pancreatic cancer and she literally died quickly after that. with surely on her deathbed, pepper tried to act like the dutiful daughter, but there was another terribly important reason to see her then, maybe the most important. one last opportunity to find out who she was. as she was dying, did you try to find, you know, maybe she d make a deathbed confession and say, yes, i did take you and here are what your parents names are and how to find them. did any of that happen? did you ask? oh, yeah. and shirley had a response for the girl she renamed pepper. the question was what could she do with that answer? coming up if j.c. dugger could be found after 18 years certainly there could be hope for pepper. it triggered a lot of my personal memories, how come i
but that meant she left renee behind, too. renee who so needed pepper and was alone now with shirley. she was my best friend growing up. that was my best friend. we did everything together. we fight like sisters. we did everything together. renee was feeling abandoned. i was telling her, don t go. stay here. i need you. you re my sister. so she went. she did her thing. and i was upset and sad. by 1986 and on her own now, pepper had all but given up hope that she d ever find her real parents. now she began to encounter a more immediate problem. the inevitable trouble that comes with having no real name, no birth certificate, no i.d. though she was enrolled in school under the name rhonda smith at shirley s urging, she had no way to prove this was her legal name, and without some cooperation from shirley, her search for such documents seemed hopeless. and then how did you find out
babysitter for the couple next door in room 109. and when the family moved out of the motel, pepper went with them. but it didn t last long. pepper s new household caught in its own spiral of alcoholism and dysfunction was as troubled and messy as her own life was. she swallowed her pride and moved back to room 110 colonial motel, even though, by then, shirley didn t seem to care much what she did. i remember when i was trying to so-call run away, plot my escape, before it went into action, i was in my mind going, she i m going to show her. she ll care. like i remember thinking that. but she didn t care. she didn t come to get me. still, having tasted freedom once, pepper was determined to get away from her kidnapper for good. the second time she took a chance, moved out with the family and a second time had to return. and then finally by the time she turned 16, pepper left for good.
geri, would you be willing to do a dna test? she said i ll take the dna test. but these are my children. i know it. allred put the dna test on the fast track and waited. and within a week called pepper and renee to her office to hear in person the results of the test. 99.99% probability. that s it. yep, that means it s confirmed. i can t believe this is actually happening. how soon could they meet geri, the sisters wanted to know. and what s she like? how did she know shirley? we arranged a reunion for the next day. geri arrived first and told us how she saw the long lost girls on our program. i saw the picture of shirley and went crazy. i was hysterical because i knew who she was. and then when i saw the girls, i knew they were mine. after how all those years?
found year after year nothing. had no idea, she said, that shirley had left pepper with barbara. that barbara persuaded a court that pepper had essentially been abandoned and, thus, could be adopted or that shirley stole her back again. and then there they were telling their story on dateline. telling how shirley and barbara had described her. yes, i heard what they said about me. i was not a street walker. i was a waitress all my life. they also said you didn t really want your children. you were happy to abandon them. i never abandoned my children. never. ever. and would never, ever do that. and she wasn t a drug addict either, she says. she s not had a smooth or easy life. and for much of it, she has missed her children and blamed herself for what happened. trusting shirley? yes.