Page 22 - Pepper Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

A woman who it seemed clear had kidnapped at least one if not both of them. and they drifted one dump to another across any number of state lines for years. and then some time in the early '80s they settled down, here. shirley pulled up to this motel in los angeles county and took a job at the motel's cleaning woman in exchange for a free room. and if it wasn't 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 shirley's disapproval. >> shirley would tell us, girls don't go to school. they get marr...

She left the lies behind and took the truth to her grave. on july 29th, 1986 at the age of 63. she was buried here, this cemetery, in an unmarked grave. renee, 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, shirley's 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 determination to come back. she was in her mid-20s, a single mother by then. if only she could find her birth certifi...

And when the family moved out of the motel, pepper went with them. but it didn't last long. pepper's new household caught in its spiral of alcoholism and dysfunction was as troubled and messy as her own life was. she swallowed her pride and moved back to room 110 colonial motel, even though, by then, shirley didn't seem to care much what she did. >> i remember when i was trying to so-call run away, plot my escape, before it went into action, i was in my mind going, she -- i'm going to show her. she'll care. like i remember thinking that. but she didn't care. she didn't come to get me. >> still...

She dialed the number. a man answered. it was june 5th, 2010. >> i said are you robert dean christie, he said, yes. i said are you married to a barbara blackwelder, or were you? he said yes. i said i think i'm rhonda christie or do you know rhonda patricia christie and then there was a long pause. >> this is who she was talking to. his name is bob christie. >> i almost dropped the phone. she knew i'd hesitated and she said this is your daughter rhonda. and it was something that clicked in my mind that i reck -- the voice rang a bell. >> and he called to my mom, barbara, to pick up the phone. r...

I want to have christmas, thanksgiving, her there with me. >> and pepper? well, for one thing, pepper has adopted her real birth name, the one that her parents gave her before it was lost in the abductions, and the adoptions. ronique. ronique smith. >> i feel very content the way things have taken place. finding my mom, my real identity, my biological father. seeing a picture of him. all these exciting things going on. but, i think it's not over yet. i don't feel the journey is quite over yet. it's just starting. this part of it is just starting. >> and so it is, because of course, one of them...