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Subscribe to RSSKate Snow reports on what happened to Veno Leigertwood when he was shot down in front of his home in a suburb of Philadelphia. A poster boy for success, why would someone want to kill this young man? Three years later, the case is still unsolved as his wife, mother, sister and friends look for answers. Death in the Driveway airs Friday at 9pm/'8c.
An update to one of Dateline's fan favorites, Keith Morrison tells the terrifying story of a little girl who is kidnapped by a family friend. 30 years later, a determined woman finds her way home and puts the pieces back together, reuniting with members of her biological family. Lost and Found airs Friday at 10pm/9c.
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Hello, I love dateline, and make sure i watch it everytime it comes on. I don't understand why you did the story on lost and found again. You said it was an update, but i saw the whole entire story again. Was that really necessary? A whole hour gone to waste.
Hello,
I would just like to say thank you ...In a time when all you hear about is bad news it was very uplifting to see a happy ending. I cried tears of joy for the new beginning for this family...cherish each other and make the most of the time left ....God Bless you all.. :)
Just watched this story for the first time tonight so I am not familiar with all the details. But I was curious to if the authorities ever investigated the eye witness that was waiting at the bus stop and claim that he/she saw two African American males that went into the ally before the murder and came out after the hearing the gun shots. Especially since the DNA results indicated that the person handling the recovered shell casings was those of a female gender profile. And since it was not the wife 's DNA then were was this female located during the time of the murder? Was the eye witness a female?
I agree with the other poster You rehashed the same story for 45 minutes or so that you showed around 3 months go. What a time waster. Thats 45 minutes I'll never get back. I also found it pretty bizarre that these "parents" could have their kids kidnapped and not go to the newspapers or FBI.
I am so happy for Ronique (Pepper) and her newfound family. I hope with this reunification that all of them can heal the past and grow together as a family. It's a tragedy as far as why the police didn't do anything I wonder if they were three white children if it would of made a difference. Thank God they are all alive and well. May God Bless All of them. Loved the story!
This is the most poorly done Dateline story I have ever seen. As others have mentioned, you spent 45 minutes replaying the same information you broadcast just recently regarding the reunited family and then failed to answer so many questions that beg for answers. Was the woman who raised Ray aware that he had been kidnapped, if so what part did she play? What about Barbara and Robert, were they aware that the two girls were kidnapped or were they just duped by Shirley like everyone else? What are Ronique's (Pepper's) thoughts on her adoptive parents, does she plan on maintaining a relationship with them as well? It's rare for me to feel so cheated by a Dateline episode, you usually do such a great job asking and answering all of the right questions but this was terrible.
I never watched the orginal show either and found last nights show interesting. I do think that the biological mother was negligient...she went to the police two or three times after her daughters were taken...that's it???? seriously I would hound the police, FBI, every newspaper and cable network. No stone would be left unturned.
I believe what Shirley said about her was true, that she was a street walker and drug addict, she could not have been in the right mind for all these years and allow this to occur or seek more answers.
I can't believe Peppers parents adopted her when Shirley brought her to them. They said they wanted a child so badly so did not care where she came from...seriously what kind of crowd did these people all run with?
Good points. Honestly, the more I think about it and I think I was too PC to comment originally on here, the girls did come from RiffRaff all the way through. Something is way off here!
Why is everyone so upset about how Dateline replayed the storyline in this follow up story??? I saw the original and watched the update and I am glad I did! This story and turnout was one of the most touching storties I have ever seen...my husband and I cried tears of joy at the end. God bless this family and may they be able to heal the old wounds of the past and never stop loving each other. How can some of you question these people and their efforts to find their children? Things back then were so much different than they are now days in law enfocement and I believe if the biological mother were a more afluent person and had more money and status, the police would have taken her more seriously. All that matters now is that they are together and can start a new life together.
We're upset because at the intro they made it pretty clear that the hour would be about what happened since the original story and instead they essentially replayed 45 minutes of it! If it would have been clear from the start that there would only be 10 minutes of actual new story at the end, I an alot other people wouldn't have bothered watching it. I felt Dateline duped me!
Did I miss something? Barbara said Shirley brought Rhonda to her at age 3 months, and from there she lived with Barbara and Robert Christie until Shirley took her at age 4. However, in the pic Jerry the waitress provided of her young children, Rhonda was standing next to Rene--she was certainly more than 3 months old. Even if this wasn't the last pic Jerry had of the children, Rhonda still was more than a young infant. And then Jerry gave birth to Raymond while she still had Rhonda and Rene living with her. It didn't say how old Raymond was when he was taken, but even if he were only a few days or weeks old, Rhonda would be at minimum 9 months older than he. So how could she be 3 months when given to the Christies? Even if Shirley lied about the baby's age to Barbara, a 3 month old looks very different from a 9-10 month old child. This doesn't add up to me.
Thank you Karen!! I have been thinking the exact same thing. There is definitely something NOT RIGHT about this story. I'm a new mom and I got so caught up in the story that I started crying just thinking about what it must have been like to have your babies kidnapped. But then, later that night, I thought "Wait a minute!" It makes no sense that Pepper could have been given to the Christies at age 3 months when she has a younger brother who was supposedly also stolen at the same time. It seems like such an obvious hole in the story that I wonder why Dateline wouldn't have addressed this? Perhaps there is shady details in whatever the actual story is and this is why there really wasn't any legitmate search or police involvement.
Thanks Karen for asking the obvious. I just finished watching this update and actually re-wound the recording to verify that I had heard correctly: that "Pepper" was given to Bobbie & Bob Christie at the age of 3 months. That is precisely what Bobbie Christie said. Later in the show it was stated that "a couple of years later" Jerry had a baby boy, and Shirley babysat all three children. Obviously "Pepper" was nearly 3 years old! How could Dateline broadcast such a contradiction without explanation?
Karen, thanks for asking the question burning in my mind. I just watched the program and actually re-wound to make sure I heard correctly; Bobbie Christie clearly said the baby was 3 months old when given to her. Later in the show the children's biological mother said Shirley was babysitting the two girls and "about two years later" she had a son, at which point Shirley cared for all three children. I can't believe that Dateline would broadcast such a contradiction without explanation.
Yes, LK, I'd re-wound also to verify that Rhonda/Pepper was 3 months old when Barbara received her from Shirley. But I did miss the part about when Raymond was born, so you're right, Rhonda needed to be about 3 YEARS old when given to Barbara and Bob. Yet when Barbara was sitting on the sofa looking at childhood pics with her adopted daughter, she said "this is when you were learning to walk..." Rhonda appeared to be a normally-developing child, so she would have already been walking at close to 3 years of age. There are obviously consistency issues with this piece. And the fact that police told Barbara and Bob that they had willingly let Rhonda go with Shirley, so they were "on their own" with looking for her--that's rubbish. Also when Jerry said the police did nothing to help her find all 3 of her children, and she went to them "2 or 3" times--this just sounds crazy. Yes, it may have been the 70's, and the police lacked many of the investigative techniques they have today, but this would have been a bona fide kidnapping in both cases, so I don't believe the police in two separate jurisdictions would not have done anything about trying to locate missing children. I also have questions about Rene. She supposedly had no memories of a previous life, only her life with Shirley. But she had to be more than a toddler when Shirley took her, taking into account LK's and my addition skills with figuring out the children's ages since she was the oldest and Raymond was several years younger than she, as well as that picture of her with Shirley that Jerry had. So why wouldn't she remember pieces of her life like Pepper did? She was old enough that she should have remembered having a baby brother and a sister and maybe something about her parents. At 4 Rhonda/Pepper remembered the names of Bobbie and Bob as well as her bedroom, etc. There certainly seem to be many holes in this story. I'm not trying to think too hard on this either--these things came to me as I watched the program and things didn't seem to be adding up. I'm glad some of you also feel like we aren't getting the whole story here.
One thing I DO understand is that in "Lost and Found" the bio mother of these kids was poor and without any power. We don't seem to understand that. The police should of helped her but they didn't. And when the police told the adoptive parents of "Pepper" that because they let their child go off on a sleepover before she was kidnapped, there was nothing they could do. And, they believed them, unfortunately!! Sad... but, like Nancy Grace or not, we have learned to HOLLER when crime happens and not sit back powerless.
One things I DON"T understand is how, after the two little girls were kidnapped did the mother let the little boy get kidnapped by the same woman?? That doesn't make sense. Unless they were all kidnapped at once? Not clear. Maybe you guys have some answers.
In reading all the above comments, I bet "Dateline" glossed this story over so they could get the rights to film the reunion and the biological mother saying "I was a waitress all my life"-- "I was never a streetwalker or drug user". Kind of a cheap way to get a story. There is where the discrepancies lie, I believe. Dateline said we won't go into all that so called "messy" stuff with your messed up lives if you let us tell and film this story. Very bad. I'm real surprised at Keith Morrison. Always respected him.