her name is pepper. i lived a secret life. she was kidnapped at age four. we got in the car, and we never went back. she spent decades trying to find her way home again, and she finally made it. or, so she thought. i said, i think that i am rhonda patricia christine. i said, do you know her? and there was a long pause. her story had many ups and downs. when i looked at the email, i just could not even believe it. but after so many tears, so many years and so many turns in her story. i was like, wow. there are still more stunning twists to be revealed. it is amazing, the best gift ever. welcome to dateline. a four year old girl was adopted and raised by her kidnappers. for decades, she searched for her family, and her identity. her story has an extraordinary ending, but as it turns out, that ending was just the beginning. here is keith morrison. our story begins with this much mother of a teenage daughter. a woman who had spent much of h
four. we got in the car, and we never went back. she spent decades trying to find her way home again, and she finally made it. or, so she thought. i said, i think that i am rhonda patricia christine. i said, do you know her? and there was a long pause. her story had many ups and downs. when i looked at the email, i just could not even believe it. but after so many tears, so many years and so many turns in her story. i was like, wow. there are still more stunning twists to be revealed. it is amazing, the best gift ever. welcome to dateline. a four year old girl was adopted and raised by her kidnappers. for decades, she searched for her family, and her identity. her story has an extraordinary ending, but as it turns out, that ending was just the beginning. here is keith morrison. our story begins with this much mother of a teenage daughter. a woman who had spent much of her life trying to figure out who she was. what was her name? where did s
what about the birth certificate? never gave me a concrete answer, you could not get anything out of her. the lies stayed with her. shirley of course knew the answers, knew the whole bizarre story, but she looked pepper in the eye, through her obvious pain, and told her nothing. she left the lies behind and took the truth to her grave. on july 29th, 1986, at the age of 63, she was buried here, in this cemetery, in an unmarked grave. rene, now at 19, got on with life, moved in with her boyfriend. soon, pepper showed up at their apartment, homeless and nowhere else to turn to. and everywhere pepper went from then on, shirley s poison gift followed, because of that woman, and what she did, pepper was officially at least a non-person. so it took a little while for determination to come back. she was in her mid twenties, a single mother by then. if only she could find her birth certificate, that could lead her to her parents. anyways, she needed documents to live.
renee, now 19, got on with life, moved in with her boyfriend. soon pepper showed up at their apartment, homeless and nowhere else to turn to. and everywhere pepper went from then on, shirley s poison gift followed. because of that woman and what she did, pepper was officially, at least, a nonperson. so it took a little while for determination to come back. she was in her mid-20s, a single mother by then. if only she could find her birth certificate. that could lead her to her parents. anyway, she needed documents to live. she needed a passport. so she contacted state offices. their departments of vital records with perhaps predictable results. tell me what it feels like when you know you have to go to an official and ask for something that you really, really, really need and you kind of know, you think how it s going to go. i get emotional usually. i usually cry.
told her nothing. she left the lies behind and took the truth to her grave. on july 29th, 1986, at the age of 63. she was buried here, this cemetery, in an unmarked grave. renee, now 19, got on with life, moved in with her boyfriend. soon pepper showed up at their apartment, homeless and nowhere else to turn to. and everywhere pepper went from then on, shirley s poison gift followed. because of that woman and what she did, pepper was officially, at least, a nonperson. so it took a little while for determination to come back. she was in her mid-20s, a single mother by then. if only she could find her birth certificate. that could lead her to her parents. anyway, she needed documents to live. she needed a passport. so she contacted state offices. their departments of vital records with perhaps predictable results. tell me what it feels like when