Page 2 - Pepper Smith News Today

See her regularly, tried to make her comfortable. but there was another terribly important reason to see her then. maybe the most important. one last opportunity to find out who she was. as she was dying, did you try to find, do you know, maybe shed make a deathbed confession and say, i did take you and here are what your parents names are and how to find them. any of that happen? did you ask? >> oh, yeah. >> and shirley had a response for the girl she renamed pepper. the question was, what coul...

Shirley pulled up to this motel in los angeles county and took a job at the motels cleaning woman in exchange for a free room. and if it wasnt much, at least it gave them some measure of stability. and they signed up at a local school, junior high for pepper, high school for renee. much to shirleys disapproval. >> shirley would tell us, girls dont go to school. they get married. why do you want to go to school? i didnt like being late to school. i didnt like being absent all the time. >> so they...

>> i thought you gave me away. >> no. >> they spent hours together here talking about their pasts, their likes and dislikes. their amazing similarities. we gave them a few weeks to get to know each other, and then sat down again with pepper and renee. so there it is. you have your mother, but what now? are you -- will you have a relationship with her? >> well, were going to move her in with me. >> move into your house? >> yes, yes, once she gets all her affairs in order. were going to move her i...

Where did they go? the little girl had no idea. but she did know that from now on, she had a new name. they called her pepper. pepper smith. she was not yet 5 years old. >> we lived in cars and motels and going from state to state staying at salvation armies to get a meal here and there. just -- >> whats it like to live in a car? >> its horrible. its embarrassing. >> she was confused, of course, and terribly frightened at first. she begged, take me home. shirley ignored her. she imagined running...

Did her mother bobbie actually give her away? shirley told pepper that rene was her sister. the two girls listened wide-eyed as shurlly explained to strangers that she was their grandmother, that her parents had been killed in an accident. >> i knew everything happening to us was wrong. >> why had she been taken? she didnt know. not for money certainly and without peppers birth certificate, shurlly couldnt use her to score public assistance, though she did use renee that way. >> i never wanted t...

The motel, pepper went with them. but it didnt last long. peppers new household was as troubled and messy as her own life was. she swallowed her pride and moved back to 110 colennial hotel. even though by then, says pepper, shirley didnt seem to care much what she did. >> i remember when i was trying to so-called run away, plot my escape, before it went into action, i was in my mind im going to show her, shell care. like, i remember thinking that. but she didnt care. she didnt come to get me. >>...

A long pause. >> peppers story had ups and downs. >> when i looked at the e-mail i just couldnt believe it. >> but after so many tears, so many years and so many turns in her story. >> i was like whoa. >> there are still more stunning twists to be revealed. >> its amazing. its the best gift ever. >> welcome to dateline. a 4-year-old girl was abducted and raised by her kidnapper. her story has an extraordinary ending but as it turns out that ending was just the beginning. here is keith morris. >>...

Number in ohio. she dialled the number. a man answered. it was june 5, 2010. >> i said are you robert christie, and he said yes, and i said are you married to a barbara blackwelder or were you married, i didnt know. and he said, yes, and i said i think im randa christie or do you know rhonda patricia christie, and there was a long pause. >> this is who she was talking to. his name is bob christie. >> i almost dropped the phone. she knew idea hesitated and she said this is your daughter rhonda. a...

Results. tell me what it feels like to go to an official to ask for something you really, really need and you kind of know how its going to go? >> i get emotional usually. i crucially cry. it just brings me to a sad place. >> so youd be sitting across the desk from somebody crying. >> oh, absolutely. >> and they wouldnt do anything for you or say i cant do anything for you, probably. >> you need this document. this is what you have to provide. i have no way to get this document because i dont my...

Took the truth to her grave on july 29, 1986 at the age of 63. she was buried here, this cemetery in an unmarked grave. rene now 19 got on with life, moved in with her boyfriend. soon pepper showed up at their apartment homeless and nowhere else to turn to. and everywhere pepper went from then on shirleys poison gift followed because of that woman and what she did, pepper was officially at least a nonperson. so it took a little while for her determination to come back. she was in her mid-20s, a ...