WEBVTT - The Release | Episode 6 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:26.236 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. 0:00:27.076 --> 0:00:29.636 I don't think there's any question but that had he 0:00:29.716 --> 0:00:32.196 not been caught on this one, he would have robbed 0:00:32.236 --> 0:00:35.356 another bank, and another one after that, and another one 0:00:35.396 --> 0:00:38.196 after that until he did get caught. But he never 0:00:38.236 --> 0:00:39.316 thought he would get caught. 0:00:39.916 --> 0:00:42.276 We had a disagreement on strategy, and when you come 0:00:42.316 --> 0:00:47.476 an in pass on a disagreement agreement in strategy, you 0:00:47.556 --> 0:00:50.836 should be afforded the opportunity to change counsel. 0:00:51.116 --> 0:00:53.676 And my life is on the line, not theirs. 0:00:54.196 --> 0:00:58.796 I was pretty distraught realizing that this could be a 0:00:58.836 --> 0:01:03.476 couple decades, and I started thinking about everything that was 0:01:03.516 --> 0:01:05.476 going to happen in my life, that he was going 0:01:05.556 --> 0:01:09.476 to miss me and my sister. Our relationship ended up 0:01:09.516 --> 0:01:12.756 being strained because of my drug use and partying, and 0:01:13.596 --> 0:01:16.116 she ended up going to live with her boyfriend and 0:01:16.196 --> 0:01:18.716 I ended up being in this house with no electric 0:01:18.796 --> 0:01:19.396 and no water. 0:01:34.196 --> 0:01:38.396 Not long after his state trial, Keith Giamonco was back 0:01:38.436 --> 0:01:41.956 in the courthouse to learn exactly how much time he 0:01:41.956 --> 0:01:46.956 would serve. The judge set the total at twenty years. 0:01:47.636 --> 0:01:51.076 On that particular day when that sentence was handed down, 0:01:53.396 --> 0:01:56.636 I was relieved that that portion of it was over, 0:01:57.436 --> 0:02:03.916 and I still had this air of confidence in the 0:02:03.956 --> 0:02:06.956 appellate system that I would get some relief. 0:02:08.076 --> 0:02:12.116 This is Keith the optimist talking, still believing that there 0:02:12.156 --> 0:02:15.036 had to be a way out, that maybe his sentence 0:02:15.156 --> 0:02:19.116 or even his state conviction could be overturned. He had 0:02:19.116 --> 0:02:23.596 his arguments. He turned himself into a jailhouse lawyer, drafting 0:02:23.716 --> 0:02:27.636 appeal after appeal on his own. It was a long process, 0:02:27.956 --> 0:02:31.076 but in the end none of it really went anywhere. 0:02:32.436 --> 0:02:36.156 From his prison cell, the days began to blur and 0:02:36.276 --> 0:02:39.956 life on the outside continued without him. He got updates 0:02:39.956 --> 0:02:42.956 from his daughters. They were now in their early twenties. 0:02:43.476 --> 0:02:48.116 Elise was thriving, double majoring in psychology and Russian studying 0:02:48.156 --> 0:02:52.596 abroad in Moscow. Even Marissa was having a much harder time, 0:02:52.876 --> 0:02:57.676 struggling with addiction and at times homelessness, and Keith was 0:02:57.676 --> 0:03:00.716 stuck on the other end of it, writing letters and 0:03:00.836 --> 0:03:02.956 passing time between calls. 0:03:03.476 --> 0:03:08.716 There was some anger and discontent expressed about the way 0:03:08.756 --> 0:03:12.156 that there life was going in certain periods and certain 0:03:12.236 --> 0:03:14.796 issues that all people have in their lives, and they 0:03:14.796 --> 0:03:17.916 need their parents to be there, and the issue, of 0:03:17.956 --> 0:03:22.876 course is me not being there for these things. And 0:03:22.956 --> 0:03:25.356 are we going to talk through this? Are we just 0:03:25.516 --> 0:03:28.196 going to separate? 0:03:32.476 --> 0:03:35.796 Once upon a time, Marissa and Elise thought they knew 0:03:35.836 --> 0:03:38.796 their father, Then they learned that he'd been living a 0:03:38.836 --> 0:03:43.116 double life, and in some ways, ever since then, they've 0:03:43.116 --> 0:03:45.916 been trying to make sense of what he did and 0:03:45.956 --> 0:03:46.636 why he did it. 0:03:47.676 --> 0:03:51.516 I would say, dad making those decisions to rob the banks, 0:03:52.076 --> 0:03:57.276 you know, and knowing that Mom was not in a 0:03:57.316 --> 0:04:02.996 good place mentally with her addiction, it is a feeling 0:04:02.996 --> 0:04:09.236 of disappointment in my father for not taking. 0:04:10.476 --> 0:04:11.396 The higher road. 0:04:12.956 --> 0:04:16.676 Marissa says the hardest part is thinking about how many 0:04:16.716 --> 0:04:21.436 times he repeated the same bad decision making process, ignoring 0:04:21.476 --> 0:04:24.116 the risks, just. 0:04:24.036 --> 0:04:26.076 Like as you're doing it. It's like, how can you 0:04:26.116 --> 0:04:28.596 not hows you're robbing the bank as you're handing the 0:04:28.636 --> 0:04:31.516 note over to the teller, and you know it wasn't 0:04:31.636 --> 0:04:34.876 just one bank. So at one point, are you, like, 0:04:36.076 --> 0:04:41.276 you know, really thinking about those dire consequences. And what 0:04:41.356 --> 0:04:44.876 disappoints me is that I believe he saw those dire 0:04:44.956 --> 0:04:47.156 consequences and chose to act again. 0:04:48.196 --> 0:04:51.476 He claims he was engaged in some sort of thinking 0:04:51.556 --> 0:04:54.396 where I think his words were manifesting success like some 0:04:54.436 --> 0:04:56.436 sort of magical thinking or something. 0:04:57.356 --> 0:05:07.116 Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I honestly, I don't 0:05:07.156 --> 0:05:10.356 know where his head was, like where like if he 0:05:10.476 --> 0:05:13.556 was even in any type of reality or if it 0:05:13.636 --> 0:05:18.836 was all just like like a game. Like I don't 0:05:18.876 --> 0:05:20.956 I really don't know what was going through his head 0:05:20.956 --> 0:05:23.196 at the time. And I still wonder to this day, 0:05:23.236 --> 0:05:26.236 you know, like why would you keep going? 0:05:32.716 --> 0:05:34.956 Both Marissa and Elise have had a lot of time 0:05:34.996 --> 0:05:40.476 to think, so too has Keith. And they all knew 0:05:40.516 --> 0:05:44.396 that someday Keith would be released and walk back into 0:05:44.396 --> 0:05:49.956 their lives. And then what would Keith have arrived at 0:05:49.996 --> 0:05:54.516 some deeper understanding of himself and his actions? And as 0:05:54.556 --> 0:05:57.476 for his daughters, what would it mean to have Keith 0:05:57.556 --> 0:06:02.596 back in their lives? How do you understand, forgive and 0:06:02.756 --> 0:06:07.036 love a parent whose strategy for protecting you was once 0:06:07.316 --> 0:06:23.196 the very thing that near destroyed you. I'm Jay Calburn 0:06:23.396 --> 0:06:28.236 and this is Deep Cover The Family Man our season finale. 0:06:28.916 --> 0:06:54.996 The release, Keith was facing almost two decades in prison, 0:06:55.676 --> 0:06:58.836 and he worried about what would happen in his absence, 0:06:59.276 --> 0:07:02.516 especially with Marissa. He told me that he wished he 0:07:02.516 --> 0:07:05.756 could have been there to save her from hitting rock bottom. 0:07:06.676 --> 0:07:09.836 But the truth was that Keith didn't exactly know what 0:07:09.996 --> 0:07:13.396 the bottom looked like for Marissa, and neither did I 0:07:14.036 --> 0:07:17.676 until she showed me what part of Saint Louis is called. 0:07:17.796 --> 0:07:24.476 Oh, this is North City, Saint Louis North Side. This 0:07:24.716 --> 0:07:29.196 is a part of Saint Louis that is mostly abandoned warehouses. 0:07:29.556 --> 0:07:33.036 A lot of it is burned out or tornado damage 0:07:33.196 --> 0:07:36.316 or like just places you can tell that nobody's been 0:07:36.396 --> 0:07:37.276 for a long time. 0:07:39.276 --> 0:07:44.276 Yeah, it's definitely got a kind of zombie feel. This 0:07:44.356 --> 0:07:47.596 is where their mom lived for many years after she 0:07:47.716 --> 0:07:48.236 moved out. 0:07:49.796 --> 0:07:54.916 So the house is this great one? This one, yeah, 0:07:55.116 --> 0:07:55.836 you can pull up. 0:07:57.796 --> 0:08:00.916 Starting when she was nineteen years old, Marissa would end 0:08:00.996 --> 0:08:05.036 up staying here off and on for years. She referred 0:08:05.076 --> 0:08:07.396 to this place as the trap. 0:08:07.116 --> 0:08:11.356 House guy here. Actually, the first thing she asked me 0:08:11.436 --> 0:08:18.796 was do I have any money for drugs? And then 0:08:18.876 --> 0:08:21.196 I just went into the living room and sat by myself. 0:08:21.836 --> 0:08:25.116 It's like, if you didn't have something that she wanted, 0:08:25.396 --> 0:08:27.636 then she didn't really want anything to do with me. 0:08:28.196 --> 0:08:30.636 Like I almost felt like I was a burden just 0:08:30.676 --> 0:08:34.596 sitting there unless I had money or drugs to give her. 0:08:35.836 --> 0:08:39.196 Marissa says it wasn't long before she just fell into 0:08:39.196 --> 0:08:43.636 the rhythm of the house, doing heroine with her mother regularly. 0:08:44.596 --> 0:08:48.396 The drug use became my personality because it was like, 0:08:48.596 --> 0:08:50.796 this is what we do, this is who we are 0:08:50.796 --> 0:08:55.116 on this block, you know, And once you get into 0:08:55.116 --> 0:09:03.076 that mindset, it's just hard to break from it. I 0:09:03.156 --> 0:09:04.916 might have to smoke a cigarette outside. 0:09:07.236 --> 0:09:11.996 Sitting outside the trap house, Marissa recalled all kinds of memories, 0:09:12.596 --> 0:09:15.956 some of them pretty dark. She told me that it 0:09:16.036 --> 0:09:19.396 wasn't cheap to support her drug habit back then, and 0:09:19.676 --> 0:09:23.556 she was broke. So one day her mother tells her. 0:09:24.236 --> 0:09:26.556 If you want to fix your money problem, I have 0:09:26.636 --> 0:09:30.076 a solution for you. If you want to make easy money, 0:09:30.076 --> 0:09:33.236 then you have to sleep with these guys. She is like, 0:09:33.276 --> 0:09:35.396 it's the easiest way to make money quickly. 0:09:36.396 --> 0:09:39.316 This was apparently how her mother was getting. 0:09:39.076 --> 0:09:43.116 By Now, I realized, like I could have walked away, 0:09:43.156 --> 0:09:44.996 you know, but I didn't know that at the time. 0:09:45.516 --> 0:09:50.476 As a teenager and being sick on those drugs, it 0:09:50.636 --> 0:09:55.636 changes what you will and will not do, and I 0:09:55.676 --> 0:09:57.676 went down a very dark path because of it. 0:10:03.316 --> 0:10:06.676 Seeing this house and hearing Marissa talk about the life 0:10:06.756 --> 0:10:09.556 that she fell into here made me let me think 0:10:09.596 --> 0:10:13.476 again about Keith and his choices, and it raised the 0:10:13.556 --> 0:10:16.636 question that I've been grappling with since the very beginning. 0:10:17.516 --> 0:10:21.276 Why why would Keith do what he did, take such 0:10:21.276 --> 0:10:26.036 a risk jeopardize the welfare of his kids, especially when 0:10:26.036 --> 0:10:29.356 he knew that their safety net wasn't really a safety 0:10:29.356 --> 0:10:44.836 net at all, but was more like a trap. Marissa 0:10:44.916 --> 0:10:47.756 remembers just how bad it got with her mom. 0:10:49.076 --> 0:10:56.036 She just she retreated into a hole so deep and 0:10:56.236 --> 0:11:02.516 just became like this creature that I know that I 0:11:02.596 --> 0:11:06.956 didn't want to become because it was so dark and 0:11:07.076 --> 0:11:11.756 so far away from any feeling that was white, you know. 0:11:14.236 --> 0:11:21.316 So I was determined to not become like my mother. 0:11:22.956 --> 0:11:27.476 And that determination it paid off. In twenty fourteen, when 0:11:27.476 --> 0:11:31.276 Marissa was twenty four years old, she went clean, stopped 0:11:31.356 --> 0:11:36.236 using drugs entirely. She tried to convince her mother to 0:11:36.276 --> 0:11:36.876 do the same. 0:11:37.676 --> 0:11:40.516 I held her face in my hands in that trap 0:11:40.556 --> 0:11:44.596 house and I said, honey, if I can do it, 0:11:44.676 --> 0:11:45.556 you can do it too. 0:11:46.356 --> 0:11:57.596 I love you, mom. 0:11:57.756 --> 0:11:58.836 And what did she say to that? 0:12:01.676 --> 0:12:06.156 She said, I know, and then she got up and 0:12:06.196 --> 0:12:09.036 walked away. 0:12:10.716 --> 0:12:16.076 But after having that conversation they talked again, and Marissa 0:12:16.196 --> 0:12:19.676 says that even to this day, she can picture this 0:12:19.836 --> 0:12:24.836 moment like it's still playing out right in front of her. 0:12:25.476 --> 0:12:27.676 It was in a darker room, there was a lamp on, 0:12:27.836 --> 0:12:31.276 and she was sitting on the bed with that lamp 0:12:31.436 --> 0:12:34.956 shutting on her face, and I was standing above her, 0:12:35.756 --> 0:12:39.396 and she looked up at me and she said, Marissa, 0:12:40.396 --> 0:12:46.556 I'm sorry. She said everything that I've put you through. 0:12:48.076 --> 0:12:51.756 She said, I didn't mean to do this to my 0:12:51.876 --> 0:12:55.796 own daughter. She's like, I should have never used with you. 0:12:56.636 --> 0:13:00.036 I should have never given you a needle. And I 0:13:00.076 --> 0:13:02.676 looked in her eyes and for one of the only 0:13:02.876 --> 0:13:09.956 times in my life, I said, this woman feels guilty. 0:13:10.916 --> 0:13:15.716 I could feel the guilt and I said, I love you, Mom. 0:13:18.956 --> 0:13:27.196 It's gotta be okay. I forgive you. I forgive you. 0:13:27.316 --> 0:13:33.196 Mom. 0:13:33.356 --> 0:13:37.796 During this time, Elise was away at college and studying abroad. 0:13:38.716 --> 0:13:41.276 Still she did her best to stay in touch with 0:13:41.316 --> 0:13:45.116 her mother. Periodically she came back to the Trap House 0:13:45.156 --> 0:13:48.356 to visit to check in on her mother. She and 0:13:48.396 --> 0:13:51.036 her mom still had a few things in common, like 0:13:51.276 --> 0:13:55.596 they both loved the band Maroon five, and there were 0:13:55.636 --> 0:13:58.636 a few moments when it looked like Becky might turn 0:13:58.676 --> 0:14:03.516 her life around, but really these were just flickers of hope, 0:14:04.076 --> 0:14:10.076 brief pauses in what was a steady, slow decline. 0:14:10.396 --> 0:14:16.516 January tenth, twenty sixteen, I went and visited my mom 0:14:16.556 --> 0:14:17.436 for the last time. 0:14:18.476 --> 0:14:22.276 Becky was in the hospital and gravely ill after having 0:14:22.316 --> 0:14:25.196 a stroke. Elise went to see. 0:14:24.996 --> 0:14:32.276 Her and they had her hooked up to oxygen and 0:14:32.836 --> 0:14:36.916 she couldn't breathe on her own or you know, eat 0:14:36.956 --> 0:14:39.996 her on her own. She was hooked up to all 0:14:39.996 --> 0:14:45.156 sorts of machines. The doctors told us that she didn't 0:14:45.196 --> 0:14:52.316 have any brain activity. It's very quiet in the hospital. 0:14:53.916 --> 0:14:58.236 And I sat with her and held her hand which 0:14:58.276 --> 0:15:00.796 still had nail polish on them. I don't know who 0:15:00.916 --> 0:15:04.236 she got to do that for her, And I always 0:15:04.236 --> 0:15:09.396 sang her Sunday morning by maroon five Sunday morning, rain 0:15:09.516 --> 0:15:13.356 is falling. I'm saying that to her for the last time, 0:15:14.436 --> 0:15:27.436 and I said goodbye to her. 0:15:29.356 --> 0:15:32.916 At Lice told me one other thing that I really 0:15:32.996 --> 0:15:37.076 wasn't expecting to hear. She said that even after all 0:15:37.116 --> 0:15:41.276 these years, her mother still had feelings for Keith. 0:15:42.196 --> 0:15:45.996 I used to find like love letters, half written love 0:15:46.076 --> 0:15:50.476 letters to my dad and her purse years later that 0:15:50.596 --> 0:15:55.196 she just never said to my dad in person. That 0:15:55.236 --> 0:15:59.196 would just be like, I love you, I loved our life, 0:16:00.236 --> 0:16:03.716 and there's no silver lining. It is just a straight 0:16:03.796 --> 0:16:05.356 tragedy with that. 0:16:14.676 --> 0:16:18.236 After their mom passed, Marissa and Elise went to a 0:16:18.276 --> 0:16:22.356 Maroon five concert. They sat way up in the nosebleeds, 0:16:22.916 --> 0:16:26.396 and when the band played Sunday Morning, they shouted out 0:16:26.436 --> 0:16:31.356 the words together in a raw, full throated goodbye to 0:16:31.396 --> 0:16:39.676 Becky Giamanco. As kids, we hold our parents up on 0:16:39.716 --> 0:16:43.996 a pedestal because they seem larger than life, like characters 0:16:44.036 --> 0:16:46.996 in a fable, and then as we grow up, we 0:16:47.116 --> 0:16:50.996 begin the process of reimagining them, not simply as parents, 0:16:51.036 --> 0:16:56.036 but as human beings, ordinary flawed mortals who are doing 0:16:56.076 --> 0:16:59.356 their best or trying to anyhow, in a lot of 0:16:59.476 --> 0:17:06.156 messy and difficult situations. For Release and Marissa, this process 0:17:06.236 --> 0:17:10.436 was complicated by the time the asked they'd come to 0:17:10.476 --> 0:17:14.116 see her and accept her for who she was. But 0:17:14.396 --> 0:17:17.396 with their dad, it was hard for that relationship to 0:17:17.476 --> 0:17:21.476 evolve because he was in prison. He was there but 0:17:21.676 --> 0:17:24.916 not there, and so a very important part of their 0:17:24.956 --> 0:17:52.916 life remained suspended, hanging in the air, unresolved. Keith started 0:17:52.916 --> 0:17:56.836 his incarceration with two years at the Saint Louis County Jail. 0:17:57.556 --> 0:18:00.356 This is where he got his first taste of life 0:18:00.436 --> 0:18:01.196 as an inmate. 0:18:02.156 --> 0:18:03.036 It was a a. 0:18:05.036 --> 0:18:12.516 Dosa reality to be in a place where there was 0:18:12.556 --> 0:18:16.836 a lot of fear. You could cut the tension in 0:18:16.916 --> 0:18:19.876 the air. It's a good place to learn to keep 0:18:19.876 --> 0:18:20.596 to yourself. 0:18:21.676 --> 0:18:24.716 Keith learned how to get by, how to keep his 0:18:24.796 --> 0:18:29.396 head down, not invite trouble. As he put it, prison 0:18:29.916 --> 0:18:34.636 is something to be endured. And then in twenty twelve, 0:18:35.156 --> 0:18:39.476 after he had been incarcerated about four years, Keith met someone, 0:18:40.396 --> 0:18:43.076 someone who helped him figure out some things that he'd 0:18:43.076 --> 0:18:48.436 been struggling with pretty much his entire life. At the time. 0:18:48.636 --> 0:18:51.676 Keith was in a maximum security state prison a few 0:18:51.676 --> 0:18:55.356 hours from Saint Louis, and he started working as a 0:18:55.396 --> 0:18:59.836 teaching assistant in a classroom with a woman named Caroline. 0:18:59.956 --> 0:19:03.076 Caroline was a former high school English teacher who lost 0:19:03.116 --> 0:19:06.396 her job in the Great Recession. Now she worked in 0:19:06.436 --> 0:19:10.956 the prison. As the weeks in month went by, Keith 0:19:10.956 --> 0:19:14.196 started to open up to Caroline. He talked about how 0:19:14.236 --> 0:19:17.516 he'd spent so long pretending to be someone he wasn't 0:19:18.036 --> 0:19:21.676 pretending that he had more than he actually did. But 0:19:21.836 --> 0:19:25.396 here in prison, he couldn't hide the realities of his 0:19:25.476 --> 0:19:29.076 situation or what he'd done, nor did he want to. 0:19:29.836 --> 0:19:32.996 And the crazy part for Keith, at least, was that 0:19:33.036 --> 0:19:36.996 Caroline still seemed to accept him exactly as he was. 0:19:38.796 --> 0:19:43.916 They became close friends, and eventually Keith realized that he 0:19:43.956 --> 0:19:48.836 had feelings for her, romantic feelings. When he confessed them 0:19:48.836 --> 0:19:52.276 to Caroline, she says, it came as a surprise. 0:19:53.276 --> 0:19:57.076 My head was spinning. This was absolutely nothing that I 0:19:57.276 --> 0:20:01.036 had ever envisioned in life, and I didn't want to 0:20:01.036 --> 0:20:05.316 be involved with anybody, let alone say oh yeah, hey, 0:20:06.556 --> 0:20:10.796 a maximum security inmate. You sound like my guy, but 0:20:11.036 --> 0:20:15.476 I knew he was, and because he's more than an inmate, 0:20:15.676 --> 0:20:16.316 he's Keith. 0:20:20.356 --> 0:20:24.276 Caroline told him that she shared his feelings, and for 0:20:24.436 --> 0:20:26.756 Keith this was a revelation. 0:20:28.236 --> 0:20:34.156 She certainly didn't want me for what I had, because 0:20:34.196 --> 0:20:44.636 I had nothing except for me, which is probably the 0:20:44.676 --> 0:20:46.836 greatest compliment anybody could ever have. 0:20:48.516 --> 0:20:52.036 I think that's one of the lessons that Keith really 0:20:52.116 --> 0:20:55.276 needed to learn as a human being, because he had 0:20:55.316 --> 0:20:59.116 gone for so long thinking that he needed to have 0:20:59.236 --> 0:21:08.516 things to seem valuable to other people, and he lost 0:21:08.676 --> 0:21:12.956 everything going to prison and found out that, hey, people 0:21:13.076 --> 0:21:20.116 still love him even though he can't provide something for them. 0:21:21.756 --> 0:21:25.436 From that point on, Keith and Caroline saw themselves as 0:21:25.476 --> 0:21:28.396 a couple, though they're both quick to say there was 0:21:28.436 --> 0:21:32.796 never any physical intimacy while Keith was incarcerated, just an 0:21:32.836 --> 0:21:36.996 understanding that they had found each other and that she 0:21:37.036 --> 0:21:40.036 would wait for him, even though his release date was 0:21:40.076 --> 0:21:45.356 still more than a decade away. Alice remembers when, on 0:21:45.356 --> 0:21:48.436 one of her visits to prison, her father first told 0:21:48.476 --> 0:21:50.356 her about Caroline. 0:21:50.396 --> 0:21:53.596 He explained that he was in love with her and 0:21:53.996 --> 0:21:57.436 told me a little about that story, and I actually 0:21:57.476 --> 0:22:00.076 thought it was so sweet. I'm pretty sure I cried, 0:22:00.796 --> 0:22:04.796 and I was just so happy for him. And I 0:22:04.836 --> 0:22:07.636 also was relieved too, because I felt like I had 0:22:07.676 --> 0:22:12.076 been such an emotional, mental, and economical support for my 0:22:12.196 --> 0:22:14.836 dad that now I had this other player in the 0:22:14.876 --> 0:22:17.676 game that could take some of that burning off of me, 0:22:18.036 --> 0:22:20.316 because this is someone who's choosing to be with my 0:22:20.396 --> 0:22:22.516 father out of love, not out of obligation. 0:22:23.676 --> 0:22:27.716 In twenty seventeen, about five years after they first met, 0:22:28.196 --> 0:22:32.316 Keith and Caroline decided to get married. They arranged to 0:22:32.316 --> 0:22:34.516 have a ceremony in the prison visiting room. 0:22:35.156 --> 0:22:39.116 Even we had thought it can be icky getting married 0:22:39.156 --> 0:22:43.996 in prison, because that's not exactly your choice venue. And 0:22:44.036 --> 0:22:46.596 you know, when we got in there, it was like 0:22:46.676 --> 0:22:47.636 nothing else mattered. 0:22:48.756 --> 0:22:53.036 The guests included just Marissa and Elise and the pastor 0:22:53.116 --> 0:22:54.276 from Caroline's church. 0:22:55.396 --> 0:22:59.716 It was like nobody else was there except for the pasture, 0:23:00.836 --> 0:23:03.196 her I and the girls. 0:23:05.516 --> 0:23:08.116 Caroline told me that Marissa and Elise got into the 0:23:08.156 --> 0:23:12.476 spirit of things and even spontaneously started singing going to 0:23:12.516 --> 0:23:16.876 the chapel. There was no wedding cake, but still these 0:23:16.876 --> 0:23:20.596 two people had found one another and made this commitment, 0:23:21.076 --> 0:23:24.396 even though Keith would still be locked away for years. 0:23:26.516 --> 0:23:30.116 I have to imagine this scene. It must have been 0:23:30.196 --> 0:23:34.396 bittersweet for Keith's daughters to see their father so happy, 0:23:34.796 --> 0:23:39.036 to see him so settled into himself at last. But 0:23:39.436 --> 0:23:43.476 the unspoken question was why did the cost of this 0:23:43.636 --> 0:23:47.196 moment need to be so high? Why did there need 0:23:47.236 --> 0:23:52.276 to be such heartbreak and destruction before Keith Giamanco could 0:23:52.556 --> 0:24:07.156 at last find this kind of happiness. Keith's release date 0:24:07.356 --> 0:24:11.396 was set for September of twenty twenty five. He ended 0:24:11.476 --> 0:24:15.196 up serving seventeen years of his twenty year sentence and 0:24:15.276 --> 0:24:18.716 was released on parole. He was sixty one years old. 0:24:19.716 --> 0:24:22.956 Marissa couldn't be there for the actual day of Keith's release. 0:24:23.396 --> 0:24:26.076 She planned to visit him a short while later, but 0:24:26.316 --> 0:24:29.276 Elise was determined to be there for the big day. 0:24:30.356 --> 0:24:32.116 People are like, how are you preparing? I I've been 0:24:32.156 --> 0:24:38.276 preparing seventeen years for this, probably over prepared in some way. 0:24:38.516 --> 0:24:41.356 Just ready, you know, I've been ready since the day 0:24:41.716 --> 0:24:42.596 he went in. 0:24:43.756 --> 0:24:47.076 Alise lives in California now, where she's the director of 0:24:47.076 --> 0:24:50.276 a boys and girls club, and she decided to take 0:24:50.276 --> 0:24:53.396 some time off of work, hop in her car and 0:24:53.516 --> 0:24:57.076 drive all the way to Missouri for his release. She 0:24:57.316 --> 0:25:02.436 cruised across the west through Wyoming and Nebraska, blasting Bob 0:25:02.516 --> 0:25:04.156 Dylan and Taylor Swift. 0:25:05.156 --> 0:25:08.756 I was ecstatic, running on adrenaline the entire time I was. 0:25:09.116 --> 0:25:12.676 I was driving music, blasten top of my ears, ready 0:25:12.676 --> 0:25:16.756 to go. I booked really nice places for myself because 0:25:16.796 --> 0:25:19.076 I knew that my life was about to change again 0:25:19.196 --> 0:25:22.156 and I was celebrating. I was already celebrating on the road. 0:25:22.276 --> 0:25:28.756 I was joyous, overwhelmed with joy and screaming like we're 0:25:28.796 --> 0:25:32.876 almost there, almost there, Like I did this, We did it. 0:25:34.236 --> 0:25:37.516 Elise planned to meet Caroline the night before so they 0:25:37.516 --> 0:25:38.996 could spend a little time together. 0:25:39.876 --> 0:25:43.196 Caroline and I spent that evening chit chatting about our 0:25:43.236 --> 0:25:46.236 future plans, and I was like, aren't you so excited 0:25:46.276 --> 0:25:48.636 to be with your husband and just to hang out 0:25:48.636 --> 0:25:53.876 with your husband? And she was jazzing me up too, like, hey, 0:25:53.956 --> 0:25:56.316 your father's getting out, Like, look at this moment for 0:25:56.396 --> 0:26:00.676 our family, Like this is the moment we've been waiting for. 0:26:01.996 --> 0:26:06.116 The next morning, they went to the prison together. Caroline drove, 0:26:06.636 --> 0:26:08.356 Elise was in the passenger's seat. 0:26:09.276 --> 0:26:12.356 I couldn't wait to get out. I jumped out while 0:26:12.356 --> 0:26:14.556 the car was still kind of moving. When I saw 0:26:14.636 --> 0:26:17.556 him standing outside the prison, I was like, am I dreaming? 0:26:18.196 --> 0:26:20.876 You know? Am I dreaming? Seeing him standing here. 0:26:21.676 --> 0:26:23.716 Caroline remembers this moment. 0:26:23.476 --> 0:26:27.356 Too, When we pulled up to the front door, the 0:26:27.436 --> 0:26:31.276 car hadn't even stopped rolling yet, and Eli's just boiled 0:26:31.356 --> 0:26:33.596 out of the car and went running to him and 0:26:33.636 --> 0:26:36.196 gave him a great big hug, and they were crying, 0:26:37.156 --> 0:26:40.356 and I had tears, and it was just so sweet 0:26:40.396 --> 0:26:41.676 to see them reunited. 0:26:43.356 --> 0:26:46.636 And I just said, we did it, Dad, we did it, 0:26:48.956 --> 0:26:51.796 and we broke down in each other's arms, and then 0:26:51.836 --> 0:26:54.796 Caroline came and hugged my dad, and then we all 0:26:54.876 --> 0:26:58.676 hugged each other and we got in the car and 0:26:58.956 --> 0:27:02.996 got out of there as quick as we could, off 0:27:03.076 --> 0:27:04.876 of the prison property. 0:27:09.556 --> 0:27:14.076 Well, getting out was of course, it was a wonderful, 0:27:15.516 --> 0:27:16.876 for lack of a better term. 0:27:16.716 --> 0:27:21.876 Experience to get out, and with Caroline and Elise meeting me, 0:27:22.036 --> 0:27:27.076 it was just, you know, it was a jubilation and elation. 0:27:27.876 --> 0:27:28.756 The feeling was. 0:27:36.556 --> 0:27:40.796 That same day, Keith, Caroline, and Elise drove to a 0:27:40.836 --> 0:27:45.436 cemetery in Eminence, Missouri, because that's where some of Keith's 0:27:45.476 --> 0:27:50.236 family members were buried and he wanted to pay his respects. 0:27:50.316 --> 0:27:54.516 And then they all went swimming at Keith's favorite swimming hole. 0:27:55.556 --> 0:27:58.636 It might be hard for people to imagine, especially people 0:27:58.716 --> 0:28:03.236 who liked to swim, not being immersed in water for 0:28:03.276 --> 0:28:09.116 seventeen years. I mean, there's nothing, there's no bathtubs in prison, 0:28:09.156 --> 0:28:12.916 and there's no swimming pools. So that was an interesting 0:28:12.996 --> 0:28:15.916 experience and it was something that I had said for 0:28:16.036 --> 0:28:19.516 years was the first thing I wanted to do was 0:28:19.556 --> 0:28:20.196 go swimming. 0:28:21.796 --> 0:28:25.276 This swimming hole. It's where Keith taught his daughters how 0:28:25.276 --> 0:28:28.596 to swim. The area is lined with these cliffs that 0:28:28.636 --> 0:28:32.476 you can jump from, so Keith and Elise climb the 0:28:32.476 --> 0:28:33.356 cliffs together. 0:28:35.596 --> 0:28:41.156 It was my first experience post release of him being 0:28:41.196 --> 0:28:47.716 physically there to encourage me and to help me physically 0:28:47.756 --> 0:28:51.316 get up this cliff, because he went before me and 0:28:51.356 --> 0:28:56.956 he reached back and helped me up with his hand. 0:28:59.596 --> 0:29:04.076 And it felt like I had had my father back 0:29:04.116 --> 0:29:10.516 and then I had this level of support pack and 0:29:10.556 --> 0:29:16.476 it was such a freeing thing for me, and it 0:29:16.596 --> 0:29:18.756 just felt like a full circle moment. Here we are 0:29:19.036 --> 0:29:22.356 back at the swimming hole, back where I learned to swim, 0:29:22.596 --> 0:29:27.316 back where we had so many memories, and it just 0:29:27.356 --> 0:29:33.516 felt so relieving to continue the story of us together. 0:29:52.836 --> 0:29:56.076 As you might remember, when I first met Marissa, we 0:29:56.156 --> 0:29:58.276 jumped right in a car and set off on a 0:29:58.356 --> 0:30:02.556 road trip through the geography of her family's past. It 0:30:02.756 --> 0:30:05.876 ended in a quiet place. We pulled over at the 0:30:05.996 --> 0:30:10.676 edge of a lake in rural Missouri. Was December, cold 0:30:10.716 --> 0:30:14.876 but clear, with the kind of winter light that sharpens everything, 0:30:15.316 --> 0:30:19.316