Page 5 - Mike Thinking News Today

My father really would have known i felt that way. so i was really, really stressed out about that. >> how hard is it for you to be here today? >> very. >> do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mothers disappearance? >> do i want to believe it? >> yes. >> no. >> lets assume that your dad, in fact, did kill your mom, would you want to see him punished for it? >> no. not particularly. >> prosecutor lewin knew the ambivalence of the family members did not help his case. but -...

Welcome back. mike lubahns murder trial tested the love and loyalty of his family. his son, mike, jr. told jurors he did not want to believe that his dad killed hig m eed his mo doubts about his innocence. then mike, sr. took the stand and once again shifted his story about his wifes disappearance. now he was about to learn his fate in this decades old case and there were still more surprises ahead. here with the conclusion of our story is keith morris. >> there are few things in american life a...

Just like carol, said her sister, gail. >> she would have not taken all of it. that was in carols personality to be fair. >> made sense then. >> uh-huh. >> and then there were those mysterious phone calls. >> wed get the calls on special days, her birthday, my birthday. my grandmother would get calls. >> and just silence on the other end? >> yeah. >> what did you do? >> we would say, "carol, we love you. we hope you come back." we felt like she was finding a happier life somewhere. >> and unders...

>> no. >> you never lie? >> i wouldnt say never. i mean, a white lie, who knows? >> have you ever lie good something serious in your life? >> no. >> in your entire life youve never lied once about anything that wasnt a white lie? >> ill just say not that i can remember. >> in fact, mike had a hard time remembering a lot of things prosecutor lewin asked about. >> i dont remember. i dont remember going to bed. i dont remember saying that. i dont know. >> but how on earth, asked lewin, could he not...

>> it was an ultimate heavy thing. >> yeah. >> could you see it in your mothers eyes or your fathers? >> in my fathers for sure. >> what would you see there? >> a lot of emotion. a lot of sadness. im going to cry thinking about it. >> in 1987, almost six years after carol vanished, the torrance police department revisited the case. time seemed to have altered mikes mind a little. details came back to them. remember before she vanished, mike said they argued, he went to bed alone, woke up early, ...

Shortly after mike sr.s second wife left him. >> he talked about my stepmother constantly for years. was nonstop. >> and why was that so significant to you? >> because he never talked about my mother. >> at all? >> never. >> but mike never confronted his father. >> i just knew in the back of my mind that this could be a possibility, and i really honestly at that time, i never wanted my father to go to jail. i just wanted to know. it was so important to me the truth behind that evening. >> to get...

Was different. and thats the hallmark of deception. >> sure. but the mind plays tricks. the mind invents things. and -- and inserts them into your memory, and you believe them as strenuously as if they actually happened. >> thats an interesting theory. i dont think its really supported. memories can be lost. but memories dont increase in details over the years, and they dont increase in different details. thats a sign of what we call a lie. i had version of what happened from the start made no s...

Cared deeply for the defendant? >> yes. >> and younger sister, terri, even though she had suspected mike for years -- >> do you still think of mike lubahn sr. as a part of your family? >> yes. >> but most anguished of all -- mike and carols son, mike jr. >> is there anything about the way that you remember your mom that would make you think or made you feel that she would leave you and never come back and never say good-bye? >> no. >> he loved his dad, but also secretly doubted him, something he...

Vanished, leaving for parts unknown, leaving not just her husband mike but her son, mike jr., just 10-years-old. >> i never felt that my mother abandoned mean. i never was upset with her never. i never thought she did. i dont know why. i was upset she wasnt there. i thought she would be there to show up at a graduation or something. >> but she didnt. and at family gatherings as the years went by, thanksgiving, christmases, that awful question why would she leave them remained the unmentionable e...

Mother did not disappear voluntarily. but actual evidence of a crime? just wasnt any. finally in 2010, 29 years after carol supposedly walked out on her family and never came back, delcine decided it was time for a surprise visit to michael luban. he went over with a sergeant. >> he invited us in. we did catch him unexpectedly, but that was the plan. >> but was mike upset or thrown off? not at all. >> very nice like i anticipated he would be because id now heard from everybody in the family how ...