Page 8 - Mike Thinking News Today

So on the stand publicly, i had to basically say, yeah, im thinking maybe theres some weird things about your story. and it was the first time that 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 w...

Place he said mikes mother had actually been all these many years. police searched the area but once again were oh unable to locate carols remains and give the family what they hoped for most, the chance to say good-bye. >> i dont know why getting her back is the ultimate bookend for me. i want to know that shes properly buried or cremated or whatever we would choose to do with her. >> why is that so important? >> i think it just is the ultimate answer. this is it. theres no more wondering. >> n...

>> 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 the truth and avoid a trial, prosecutor john lewen was willing to make a deal. >> we had offered him voluntary manslaughter if he gave us carols body. >> and he turned you down flat? >> he did, repeat...

>> in this large, cumulative thing were looking at, its another piece that points to the same conclusion. >> reporter: if carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the accusation to court would be risky. totally circumstantial, of course, no body, an unclear motive, a sympathetic defendant. but prosecutor lewen decided to roll the dice. 30 years after carol lubahn vanished from her familys life on, april 13th, 2011, mike was arrested for carols murder. when you went to the family and said "were...

Because they figured it would upset me or my sister. >> my family is pretty closed to talking about heavy things, so something like that rarely talked about. >> 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 plpd revisolice depart revisited the case. tim...

>> i think the police are just wrong. >> no forensics, no witnesses, not even a body. the defense might have stopped right there. instead, they decided to gamble. mike was a nice guy. the jury should see that. >> do you solemnly swear -- >> if the details had been a little different each time he was asked to tell the story, here was his chance to straighten it out for the jury. how odd then that mike, under oath now, amended his story just a little again. like when he added the detail that carol...

>> whats the deal with that? did you hear the garage door? >> i dont think so. >> why do you think that now? what has jogged your memory? >> because i think over the years, i thought about this night so many times. i had seen that car back out of the driveway many, many times when she was leaving. i think i thought repeatedly in my mind thats what i thought -- i saw the car. i can see it right now. >> he never thought for a moment, he said, it would be the last time hed see his wife. >> i though...

Days, her birthday, my birthday. my grandmother would get calls. >> and just silence on the other end? >> yeah. >> what did younc do? >> we would t say, "carol, we le you. we hope you come back." we felt like she was finding a happier life somewhere. >> and understood that to make that successful she might have to make a complete and total break. >> yeah. >> almost three months after carollm vanished, the detective handling her case put itva in t inactive file. in his report he wrote, "no foul p...

She was dead? mikes family held its breath. so did the prosecutor and the police. and now here was mikes fate. >> we the juror in the above entitled action find the defendant michael clark guilty. >> guilty of second degree murder. mike was going to prison. >> ive had cases before where you get done and you walk out of the courtroom and the family throws their arms around you. theyre so grateful. thats not this case. >> i was surprised the jury would convict him on such little evidence. i dont t...

Bathroom. he woke up, drifted to sleep, and woke up to the sound of a car engine starting and driving away. odd. but memories do play tricks. anyway it didnt seem terribly significant. so the case went back into the file and got colder. mike took over the house-painting business from carols dad and went on to marry carrie and have two more sons. gail and teri raised their own families, and it was having babies that started to change terris way of looking at her sisters disappearance. >> as unhap...