Missing Mom (2016) - full transcript

Hello?

- Hey Uncle Rob, listen,
I'm gonna be in Ontario

the first few weeks in November

and I'm starting
another documentary.

I'm actually gonna see if
I can track down my mom.

Oh,
good luck on that one.

This is my
mom, Terri Lee Parker,

and this is the last
image we have of her,

because on the night
of October 27th, 1990,

she vanished.

I was only eight years old,
and no one has seen her since.



- A lot of kids who don't
know their biological parents

really feel they
need to find out

where they came from,
and I understand that.

Those of us who have
that in our past

take it for granted, I think,

and so I think it's normal
for kids to want that

and young adults,
adults to want that

and sort of find their roots
and figure out who they are.

But, it may not
be what they want.

- Well I'm sure it's hard not
knowing what happened to her.

He may finally be able
to get some closure.

It's hard to make the decision
right now to go after her,

but you don't know what
the outcome's gonna be.

I don't know how he's gonna
react to it, good or bad.



- I don't know
what's gonna happen.

I mean, it very well be
we don't find anything.

We could possibly find
her, and we could find out

that she's no more,
she could be dead.

And you know what?

All of those
possibilities are okay.

I'm a firm believer it
is, all of it the journey,

not the destination.

But it'd be great to
have some answers.

- I met him in grade one,
and it was interesting

circumstances that
brought him to London.

I can't recall where he
came from in Ontario,

but he kinda just
arrived in grade one.

We quickly became
friends as he did with

some of our other pals that
we're still close with today.

- When he was
younger, especially,

you could see anger issues.

- Ah, Rob was very
strong-minded,

potentially confrontational
with authority,

teachers and principals.

- Rob really hasn't
changed that much

since I met him as a kid.

- You didn't really
think about it,

you didn't really notice
it 'cause his grandparents

were great, and to me
they were his parents,

but at the same time, knowing
him, there was this void.

- Everyone else had
a mother or father,

and Rob had his grandparents.

His parents were absent
his entire childhood.

- I recall meeting
his mom once, I think.

I recall being in his
kitchen and I met his mom,

and then, nothing,
just vanished.

- So I can understand going
on this quest for him.

Why not, why wouldn't
you wanna know?

How could you live the rest
of your life not knowing?

- It's the strongest
connection left to him but,

is there a connection?

What is this gonna turn up?

- Once he sets his
mind on something,

he's gonna follow
through to the end.

And, I think as a
result he's gonna find

the answers that he's
looking for in this case.

- This quest is gonna have
many phases or components,

but the first phase
is the research phase.

It's where I'm hoping to
gather as much information

as possible, because right now,

I don't even have a starting
point to look for my mom.

Here's what's gonna happen
for the next 17 days.

I'm gonna talk with my
grandparents, Norm and Carol,

my uncle Rob, and
my best friend Jay.

Then I'm gonna travel to
Windsor to see my aunt Kelly

and my grandma, Mary.

After that, I'm gonna
rendezvous with my brother Chris

who's flying in from
Thompson, Manitoba

to join our trek, and
with him on board,

we'll get to talk
to his dad, Rick,

who was married to our mom.

We'll also get to talk
to Chris's grandpa, Ross.

On the film side is
Ryan Daniszewski,

who's filming most of
this, and Jordan Morris

is co-directing and producing

as well as acting
as my confidant

and, from time to time,
the voice of reason.

So, I'm in London,
Ontario, back home again.

It's decidedly fall outside,

and gearin' up for
all these interviews.

I can tell people are a little
excited and a little anxious.

My grandma's already tryin'
to start talkin' to me

about stuff, which
is kind of insane.

It's never been officially,
you know, a taboo subject

but now that I've expressed
interest in talking about it,

the gates are open.

- Okay, the last time
I saw my daughter

was at her father's
50th birthday,

which would be 24 years ago.

- Oh, she was fun,
she really was.

She was,
off-the-wall crazy too, though.

She always made me
nervous.

'Cause she was always one
to try and push the limits

as far as she could push them.

- She started skating when
she was four years old.

- She loved skating.

She would get up in the morning,

and you never had
to wake her twice.

She would get up,
off to the rink,

work like a dog, come
home, go to school,

she was a good student.

Never a moment's
problem in that respect.

She had a lotta good friends,
never had any problems.

- She was smart.

Everything came easy to her.

- I used to get phone calls,

in the evening, afternoon
sometime, mostly in the evening.

I would get phone calls from
people who obviously knew her,

and there was a lot
of derogatory comments

made over the telephone,
which I'd never reveal.

My wife doesn't even know that.

- Her biggest fault was boys.

- You know, growing up
as a teenager and that,

I never seen her with
any drugs or anything.

I know she smoked.

- Alcohol started disappearing.

I know that for a fact.

- She turned to other things

or other people
outside of the family

who made her feel
very different.

- She had left and
disappeared, I know that,

and then she kinda surfaced.

She was going by
the name of Lee.

- So we didn't know that either.

It was almost like
she had taken on

this other identity.

- That was not her name.

I mean, well, it was her
name, it was her middle name,

but it was not the name
that we knew her by.

- Once she married Rob's dad,

I didn't see her
very much after that.

- I don't even remember
how she met David.

I don't even
remember that piece.

- I had more respect for David
than I had for my daughter.

I thought, you know,
I looked at him

and I didn't say anything,
and I was thinking to myself,

"How the hell did you get
yourself in this position?"

- I always wish I knew
what happened to her

'cause she was important to me.

- Being a mother,
the worst thing

always goes through
your mind first.

- She's probably dead,
or she could be dead.

We don't know.

- If she only knew,

how many people love
her unconditionally.

- I'm probably cold-hearted
about the whole thing,

but if I never see her
again, I could care less.

While we were
only hoping to get an idea

on my mom's character and past

during the opening
round of interviews,

we unexpectedly got
a lead from my uncle

that she was seen in
Collingwood, Ontario

about 10 years ago.

Starting the hunt this early
was never part of our plan,

but this was too good to ignore.

We had to follow it
all the way to the end.

- Probably around 10 years ago,

but a buddy of mine who is a
police officer with the OPP

so I know he's pretty good
with face recognition,

he was, I don't know if
it was a ski trip or what

but he was up in
the Collingwood area

and he was pretty
positive at the time

that he had seen my sister.

He didn't confront
her or anything

'cause it was, I don't
know if he seen her

while he was driving or in
a store or a restaurant,

he never really
got to that detail.

He just told me, it
was a matter of factly,

you know, "I think I seen your
sister up in Collingwood."

My friend's been with the
police force a long time,

and when he was with a
couple of the smaller cities

he was
actually able to go on

and try and track
her down for me.

He's tried probably five,
six times in the past

over the years, and
never had any luck

trying to locate her.

Well, he grew up with me.

We had been friends since
we were about 10 years old,

so he was quite familiar
with my sister growing up.

He knew that she had
her first marriage

last name McCallum, second
marriage last name Byford.

Sometimes she liked to go
by her middle name, Lee,

so it could be any
combination of Lee Byford,

Lee McCallum, Terri
Byford, Terri McCallum.

- This is Rob McCallum,
I'm Rob Parker's nephew.

You may or may not have
heard what I'm trying to do,

I'm trying to track
down my mother,

Rob Parker's sister, and I
heard that you may or may not

have had somewhat
of an encounter,

and just off the record
I would love to hear it

kinda firsthand
to see what it is.

Obviously, nothing on you
about how legitimate it is,

but I'm just trying to get
every scrap of evidence,

because as you know probably
it's a bit of a mystery

and any information
could be super helpful

whether it's now
or down the road.

So hopefully you can
help me out a little bit.

Just give us a call back.

I'm at my uncle's
house right now.

We'll be here most of the night,

and if you can't get
back to us tonight

maybe I'll try ya again
later on through the week.

Thanks so much, I
appreciate it, bye.

I didn't meet my dad
till I was 10 years old,

and we didn't really have
an amazing relationship.

We tried to see eye to eye,

but it could just
never really work

the way that that
relationship should work.

Now that I'm trying
to find my mom,

I'm wondering if
we'll ever be able

to have a good relationship,
or if the events

of the past are really
too hard to overcome.

- David walked in
the office all smiles

and he says, "You'll never
guess what happened."

Then he told me that Rob Parker

was gonna make arrangements
for him to meet his son.

- And I just called
him and basically said,

"Look, your son's asking
a lot of questions.

"You haven't been in the
picture and you haven't called,

"so I'm gonna do
one of two things.

"One, if you don't want to
have any contact with your son,

"I won't tell him
I ever found you,

"but if you do want
contact with him,

"now's the time to step up
and give him a call or visit."

I think it was only a matter
of about two weeks later

that he got to
see his dad again.

- I remember driving
up to London,

and David was feeling
very nervous about it.

He wasn't sure how Robby
was going to react to him.

I think he really worried about

if Robby was going to ever
forgive him for what he did.

- There was a lotta
disappointing trips

where Rob would go and
visit his dad for a weekend

or a week, and he'd
be excited for it.

By the time he got back,
he would be so over it

and hoping that he wouldn't
have to go see his dad

for another year.

- When it came to
Robby wanting his way

and Dave wanting his way, yep,

they would butt heads all right.

- We moved down to Houston
right after we got married.

Rob's dad helped us
build a house down there

and it was in the same
neighborhood where they lived,

so we all lived really close,

like almost across the street.

And then later on, Nelson
and his family moved down.

Rob was never into hunting,
but Nelson and Dave

went hunting quite often.

One weekend, Nelson
and Dave went hunting.

- It was late in the night.

We were sittin' around the
campfire, havin' some beer,

and I wanted to go
hunting in the morning

'cause I like to hunt in
the morning, he didn't.

He'd stay up, skip
the morning hunt.

So I went to bed and
then, I don't remember

how much longer after, but,

there was another
gentleman with us

and he come running in
the house and woke me up

and told me there was an
accident and I need to get up.

When I got up, I ran outside

and our dad, he was on fire.

- We got a call really
early on a Sunday morning

and it was Donna.

She was down at the
hospital in Houston,

and she said that David
had been in an accident

and that he had burns
all over his body.

I just remember Rob saying,
"Why does it have to be burns?"

I think he was freaked out.

I think he was afraid
to see him after that.

- Soon after that
he went into a coma,

and then never
talked to him again.

When he left the camp,
I never seen him again.

- My heart really went
out to Robby because,

David was all he
really had then.

And not to have a mother,
and only a father,

and then to lose your father,

it was really hard.

Then also to make the decision
to pull the plug on his dad.

Are we goin' for sure?

We made that plan official?

- Yeah, it's only a matter
of time, but we're goin'.

I'm in the process right now

of writing down all the major
restaurants that we could find

at least off the
main strip anyway,

which will give us most of
the eateries in that region.

I think what we're gonna
do once we get up there

is to attack spots like that

which all represent
trying to interrupt

someone's daily routine.

How many are we at?

- 59.

And a bunch of these are Wendys,
there's several Starbucks.

- Does that include
hotels, or no?

No.

- So that's just
restaurants, 59 restaurants.

- With chains, with
Timmy's, Starbucks,

that kind of stuff
in there as well.

- And we had talked
about making a flyer.

- Yeah, actually
leaving posters behind,

have you seen this person?

Missing mom, and details on her,

the most recent photo
that you have of her,

and traits, you know, like
she has been a server,

she has been an
accomplished figure skater,

anything else that
we can throw in there

and see what kind
of a hit we can get.

And we gotta hit it all,

so my concern is that
it's a smaller town

but there's still
lots of restaurants.

- How big is Collingwood?

Do you have a population?

- I don't have that yet.

Let me find that out right now.

- It should say, it
should say over here.

Oh, up here.

Up, population, just
under 20,000 as of 2011.

The big question is, is
how much time do we have

for this trip to Collingwood

that we can manage and pull off?

I mean, I haven't even run this
past my brother yet, right?

He might say, "You guys
are just wasting time,

"you guys are going
up there on a rumor

"that's changed from
four to 10 years

"and you just hope to get lucky

"by putting posters up there."

It would be
tough, it would be tough

to do them all in one day.

- So, from London how
far of a drive is it?

Three hours.

- 246 kilometers, which
is about 180 miles?

So we got the poster,
and it's walking in

and saying, "Hi, I'm looking
for a missing person,

"I haven't seen my
mom in a long time

"but it was rumored she was
here four to six, 10 years ago.

"Have you seen her?"

Whatever the answer is...

Do you have
any advice as well?

- Do you have any advice,
can I leave this here

with you, and can we post this?

Will you
allow us to post this?

- So Jordan and I
put, missing person.

Hey friends, need a favor.

Anyone have connections
to people of influence

or people that are connected

to the Collingwood,
Ontario area?

I'm looking for my
mom, she was last seen

in this area four
to 10 years ago.

Anything could be possible,
but need your help.

Sound good?

Yeah,
that sounds great.

- This app is
supposed to allow you

to see what somebody's look like

when they're a bit older.

It's the new version of
hiring a sketch artist.

I may go online and see
what I can get as well,

'cause it's a little
comedic, I think, but.

Well, as
long as we're up front

about the fact that there's
no science behind it.

Yeah.

It's fine.

- So.

Okay, so.

That's there now on Twitter.

That's creepy.

Woah!

Isn't that freaky?

Oh man, I can't.

Regardless of, but
like, watch this.

Oh, yeah,
I saw her move, geez.

- There is no Dana, only Zuul.

It feels real all
of a sudden, man,

now that people are lookin'
at this on Facebook.

Yeah,
you're out there now.

- Like, it's one
thing to go around

and get family stories, right?

Yep.

- And, just to see these two
people share it on Facebook,

it's like, wow, people care.

Which I'm super comfortable
with, obviously.

I mean, this is like
the ultimate fear now,

'cause now people are
gonna ask on Facebook

and Twitter and Instagram,

and that's kind of what we want,

but now it's, all those years

defending this whole
thing as a kid,

like saying, "Oh
no, my mom is gone,"

and ending the subject.

Not no more.

Yeah.

One in the morning,
I get a message,

and it was, I went to
high school with your mom

and I know where she is.

She goes by this name now.

- What?

- Yeah.

- Well, I could
tell by your text

that you had a solid lead, but
that's way more than solid.

That's way more than a lead.

We know where she is.

Like, how close are you to
having an address, even?

- Kitchener, LinkedIn profile.

- Kitchener?

- And workplace.

- So obviously you
went online and looked?

- Yeah, went online and
looked, Facebook profile.

- Picture?

- Yeah.

- Jesus, man, that's amazing.

- I don't, I don't 100% buy it.

- You don't think
it's the same person?

- No.

Definite similarities,

a few different facial things

like a mole on the
face that wasn't on,

that I never saw it with my mom.

- Well, that's a long time.

- Stuff can happen.
- Absolutely.

- I mean, sunburn can
leave that kinda thing.

- Sunburn, smoking.

- And then this
morning, at 9:30am,

I get another message
from another party

that eventually was
the one that prompted

each of these two
parties last night.

So there's like this
person at the top

who shared this with everyone,

and the two people contacted me

based on that initial person.

So this initial person
said, "Someone messaged me,

"she's living in a
hotel in East London."

What?

- I had a friend say
that he knew her,

this guy named Bud,
and she's living

in a hotel in East London.

Flash forward to
10:15, I get a message,

"Hi, someone says
you're looking for me

"but I don't know
if I know you."

And, little bit stronger
facial feature resemblance

than before, but again,
things not lining up.

Like, this person's only 46.

She lived in Collingwood
briefly in the mid 80s, though,

was born from London.

- So probably not her.

- Probably not.

- I mean, the age alone.

- Well, and yeah, the age alone,

but like everything else.

This person looks
like this person,

this person looks
like this person.

- Damn.

- So imagine that
going through my head.

I mean, I didn't go
to sleep til 4:00am

because it's like, holy crap.

- Well especially the one, like,

hi, do I know you?

- Yeah, and that was this
morning as I was driving here.

I'm like, do I look at
it, do I not look at it?

'Cause if we're not
Facebook friends,

so it's not like I can see
her profile or anything

other than the basic page.

- Well I wanna see
all of these people.

- Sure.

Jordan took a look
at all the messages

and social media hits and agreed

that no one had a strong
enough case to be my mom,

but regardless of all that buzz,

I had something else I
had to get off my chest.

I think I'm gonna
give it a year.

I think that's the timeline.

- And then, if nothing comes...

- Walk away.
- Put it to bed.

- So from my, essentially,
birthday to birthday.

- Mm hmm.

- How do you feel about that?

- No, you can't have it draggin'
around behind ya forever,

so that seems healthy, sure.

One year.

I think there's gonna be a
lot of activity in a year,

especially if you keep pushin'.

- Well that's just it, right?

If you can't do it in a year.

And it's only
gonna take a few months

to really start spoolin'
up and getting social,

to, like I say, to make
it more of a viral thing.

- Yeah.

- And if more pictures
from Collingwood...

Emerge or anywhere.

- Like, even that
later, that could prove

to be really interesting.

Chris flew into
town and we were eager

to add him to the mix.

He's an RCMP officer, a Mountie,

and he's got a level head
for these kinda situations.

Truth be told, Chris
is my half brother.

We have the same mom,
but different dads.

When that marriage failed,

Chris went to his dad's parents

and I went to our mom's parents,

so we were each raised
by our grandparents.

- Everyone has the same
question, even now.

Where's mom and dad?

The only answer I
can give 'em is,

dad lives in Penetang
and we have no idea

where my mother is, and
she's been missing for,

since I was three years old.

Mom went missing, and
grandma and grandpa Byford

and grandma and grandpa
Parker were right there,

assumed control right
away, no questions asked.

It's unfathomable to think
about because it's a mother,

like, what mother would do that?

- I think it's particularly
difficult in a family

where no one really knows,
when no one really knows,

because then everybody
makes up their own story.

As a kid, you don't
know what to believe,

and so you glom onto something
that's somewhat reasonable

or the best story that you
think you can believe in,

and choose that one until
maybe you're a little older

and hear something
else, and then you might

choose another one.

So it's a little crazy
making, you know?

What's the real story?

- So we're off to the OPP.

There was one more lead from
social media last night.

Someone reached out
from Collingwood

who said they used to work
with our mom at Kelsey's,

and now he's a police
officer up there.

And if we can give
him some information,

he will do everything
in his power to help us.

He said, "Boy, she was a
lot of fun to work with."

So how do you feel
about that, Chris?

Well, it's good
to have someone on our side.

- So here's...

- Knows what we're
talking about.

- So here's my concern, right,

we're gonna go talk
to the OPP right now

and this is what
I mentioned to you

just before we got in the car.

Maybe we have to pay
two stops to the OPP.

One to see if there's
anything on record

and then see what information
we can come away with,

talk to other people
in the family,

and then open up a missing case,

or a missing persons
report thing.

But I don't wanna
compromise what the OPP

might be trying to do if
this guy in Collingwood

starts trying to
do stuff for us.

- Well, when the
file is created,

he can easily, like, 'cause
they're gonna wanna talk

to people in Collingwood,
I'm assuming,

'cause she lived there.

And if people know her,
they're gonna wanna talk

to those people, and he would
be an invaluable resource

in that capacity, in my opinion,

because he worked with her.

Yeah,
can't he just openly

contribute to the case?

- Yes, he can.

- Okay, so...

- But they would
need to know him,

'cause as of right now they
won't know who he is, right?

- Right.

- So they won't know he's
a resource to pull on.

- Yeah.

For a whole bunch of
reasons, mainly privacy laws,

the officer that talked to us
couldn't give us much info,

but he did give us one
little bread crumb.

Someone by the
name of Lee Byford

was mentioned as a
reportee on a file in 1994,

but he couldn't tell us
where that file was generated

or the nature of the report.

So Chris, give us
a brief explanation

of what we're trying to
do, without specifics.

- I am gonna text
a friend of mine

to see what she can find out
about what we just learned.

Essentially, it's just
a shot in the dark

that we might be able to pull up

whatever was being looked at.

Okay.

- The idea that the
last reported sighting

might have just gotten
five years fresher

and possibly be in a
totally different direction

than what we were
about to pursue

freaks me out, 'cause we're
throwing everything we have,

limited resources wise, you
know, time, money, all that,

we're trying to cover the
best ground that we can

and if we're just throwin' a net

over the wrong part of Ontario,

we're gonna get nowhere.

So, it's really important
that we figure out

as much as we can based
on the information.

There's zero
guarantees of anything.

One of the hardest
parts about this for Chris

is that he has no
memories of our childhood

or our mother, nothing,

so I wanted to
help him with that

and show him some home movies
that I recently discovered.

Go catch
up to Robby, Chris.

Where ya goin', Chris?

- We're following this path.

Those
are wild onions, Rob.

Uncle Robby had to eat
them for a survival course.

- You can eat that.

Tastes
like an onion.

Mm, how nice.

- Wanna bite?

No.

- Eat this bite, it's onion!

Want an onion?

Take
a bite of it, Chris.

Robby.

Robby.

- Yeah?

Don't force him.

- Why?

Wanna
try it, Chris?

- No.

I got one.

How ya like that, Chris?

He's biting,
taking a bite of it!

Yep.

What's it taste like?

- Looks like we were
normal kids at that point.

It's neat to watch, especially
when you know who's there

but you don't have
memory of that.

It's very cool.

There isn't
much video of our past

or even other family events.

One thing I did find was the
last appearance of our mom

in October of 1990.

No real set for this one either.

It's amazing what you find.

Over the hill.

- I see that.

See who that was?

- Very good.

That was the last time
anyone ever saw her,

that we can think of.

It's weird.

I don't know, I have
no memory of her.

It's something that I
didn't even think existed.

- It's just crazy to
wrap your head around

everything we've heard,
and then to see that.

- Again, we've only
seen still photos,

or at least I've only
ever seen a still photo,

which is always,
like, wedding photos

where it's obviously a very
happy moment but it's static,

there's no movement,
no life to it.

You're right, it's very much,
it's a live person smiling

and looking like they're
having a good time.

So yeah, it's a different way
of looking at it, for sure.

- I mean, we've talked
about the last few days

this idea that maybe it
was, don't come back,

you know, directly
or indirectly implied

that if she came back it
would be bad for everybody

so maybe that's why she left.

But then, if this
is the last moment,

did that moment
happen that night?

- The plot thickens.

All right,
what's goin' on?

- I just received an
email from a friend

who says that she was able to,

look up a Lee Byford with
the same date of birth

and it's a Toronto
Police Department.

Jesus.

What do you think that means?

- She's now in a city of,
what, two million people?

In 1994.

All right, a friend of
mine there did some digging

on our little bit of a
lead there yesterday.

- Yep.

- And, she discovered that
it was a general occurrence

in Toronto for Lee Byford

in 1994, and I have a
file number as well.

- So no address or anything?

- No address, not
on that system.

Toronto would
probably have that.

- So if we went to the
Toronto service and dug,

we might find a fuller,
more complete file.

Yes.

'Cause we have a
file number now.

- That sounds promising, yeah?

Yeah, Chris
said that we need to do

an ATIP in Toronto.

- Yeah.

- And now that you
know the service,

you can throw 'em
all over Ontario.

- Yeah, about right.

- And we just happen to be
driving through Toronto.

- We can stop at a police
station in Toronto.

Guess we can just
park anywhere, right?

But?

Or her
names or anything.

- Yeah, like that's
really what it is.

What are
you thinkin', buddy?

- I'm not thinkin'
really anything,

I'm just,

I guess I am thinking.

What can we do without,

getting anyone in trouble?

I don't wanna, that's
not my goal here.

I wanna be able to just
get this information easily

and that's all, that's it.

- It's just really
frustrating for me.

These people are doing
their jobs, and I get it,

that there's laws
in place to protect

people's private information.

I wouldn't want my phone number,
address given out either,

but at the same
time, I feel like

they're lookin' behind the
curtain and see that information

on a computer screen,

and we're that close and
they won't say anything.

It's so frustrating that it's
a digital file on a server,

and it's right there.

- Yeah.

- It's aggravating.

Even with our stop in
Toronto being a bust,

we still had an
important interview
ahead with Rick Byford,

Chris's dad, in
Penetanguishene, Ontario.

This interview could lead
to a lot of key information

as he may have known our mom
best out of anyone so far.

- My dad is,

he's an interesting guy.

I've often described
him, and I don't wanna

make it sound bad,

as a big kid.

It's disappointing the
fact that he's been there

my whole life, but
only at arm's reach.

Can I say I'm particularly
proud of that?

No, I think he
could've done more,

but am I gonna fault him on it?

No, I don't think
he was prepared

to be a father to begin with.

I believe my dad kept
me at arm's reach

for the very reason
that I reminded him

of this person
who abandoned him,

and I think that's really
what it is, it's abandonment.

He was left high and dry, and
I'm what reminds him of that.

- First time I met
Lee, she was a waitress

at the Desert Inn
in Guelph, Ontario

and I was a cook there.

That was basically how we met

and had a little
whirlwind romance there,

and got married
fairly soon after.

When you're working in
the hospitality industry,

you're mostly
working all the time.

You know, after work then
you go out for drinks

and party and do
it all over again.

There's not really a
lot of dating going on.

She was bubbly, she
was always happy,

she was a good worker.

I mean, she was pretty.

The marriage proposal
was basically

she told me she wanted a ring,

and I got it.

Went to Collingwood
to the Cranberry Inn

and she was behind me there,

and then it was, after
a couple of years

I started lookin'
for a job again.

Wounded up in Parry Sound
at the Rocky Crest Resort.

She woulda known she
was pregnant, I guess,

probably two months
after we were married.

Must've been, it had
to be that close.

Went off the pill
and didn't tell me

and bingo, she was
pregnant, right?

Like, you know, she wasn't
comin' home at night

and stuff like that.

"Oh, I fell asleep
at my friend's,"

and blah, blah, blah.

That's when we weren't
working at the same resort.

She had taken a job
at another resort,

and then she did
it again one night,

went somewhere after
work and came home

in the wee, wee, wee
hours of the morning,

and it was like, "This
is your last chance now

"that you've just used it.

"It better not happen again."

And then two days later,
it happened again,

two or three days later,
and that was that.

We weren't really together
for all that long, really.

It was like three and
a half years, maybe,

that we were together,
maybe not even that long.

I don't really know
why nobody ever

tried to look for her.

I don't know.

- And so I don't know
if the boys at all

have really talked about
this openly and honestly,

about their differences and
the different perspectives

they have of their mother.

But if I was a
therapist seeing them,

I might wanna start there.

They each have their
own individual issues

connected to her, but
there's a common bond

that they also have
connected to the trauma

of their mother not
being in their life,

and it is a trauma.

- Can you forgive her?

- I don't think I have
anything to forgive.

'Cause, again, this is
all your memories of her

and your battle with those
memories and feelings.

I think I've grown
up enough to be like,

I didn't have any
control of any of that.

I'm not looking for forgiveness.

I'm just, it's curiosity for me.

- I'm angry for what they
did to you, I know that.

- Then maybe it's a good
thing that I don't remember.

Maybe I blocked that out.

- It could be a good thing.

- Where would I be if
I was angry with it?

I wouldn't probably
wanna do this.

- What do you hope
you find, man?

'Cause I, I don't know
what I want to find,

let alone what I
think I might find.

- What is it you hope you find?

- I don't know.

I hope I find, not answers
and not even closure.

I mean, I already have
some understanding

which is something I
didn't have before.

I have that picture
that I can paint.

- Do you think you need this?

Like you can't go on without it?

- There's so much more to learn.

Everything has really
been fog and mist

that we've got so far,
and we haven't found

a definite truth,
and the only way

that we'll really know
who she is, I think,

is by meeting her.

And I wanna know
who this person is,

and it's not about
finding a villain,

it's not about finding a hero,

it's not even about
finding a mom.

- Hey, you know what,
I'm with you on that.

She chose to separate from us,

and I don't think we're
gonna give her a choice.

She will have to confront
us, if we get to that point.

- Right.

- She'll have to deal with that.

Whether or not it
goes on from there

is gonna be, is another
story I'm assuming.

- If she started a new family,

that doesn't mean that those
people made those choices,

and us coming into that
life could rock their world.

That might force her
to run again, right?

And then they'll be in
the same position of us,

and at what point
does the cycle stop?

When do people stop running?

It's a hard question
to answer.

We only got a few days left.

It seems that the direction

that police have
been asking us to go

is with either a PI
or the Salvation Army,

so bearing that in mind,

that's where we're
gonna go from here.

- Our friend from
the Collingwood area,

who was gonna help
us behind the scenes

and asked to remain anonymous

has just reached out after
a couple days of silence.

He did say he'd be
at work on Thursday

so we'll see what he
found, being today,

and we'll get in touch.

He wants to call,
and I just asked him

when he wants that to happen.

- Hi there, this
is Rob McCallum.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, we went to
the OPP to try to see

if there was anything
ever opened by our family.

- Nothin'.

- Right.

- No.

Yeah, I mean, we've...

- Well that's just it,
she was such a traveler.

She was never really
in any one place

for more than a couple years,

and we can't find
a single confidant

at really any point
in her entire life

'cause she would just
move from group to group,

and even when she was
in the Collingwood area

and married to her
second husband,

she had six or seven jobs
all up in Collingwood

and Thornbury and MacTier and
Owen Sound and Parry Sound.

- I have no idea.

It's quite possible,
there were suggestions

that part of the
reason she had kids

and wanted both my
brother and I around

even though she wasn't
maybe capable of raising us

was to get some social
assistance out of it.

- Sure.

- Okay, I appreciate it, thanks.

- Bye.

Well, he didn't get
any more information.

Just as we were startin' to
talk about that case file,

before we could even get
into the case file stuff

he got pulled away.

So at least we're all
on the same page so far

that maybe that '94 report
thing was the last of it.

He's gonna call me back.

It sounds like he didn't
wanna cut that off.

So that's cool, and
maybe he can get us

some more information with
what he's got access to,

but if he's OPP, up there
in northern Ontario,

then he maybe has what OPP
down here in London saw,

which isn't enough to
get more information

so we're still pushin' for
that inner Toronto lead.

It's pretty
funny though, right?

He said the same thing: she
had to have had a confidant,

she had to have
had a best friend,

but we haven't found any.

- Nope.

We have...

I still
find that weird.

- We don't have much
goin' on our side.

I'm not giving up or
anything by any means,

but we've got some
solid options.

The thing is, everything
that we've got

really needs to produce
something to go forward.

Yeah,
we're stalled out

unless we can get into that
file and find the next crumb.

- Yeah.

Hello?

Hello.

Next we
went to see Ross.

Ross is Chris's grandpa,
and we're hoping

he can fill in some more
of the story about our mom.

Ross also has a
cousin, also named Rob,

who works for the
Toronto Police Force,

so we're hoping
to give him a call

and see if he has any
suggestions about learning more

about that report that
was filed in 1994.

- Carol got hold of
Prudence and she said,

"I've got Lee here," I
guess it was in Toronto,

"And she wants to see Chris."

So, my wife said, "If you
wanna see Chris, okay.

"I'm gonna see her first."

And she went and saw her,

and she said, "Lee, I'm sorry,

"if you can't get
yourself cleaned up,

"then you're not gonna see him."

And we, as far as
we're concerned,

never heard from her again.

As far as I know, her
last known appearance

was at Wonderland.

Canada's Wonderland
is an amusement park

just north of Toronto
in Vaughan, Ontario.

In addition to roller
coasters and thrill rides,

there are a number
of musical acts,

singing groups, diving shows,

and figure skating
performances on display.

- Carol told me that she had
met one of Lee's school friends

and the school friend had said

that they had seen
her at Wonderland.

She went, Carol went up and
tried to trace her from there,

from Wonderland.

I guess, well Wonderland
closes over the winter,

so the previous year
the girl had met her,

Carol met the girl
and then Carol

either after Wonderland was
open for the next season,

she wasn't working
there anymore.

If she was actually
at Wonderland,

then she did stay around
Toronto for a period of time.

Hello?

- Hello, is Rob there please?

Yes.

- Can I speak to him?

Okay.

Daddy!

Hello?

- Hi there Rob, it's Chris.

Hey,
what's goin' on?

- Oh not too bad,
long time no see.

I know.

- Where've you been?

I've been
here, where have you been?

- Well I've been in
the great white North.

Keepin' the North
strong and free.

Right.

- So, me and my brother,
my brother's a filmmaker.

One of the things we uncovered
throughout all of this

was a file that
came up in Toronto,

with her name and date of birth.

Okay.

- In 1994.

I know it's 20 years
ago, but really

that's the only lead
we've had since.

So there was no ever any
missing person's file, per se,

like you would hope there
would be one, but there isn't.

And I was just wondering
if you were able

to look into it for me.

Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what do
you think about that?

- That's awesome.

- How are you feelin' right now?

- Excited.

- Why?

- Because he's more than
willing to look into it for us

and check in and
do whatever he can

to help us at that end,

and then give us an update.

Unfortunately it's gonna
be after, but that's...

But it's in the works.

- But it's in the works,
and it sounds like

it's a good start, but he
won't be back into work

until it sounds like Monday.

- I'll be the negative guy
saying it sucks I leave Monday.

- It ain't over on Monday,
it ain't over on Monday.

It's been 25 years.

Another couple of months isn't
gonna kill anyone.

- I can't imagine a
better case scenario,

really, than that.

- So?

- There's still no guarantee
about anything in that file.

- Here's the question.

Here's the bigger question.

- What?

- What do we do Saturday?

- Collingwood.
- Collingwood.

In what capacity?

A combination,
like you said.

- I think we should
try, go and see

if we can talk to anyone,
just to talk to them,

get our faces out there saying
this is what's happening,

generate hype for
this Kickstarter.

Being like, it started
in their community

and I think we can get
people on board with that.

- So we're at 50 kilometers,

30 miles outside of
Collingwood, northern Ontario.

This is the last
place anybody saw her

so we decided that
we're gonna print off

a bunch of these, we got 200
flyers ready to hand out.

We're gonna go it all the
restaurants that we know

because she worked
in the hospitality,

service industry,
maybe a couple hotels.

Interrupt the daily life of
people who are in coffee shops,

that's where we're
gonna hope to hit them,

pass these out, and see
what leads we can find.

Oh, not bad, how are you doin'?

Hoping that you can
help us with something.

We're conducting a
missing person search.

Nah, well, not too bad.

We're hoping you
can help us out.

We're conducting a
missing persons search.

Our mom disappeared
like 25 years ago,

but someone said they saw her

in the four to 10 year
region in this area,

which is where we grew
up in the mid 80s.

We're actually wondering
if you can help us out.

We're conducting a
missing persons search.

My mom went missing
25 years ago,

so I live in Las Vegas, my
brother lives north of Winnipeg.

He's hitting another restaurant

'cause she worked as
a waitress and stuff,

and we have a flyer
and we're wondering

if we can post it
or give it to you.

So, we just stopped
in a restaurant

that's only been here a year,

but the guy that's up
there, who tends bar here,

says he's seen her
at Blue Mountain.

He says, "She looks familiar,
go to Blue Mountain,"

he gave us a contact,
gave us someone to check,

so after we hit a
few more on here

we're definitely gonna
head up to the mountain

and check the Blue Mountain Inn

or the conference center
where this manager

of food and beverage is, and
try to talk to that person

and see if we can get a lead.

He swears that he may have
seen her within a year.

So we're outside Kelsey's.

We had lunch here.

This is where our mom used to
work about 23, 24 years ago,

and we're about to
talk to somebody

who had just punched
in the clock,

so he's about to
start his shift,

and he worked here
about 20 years ago

so there's a chance that
there's some overlap

between the two.

It's the last shot at
the end of the day,

hopefully that we can get some
information out of this guy

and end the day on
a positive note,

but we've done a good job,
I think, papering the town

and success will only
really be determined

on what happened going
forward from here,

so let's hope we get lucky
and see what happens.

I have a lot of mixed feelings

about being back in Collingwood,

because the years
that I lived there

were probably the worst
years of my entire life.

- Chris was born, and they
were living in Thornbury.

Okay, you're gonna get
your life together.

Now, she got a new husband now,
this is the second husband.

Gonna get her life together
and they're gonna do this

and they're gonna do
that, and I said okay,

we'll let Rob go
live with you for,

see how things work out.

- I gave him my
Battle Armor He-man.

I'm just like, you know,
take this with you,

and I remember just
crying and crying

and going home.

- They were kids, I
mean, well, a baby.

I could relate more
to Rob because,

you know, he liked his
Masters of the Universe stuff

and I used to like sittin' there

watchin' the shows with him.

Our family life, between the
three of us, was pretty good.

A lotta times the question
was, well, where's mom?

Well, she's at work, she's
somewhere, I don't know.

- And then, over time,

I would say, started
to get neglectful.

- We did send money up because

we wanted to make sure the kids,

there was not much in
their cupboards up there

when we went for a visit.

- The husband was busy
working long hours,

strange hours, never came home.

Like, he was there at mealtime

so he ate all his meals at
the resort, if you wanna say,

so he wasn't hungry.

- We don't have
anything for supper

or somethin' like that,
and I'd have to leave work,

go get somethin' for them
for supper, bring it to them.

- Robby and Chris would
come down with the father

or with them.

They kinda, Robby would
kinda raid the cupboard

'cause he wanted to
take food back home,

kinda the caretaker, looking
after the little brother.

- I don't know what the
mother was doing at that time,

whether she was
working or whether

she was just out diddling
around or something,

but they had a babysitter that
was looking after the kids.

I think she was supposed
to be working somewhere,

I have no idea where.

- But we got a feeling that,
geez, why are the boys hungry?

- There was never
any food in the house

for the kids to eat,
and the babysitter was,

you know, it was
just deplorable.

- I had no qualms
about getting him

because we still had custody,

but working for a lawyer, the
first thing he said to me,

he says, "You can't walk in
there and take his brother

"because the minute
you walk out the door,

"she can charge you
with kidnapping."

That's when I said to them,
"Then what am I gonna do?"

He said, "I'm gonna
draw ya up papers,

"put my notary seal on
it, but you've gotta get

"that boy's father
to sign the paper."

- She'd try to corner ya,
and put ya in a situation

where you couldn't,
where it was like,

you know what I mean?

She had all the legal
stuff behind her.

- So when I went in and I
told her I was takin' Rob,

she said, "You can't take him."

I said, "Yes, I can, I
have custody of him."

'Cause I would never, we
would never sign off custody.

And I said, "Well might as
well pack up Christopher

"'cause he's coming with me,"

and he said, "No, I'm
not lettin' ya take him."

And she looked to her
second husband, Rick,

and said, "You gonna let
my parents take him?"

And he said, "No."

So I thought about
it for a few minutes

and he wandered away, and
of course she's cryin'

and carryin' on.

She didn't wanna lose
one let alone two,

and that's when
I went downstairs

because,
Rob's grandfather

had already told me what
was going on downstairs,

so when I went
downstairs and I said,

"Rick, I'm taking
Christopher with me."

He said, "You can't take him."

I said, "Yes, I can."

I said, "I've got papers
here for you to sign

"so that I can take him."

He said, "You're
not takin' him,"

and that's when I got up and
I pushed him against the wall

and I said, "I either take
him or I call the Mounties

"and they take
you for that stuff

"that's growin' in
the other room."

- Yes, I did have a
couple of pot plants

growin' in the basement.

I was young.

- And he couldn't stop
me from takin' 'em.

Because, I would've
called the Mounties.

- It was basically she
wanted what was right for,

what was better
for Robby, right?

And I wanted what
was better for Robby

and also for Christopher.

- She called us and
we had already offered

to take Chris if
that was the case,

which, when we got the
word, we did.

- And so then it
was agreed upon,

the way things went.

One went one way, the
other went the other.

Everybody still stayed
pretty well in touch.

Everybody except one person.

- It was great, I thought
it was just for a visit.

I don't remember who told
me, it was probably my mom,

that, "Oh no, he's
back for good."

- I went by the
place, stopped in,

and talked to them and
told them where I was going

and I would be
back on the Monday,

and I would pick up all the
toys and stuff the kids had.

I had a truck, so I
could take it all.

I would pick it up and
bring it back here.

In doing so, I arrived
on, I think Monday,

I think it was
sometime on Monday.

I pulled in there and
they had a garage sale

on the weekend and
sold all the stuff.

Very nice.

So I brought back nothing.

- Why would you sell
your kids' toys?

If you didn't need the money?

But, if the kids aren't
eating, there's no money.

If there's pot being
grown in the basement,

that's one step to
other things, right?

- How do you tell a kid that
they ain't there no more?

- After Chris came
to live with us,

I took him out for
a haircut one day

and the barber took a look
at the scaling on his head

and he says, "He was
malnutritioned at
one time or another,

"and that's why he's
got this scabs or scale

"on the top of his head."

- Yeah, she hurt us a
bit, but being parents

you learn to forgive and forget,

but she hurt her boys.

That I don't forgive.

- It was definitely a
learning experience.

This trip has been
extremely informative.

I literally went from
knowing extremely little

to knowing like 200 times more

than I ever thought I would.

And I think we started
the actual search.

We've stretched our legs
into social media a bit

and we've got some
positive results.

We've been in Collingwood,
her last known location.

I'm excited, I think we've
got somewhere to go from here.

The biggest thing I've learned

is that this is not just
a character in a picture,

but an actual person.

Like, I watched a
video and saw life,

the person was
living and breathing

and interacting with people.

So yeah, it's a real
thing, it's a real person.

- There are some things
that are just too hard

to do by yourself, and I
think for both Rob and Chris,

they've done too much
of this by themselves.

I'd like to see that
they really think about

doing this with someone
else, somebody trained

and somebody who can really
help them to let it go.

Hello?

Hey, Chris, it's Rob.

Hey.

Hey, this
is being recorded

for the sake of the film.

Okay.

Just thought
I'd throw it out there.

- Right.

- Okay.

- Yeah, I mean, it's
nice that it is all

kinda revolving
around the same area.

I don't know if
there's an address

for this 2006 incident
that we can investigate,

if it's a landlord,
what do they know,

what can they say, what
are they willing to say.

It just really points
us in another direction.

With Chris still in the GTA,
the Greater Toronto Area,

he might be doing a little road
trip himself, I don't know.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, absolutely,
so the plan right now

is to focus all our
efforts on Toronto,

as crazy as that sounds, a
city of over two million,

three million once you
consider the surrounding area,

but a new flyer will go
up today with Lee Byford

and I'll try to get more
recent pics to keep pushin'.

So, just got a message,
man, on Facebook

from somebody who saw
our social media posts

and they said, "This
is Lee's number."

They gave me the phone number.

This was just forwarded
to me for some reason.

She said, "This is
your mom's number,"

and it's a 647 number, which
is a Toronto area code.

So, what the hell do I do?

- This is someone who
was in a certain picture

that was just posted.

I'm trying to protect
their identity a little bit

since this is being recorded.

- The message says, and
I'm not skipping a word,

"This is Lee's
number," the number,

"this was just forwarded
to me for some reason."

She said, "This is
your mom's number."

And I responded right
away, are you kidding me?

Question mark, question mark,
question mark, question mark.

And I'm waiting for a response.

So this was a flyer
that was posted

on a Collingwood Facebook site,

and someone saw it and
contacted the person

who posted it, who's,
again, one of these people

in the pictures that we just
posted through social media,

and now this number
is out there.

Hello.

- Hi, could I speak
to Lee Byford please?

- Lee, I'm a friend from
the Collingwood area,

I think we may have
worked together.

I'm just trying to see if I
can get in touch with you.

I think we worked
together at Kelsey's.

- Well...

- Oh my god.

My connection just dropped.

- Well, at first I thought
it was a voicemail.

Oh my god, and then
my connection dropped

'cause I have all
my I-devices on.

Holy.

- All right, I'm gonna
call her from the phone.

- Yeah, yeah I agree.

Jesus.

Okay, I'll let you
know how it goes.

- Hi, Lee?

- Hi, sorry, my
connection dropped.

I was calling you
from a Skype number.

- Sorry about that.

Listen, this is a bit strange.

Are you sitting down?

- I think you're my mom.

- Rob McCallum.

- I'm in Las Vegas right now,

which if this is
a mobile number,

that's probably why it
came up as a 213 area code.

Mm hmm.

- Are you my mom?

- I don't know if you're
gonna hang up or anything

but I just wanna let
you know I love you.

- Yeah.

- Or text me and I can call
ya back to save long distance.

Please call me.

- Thank you so much.

- I love you.

- Just give me a second.

It's her.

- Chris.

- It's Rob.

- Are you sitting down?

- Please sit down.

- I just talked to our mom.

I'm not ya.

- Here, I gotta race
back to my office.

Well, I'm hopin' that we can
do the first meet together

with cameras around, if
she's cool with that.

- I hear ya, man, I gotta
book a whole new flight.

- Are you sitting down?

- Okay, I need some advice.

- I just talked to my mom.

- No.

You did?

- 100%.

To
leave a callback number,

press five.

- Hey Uncle Rob, it's
your nephew, Rob.

It's about 20 to 3:00 your time
on Wednesday, November 19th.

Just calling to let you know
that I talked to my mom.

Hopefully you're not on a
ladder when you get this.

So Jordan and I have had
an adventure this morning.

- Well, what happened?

I talked to
my mom on the phone.

- No way, are you serious?

I talked to
her on the phone.

- Really?

- Wow, when I
return to Las Vegas

I'll have a mom in my life.

Weird.

So
where are we going?

- After 10 days of
the social media push

and the hunt and papering
the town, we got a response

and made connections
with my mom,

and now we're about an hour away

from a journey that
started, really only like

two or three weeks ago
and 10 days of hard push

to try to find her.

From what I understand,
it was part in parcel

from our push to Collingwood,

seeing the flyers all over town,

and the stuff on Facebook,

and a combination
of the two paid off.

Good to see ya.

- Long time no see.

Yeah.

What was your reaction
when I called you

and I said, "I hope
you're sitting down,

"I just talked to our mom"?

It was a holy
moment.

It was a holy moment.

That was, it
happened a lot faster

than I thought it
was gonna happen.

- The closest thing
is adrenaline,

and it's just been like ongoing,

like, oh my god, oh
my god, oh my god,

oh my god, oh my god.

Just like, this is happening,

and the second that
I got the information

and talked to her on the phone,

it just didn't end
for that entire day,

and then the next
day it was like,

oh, no this is still happening.

This wasn't a dream and
this wasn't just for a film.

This is big ramification
kinda stuff.

Booked a flight that night
and, well, here I am.

- I don't have any
expectations, I don't think.

- All I know is
that everybody said

that it would be near
impossible to do, and we did it.

And that feels really
good for the moment.

She's worried that we
won't recognize her,

she's worried that
she's not gonna have

the answers to the
questions we have,

and I just said, "I'm
hungry, I'm just lookin'

"for somethin' to eat."

She said, "I don't think
I'll be able to eat,"

and I said, "Chris
and I probably won't
have that problem."

I mean, we can eat.

So, you hungry?

- I could eat.

- You could eat.

Okay.

All right, we're goin'
off into the sunset.

- It was so,

I can't even think of a word
to describe what I was feeling

because it was somethin'
I dreamed about,

that I might hear
from them someday

but I just, certainly
didn't wake up that day

thinkin' it would be that day.

I don't wanna say it
was a different time,

but it was,
and I never thought

to go to a relative

and tell them what
I was going through,

'cause I couldn't believe

that I couldn't
talk to my parents

or that when I did, it
wasn't well received.

They, you know...

I just felt very lost, and
that I didn't have anybody.

Came back from Winnipeg
and moved to Toronto.

My biggest goal was
to get my children,

and for the first four
years I lived in Toronto

I lived in a room, I
didn't have an apartment

because then I could
save more money,

and I saw three
different lawyers,

I had lawyers telling me,

"Oh, you never
should've signed that.

"Your mother should've
known better,

"that you were entitled to
have your own representation."

My mother's words
came back to haunt me.

She told me, 'cause I told
her I was gonna fight.

I said, "If I have to
go to a lawyer, I will."

She goes, "You'll
never have enough money

"to fight us for custody."

And those words have
haunted me forever,

'cause I thought, why do
they think I'm so bad?

Why do they think
I don't deserve

to be a part of my child's life?

I didn't understand, I
still don't understand.

- I don't, no, I don't,

because I mean, we always had,

I don't know where that
comes from because, I don't.

I mean, this is kinda news to me

'cause I don't even
recall this at all.

Before this conversation,
I don't recall

that ever being an issue.

- Yeah, again, I'm not
aware of that at all.

I don't recall there not
being food in the house.

I don't know if this is,

I don't know where this
is coming from, I don't.

I don't recall that at all.

I mean, what I recall,
there was always

the snacks that they liked.

I don't...

- Now see, again,
this is the first,

it's nothing he ever discussed
with me, that I recall.

And I mean, he lived there.

So why she would call
him at the resort

to tell him there was
nothing when he lived there.

This is pretty confusing
for me right now

'cause I don't, I don't
remember anything like this.

I remember there were issues
where Rick and I didn't talk.

I don't remember this
at all, in this context.

I just know there were problems,

but I don't remember there
not being food in the house.

I don't remember.

This is a bit of a,

I'm trying to go back
all that time ago

and I don't remember
any of this.

I don't know if this
happened after I left.

I don't, I don't.

There was just so much
that was left unsaid

and undone, and our
children suffered.

I take full
responsibility for that.

I have,

so much guilt, and I don't,
and I deserve the guilt.

It's not that I,

I just didn't have the skills.

I didn't know what to do, I
didn't know who to ask for help.

I didn't.

I just didn't know what to do.

- So we just finished
interviewing my mom.

It was like a three
hour interview,

and I gotta send
the footage to Chris

'cause he couldn't be there.

We covered a lot of subjects.

I'm sure I'm gonna have
a ton more questions

as I think about
how everything went,

but the two things that have
hit me almost right away is,

that I have no idea how the
family is going to react,

and connected to that, that
my actions to go look for her

and subsequently find
her are gonna have

a bigger repercussion
than I first thought.

This is now going to
affect a lot more lives

than just my own, and
going on this adventure

is more than my curiosity
or my brother's curiosity

at this point.

I thought it was a
little bit more contained

than what it is.

I kinda just hope that it has
a happy ending for everybody,

'cause I really don't
know how everybody else

is gonna react now that
we know where she is,

and if she's gonna be

a part of people's
lives going forward.

It's bigger than just me.

- It's really bringing out
what's your worst fear,

what's the worst
thing that can happen

if you really, really
think about it,

talk about it, bring
it out into the open

and talk to somebody about it.

People I've spoken to
before, in treatment,

have said, "I'm afraid if I
start to cry, I won't stop.

"I'm afraid if I get angry,
I won't be able to stop."

So it's that fear of
having some emotion

that they just are not gonna
be able to control or stop.

- I was thoroughly convinced
that they wouldn't find her.

So yeah, I was, I was
not only relieved,

I was happy that they found her.

- And I did tell him, I said,

"If you do find her, I'll
contribute 200 dollars

"to the project,
or the film fund."

And then he called
10, 11 days later

and told me I had
to write a check.

- I always felt
something had happened

'because I thought we
would have heard from her,

you know, one way or the other.

- But it was a
relief, in respect,

because I had resigned the fact

that I may never see her again.

- Yeah, also happy to
know that he did find her,

and one, she was alive.

- First I saw her, it
was like, dead silence.

Just, eye to eye contact,

I could see the
relief on her face.

I didn't wanna put
her on the spot,

and I didn't wanna go reflective

on what had happened
in the past.

I just basically said to her,

"There's a lotta water
gone under the bridge.

"We can't turn it back,
we can only move forward."

- We talk about the 24 years
that we hadn't seen her,

and yes, she's
definitely changed,

but we've changed.

Age does a wonderful
thing for you.

Everything takes time,
and time heals a lot.

- You've gotta let a lotta
anger and personal stuff go,

on the grounds that, they
could maintain that anger,

my sister could
maintain her anger,

and we can go another 24
years with no contact again.

But I think the first 24
years has shown everybody

that we don't want
that to happen again.

It wasn't worth
it, no matter what.

- Probably if I'da known
she was so close by

when the boys were little,

I probably would've
tried to contact her.

- Time does solve
a lot of problems,

because whatever problems
there were in the past,

they obviously don't
exist at this point.

- Yeah, when she came
home for Christmas

it was a very pleasant occasion.

And we spent, well,
the best part of Christmas

at her brother's, 'cause
the whole family was there.

- I think one of
the better aspects

of the getting
together at Christmas

is simply the fact
that we were able

to do some family photographs

that hadn't been
done for 24 years,

that's including my
granddaughter in there.

It was a very happy moment to
meet her and see her again.

- So we just accomplished
being a family again.

- I don't feel alone anymore.

For me, it's overwhelming

'cause I've never really
counted on anybody,

and I, it's hard getting
used to counting on people

or having people there for me.

I'm just not used to
it, it's a new feeling.

I've always thought
family was important.

It's trying to deal with
family issues at certain times

and not knowing how.

I think if you can
overcome that, then,

then that's key.

- I give her due, I give her
all the credit in the world

for what she has accomplished.

She's done marvelous
things with herself,

more than I would
expect, put it that way,

if you wanna put it that way.

I would do the same for her

as I would do for anybody
else in the family.

I can support her
100%, without question.

I think you can achieve
anything you want

if you put your mind to it.

- If you want it bad enough.

- If you want it bad enough.

- There is love from your family

that members want
to share with you,

and it's something
that can't be done

when you're not around.

Don't ever sit back and
think that you're not loved,

you're not wanted,
or anything else,

because you're wrong, like
the 24 years, you're wrong.

We do love you and
we do want contact.

- Well first, congratulations.

You've got married today.

It's been about a
year since we went on

that epic road trip
where we found our mom.

How has that year been
and what do you think

now that she's in our lives?

- I think it's great.

She's made, she's
almost fully integrated

back into her family.

She's moved back to London.

We talk to her almost every
day, well at least, I do.

Definitely have good
conversations at
least once a week.

It's not what I expected.

- Yeah, it's the
Hollywood ending,

and because it feels
so manufactured,

it almost doesn't feel real.

But we have this
opportunity and I think

for everybody watching, I think
one of the main things is,

this is really just
the starting point.

You can't just have somebody
jump back in your lives

and everything is good.

The journey is still ahead,

so there's still a lot to learn.

But what's your big takeaway
from this whole experience?

- I have my mom back,
someone I never had.

She wants to be here, she's
figuring it out as she goes,

just like we are,
and it's great.

I can't be happier.