Page 11 - Geri Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Such as -- these were not her birth parents. she had been adopted. and the arrangement was mysterious. and now, it was barbara's turn to tell a story. shirley had been her friend, she said. told her about a woman working in the sex trade named geri smith who didn't want her babies. and one day shirley showed up at barbara's house with a 3-month-old baby she called rhonda patricia smith. barbara could see it was a little iffy but she wanted that baby so badly. and so she said she ignored the red flags. >> nope, didn't care. didn't really care. >> she was going to see to it, she said, that rhond...

>> and for not having those kids under your wing all the time? >> that's right. >> tell me about that. >> to me, i felt like it was my fault, because i put them in the hands of this monster. >> we're in a hotel room in los angeles. geri is eager, anxious, terrified, visibly shaking. and then they come around the corner. their first meeting in 37 years. >> a lifetime we've missed. >> oh, my god. >> i feel like i'm dreaming still. i can't really get it yet. >> i can't either. >> i want to see this face. can i just stare at you for a minute. >> you can do anything. >> i don't have a memory. >> i'...

Hands of this monster. >> we're in a hotel room in los angeles. geri is eager, anxious, terrified, visibly shaking. and then they come around the corner. their first meeting in 37 years. >> a lifetime we've missed. >> oh, my god. >> i feel like i'm dreaming still. i can't really get it yet. >> i can't either. >> i want to see this face. can i just stare at you for a minute. >> you can do anything. >> i don't have a memory. >> i'm sad because i was there with you guys. >> you're my mommy. >> yes, you're my babies. you're my babies. it's been 37 years.

I'm getting old. and it was like a miracle. >> geri's story that shirley who took the girls had been her friend turned roommate turned babysitter. >> she said i'll babysit for you. i'll take care of her while you work. i said, well, that's great because i really thought i was blessed. >> first it was renee she looked after. then renee and pepper and then two years later little brother raymond leonard smith jr. wait. brother? it wasn't just the two girls. there was a younger brother the girls never knew they had. the father wasn't around very much. geri supported them all with what she could ma...

Shirley told pepper that renee was her sister. the two girls listened wide-eyed as shirley explained to strangers that she was their grandmother. that their parents had been killed in a car accident. >> i knew that everything that was happening to us was completely wrong at a very, very young age. >> why had she been taken? she didn't know. not for money, certainly. there were no ransom demands. and without pepper's birth certificate, shirley couldn't use her to score public assistance. though she did use renee that way. frightened, compliant renee, eager for a mother's love, even if that moth...