WEBVTT - CHAPTER NINE: Finding his Father 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.280 Previously on Hello John Tale. 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.400 She kicked me out and we went for two years. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:11.399 We didn't talk two years, not a word. I feel 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:13.159 like he's a little bit jealous because I had our 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:17.120 actual mom, and I'm jealous that he didn't have her. 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.079 Since I started talking to Steve, he's made it clear 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.800 he wanted to know who his father was. Losing the 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:29.760 only father he had ever known made him waning to 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.080 find out who gave him life. Finding his mom wasn't 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.680 necessarily enough for Steve. I sensed he harbored resentment toward 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.560 his biological mom, Sandy, forgiving him away, and that pushed 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:42.680 Steve to want to find out who his birth father was. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.479 So he asked Sandy, He asked his newfound sister Amy, 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.199 even asked me if I could do some digging. I 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.920 started looking at his family tree. I'll remind you of 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.800 what that tree looks like. Sandy was married to clips 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.680 se Vegas and had Susie Savegas, her first daughter. She 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.200 was the one that Franklin Floyd kidnapped. Then she had 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.840 two daughters with Dennis Brandenburg. Remember this, Sandy and her 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.399 girls thought he had died decades ago, but he was 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:13.039 actually alive and well, the whole down time. Anyway, Sandy 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.959 and Dennis had Alison and Amy. You already know Amy, 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.600 the bus driver from Virginia. Alison lives in Oregon, but 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.520 she and the family don't keep in touch. Sandy got 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:24.600 pregnant Steve around the same time she was still with 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.920 Dennis Brandenburgh. Meaning Steve's hunch and mine too, was that 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.960 he was a Brandenburgh. That would make sense, but he 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:40.280 had no proof. He was looking for something definitive. He 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.119 hadn't expected to find someone who wanted answers as badly 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.039 as he did another adoptee. 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.880 Actually, I'm Andre, a carpenter. I am just turned fifty 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:54.800 six on a farm on Wstness. They investigations are your 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:55.640 private investigtor? 0:01:55.760 --> 0:02:00.800 Yes, oh honey, we can have fun. Oh yes, Tennessee. 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.640 When she met Steve in twenty twenty one, she was 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:04.520 on her own journey. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.040 I've known all my life that I was adopted from 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.000 ever since I can remember, but did not even attempt 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:17.440 to find my biological parents until twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.280 I did not want to disrespect my adopted parents because 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.520 it would hurt them, even though they were encouraging. 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.160 Once she started looking, Andrew learned about her birth story. 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.160 Her mom got pregnant young and she wasn't married to 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.440 her dad, so she was forced to give Andrew up 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:32.960 for adoption. 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.280 And her dad, Dennis Brandenburg is my father. 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.720 Dennis Brandenburg is in Sandy's second husband, the professional gambler, 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.359 and the guy Steve thought was probably his father. Once 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:49.040 Andrey figured out that she was in Brandenburg, she started 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:52.000 finding his other kids. That's how she connected with Steve. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.520 I found out I potentially had another sister through the 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:56.639 Brandenburg side. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.600 They had a lot in common. Both were adopted, Both 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.440 waited in till later in life to seek their birth parents, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.560 both figuring out where they fit into this world with 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.920 all this new information. Andrew had grown up as an 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.000 only child. She couldn't live one more minute not knowing 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:11.440 her brother. 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.760 Within forty eight hours, when I was on the road 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.760 going to North Carolina, and as soon as he walked 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.280 in the door, ooh, I knew it was him. I 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.600 knew it was him, and I stood up and he 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.880 knew it was me, and it. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.400 Was just like he's finally here. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.080 All the anticipation had come forth, and I feel like 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.480 that he needed us. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.240 As much as we needed him us as in the 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.600 other Brandenburgs. One of Dennis's daughters lives in Michigan and 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:44.520 his name Michelle. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.960 I am the oldest one so far that we found, 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:54.240 and I'm fifty six, live in Fowlerville, Michigan, and on 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.080 a boarding kennel for pet's pep boarding kennel. 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:00.520 Andrew is on a mission to find as many of 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.040 her siblings as possible and round them up. So she 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:03.800 called up Amy. 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.320 She said, my name is Andrew. She said, I believe 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.320 we may have the same father. Would I be willing 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.400 to take a DNA test to see if we're related? 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:14.960 Sure? Why not? 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:17.080 Why? 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.520 And I've been riding this wave of response. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.360 Andrew felt in her gut that she was a Brandyburg, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.640 but she didn't have no proof. But Amy was definitely 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.680 his daughter. Andrew is kind of the captain here. She 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.479 got both sisters, Amy and Michelle to do their DNA 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.920 test from their home states, but she did hers from 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:39.360 North Carolina with Steve. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:45.120 So she paid for everybody get a DNA test. Another sister, 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.640 another lady on the Brandyburgh side, and. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.760 Her DNA tests can be expensive, somewhere between fifty dollars 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.279 and a few hundred dollars Andrew wanted to pay. She 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:58.719 worked several jobs, and I also was adopted into a 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.559 family of means she could. 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.240 Everybody went like that day or the next day, and 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.120 we had to wait so much forever. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.000 While they waiting, Andrew and Steve got to know each 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.120 other better. They didn't do anything fancy. They just went 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.359 out to dinner talked a lot. After all, there was 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.840 so much to catch up on between the supposed brother 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.360 and sister. Everything was changing so fast, Andrew tried to 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:23.120 soak it all in. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.560 We were supposed to be two nights and three days 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:27.440 in North Carolina ended up being a week because we 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:32.720 want to spend the time with Steve, kid to know him. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.120 After a few days the results came back. All four 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:40.440 of them crossed their fingers in hope, and then I 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:41.200 was the one that got. 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.520 The first results. I called Michelle and I'm like, you're 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.479 not gonna believe this. I said, we're all sisters, but 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:48.200 Steve's not our brother. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.520 And they were all connected to brandon Bury except me. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.599 Steve was Sandy's son, but his dad was not the 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.000 gamble Dennis Brandenburg. 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.280 Our hearts broke. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.160 This new stone, the test ruled out the only man 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.240 Sandy could remember being with around the time Steve was conceived, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.159 but the test didn't say who his dad was. Steve 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:18.320 had reached a dead end, had insult injury. The DNA 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.400 results also many wasn't related to Andrea, who had spent 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:22.360 a whole week with him. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.720 We were crushed because he is such a wonderful, wonderful person. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.680 Steve was already wrestling with so much he wanted the 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.599 certainty of knowing who he was related to on his 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.560 dad's son. From talking to Steve, I could tell he 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.159 resented Sandy forgiving him away, even though he knew it 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.480 saved him from a lot of pain and it may 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:50.080 have even saved his life. His father, however, was already 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.800 out of the picture when Steve was given away. If 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.320 Steve had been part of the Brandenburg clan joined with 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.120 this group of women from three different mothers, maybe that 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.000 would have been an easier family for him to fit in. 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.720 But Steve was back to square one. He still didn't 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:05.840 know who his birth father was, and now he had 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.280 a choice to make. Andrea, Amy and Michelle were ready 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.400 to welcome him into their family. Should he choose this 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:20.360 family or keep looking for his biological father. My name 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.280 is Todd Matthews and this is Hello John Doe. A sleuth, 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:25.680 a family, and a serial killer. The story of a 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.600 family torn apart by tragedy and my quest to bring 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:37.600 them back together. Chapter nine, Finding his father. It's one 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.200 thing to learn you've been adopted late in life. Steve 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.160 is making sense of that. When he learned about Franklin 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:46.280 Employe's destructive rampage through his family tree, he was discovering 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.640 new relatives like his sister Susie Sevegas and his nephew 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.880 Michael Hughes, but at the same time mourning their passing. 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.320 Ever since he learned he was adopted in twenty nineteen, 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.440 Steve has tried to understand his origin story still unanswered questions, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.280 and I can imagine it must feel like he's sinking 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.840 in quick sin. He wants to be proud of who 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.600 he is and stand tall, but how can he when 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.800 there are so many unanswered questions? He was in the 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:16.240 fog through my years. In this work, I've seen myself 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.960 as a hailer. I identified the unclaimed dead and brought 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:21.800 them back to their families who had been grieving their 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.960 loss for years. I brought them closure. But there's a 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.080 big difference between Steve's story and the other cases I've worked. 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:32.760 Steve was alive, and because of how unique this whole 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.000 story really is, I found myself in an unfamiliar place. 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.520 I can't heal Steve. I can't fix what Franklin Floyd did. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.120 In a lot of ways, I'm woefully unequipped. But Andrea, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:50.679 she reached step in a way I never could. In 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.400 some ways, only other people who are lost in the 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.640 same way can guide you. Andrea, like Steve, was sheepish 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.840 about asking her adoptive parents about her birth for a 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.679 long time. Andrew didn't want to end anyone by speaking up. 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.400 I just knew, you know, as a mall myself, that 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.680 it would probably hurt them, so I just let it go. 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.520 He might have been like me, you feel like that 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.000 these two people that raised you. 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:18.440 And you hung the moon for. 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.000 That you were going to hurt them. You were going 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.960 to hurt their hearts. And I think that's what Steve 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:27.880 and I have in common, that we don't like to 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.360 hurt people's hearts. And I think he kind of felt 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:35.120 like I did that it was disrespected. Now because you know, 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.200 in the South. You're raised to respect your parents, and 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.160 I think he just thought, oh, I'll save it for 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:45.240 another day, and he waited thirty years, twenty years. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.240 But waiting had consequences. Andrew's biological parents died before she 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.160 even went looking for him. Dennis Brandon Burg died in 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:52.959 twenty nineteen. 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.640 Unfortunately, by the time I got there, you know, late 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.440 to the dads. By the time I got there, they 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.120 were already gone. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.160 Andrew and Steve shared this profound thing in common. They're 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.840 both looking for answers about their adoption later in life. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.960 But there's an important difference too, Andrew and you. She 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.640 was adopted early, but Steve didn't. That makes him what 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.880 experts call a late discovery adoptee. Anyone who finds out 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.720 they were adopted later than three years old found out late. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.760 That makes Steve a late discoverer. He only found out 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.680 in his teens. Experts say discovering your adoption later in 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.320 life can shatter your sense of who you are. Think 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.520 of it this way. If you grew up always knowing 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:40.880 and feel like your parents have always been straight with you, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.480 that's one thing. But finding out on the verge of adulthood, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.480 it can make you question your whole damn childhood, and 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.960 if you only start dealing with the fact you're adopted 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.360 in middle age, it can be overwhelming to your sense 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.559 of identity. Andrew could since that was happening to Steve, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.360 so despite the fact they didn't have the same father, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.600 she invited him into her new family. 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.960 I said, now here's the situation. I said. He is 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:11.480 Alison and Amy's brother. He is their half brother, but 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.280 he's our stepbrother because our dad was still married to 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.320 Sandy at the time that Steve was born. So in 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.679 my eyes, there is no step no hives, no nothing. 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.120 He's our brother. And we agreed on that. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.000 Andrea saw beyond blood connections and Steve. She saw a 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.400 man with a quiet demeanor but a big heart, someone 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.840 had don anything for his kids or his girlfriend Jeanette's 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:35.280 kids too. 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.240 I love him to death. I don't see any difference. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:41.360 And I guess I could say that because I was 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:45.400 adopted and Steve was adopted, so he should be able 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.560 to understand that. And he's got you know, Janette's kids 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:50.120 are in his house and he loves them like they 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:50.840 were his own. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.240 Someone trecking through what may be the most challenging years 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.199 of his life, and she wanted to help. 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.080 He wants those answers. We're going to do everything we 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.319 can and as a family to help him get those answers. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.520 If there's something this whole family has in common, it's 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.040 that they're all looking for answers. Think about it. Amy 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.079 certainly didn't know she had more sisters. Andre didn't know 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.320 her birth parents. Steve didn't know his whole adoption story 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.520 until he was almost fifty. They each became detectives on 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.280 their own, talking to one another trying to figure out 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:26.640 who fit were. Over the summer of twenty twenty three, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.720 Steve's sister started making plans to see one another, and 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:32.719 they wanted Steve to come too. They considered him a 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.800 Brandenburg no matter what his DNA said. 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.560 Amy messaged me and she's like, hey, what do you 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.040 do in July tenth through the sixteenth? And I said 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.840 nothing that I know of why? And she said, I 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.719 think we're going to come for a visit. I said, huh, amazing, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.199 because I thought it's the perfect time for all of 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:49.240 us to finally get together. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.880 I'm on summer break because I'm a school bus driver. 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.319 I told everybody I'm gone and we just. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.520 Left, and Andrea was on board too, so I thought 0:12:58.600 --> 0:12:58.880 this is. 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.680 The perfect time. My birthday's the tenth, so I said 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.280 that'd be my birthday. Presis to bout seven. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.760 Andrew offered her own place in Tennessee and started counting 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.240 down the days until she would be reunited with these 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:13.000 long lost siblings, and she invited me too. I think 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.160 it's because I'd ask so many questions about their family, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.240 they started considering me part of it, and I felt 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.280 like family too. I've had this feeling before in other 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.800 cases at work. I like to leave a little piece 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.280 of myself with the family and take some of them 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.360 with me. But this time I wonder if I got 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.400 in too date. I want it so badly for Stived 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.720 to get answers, I might have pushed him too hard, 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:37.080 too fast. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:49.560 Are you staking any worse? Good? 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:50.760 I'm good. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.319 I'm good. 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:59.040 It's easy to find. On an incredibly hot day in July, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.720 we all descend on Andrew's home in Dyersburg. It's a 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.840 beautiful property, a ranch style house on a big piece 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.600 of land, and it was incredibly green. That's the way 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.800 Tennessee is green all over. We're not going to christ 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:13.240 your party that. 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:14.600 Oh no, you're part of the party. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.760 She said so herself. I was part of the party. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.120 That was a good feeling. I felt a little awkward 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.080 at first at someone else's reunion, but they really seemed 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.760 to embrace me. I guess that's where I fit into 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.840 this family. Before all of this, I had thirty years experience, 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.280 first as as cybersluth and then as a contractor for 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.520 the Department of Justice, doing everything I could to help 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.760 reunite the missing in the dead. I know Steve can 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.880 be reserved, so I thought I could help him get 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.160 the answers he was looking for. I've said this before. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.160 This family don't always talk to each other. I became 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.800 an intermediary, relating little bits of information to the different 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.800 family members who couldn't or wouldn't ask for themselves. Amy 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.640 told me that even after I interviewed Sandy, they didn't 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:01.640 really talk about it. 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.720 I said, well, how'd your little session with Todd go? 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.320 She said, it went well, you went really well. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:09.520 I said, what would y'all talk about? She said, just 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.360 he asked some questions and I answered, and I'm like, okay, 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:14.480 you want to further. 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:16.520 Talk to each other? 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:17.960 Every day? 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:19.880 I know, but not about what you need. 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:20.920 To talk because she won't. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.000 I guess she feels more comfortable talking to his stranger. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:25.680 Maybe it is, and maybe you just need somebody that. 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:28.320 A million times. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:29.240 We don't give a shit. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:30.880 It's your past. 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.040 Look, I ain't a reporter. I never promised to keep 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.560 sources at arm's length or not to fill in with 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.320 the people I interview. I feel like I have the 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.320 skills to help people find answers, and I'll be honest. 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.800 I really like Steve's family a lot. I can relate 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.920 to them. We all share the same sense of humor 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.320 and culture. I guess it's a Southern thing. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.000 Because Steve's story kind of started and has grown legs 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:57.440 every which I mean. 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:03.280 All of you colorful people to start popping up definitely, well, 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.440 I mean I found you, you're not. This is a 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:06.720 whole family event now at. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.200 This point, it's a little fun week. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.200 I bet it. You've been at her all way. 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:11.520 Ye yes, since we got it. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.720 We pulled in with Monday night on my birthday. 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.479 There was only one person missing, Phillip. 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:19.040 Steveh and Patterson. You should have had your butt here. 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.120 Steve had plans to be there. We texted a lot 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.960 in the weeks before the reunion, he was going to come, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.680 but his excitement started to dwindle. He said he couldn't 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.280 get time off work in North Carolina. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.800 Because your sisters love you. We love spending time with you. 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.480 The time that I got with him personally myself changed 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.160 my life because he was the beginning. 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:42.760 That's why I felt like I have to come for it, 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:44.320 you know, I have to. I want to try to 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:45.119 take something. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:45.720 Back to him. 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.120 I figured if I was there, I could share what 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.600 I've learned with him when he was ready to hear it. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.360 That weekend, I spent time with his family, like Amy, 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.560 who came with her husband Mike Winkles. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.240 I don't think I'm going to free anything about this true. 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:05.159 I mean it has been. It's been awesome, just a 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.280 regular family cookout, laughing, joking, having a good time. 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:12.359 By the time I showed up, the sisters had been 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:13.800 together for a few days. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.440 We're like three peas in a pod. It doesn't seem 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.639 like we've missed fifty years of each other together, but 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.720 we're trying to cram it all in this week. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.359 This was the first time they were all in the 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.119 same place together, and they appeared to be having the 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:29.080 time of their lives. 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:35.159 Oh, we're all crazy as hell. If we want to 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.320 know something, we're gonna find out, and all three of 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:39.000 us are like that. 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.000 Watching them is like watching the litter of puppies play. 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.240 These sisters enjoyed the best part of siblinghood. No fighting 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.440 over clothes or parent's attention, just having a really close 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.679 friend who loves you, even if she's just getting to 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:56.640 know you. There were three of them that weekend, all 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.119 Dennis Brandy Bird's kids. Andrea did adopt, he w s 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.480 and Dyersburg, Amy the bus driver who grew up with Sandy, 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.680 and Michelle, who grew up with a single mom in Michigan, 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.280 who was shot to see Amy for the first time. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.720 When I saw her walk in, I was like, dang, yeah, 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.440 that's definitely a Brandenburg. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:19.320 Amy and Michelle are practically identical, same laugh, same facial shape, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.600 same brown hair, they both wearing a low ponytail. But 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:23.520 it's not just looks. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:26.160 Once I met the Brandenburg, it's like, oh my god, 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.480 this is why I talk real loud, this is why 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.840 I get super excited, this is why. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.320 I think the way I do it. 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.399 It's like we're all thinking on the same wave pattern, 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:39.160 and it's amazing. I would have argued that environmental factors 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.280 were a heavier weight on somebody other than genetics until 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:44.160 this last two years. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.840 Like close friends getting together after a long time, the 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.959 Brandenburgh spent a lot of time shooting a shit and drinking. 0:18:54.000 --> 0:19:00.440 Yeah, my husband is heavy, head to hell. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.320 That's a good thing, right. They even shared with me 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.960 the gifted Steve some Jack Daniels, but he wasn't there, 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.439 so I got some of that. 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:17.919 Don't let my husband think you make it good. You 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.320 know how to how to do it. You care now, Lock. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.280 The weekend was very lighthearted, lots of laughter, lots of drinking, 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.560 teasing and poking fun, but there's no doubt there was 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.920 a serious part of it. They all wanted to know 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:39.080 about the thread that ran through each of them. Dennis Brandenburgh. Michelle, 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.840 the sister from Michigan, was the only one to know him. 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.959 Meaning of all the people in Steve's orbit, she has 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:46.040 and you, Dennis. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:48.880 I was with my dad until I was two or three. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.480 Two They were married for two and he was maybe 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.240 around for part of another year. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:56.280 That was it. 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:58.919 So all when I was growing up, I wanted to 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.600 know my dad and My mom never talked bad about him. 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.360 She just said he wasn't responsible and please, wait, two, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:05.879 you're older. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.840 That's all because I didn't feel like to fit in 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.600 on my mom's side of the family. It just seemed 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.159 like I thought differently, I felt differently about things, and 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:16.600 I just felt like there was a hole. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:18.880 So that's probably what he's feeling. 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:20.320 She's talking about. 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:20.679 Steve. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.840 There, she finally met Dennis when she was a grown up. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:25.560 I met him when I was twenty three. 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.000 I wanted to find him, so I knew him from 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.520 the time I was twenty three till I was what 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:31.640 fifty three fifty four? 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.080 Yeah, so even though she wasn't raised by him, she 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:36.040