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Private Notes
It's 8:48 on Tuesday morning, two weeks to the minute that the first hijacked jet crashed into the World Trade Center. At Ground Zero, where more than 6,000 people are still missing, the solemn search for any sign of life goes on.
But even this vital work must stop to remember the thousands who are lost somewhere in these mountains of debris.
Assistant Fire Chief Frank Fellini has been at Ground Zero since the first hours of the attack. "Almost everyone knew someone. I've met five or six firefighter fathers looking for sons and sons looking for their fathers."
48 Hours was granted unprecedented access to both Ground Zero and the command center of New York's Office of Emergency Management. An army of 20,000 city, state and federal workers as well as volunteers are on the front lines, carefully sifting through debris.
Like all new mothers, Eviva Dubin, a 31-year-old New Yorker, wants her 8-week-old baby, Harrison, to have everything he could possibly need.
So Harrison has his very own gas mask, as does every member of the family. Dubin also is stockpiling antibiotics, all as protection against a chemical or biological terrorist attack.
“I think it can be seen as hysterically humorous. I think it can seem extreme,” Dubin tells 48 Hours Correspondent Susan Spencer.“But in the event of a chemical or biological emergency, I don’t want to wait for the Feds to send in the antibiotics and masks to get help. I don’t feel like waiting on line with my child and husband for a mask; it might be too late by then.”
American Airlines Flight 11 was the flight that changed everything. 48 Hours reports what really happened during the flight, the first to crash into the World Trade Center.
On Sept. 13, 48 hours after World Trade Center attack, a bomb scare at Grand Central Station panicked New Yorkers.
Almost six weeks later, many people still seem panicked, living with anxiety, with dire predictions of coming attacks and with anthrax now a household word.
Dr. Alan Louie, of Arthur D. Little Laboratories had been working on this anti-anthrax foam long before the attacks. 48 Hours'Susan Spencer reports on new efforts to counteract the threat. Two chemicals, mixed with water and used in a fire extinguisher, become an expanding foam that will stick to the walls and cover the floors, making sure that an entire area is safe again.
For more than 30 years, Jocko Marcellino and Screamin' Scott Simon have made a living acting like their idols: doo-wop singers from the 1950s .
They are the founders of Sha Na Na, the musical group with the grease and the goofy hit television show in the '70s.
"They're not the latest hits, but they're the greatest hits," Simon says of the songs the group popularizes. "We're not stars. We didn't write the songs; we didn't sing the original hits."
Nevertheless, the group built itself up into headliners, the most memorable of which was probably John "Bowzer" Bauman. Famous for a pose in which he simultaneously flexes a muscle and opens his mouth, Bowzer was that kind of greasy but intensely vulnerable character that really did exist in the '60s and in the '50s.
Bowzer and the others are in their 50s now, and their music lives on.
Sha Na Na sold millions of records, but they never had a hit of their own. They would interpret the hits of others; in a sense, they were the great pretenders. But it was all in fun, at least until one day, when a greaser with a great voice showed up in Florida fooled a lot of people.
Danny C. was not just a great pretender; he was a great imposter, reports Correspondent Bill Lagattuta for 48 Hours..
Nothing seemed to stop Gerald Barnes, not even three more arrests and convictions for medical fraud. He didn't just lie to patients and doctors. He lied to his five wives.
His last marriage in 1994 was to Lisa Roberts; he told her he was a doctor. "He was very charming," says Roberts. She never doubted that he was a doctor.
Gerald Barnes:What drove this personable, smart man to deceive so many people? One psychiatrist who examined him called him "immature, extremely insecure... and depressed." But Barnes claims he was only interested in helping others.
48 Hours tracks new members of law enforcement as they come face-to-face with the real world of law and order. In San Antonio, Texas, three idealistic people take on three demanding jobs; police officer, a prosecutor and a probation officer. Follow them as they wrestle with situations they never anticipated.
Ben Flores is fresh out of the police academy, but is he too nice for the mean streets? If he can't toughen up fast, he could lose his life. With help from his veteran partner, Flores quickly learns that good manners don’t cut it when making rounds in the worst part of town. Find out what happens.
Cory Isaacs is a rookie prosecutor who has never argued a case before. As he deals with prostitutes, burglars and drug addicts, he learns lessons that he didn’t get in law school.
Mimi Mijares gets to work when criminals are released back onto the street. She is a rookie probation officer charged with supervising dangerous criminals. But what is a 56-year-old mother of two doing in a job like this?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may be the most controversial health issue in the United States. Whether ADHD exists, and how to treat it, have become topics of heated debate among doctors, teachers and parents.
48 Hours follows two families struggling with this confusing, difficult condition. Can they help their children before they lose control completely?
Grappling With ADHD: Part 1: Erin Moriarty follows two families who are trying to treat behavior problems in their children, using two very different approaches.
Part 2: While one family experiments with a new medication, another tries to solve the problem without any drugs at all.
The Controversy Over Adderall: Part 1: It's not just children who are struggling. 48 Hours reports on the case of Dawn Branson, a mother. After taking medication for ADHD, she says she had a psychotic reaction; she ended up crashing her car in an accident in which her son died.
Part 2: Branson is suing the manufacturer of Adderall, Shire Pharmaceuticals, to improve the warning label. How does the company respond?
On Dec. 18, 1994, real estate millionaire Ron Rudin disappeared from his home in Las Vegas. His skull and some charred bones were found in January 1995 in the desert near Lake Mohave, about 45 miles from Las Vegas.
After a two-year investigation, police moved to arrest Ron's wife, Margaret Rudin. But before they could arrest her, she went on the lam. After two years on the run, she was arrested in Massachusetts, and brought back to Las Vegas, where she stood trial for murder.
Is this soft-spoken grandmother guilty of a brutal murder? 48 Hours Correspondent Harold Dow investigates.
To many, it seemed to be a perfect life. Jane and Bob Dorotik had been married for 30 years. But then it all turned sour. In February 2000, Bob disappeared. Early the next morning, his body was found by a mountain road near their home. He had been beaten and strangled.
Three days later police arrested Jane for murder. She claimed she was completely innocent, and said that she loved her husband. But police say she had ample motive. The couple, who had separated and reconciled once, were reportedly not getting along.
For the last week, Americans have been following the dramatic story of twin baby girls from Guatemala, joined at the head -- until a daring, 22-hour operation by neurosurgeons in California separated them. The prognosis for both is cautiously optimistic.
Correspondent Jane Clayson reports on another amazing story of conjoined twins.
From the time she was a little girl, Emily Stark says she knew that twins were in her future. When she became pregnant in November, 2000, an ultrasound verified her premonition: she was carrying twins. Then she had another hunch: that they were joined. Doctors confirmed that she was right about that too.
At first, the Starks were devastated. But the twins were joined at the base of the spine and did not share any internal organs, which greatly improved their chances for survival. The Starks decided to keep the babies. Two months before the due date, Emily went into labor and delivered her twin girls, Alexandra and Sydney.
After the birth ot the twins Sydney and Lexi, the Starks decided to separate the girls. But the surgery carried the risk of paralysis. Could the team of doctors succeed?
"I never said I want to grow up to be a junkie, ever," says 22-year-old Troy Swett. But he did, and he now he is ashamed of it.
Like tens of thousands of people around the country, he breaks the law every day, abusing a powerful painkiller called OxyContin. "If I were to go without Oxys, I'd feel violently sick," he says. Harold Dow reports on Swett's struggle to free himself of addiction.
Seven years ago OxyContin didn't even exist. Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration says abuse of this legal drug is growing faster than any other prescription remedy in decades.
Purdue Pharma developed OxyContin to provide long-lasting pain relief. The drug contains a large quantity of narcotic, coupled with a special time-release agent to control the dosage – an innovation some call a miracle.
48 Hours presents a several remarkable stories of family love and devotion.
A Family That Plays Together: How did a 5-year-old piano prodigy end up living in a trailer in rural Maine? Meet Noah Gray-Cabey and the rest of his unique, and very musical family.
An Adopting Kind Of Town: Center, Texas is a typical small town. Then one day, residents began adopting scores of troubled children from the city. Why did one town decide to make such a difference?
Tower Twins: For 37 years, the Hoffman twins, Stephen and Gregory, were almost inseparable. When one died in the World Trade Center collapse, the other decided realized he now had two families to take care of - his own and his brother's.
The Jackson 20: Michael and Mary Jo Jackson, who after having seven children of their own, began adopting even more. They have now adopted 11 kids. How do they do it? And why?
Rodeo is a brutal, dangerous business. And it’s also one of America’s fastest growing sports. 48 Hours gets the inside story on this exciting, peculiarly American pursuit.
A City Slicker Tries Bull Riding: A suburban Boston stockbroker dreams of being a bull rider. So he goes to a Georgia rodeo camp. Will he come back in one piece?
Cowboy Dreams: Chris Harris' and grandfather are lawyers. But Harris wants to be a rodeo star. Can this 24-year-old take his dream all the way to the world championship?
Cowboy Dreams, Part 2: Surprising everyone but himself, Harris makes a run for the championship. On the final day of competition, he has a chance to win. Can he do it?
The Myers Family: Rodeo veteran Butch Myers loves the sport so much he named one of his sons Rope. Butch, Rope, and Cash, his other son, have become the First Family of rodeo.
If you have a child who's old enough to use the Internet, you probably know all about online dangers -- everything from violent games to teen chat rooms invaded by sexual predators.
You may think that you're doing enough to protect your family by putting strict limits on your child's Web surfing.
But, as Correspondent Susan Spencer reports in this story that last aired in September 2002, it may not be enough to stop your child from being lured halfway around the world into a web of seduction
When Bob Angleton pulled into his driveway on a Thursday evening in April of 1997, he knew something bad had happened.
"As I pulled up into my spot, I noticed the back door was open," he tells 48 Hours. "Now I was concerned."
Bob had begun to worry earlier that evening when his wife, Doris, didn't show up at their twin daughters' softball game.
Bob, the team's coach, phoned and paged her but she didn't answer. After the game, Bob drove 12-year-olds Niki and Ali straight home. By then, even the girls were worried.
"We were all worried; we didn't know where she was," says Ali. "We needed to find where she was," adds Niki.
When he found the side door open, Bob didn't go inside. Instead, he backed out the driveway and called 911. Minutes later, police officers arrived, and entered the house. One of them came out and broke the news to Bob.
"He came out, walked up to me, looked me in the eyes and said, 'Was your wife wearing a white shirt?' The message was clear, it was clear to me," Bob recalls.
Doris Angleton's body was found lying in the hallway next to the kitchen. She'd been shot seven times in the face, five times in the chest.
"My legs buckled," Bob says. "He (the officer) grabbed me and he held me up and said, 'Look, you got to be strong for your daughters; you gotta be strong for your kids. Stand up, stand up.' "
As hard as it was to tell the girls what had happened, it was next to impossible to explain why it had happened, why anyone would want to kill Doris Angleton. Correspondent Richard Schlesinger has an update to this 48 Hours Mystery, which originally aired in June 2002.
More than 52 million Americans are actively trying to lose weight.
One of the best-selling books of all time, “The Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution,” which has attracted more than 30 million American dieters, allows people to eat as much fat as they want, but very few carbohydrates.
Dr. Atkins claims that without carbohydrates and foods loaded with sugar, the body is forced to burn fat for energy, which he says takes off pounds. However, last fall the American Heart Association issued an advisory against going on high-fat diets like Atkins', though the diet has never been tested. What's a dieter to do?
Since September, America has scrambled to fortify its homeland defenses. Now, with the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics just a few days away, the country faces an enormous security challenge. 48 HOURS takes an inside look at some potential threats to America, and the cutting-edge efforts to combat them.
Tracking Terror: Steve Emerson and his group of specialists are obsessed with tracking Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers. Do they go too far?
Whipping Up Terror: Meet an American industrial chemist who may be helping terrorists learn how to make chemical weapons.
Winter Olympic Lawman: One man is in charge of making sure that the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics stay safe from terror. Can he succeed?
Target: Petersburg: Marines use a U.S. city as a training ground in how to stop a deadly terror attack.
Hartman At Ground Zero: Steve Hartman reports that Ground Zero has become a hot tourist attraction.
Conducting a year-long investigation, 48 Hours uncovered a black market organ transplant trade in the U. S. and abroad. More than 80,000 Americans will need transplants this year, and thousands will go unfulfilled due to a severe shortage of organ donors, But few in the medical field will discuss the controversial trade in human organs. In a world exclusive, 48 Hours reveals a thriving business in human organs.
Black Market Business: Some Americans who need kidney transplants are going abroad to buy kidneys on a thriving market. 48 Hours investigates.
A Gift Of Life: Kenny Franciscus found out he needed a new liver or he would likely die. The waiting lists for transplants were long. Then a member of his church volunteered to make the sacrifice. Would it work?
A Second Chance At Life: A revolutionary new artificial heart may one day be as common as a pacemaker. Will the device help save the life of a retired oilfield worker?
Four compelling stories. Four difficult questions. No easy answers. What would YOU do? 48 Hours airs the stories of people faced with complexing and intriguing issues. But we want you to do more than just watch. We want you to weigh in and tell us what you think. On Wednesday, March 6, you'll have the chance to vote. Watch the broadcast, and then go online and be heard. We'll have YOUR results at the end of the broadcast.
Recipe For Trouble? Debbie Jeffries tried everything to help her eight-year-old son Jeff, who was diagnosed with a long list of behavioral disorders, including Attention Deficit Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder. She tried an equally long list of powerful prescription drugs. But nothing worked: Jeff often demonstrated violent behavior, often threatening those around him. Debbie was going to have to give him up to the care of the state. Then a doctor recommended giving him medical marijuana, in a muffin. In California, medical marijuana is used to treat pain from ailments like AIDS and cancer. She tried it for Jeff. It worked; her son became happy and well-behaved. But when Child Protective Services found out, they accused her of being an unfit mother and putting her son at risk. Authorities may try to take her son away. Debbie says that without marijuana, her son is uncontrollable, and she won't be able to keep him. Will Debbie's effort to keep her son lead to her losing her son?
Not With My Daughter: When she was younger, 13-year-old Eden Palmer sometimes slept over at the home of a family friend, Scott Phillips. Eden told her mother, Lori Palmer, that during past sleepovers, Scott had sometimes climbed into bed with her. Lori notified police and then took action. She forced Phillips to a wooded area and made him confess. He was arrested, but so was Lori, who was charged with felony kidnapping. Who should go to jail? The molester, or the mother who took matters into her own hands?
Who Decides? When Michael Ryan was born 15 week
Peter and Rinette Riella Bergna were a seemingly normal and happily married couple who lived in upscale Incline Village, Nev., near Lake Tahoe, Calif.
He was an antiques dealer and she had just switched careers. Once a highly paid pharmaceutical consultant, she became an international tour guide, a job that paid much less and required weeks of travel at a time.
When Rinette was killed in a mysterious crash on Slide Mountain, near Reno, Peter, her husband of 11 years, became the chief suspect in what police said was a murder investigation, Susan Spencer reports for 48 Hours.
When beautiful young mother Judi Eftenoff died of a cocaine overdose in her Phoenix house, it seemed like a terrible accident. Then police arrested her husband, Brian, and charged him with murder. After a five-week trial, a jury reaches a verdict - but that's only the beginning of the story. Was her death an accident, or a murder? Erin Moriarty investigates.
48 Hours takes an inside look at some fascinating animals and the people who love them. Some people will go to extreme lengths to express their love and devotion for their pets – including going to jail and cloning. Others seeking to find lost pets fall prey to scam artists who entice their victims to pay large sums of money in hope of recovering their missing pets.
Pet Scams Take Off: 48 Hours reports on a new criminal trend: pet scams.
Holding On To A Pet: To ease the pain of his inevitable death, Becky Cranford decided to preserve a piece of her beloved border terrier with the help of modern technology. She is not the only one.
Pet Cloning Arrives: Will pet cloning one day be common? Jim Axelrod reports.
An Animal Paradise: In Utah, animal lovers have created an amazing shelter for older animals, who might otherwise be put to sleep.
Fur Flies In Divorce: When animal lovers divorce, they sometimes have bitter custody battles for the cats and dogs. Will one woman go to jail rather than give up her pets?
Former Hells Angel Glen Heggstad was on the adventure of a lifetime: a year-long motorcycle trip from his home in California, through Mexico, Central America, all the way to the tip of South America and back. His plan was to ride 20,000 miles along the toughest terrain in the world. But a kidnapping derailed those plans. Troy Roberts reports.
Early each morning, local fishing constable Tony Jackett patrols the waterways around tiny Truro, Mass., on the tip of Cape Cod.
Jackett, who comes from a long line of Portuguese fishermen, has been married nearly 30 years. At 52, he has five grown children and is already a grandfather.
He should be enjoying this time of his life. But lately that's been impossible. What happened here on Jan. 6, 2002, changed not only Jackett's life, but the town of Truro as well.
In January 2002, Christa Worthington, a glamorous former fashion writer, was murdered in her home, stabbed in the chest.
Correspondent Susan Spencer updates a mysterious murder case that was reported on Aug. 5. 2002.
What makes someone fit to be a parent? Amid competing claims and accusations, adults in conflict sometimes lose sight of what is in the best interest of a child. 48 HOURS correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports that Aaron and Lynda Kass, of Brentwood, Calif., have raised 2-year-old Spencer Kass as their own since the day his birth mother, Crystal Kane of Texas, gave him up for adoption. Kane's only demand was that it be an open adoption. As for the biological father, the Kasses' adoption attorney said he would not be a problem. However, Michael Elskes, of Houston, had no idea his son was put up for adoption and never gave his permission. As soon as he received a letter from the Kasses' attorney asking him to relinquish parental rights, he refused and filed a court order to take Spencer away. Thus began the two-and-a-half-year cross-country custody battle to win him back.
Joe Francis hits Panama City during spring break to videotape women willingly exposing themselves, but some say they feel exploited.
Patrick Bradford was once a proud police officer.
"There's no question I was exceptionally good at it," he says. "And it came naturally for me. And it was just like being right where you're supposed to be."
But today, Bradford is in prison serving 80 years for murdering his girlfriend, Tammy Lohr. In August 1992, she was stabbed repeatedly in her back and neck, before her body was set afire.
The crime rocked Evansville, Ind. Tammy, a 24-year-old civilian jailer, was attractive, energetic and popular. Bradford insists he had nothing to do with Tammy's murder. Susan Spencer reports on this tangled, tragic case.
A report on problems with neighbors and includes an interview with Ozzy Osbourne's former neighbor Pat Boone.
From Frank Sinatra to Frankie Avalon, from Elvis to the Beatles, teen idols have been a part of American culture for decades.
Now, 14-year-old Aaron Carter wants to be the next big thing. He's got the look and the moves, and he's got something extra: his mom, Jane Carter. Harold Dow reports.
Say Jane: "You have to be tough. You can't be nice. You can't say yes to everything that everybody wants from you. Sometimes, you have to be the bad guy. And you're gonna make people mad here and there, but you gotta not worry about that. You just gotta worry about number one, and that's my kids."
Jane is Aaron's manager, and she is determined to make him a superstar.
In January, 2000, with her daughter's wedding coming up, Angie Paquette, a 47-year-old Tampa housewife and mother of three decided to treat herself to a tummy tuck.
"I was not doing it because I'm a vain person," she tells Correspondent Troy Roberts." It was just to feel good about myself."
With time at a premium, she checked the Tampa phone book and found that Dr. Daniel Callahan offered surgery at a resort in Cancun, Mexico.
A friend had heard good things about Doctor Callahan, and Angie recognized his wife, a former TV anchor. Plus the cost seemed reasonable: $5,900 including airfare and room and board in Cancun.
The next week, Angie and two other patients flew to Mexico on a plane piloted by the doctor himself.
On the night of March 15, 2001, Danny Petrole, the son of a retired Secret Service agent, was brutally gunned down in an affluent suburb near Manassas, Va.
Petrole, a 21-year-old college student, was shot nine times as he sat in his car, just outside his townhouse.
Within weeks, police arrested a suspect in Danny's murder. Owen Barber, 21, grew up in a comfortable neighborhood near Manassas. According to Barber's then longtime girlfriend, Jennifer Pasquariello, Barber was a normal suburban kid.
Barber told police that another suburbanite, Justin Wolfe, had hired him to kill Petrole in exchange for money and drugs. Wolfe and Barber had been friends in high school. Wolfe, 20, was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Peter Van Sant reports on an unlikely tale of drugs, sex and greed in the suburbs.
Profiles featuring Kirk Douglas, Julie Andrews, Lauren Hutton and Loretta Lynn.
Mickey Thompson was an American racing legend, once one of the fastest men on earth. During his career, he set 395 different speed records.
But his career came to an end in 1988, when he and his wife, Trudy, were shot and killed outside their home in California's San Gabriel Mountains.
Their murders remained an unsolved mystery for more than a decade. But Thompson's sister, Colleen Campbell, never stopped hunting for the killers. She says she knows who did it - her brother's business partner, Michael Goodwin.
But can she help police prove it? Correspondent Bill Lagatutta reports on a case he's been covering for years.
A Navy Scandal - A Cheating Scandal And An Honor Code.
Cherry Tree Moments - How Honest Are You?
Foul Play - A Little League Record Marred.
Cheating in the Heartland - Cheating Scandal Divides Kansas Town.
Dr. Larry Farwell believes he's invented new technology that will revolutionize crimefighting by telling investigators what's inside someone's head.
"I'm sort of a neuroscientist by training and a crime fighter almost by happenstance," he says.
Dr. Farwell calls his invention brain fingerprinting. It's based on the widely accepted theory that when people are presented with familiar information, like words or images, their brains unconsciously emit special electrical signals called brain waves.
When a father is murdered while jogging, his family comes under suspicion.
In the small town of Roby, Texas, people were down on their luck. But then their luck changed, in a big way. Forty-three of them hit the lottery, and overnight, struck it rich. 48 HOURS reports on the unpredictable results of this unlikely event.
Anthony Haynes was a troubled kid. In the spring of 2001, after the Phoenix teen was caught shoplifting, his mother Melanie enrolled him in America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association, a boot camp run by 57-year-old Charles Franklin Long II. She never expected him to end up dead. Who is to blame? Richard Schlesinger reports.
Three teen idols - Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC - dominate today's pop music scene. Together, they sell millions of records, make millions of dollars and have millions of fans.
The also have something else in common: manager Johnny Wright.
"I know what a star is to me," Wright tells Troy Roberts. "Now it's my job to go out and convince the world of that."
Spears calls him "a great friend, a talent, a cool guy." NSYNC's Justin Timberlake and Chris Kirkpatrick call him a master of the music business. "He goes beyond what a manager should do," says Timberlake. "You can tell he always takes pride in making sure the acts he's involved with have a great show."
Wright, 41, started small in Cape Cod., Mass., as a music-loving teen-ager with dreams.
Las Vegas is a city of high stakes and security. Meet high roller Larry Flynt, entertainer Wayne Newton a 14-year-old prostitute, a cop who is a dancer by night and a card counter.
A man photographs the brutal rape and torture of his girlfriend, but doesn't do time for murder. Why not?
Examining the "battered woman syndrome---a state of fear and helplessness," says Dan Rather, "that, in a few extreme cases, leads to murder." The report says some courts are recognizing the syndrome as a defense. Included: an Ohio woman convicted of shooting her husband.
Christina Scheier and Bonny Lee Bakley had been best friends since they were kids.
"Bonny had set out the goal to be a celebrity when she was very young," says Christina. "She wanted to be on TV and say to all the people growing up, 'Hey everybody, here I am now, now you'll really notice me.'"
Ironically, Bonny achieved her lifelong goal only when she died. Months before, Bonny had married actor Robert Blake, a Hollywood loner. Police believe he shot Bonny to death on May 4th, 2001. She was 44.
The story of how Bonny Lee Bakley ended up in Hollywood, married to a one-time big name star - reads like a movie script. Peter Van Sant reports.
Given her past, Cheryl Amirault LeFave is almost grateful for her grueling schedule. She's working two jobs, for a total of nearly 70 hours a week.
"I had such a difficult time job searching. The notoriety of the case causes people to be hesitant with respect to employing me," says Cheryl, who at age 29 was convicted of molesting preschoolers. "It's something that I'm determined to overcome."
Cheryl, who was found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting four children, spent eight years in prison. But now, Correspondent Susan Spencer reports on dramatic new developments in this case.
A look at life in a town after Sept. 11. Dan Rather hosts.
