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
way. frightened, compliant rene. eager for a mother s love. even if that mother figure was shirley. i never wanted to do anything wrong. i felt like if i did something wrong she wouldn t love me. she would give me away. wouldn t love me? shirley told her that she was born to a prostitute drug addict named jerry. that surely save baby renee, race or as a doctor. but kept renee in line by threatening to abandon her. did she ever threaten to do that? yes, many times you would do something wrong and she would say, you stop doing that or i m going to send you off to jerry s house. and so they lived a life of packing up and fleeing state to state, one flop house to the next, searching for the cheapest place to stay. hunger constant. medical care, nonexistent. when money ran out, as it often did, shirley drove to the nearest truck stop. the girls would bend down in
as shirley explained to strangers that she was their grandmother. that their parents had been killed in a car accident. i knew that everything that was happening to us was completely wrong at a very, very young age. why had she been taken? she didn t know. not for money, certainly. there were no ransom demands. and without pepper s birth certificate, shirley couldn t use her to score public assistance. though she did use renee that way. frightened, compliant renee, eager for a mother s love, even if that mother figure was shirley. i never wanted to do anything wrong. i felt like if i did something wrong or whatever, she wouldn t love me. she would give me away. wouldn t love me? shirley told her, says renee, she was born to a prostitute drug addict named geri. that shirley saved baby renee, raised her as a daughter. but kept renee in line by threatening to abandon her.
did her mother bobbie actually give her away? shirley told pepper that rene was her sister. the two girls listened wide-eyed as shurlly explained to strangers that she was their grandmother, that her parents had been killed in an accident. i knew everything happening to us was wrong. why had she been taken? she didn t know. not for money certainly and without pepper s birth certificate, shurlly couldn t use her to score public assistance, though she did use renee that way. i never wanted to do anything wrong. i felt like if i did something wrong over and over she wouldn t love me and she would give me away. wouldn t love me? shirley told her said rene she was born to a prostitute drug