senseless act,

314
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000
police cordoned off the crime scene.

315
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:54,000
Inside detectives and members of the CSI unit went to work.

316
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,000
There were some articles that were strewn about the home,

317
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,000
which were indicative of a struggle.

318
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,000
There were no items of value that appeared to us at that point

319
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000
in time missing from the home.

320
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:13,000
Indicating to us that someone maybe she knew might have been in the home.

321
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000
We found, of course, Erica Richardson's blood,

322
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000
but we also found the blood of a second party mixed in with her blood.

323
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,000
Detectives suspected the blood of a second party belonged to John Fuget,

324
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,000
but they couldn't prove it without a sample of his DNA.

325
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,000
Fuget's fingerprints were all over the crime scene.

326
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,000
But that didn't implicate him either since he had lived in the same house.

327
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000
However, there was one solid lead to pursue.

328
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,000
An eyewitness report is seeing Fuget driving Erica's 1992 Honda

329
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,000
a short time after she had died.

330
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,000
We issued the warrant for his arrest based on those facts.

331
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,000
The vehicle was ultimately located on December 23rd in Lafayette,

332
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,000
Louisiana, where Mr. Fuget is from.

333
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,000
That's where he has a lot of family and friends.

334
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:14,000
Detectives questioned Fuget's relatives who claimed they hadn't seen him in several weeks.

335
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000
Today John Fuget is still on the lam.

336
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,000
He is wanted for grand theft, auto and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

337
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,000
Fuget remains the number one suspect in the murder of Erica Richardson.

338
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:32,000
The only way we feel John Fuget would be able to stay hidden for this amount of time

339
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,000
would be to disappear to a new location,

340
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:41,000
not tell anyone of his whereabouts and start a new identity or a new life from there.

341
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,000
Due to the fact that John Fuget is a mechanic or mechanically inclined,

342
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,000
that he very well may be employed on an oil rig or something of that nature.

343
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,000
Meanwhile, a loving family continues to mourn the loss of their only daughter,

344
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:02,000
while maintaining hope that justice will be served before it's too late.

345
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,000
There is some young lady I'm sure that he's involved with at this time

346
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,000
who doesn't know what he has done.

347
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,000
I'm sure he's involved with a lot of other people.

348
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,000
I'm sure he's involved with at this time who doesn't know what he has done.

349
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,000
And I just pray that it doesn't happen again.

350
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:34,000
And I wish that someone would come forward and help us get him brought to justice.

351
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,000
The loss of a loved one is a traumatic experience,

352
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
especially in the case of a parent losing a child.

353
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,000
Donna Tyson and Sharon Trooper, two mothers who believe they have received messages

354
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000
from their deceased children.

355
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,000
They have been in the hospital for a long time,

356
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:08,000
but they have not been able to get a child.

357
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000
They have been in the hospital for a long time,

358
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,000
and they have been in the hospital for a long time.

359
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,000
They have received messages from their deceased children.

360
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,000
Can those who have passed away communicate from beyond the grave,

361
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,000
or should the events you are about to see be considered pure coincidence?

362
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000
Mothers are supposed to protect their children,

363
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,000
and this continues even when they're adults.

364
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,000
And it's worse that because you have no control over them

365
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,000
as you do when they're small.

366
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,000
At 34, Michael Owen was a recovering alcoholic.

367
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,000
His mother, Donna, and family were grateful that he was attending AA meetings

368
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,000
and holding down a steady job as a boat mechanic.

369
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,000
But in late January, Michael gave in to temptation.

370
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,000
Michael had partied the night before with some friends.

371
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:09,000
He was two blocks from his home, going approximately 65 miles an hour.

372
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,000
When he hit a parked recycling truck.

373
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,000
He basically died instantly.

374
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:33,000
It's like a part of you's gone, and it's like there's a big hole in your heart.

375
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,000
It was just two months later, in a gift shop,

376
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,000
that Donna believes she felt an emotional connection to Michael.

377
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,000
In the middle was a huge rack of the little porcelain cups

378
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,000
that have your names on them from A to Z.

379
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Sitting off to one side were two cups, and one said,

380
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,000
I love you, Mom, and the other one said, Michael.

381
00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:03,000
And I felt like Michael was there with me, and he was telling me it was okay.

382
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Weeks later, while in the market,

383
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,000
another unusual incident occurred.

384
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000
Donna was surprised when she happened upon an out-of-place book

385
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,000
that seemed destined for her.

386
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,000
And I thought, this strange, this book, why is it sitting here?

387
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:22,000
And there was no writing on the cover, and I opened it up.

388
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,000
What Donna found was a message she feels was meant specifically for her.

389
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,000
I am the ancient mariner who had a tale in his heart to be told to all.

390
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:37,000
To someone I am always saying, someday you must meet my mother.

391
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:44,000
It mentioned the ancient mariner, and Michael was a boat mechanic.

392
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,000
And he often used to refer to himself as the ancient mariner.

393
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,000
I started crying when I read it, and I said, I have to have this book.

394
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000
Michael's sending this to me.

395
00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:00,000
Donna says the most convincing communications involve both the time of Michael's accident,

396
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,000
6.20, and his time of death, 6.33.

397
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:10,000
While working at her home office, Donna claims something happened to the digital clock.

398
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:16,000
Michael's clock was flashing, 6.20, and it was not 6.20.

399
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,000
I know you're here. You don't have to do that.

400
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,000
That was the time of the accident.

401
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,000
And all the other digital clocks in the house were fine.

402
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,000
He was just letting me know that he was there.

403
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,000
What happened next was very unsettling.

404
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:40,000
14 months after his death, Donna says she heard Michael's voice on her answering machine.

405
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,000
The message was supposedly recorded at 6.33.

406
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:52,000
The operator voice that is on your voicemail said Saturday, 6.33.

407
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,000
Which is the time that Michael died.

408
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,000
And I heard Michael's voice.

409
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,000
He only says two words. He says, follow me.

410
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,000
Saturday, 6.33 p.m.

411
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,000
Follow me.

412
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,000
And the message.

413
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,000
And I was dumbfounded.

414
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,000
I had his friends come over and listen to it.

415
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:19,000
His sisters listen to it, and it is Michael's voice.

416
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,000
Donna has convinced the messages from Michael are designed to bring her comfort.

417
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,000
But others have a different explanation for encounters like these.

418
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000
There's no greater loss than the loss of a child.

419
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000
And that is exactly what the explanation is.

420
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:41,000
Is that emotionally driven people in a state of grief

421
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:48,000
tend to see things in their environment that connect them to their lost loved ones.

422
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000
Donna's experience resonates with thousands of other parents

423
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,000
who believe their deceased children are in contact with them.

424
00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:01,000
Sharon Troupe believes her daughter Wendy has appeared to her several times.

425
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:06,000
Wendy was a freshman in college when she became a victim of a date rape.

426
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:12,000
Shortly thereafter, Wendy became depressed and tragically committed suicide.

427
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,000
Wendy was only 19 years old.

428
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:23,000
Sharon, Wendy's mother, was devastated and spent the days after her daughter's death in an emotional fog.

429
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,000
I was sitting there and I had been sobbing off and on.

430
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,000
I was just a mess.

431
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:36,000
And I leaned my head back and I saw it's like a movie picture came on.

432
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:42,000
It was then that Sharon claims Wendy came to her in a vision.

433
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,000
I was looking down a hallway and it was very bright.

434
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:53,000
And she looked at me as if to say, I am so sorry.

435
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:58,000
I made the hugest mistake and I can't take it back.

436
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,000
And she turned around and she walked through the door and that was it.

437
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,000
It was gone.

438
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000
And I just bawled because I wanted her back.

439
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,000
And she was gone.

440
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:20,000
Sharon's second sighting came a few months later when Owen, a friend of Wendy's,

441
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:25,000
rented a movie to try and bolster Sharon and her husband Bill's spirits.

442
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:30,000
Something caught my eye, I looked over by the door and Wendy was standing there.

443
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:36,000
She was dressed in a real comfortable girl type flannel shirt and she smiled at me

444
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:40,000
and she looked over at Owen and then she was gone.

445
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,000
This time I didn't cry.

446
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,000
This time I was like, wow, I know I saw her.

447
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:50,000
I mean, I wasn't even thinking about her in that instant and she's there.

448
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:55,000
So I honestly felt that she was letting me know that she was so pleased

449
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:00,000
that Owen was spending time with us and we were together so that we could help one another.

450
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:06,000
It was Christmas a year later when Sharon received what she calls

451
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:11,000
undeniable confirmation of Wendy's continued presence in her life.

452
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,000
You're doing okay.

453
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,000
I just really miss her.

454
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:15,000
I know, sweetie.

455
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,000
We all do.

456
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:17,000
We all miss her so much.

457
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,000
At a holiday party across the street from their home, Sharon and Bill were visiting

458
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,000
with friends they hadn't seen in over a year when Sharon became upset and went home.

459
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,000
I'm fine.

460
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:28,000
I'm fine.

461
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,000
I was in home about 10 minutes and Bill called me from across the street

462
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:38,000
and he said, I have something to tell you and it's really important and I want you to stay up.

463
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,000
When Bill returned home, he told Sharon that Pam, a friend of their neighbors,

464
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:50,000
claimed to have had an unusual experience involving Wendy just weeks after she died.

465
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,000
She saw Wendy.

466
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000
She just saw her face.

467
00:31:54,000 --> 00:32:02,000
And there weren't any words but she was absolutely positive that it was Wendy.

468
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:08,000
And the way she described it was exactly the same way that you've told me.

469
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,000
It was probably about a month after Wendy had died.

470
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,000
I went to bed, I think, before everyone else that night.

471
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:21,000
I saw a girl and it was kind of just a headshot.

472
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,000
It just kind of zoomed in on me.

473
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,000
And I felt this tremendous energy.

474
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:35,000
Kind of like if you've ever been shocked by electrical fence, you know, the little warm surge of current that you feel through your body.

475
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:40,000
But I could just sense that she wanted to tell her parents that she was okay now.

476
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,000
And she was finally at peace.

477
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,000
And it happened that quickly and then it was gone.

478
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:53,000
It seemed obvious to me, you know, who it was and what the purpose of that visit was.

479
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
She saw her.

480
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,000
I think it was a gift from God.

481
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,000
So to let her come back for us to see.

482
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,000
Because somebody could tell you that, you wouldn't believe them.

483
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,000
Seeing something is totally different.

484
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:20,000
The real question here, I think that touches us deeply is, is there actually an afterlife that people who die go to and that they're actually not gone?

485
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:29,000
And if we're going to look at this question objectively and scientifically and not emotionally, then we have to answer, nobody knows.

486
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:37,000
Sharon and Donna will continue to find solace in the messages they believe are left for them by their children.

487
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,000
I believe that there is something more out there.

488
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,000
They don't just go away.

489
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,000
Some people say to me, do you believe in the afterlife? Do you believe that there's something beyond?

490
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000
Yes, I do.

491
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:56,000
If you choose not to believe that, that is your privilege.

492
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,000
Me, I'm going to believe it.

493
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:06,000
With only five days left to Christmas, 37-year-old Donna Morrow had just finished her last minute shopping.

494
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:12,000
She looked forward to spending the holidays with her four young children.

495
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,000
Where you been?

496
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Honey, I've been Christmas shopping.

497
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,000
I've been waiting for you for a long time.

498
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,000
But her relationship with her husband Joe was rapidly disintegrating.

499
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000
It's nice to see you.

500
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,000
But her relationship with her husband Joe was rapidly disintegrating.

501
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:33,000
We interviewed several of Donna's friends who asked not to be identified by name.

502
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:42,000
She had told me that Joe was very controlling and she didn't indicate to me that he was physically abusive,

503
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,000
but I got the impression that she was afraid of him.

504
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,000
Listen, I want to get in here. We're going to talk right now.

505
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,000
It had not always been this way.

506
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:58,000
When Donna first met Joe, he seemed the ideal partner, charming, wealthy and kind.

507
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Donna's family, however, had a different impression.

508
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,000
He was arrogant. He thought he was better than everybody else.

509
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,000
And he was condescending.

510
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:13,000
He was just basically a jerk with money.

511
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:20,000
Within months of meeting, the couple married and began the large family both had always wanted.

512
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,000
They moved into a luxurious home and upscale Menlo Park, California,

513
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,000
and Donna settled in to be a full-time mom.

514
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,000
For 13 years, Donna appeared happy with her life.

515
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:37,000
Then one Thanksgiving, Donna revealed the truth about her seemingly perfect marriage.

516
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,000
I'm not that good, Mom.

517
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,000
I don't want to talk about me.

518
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,000
Why? What's the matter?

519
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:49,000
She told me that she did not love Joe anymore, that she wanted a divorce.

520
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:55,000
And she said, but Mom, until after the holidays, I won't do anything

521
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,000
because I don't want to ruin Christmas for the children.

522
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Do you want to cook it?

523
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,000
That Christmas, Donna's mother and her relatives gathered in White Plains, Missouri to celebrate.

524
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:10,000
Donna could not make it, so her stepfather called California to wish her a happy holiday.

525
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Hello?

526
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000
Hey, Joe, Merry Christmas.

527
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,000
Hey, Frank, Merry Christmas to you too.

528
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,000
Hey, I want to talk to Donna.

529
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:22,000
She's not here right now.

530
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Well, where is she?

531
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:30,000
Well, you know, I don't know. We have an argument on the 19th, and she walked out, and I haven't heard from her since.

532
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,000
Joe didn't bother to give us any kind of a story, just that she was gone.

533
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:35,000
What's happening?

534
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,000
He says she's not there, huh?

535
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:43,000
It was like the whole atmosphere over Christmas just died right there.

536
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:49,000
It was terrible because we were so far away, and there was nothing that we could do.

537
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Joe Morrow maintains that his wife, Donna, voluntarily left him and their children to start life anew.

538
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:02,000
But Donna's friends and family are convinced that she fell victim to foul play.

539
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:06,000
There's no compelling physical evidence to support either conclusion.

540
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,000
No body has ever been found.

541
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,000
There's also no sign that Donna Morrow is still alive.

542
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Without your help, Donna's fate may never be known.

543
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,000
What happened the night your wife disappeared?

544
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,000
In an interview with Menlo Park Police shortly after Donna's disappears,

545
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:29,000
Joe Morrow stated that he last saw his wife on December 19th at approximately 10 p.m.

546
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,000
Well, we had somewhat of a heated argument, and she got very upset, and she was fine.

547
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:38,000
In an argument, Donna stormed out the front door taking her person keys.

548
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Did she take her car?

549
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,000
No.

550
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000
She didn't take her car?

551
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,000
We asked him if he had any explanation as to why she had not taken the car.

552
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:52,000
He didn't have an explanation other than that she is known to go out for walks from time to time.

553
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,000
I thought that she was seeing another man.

554
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:58,000
Morrow also suggested his wife was having an affair.

555
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Further police investigation established that Donna had indeed formed a close friendship with another man.

556
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:13,000
I think he was kind and understanding and was giving her a shoulder cry on, so to speak.

557
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:21,000
But due to her marital status, it was not going beyond that other than seeking friendship.

558
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,000
Hey, it's me.

559
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:29,000
Police discovered that Donna called this man on the night she disappeared at 7.30 p.m.

560
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:33,000
So we knew that she was alive and well at that point.

561
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:40,000
Donna had wanted to get together with him, and he declined the invitation.

562
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:47,000
Donna's friend provided authorities with an alibi and passed a lie detector test.

563
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:51,000
He has been ruled out as a suspect.

564
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,000
Police then found a witness who could tell them what happened next.

565
00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:02,000
Donna and Joe's own 8-year-old daughter.

566
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,000
She told the Texas that at 9.30 p.m. she awoke to her parents screaming at each other.

567
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:14,000
According to the daughter, the yelling got quieter and quieter and then stopped altogether.

568
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Shortly thereafter, she ended up hearing one set of footsteps leading to the front door area.

569
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:25,000
She didn't see whether it was her father or her mom who was walking to the front doorstep.

570
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,000
She just heard them.

571
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:32,000
Was this the sound of Donna Moro leaving the house, just as Joe Moro claimed?

572
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:39,000
Donna's daughter seemed to confirm that scenario with what she next told investigators.

573
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:47,000
A few hours later, she went into her parents' bedroom. Only Joe Moro was there asleep.

574
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:54,000
Did Donna Moro, trapped in an allegedly abusive marriage, simply walk out the front door to start a new life?

575
00:39:54,000 --> 00:40:00,000
Donna would never just walk out. She lived for her children.

576
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:08,000
She would never just go and leave him with the man that she planned to leave in a couple of weeks.

577
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,000
But there was no compelling evidence to contradict Donna leaving voluntarily.

578
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:24,000
Then police discovered the first potential clue. On the side of a bucket, a small splatter of blood.

579
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,000
Hey Simpson, I'm going to come take a look at this.

580
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:36,000
We don't have Donna's blood to compare it to, but we were able to exclude the children and Joe as being the donors of that blood.

581
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:43,000
The fact that Donna is not here, the question remains, could it be Donna's?

582
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:52,000
But without a body, a crime scene or any compelling forensic evidence, the police investigation ground to a halt.

583
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,000
Hot keeping! Hello?

584
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:01,000
Three weeks later, in a motel room 95 miles from the Moro's home.

585
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:07,000
Hello, sir? Are you okay?

586
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:14,000
Joe Moro was sprawled on the bed, semi-conscious. He had taken an overdose of barbiturates.

587
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:20,000
The other thing that was odd was that they found a large number of suicide notes to various people.

588
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:28,000
None addressed to his allegedly missing wife, and she was not mentioned in any of those letters.

589
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,000
Yes, I'm a maid in the hotel.

590
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:39,000
Joe Moro recovered from the suicide attempt and continued to deny any involvement in Donna's disappearance.

591
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:46,000
But two years later, Moro was sued in civil court for wrongful death by Donna's parents on behalf of her children.

592
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:54,000
At the same time, Moro pled guilty to an unrelated fraud charge, and was scheduled to surrender on June 24th.

593
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:58,000
He never showed up.

594
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:07,000
I think that Joe Moro was shrewd enough that he knew if he could stagger around us for as long as he did,

595
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:12,000
that he could build an exit strategy, and that's what he did.

596
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:19,000
After Joe's disappearance, his estate settled the wrongful death suit and agreed to pay $2 million.

597
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:24,000
Guardianship of his four children was given to his brother and sister-in-law.

598
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:31,000
Ultimately, an arrest warrant citing probable cause was issued for Joseph Moro for the murder of his wife.

599
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:36,000
Family, friends, and the police are now convinced that he killed her.

600
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:42,000
My impression is that perhaps Joe found out about this other person, this young man,

601
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:48,000
and in a fit of rage just threw Donna down or she hit her head or something.

602
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,000
I just feel like it was a crime of passion.

603
00:42:52,000 --> 00:43:01,000
I think that she probably left the residence dead and was dragged to the garage where she was placed in a vehicle.

604
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:10,000
The location of where the blood was found on the bucket speaks for itself that it was probably during a cleanup process in the garage.

605
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:16,000
I would like to see Joe put behind bars or put to death. It wouldn't bother me.

606
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:25,000
And I want my daughter found. I want to at least know what he did with her so I can put her to rest.

607
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:53,000
Join me next time.

608
00:43:53,000 --> 00:44:04,000
Perform more intriguing stories. Cases where you may have that one vital clue that can help solve a mystery.

609
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:53,000
.