More than 30 years at can it have you reported on some of the biggest stories in recent history in the bay area. Now Rita Williams is retiring. L to the popes visit dramatic rescues and child disappearance case some of the remarkable stories during her long career. Up next on a second look. Hello everyone im Frank Summerville welcome to a second look tonight we dedicate this edition of the second look to our colleague Rita Williams who is retiring. Sheets been a reporter here at ktvu for more than 30 years. One of the stories was the loma free today earthquake in 1989. A woman died when the car she was driving crashed into the hole in the upper deck. Also in that car was the womans brotherinlaw. And a year later rita went back to talk to the man who survived. Reporter a survivor, he knows hes lucky to be alive but what happened on the bay bridge last october 17th changed his life forever. This i dont know my future is going to be. Reporter this is why his future is uncertain. When the earthquake hit he was a passenger in a car driven by his sisterinlaw. It was stuck on the bay bridge. Two men directed cars to the upper deck. When people got there no one was around to tell them what to do. They started driving home to oakland not knowing about the break in the bay bridge until they were about 3 feet away. Theres another car. Gosh . When we noticed the hole, we boom and thats the last time i remember until i woke up i was still in the car. Reporter the car made it across the hole smashed front first in the concrete then dangled off the top deck with he and his sisterinlaw inside. I tried to move because i tried to help her as much as i can, but when i move i felt my legs when i look down to my legs they both dislocated. Reporter the coast guard airlifted he and his sisterin law to letterman hospital where anna mo la 23 was pronounced dead on arrival. His an anguished sister watched it on tv. I cant sleep watching it so i called highway patrol. Reporter knowing what we all know today, having seen this break in the bridge, its hard to believe what happened to him that day, but there was mass confusion on the bridge after the earthquake, many people on the lower deck couldnt hear their car radios as cameraman tony ha critic and i ran on to the bridge from San Francisco we met people running off some asking what had happened, others warning us the whole bridge was collapsing. He says hes only been on the bay bridge once since the earthquake and hell never come back again. Im scared. Im scared now. Reporter a construction worker who used to make 2,000 a month hes had to move his family in with relatives to save money. He got a 25,000 settlement from the state but his disability payments run out next month. Hes already had 7 operations on his crushed legs and hip, and faces at least two more. Under a picture of anna his sisterinlaw who died this deeply religious man who came here from tonga says what happened on the bridge continues to haunt him. Me and my total life has been affected mind, body and soul. Reporter but out of death theres life. They have four sons. They say they prayed for a baby girl to help ease their pain in losing anna. Two weeks ago this pound some ounce baby girl was born. They named her anna. Still to comrie takes coverage of the dark days in San Francisco following the assassinations of mayor moss connie and supervisor milk. A search for a 10yearold San Francisco boy that gained National Attention and helped spark a movement to find missing children. You cant move the tv there. Yuhhuh. We have a wireless receiver. Listen. Back in my day, there was no uverse wireless receiver that let you move the tv away from the tv outlet. We can move it to the kitchen, the patio, the closet and almost anywhere. Why would you want a tv in the closet . [ both laugh ] [ fancy voice ] brilliant idea, darling. [ female announcer ] the wireless receiver. Get uverse tv for just 19 a month for 1 year when you bundle tv and internet. Rethink possible. Tonight on a second look were remembering the career of our colleague Rita Williams who plans to retire at the end of the month. Before she became a full time reporter at ktvu back in 1980 rita was a reporter for kqed and while she was there she covered a story that shook the Political Foundation of San Francisco. The assassinations of mayor George Mosconi and supervisor harvey milk. Rita remembered those events 30 years later. Reporter november 2th, november 27th, 1978 the impact of the gunshots is still being felt. Mayor mosconi and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. I looked at me making the announcement i recognized for the first time i was in a state of shock. I remember actually as if it were yesterday, and it was one of the hardest moments if not the hardest moment of my life. Reporter it didnt seem to fit. Dan white 32, the all american boy supervisor former firefighter, Police Officer now a killer. Board of supervisors president Dianne Feinstein was a political mentor to white while white was unraveling feinstein was out of the country. Because of that she continues to carry a heavy burden. This was my first day back at work, and i still believe that if i could have been there for that three weeks i could have stopped it. Now, who knows rita, who knows. Reporter what we do know comes in part from whites confession tape and other physical evidence stored here in the Police Property room. This is whats left on this case. Reporter i got a rare look 20 years ago at what was left of the evidence in the case that changed San Francisco and its politics. With the Police Inspector who investigated the murder case frank fall son. There were so many people that suffered such direct hurts. Reporter the biggest packaged contained the clothes dan white wore when he crawled through a window of city hall a 38 stuck in his belt. The gun white used was gone. This court order called for its destruction in 1982. This is the original letter white sent the mayor 3 weeks earlier resigning from the board of supervisors saying he couldnt support his family on 9,600 a year. He changed his mind and asked for his job basketball back. After mayor George Mosconi told him he was appointing someone else he led white into this room. He poured two drinks of liquor into these glasses. Mosconi tried to calm white asking about his wife and son. Then he just came to me and then that was it. I just shot him. Reporter when mosconis body was found, the cigarette was still burning. White then raced down the hall to harvey milks office. I said dan can i talk to you . He went by. I opened the door i found harvey on his stomach. I tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole. He was clearly dead. Reporter as feinstein was trying to calm the city, police went to whites home where for days he had been holed up alone in a sleeping bag poring over these newspaper clips about his resignation opposing his reappointment a photo of his dead father. Dan white wasnt able to handle it. In my opinion he never belonged in city hall, whites defense Attorney Says dan white was asik man and revealed his wife made him see a psychiatrist a few weeks before he killed himself. As i recall he had started medication for depression weeks before. That may have lifted him enough so that he had the energy to take steps to end his own life. Reporter doug schmidt believes the medication caused white to finally see clearly what he had done and he couldnt live with it. On october 21st, 1985 he turned his car into a gas chamber in the garage of his home and sentenced himself to death. When we come back on a second look, ritas interview with the mother of kevin collins. And a bit later the pope came to San Francisco and Rita Williams was there. Tonight on a second look were looking at the career of ktvu reporter Rita Williams who plans to retire at the end of this month. As late as this month rita reported on a case that began nearly 30 years ago, the disappearance of kevin collins. It was the case that drew interNational Attention and also mailed a significant role in the Ongoing Mission to find missing children. In 2004 rita updated the search for kevin as it stood at the time. Reporter it may seem like the strange place to go to remember your child on his birthday. Dear effort lord est lord we thank you for the life of kevin. Reporter two weeks ago ann collins son kevin turned 30 if hes still alive. Kevin just 10 years old then left basketball practice early at st. Agnes school in San Francisco ash bury district 20 years ago today and disappeared without a trace. 10 years ago someone the collins still dont know paid for this marble bench in a Coleman Cemetery in kevins memory. Since then its been a magnet for people to leave remembrances for the little boy for his mother and sister its not enough. We still dont know. I mean the bench is here but hes not here. I dont want just a bench i want a body. Reporter when their son disappeared that day ann and David Collins were just ordinary people suddenly having to deal with an extraordinary event. Ive always felt like you know theres all these tears down here if i ever start crying ill never stop crying. Ive never done a speech in my life so i not only was going through the fear and emotional strain, but trying to be something that i had no experience at. Reporter but they forged new ground started a missing Childrens Foundation in their sons name, committed to making it easier for families to recover their children. They advocated fingerprinting children changing procedures score police immediately search for a child and they provided support for families of so many other bay area children who disappeared. Part of an exclusive club no one wants to join. Back then there were no amber alert, no instant dissemination on the internet, no video cameras to record an abduction. In retrospect, what they accomplished is amazing. Getting kevins picture on milk cartons on the cover of news week magazine, even in the movie terminator terminator. One of his brothers retraced kevins last steps in this police video. Police enhanced this photo to show what kevin might look at 15. To imagine what he might look like today look at his brother steve. But outside the view of cameras, the family struggled with finances, with worry, with loss. David and ann divorced. Ann collins says her children not only lost their brother that day, they also lost their parents. For many years david spent all his time at the foundation. First four or five years it was certainly consuming and difficult emotionally, tough on the family. Reporter ann helped too hoping keeping his picture in the news might bring him home alive. Back hoping there were 7 other collins children plus a foster child. Then 19 laura was oldest. We love you kevin. We had to get to School Grocery shop cook do little boy things and there was nobody there for them. Reporter laura and younger sister michelle then 1 became surrogate parents. After a few years they say the children got counseling and ann resumed her role as mother and now as grandmother. But she still closely guards an envelope that contains all thats left of her missing son sharing precious pictures shes never shown publicly before. He was always smiling. He was a happy happy baby. Reporter kevin andrew collins, her ofth born child out of 8. This picture is the very last picture taken of him. This is on his birthday the year he disappeared. Reporter and this is the original photograph of that haunting picture of kevin on all the posters. He was at the black board in a class for dyslexic children when a photographer called his name. The day before he disappeared his father says, kevin was so proud because he had made his first a on a spelling test. He was really on a high note when it happened thats what i remember the most. Reporter the family hopes that some day someone will provide the clue that will finally stop their grief and bring kevin home. I really would lick to know what happened. I want to know where he is and who did it. I want them prosecuted. Reporter everyone who loved kevin is sure hes dead. I really think that in my heart i feel like he was probably gone the first night. I always pray that it was fast. Reporter on what would have been his 30th birthday a mother prayer for a boy stuck in time at 10 years old. He was a bright light we praise you today on his birthday know hes in your loving arms. Kevin i live you. Thank you lord. When we come back on a second look. Frustrating when they left after they talked to me. Rita talks about the stories that touched her personally. [ female announcer ] safeway presents real big deals of the week. Or how to keep from driving all over for the best deals. You dont need to run around. Safeway gives you real big club card deals each week. Right now, tide is 5. 49 for 50 ounces. Thats under 20 cents a load skip the warehouse. Charmin is 8. 99 for 16 double rolls. And chobani greek yogurt is just a buck. Real big deals this week and every week. Only at safeway. Ingredients for life. We continue our second look tonight on the career of ktvus Rita Williams whos retiring at the end of this month. Over the years ritas had the opportunity to cover a lot of wellknown figures going all the way back to an interview with mother theresa when rita was working in san antonio, texas. In 1987 rita played a key role in ktvus coverage of pope join paul 2 00 when , ii when he visited San Francisco. Reporter historic and emotional meeting at the basilica. Pope john paul, ii warmly greeted those along the center aisle of the church some of the 700 invited guests. He approached the it pews of aids patients and the most moving moment brendan 0 rourke reached out to hug the holy father. Little brendan contributed aids from a blood transfusion at birth. The pope then moved to other aids sufferers most of them gay. It was the first time the leader of of the Catholic Church has met directly with aids sufferers. From there the pope went alone to pray in the old mission, the oldest building in San Francisco. In prepared remarks the pope proclaimed the unconditional and everlasting love of god for all people dwelling at length on sin and for giveness. He did not mention homosexuality and only once referred to aids sufferers. Those of you who are sick, those who are suffering from aids and from aids related conflicts. Reporter it wasnt what the pope said publicly the faithful catholics will most remember, its the way the holy father personally moved each one of them. This has been the best day of my life. Gave him a hug its going to help us through the or teal were going through. He put his hand on my head and then gave me a smile that said yes, that said god loves you, i love you. In 1995 ktvu produced a special featuring our reporters it was hosted by bob mckenzie and in it rita talked about how covering some stories had affected her personally. I think once you become a parent you bring a different level to reporting, especially if its a story about children. One that affected me so deeply was a little boy Michael Nguyen was murdered in golden gate park. His accused murderer still has not gone to trial, but i went to that little boys funeral. The little boy had a buddhist funeral and i had never been to one. And at the cemetery they buried with him all of his personal things and there was a mcdonalds happy meal it was just like my son eats. There were his clothes that the mother folded and put in the grave next to her child, and there was a tshirt and a pair of pants that my son had. And his toys they were the same toys. You couldnt help but think that that could be your child. And i actually walked away and sobbed from the funeral. And a reporter from another station came over and tried to console me because it affected me so deeply. I think that the humanity you have to have that in reporting and you have to be able to feel in some way what people are feeling that youre covering. Fortunately for reporters Mental Health there are happy stories too. Rita williams and her photographer stayed on at alpine meld owes when other tv crews gave up and went home. Five days after an avalanche buried a young skier. Search crews were also giving up hope. I guess ill never forget the owner of alpine meld owes running out with his german accent saying anna, anna, shes alive. They found her, shes alive. They brought her out along with a doctor to take care of her so there is hope, theres hope. I remember walking in that emergency room. My knees literally were shaking. And i asked her questions and felt like i was almost talking to someone who was super human. We hear you were real close to being found yesterday. Can you tell us somethin