WEBVTT - The Girlfriends S2/E5: Her Legacy 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:17.720 Novel. Hey listener, here we are at our final episode. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.680 I just wanted to let you know that we are 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.200 releasing our soundtrack as an EP. You can listen on 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:27.480 all reputable streaming platforms. You can also purchase the EP 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.080 by going to bandcamp dot com and searching for the 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.800 Girlfriend's Our Lost Sister soundtrack. All proceeds go to our 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:42.400 charity partner, DNA DO Project. In this final episode, we'll 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.360 be talking a lot about drug addiction. We'll also speak 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.960 about parental neglect, sex work, as well as acts of 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.680 extreme violence, including murder. But in amongst all this darkness, 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.800 you'll also hear a woman's story brought to life by 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.279 the people who loved her. If you feel impact did 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.280 by any of the themes while listening, I encourage you 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.240 to check out our charity partner, DNA DOE Project. They 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.559 work with law enforcement to identify Jane and John Does 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:14.760 using genetic genealogy in the hopes of reuniting the bodies 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.560 of unidentified people with their families. You can find them 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:23.119 at DNADO project dot org. And one more thing, you'll 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.240 probably hear more bad language from me. I mean, it's 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:32.280 the final episode, so why stop now? You know? So 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.959 far on the girlfriends our lost sister. The whole thing 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.800 is so horrific, it's almost like it's become this moral 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:42.640 obligation to find her. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.840 In ninety eight, did missing persons really want to deal with? 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:48.600 Nineteen eighty nine Torso? 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:50.240 That watch though I don't know. 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.840 Hi, it's doctor Shapiro and I'd like to speak with 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:55.680 the deputy medical Examiner. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:57.960 Do you mind if I send a text? 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.560 Yeah, I might get something. What do you know? 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:05.760 Could you say perpetrator for me? 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:09.240 Who is she? 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.959 Let's bring closure to another family. Let's open this door? 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:16.760 Hello? Hi? 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:17.720 Is this Anne? 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:18.600 It is. 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.760 When Anna reached out to Heidi Balch's family, they were 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.680 pretty shocked to hear from her, and trust me, I 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.600 can certainly relate to that, But despite their surprise, they 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:51.600 agreed to talk. So Anna explains the long complicated story 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.080 how a Torso washed up on Staten Island and was 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.880 buried in Gilkatz's grave for nearly a decade, and how 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.679 DNA testing avally proved that it wasn't Gael, and how 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.280 that Torso was then buried on Hart Island until twenty 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.280 and thirteen, when it was exhumed once again by the 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:14.040 Office of the chief medical Examiners. We ask Kiti's family 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.280 for records anything relating to the police or medical examiners 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.480 that they would be willing to share with us to 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:25.160 help us solve this mystery once and for all. They 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.760 forward us an email which they were sent by the 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.040 police back in twenty thirteen and included in there two 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:37.040 paragraphs down is a medical examiner case number R eight 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.480 nine zero five six three, which is a number some 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:46.480 discerning listeners may recognize because it's the same number that 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.000 we've had in our files for a year and a half. 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.360 It's the number that all the way back in nineteen 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.200 eighty nine was assigned to our Jane Do's Torso, the 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:02.440 one that was misidentified as Gail Cats. I can't believe 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.000 I'm saying this, Girlfriends, but we finally have the proof. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:11.720 We found our lost sister, and her name is Heidi Balch. 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:16.880 I'm Carol Fisher and from the teams at Novel and 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:22.600 iHeart Podcast, this is the girlfriends our Lost Sister, Episode five. 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:58.479 Her Legacy. Yes, okay, I've got a confession to make. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.640 I know. I always say I'm a Vegas girl because 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.760 that's my hometown and I love a little glitz and glamour. 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.000 But about seven years ago, I fell in love with 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.640 the man from New Orleans and I found myself in 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:15.000 a long distance relationship. Listener, don't fear this. One's a 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:20.760 really nice guy. But the deal was I would spend 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.000 more time out of Las Vegas if I could have 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.080 a lot of animals. So we purchased a home right 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:28.839 outside the city, and I'm happy to report that we 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.440 have a shitload of chickens, two geese, a lot of ducks, 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:38.360 five mini goats, one pet pig, two horses, and one pony. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:40.760 Oh my gosh, and we have two cats. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.240 Anna, Anna, come on. 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:48.680 For the past week, I've been introducing my producer Anna 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.160 to my menagerie. This is one of our cats. 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:51.680 Ferguson. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.120 She's here because she looked like she could do with 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.080 a good meal, but also because, and you're not gonna 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:03.240 fucking believe this, Heidi's aunt. She lives just fifteen minutes 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.320 down the road from me. I mean, you can't make 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:07.200 this ship up. 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:12.400 That's when it comes to people being connected through the show. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.039 This feels like the craziest example. You know, down the road, 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:17.120 go down. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:23.840 The road, going only four minutes away. I think this 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.839 is crazy. Throughout the series, we said that we want 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.560 to learn who our lost sister is, but all we 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.359 could find were gruesome details about her death, and today 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.520 we're hoping to find out about how she lived from 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:41.760 the people who knew her and loved her. What is 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:48.760 it this? Oh, it's says, isn't it cute? Drible cuts? 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:55.400 Is that a dinosaur? I think that's a bird. Could 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.560 we get out of the car and walk through an 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:06.040 old wooden gate towards a clapboard building with a porch 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.039 and a rocking chair. The front yard is full of 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:24.800 luscious greenery that's dripping from the heavy Louisiana rainfall. Him, Carol, Carol, Hello. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:28.480 Me too, Rita, Rita. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.720 We're greeted at the door by Rita, or Rusty to friends. 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:38.560 She's Heidi's aunt by marriage. Rusty's one of those beautiful 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:42.440 older women who just radiates a gentle, calm, warmth and 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.880 understated wisdom. 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.200 It was a church. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.280 What is it you can now tell? 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:54.760 I said it, as if we didn't have enough coincidences 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.320 back in the day, this converted church. It was called 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.880 Saint Anna, I mean, and come on, Rusty has lived 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.480 here for decades. And as the first person to ever 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.680 call it home. She says, you can feel the energy 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.600 of people in the building, and I can believe that. 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.800 She guides us through the house with its navy floorboards 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.960 and persian rugs lit up through the stained glass windows. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:24.880 It's absolutely stunning. As we're taking it all in, we're 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:25.800 joined by Anne. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.600 I mean, I'm here, so nice to meet you. 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:32.920 She's Heidi's cousin and Rusty's niece. Her dog says hello too. 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.840 This looks like friendly, but just telling her how to jump. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:36.920 This looks like my dog. 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.199 Yeah, yes, just like my dog. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.000 Anne and Rusty seem to be cut from the same 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:47.560 Bohemian cloth AND's about eleven years older than Heidi. She's 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:50.960 in her early seventies. Now she's a wood turner and 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.040 artist and talks about driving around in a van for 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.280 half the year seeking adventures while she still can. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:08:59.280 So now we get to where its one. 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.280 Okay, we're coming to. 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:01.920 The worm area. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:06.079 We were there On a dining room table surrounded by fruit, salad, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.800 hot coffee, and granola bars are photos of Heidi and 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.280 her family throughout the years. There's one of Heidi as 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.160 a toddler being cuddled in the backseat of a car. 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.880 She was two there and I was twelve. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:23.240 This is Lyle. She's an sister and another cousin of Heidie's. 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.600 Her wavy white hair is effortlessly tied back, and she's 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.280 wearing a pair of loose fitting traditional Nepalese trousers. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.200 We had a big record of the Singing Nuns and 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.640 we would dance to this song, and there was one 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.480 in particular we loved, and little two year old Heidi 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.480 would go over to the record player very delicately, lift 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.880 up the needle, put it back on the groove where 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.200 the song like. She never scratched the record, she never 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.000 missed putting it in the right place. I was just 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.600 amazed at her dexterity. We must have danced to that 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.480 song like a hundred times. I think it was a 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:09.000 song called Dominika Nika. Anyway, you can tell how much 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:10.080 we loved each other. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:17.760 Yeah, this dancing little girl with a family of gorgeous hippies. 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:23.559 This isn't the story I was expecting. Here with Heidi's relatives, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.000 I get a sense of a life she could have led, 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.400 full of art and color and music. I wish we 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.559 could tell that story, but that's not how things worked 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:41.200 out for Heidi. So what happened. To understand that, we 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.520 first need to learn about Heidi's parents, Tom and Gretchen, 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:48.079 who met in California in the early nineteen sixties. 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.280 There was a ten year age gap. 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.679 She was twenty two and Tom was thirty two or whatever, 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.840 and he was not living a life that was about 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.400 having children or finding a wife. 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.679 My understanding was that he was just kind of a playboy, 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.120 and so I think he just liked to have sex, 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.160 and he liked to go out with different women, and 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:13.959 he wasn't looking for a relationship. 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:15.600 And she got pregnant. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.319 When Tom's mother, who the family all called Nana, found 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.319 out about the pregnancy, she told Tom that he had 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.720 to do the right thing and marry Gretchen. She felt 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:29.680 like it was the only way to give the baby 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:35.640 a proper start in life. In the photos from their 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.360 wedding day, Gretchen is six months pregnant in a sixties 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.200 coat and a beehive hairdoo. Tom's in a pale suit 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.520 holding a glass of champagne. He looks like a deer 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:54.400 in the headlights. Heidi's born a few months later in 0:11:54.440 --> 0:12:00.080 California on January seventh, nineteen sixty four. But within in 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.839 a few months, Tom and Gretchen's marriage is over and 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.080 Heidi gets stuck between two miserable parents. 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:11.000 What struck me about Gretchen was how bitter She was 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.360 kind of toxic, and Tom became bitter as well. But 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.520 Tom was bitter about a lot of things. So both 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:24.920 parents full of that bitterness, really created an environment that 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.720 wasn't even close to the atmosphere baby needed. There was 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:35.320 no nurturing, there was no making the baby fly up 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.120 in the air and catch her, or having fun or 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:38.959 anything like that. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.760 At one point, a local woman is hired by the 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.920 family to look after baby Heidi, but before long, according 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.000 to Heidie's cousins, this woman takes Heidie's Nana to one side. 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.959 She tells her that from what she's seen at Gretchen's apartment, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.199 she thinks Gretchen will be the death of Heidi and 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.680 that the family should get rid of her to protect 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:01.240 the baby. 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:07.160 She said, you know, I have people in my neighborhood 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.440 who know how to take care of these kinds of things. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.760 Oh my gosh, So let me get this straight. This 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.120 devout Christian nanny is suggesting that they put a hit 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:18.360 out on Heidie's mom. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:24.439 Yeah, Nana was shocked, and of course Nana said no, 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.360 and you know, it wasn't even a consideration. 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.160 Nana didn't give up, though. The family tells us that 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:36.199 she tried to take custody of Heidi but was unsuccessful. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.160 So in the end, she did whatever she could to 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.640 make Heidi's life as normal as possible. Whenever she came 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:48.200 to visit, big family meals with freshly pressed tablecloths, cute 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.400 girly dresses, riding up and down the curb on a 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.960 shiny new bike, some money or toys at birthdays and Christmases. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.320 But back home with Heidie's mom, things weren't as right. 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.440 The family told us they suspected that Gretchen was working 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.920 as a sex worker from her apartment. They heard from 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.680 people that she had different men over while Heidi was there, 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.040 that she only had beer in the fridge. One time, 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.080 the cousins say Heidi came to Nana's house with a 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:24.320 cigarette burn on her. It's important to point out here 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.440 that we can't fact check these claims because we believe 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.800 Gretchen has passed away, and records show that Tom, Heidi's father, 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:36.920 died in twenty twenty three. We do know that Gretchen 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.800 told the detective who looked into Heidie's case that she 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:45.560 was going through a rough patch back then. It all 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:48.640 came to a head when Heidi was five. Gretchen turned 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:50.960 up at Tom's front door one day and said she 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.400 couldn't deal with raising Heidi anymore. She then walked away 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.040 and left the little girl to live with her equally 0:14:58.160 --> 0:14:59.240 uninterested father. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.760 Tom did come home at night, and Heidie had learned 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.600 by six or seven to take a frozen dinner out 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.080 of the freezer and turn on the oven and make 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:10.920 it for herself. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.600 Heidie's cousins Lyall and Robert show us some more pictures 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:16.080 of Heidi. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:18.880 She's not so old in this picture, and you can 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.560 see that face is someone's gone through. 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:27.560 Some Yeah, she was just obviously really lonely. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.840 I mean, you look at these photos and there is 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:34.840 like a clear change. 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.360 Yeah, you know, she is just a normal. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.240 Happy, cute kid when she's like two three. 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.040 In these ones, and then there is something about her 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.240 eyes that just goes Yeah, that's. 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:45.480 What I say. 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.240 I feel like if we put all these pictures in 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.360 chronological order, you almost see the light go out in 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:50.960 her eyes. 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.840 At school, Heidie's teachers noticed there was something wrong too. 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.160 In one of her report cards from first grade, it 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:07.280 says she almost never smiles. I believe she needs a 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.280 great deal of affection right now. But there are also 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.160 signs of Heidi's creativity and potential. One of her teachers 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.440 says she was an excellent reader who loved the Chronicles 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.800 of Narnia. They also say she was a talented writer, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.600 producing many fine stories and poems with the wit and 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.080 humor that was unique to her. There are moments in 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:33.680 these reports that show flashes of Heidi's personality, a headstrong 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.680 young girl who simply wastes too much time doing what 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:41.720 she pleases instead of paying attention. One report from nineteen 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.880 seventy two, when she was eight, says that if Heidi 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.800 continues receiving the love, help, and understanding she has seen 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.960 from school and home, then I believe she will make 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.960 even greater social progress. But the love she received at 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.880 home didn't come from her dad. That was all Nana, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.240 who continued to play a key maternal role in Heidi's life, 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.120 especially at Christmas when Heidi would go and visit. There 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.160 are real sweet photos of her sitting on Santa's knee. 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:13.760 That feel like glimpses of childhood joy. One time, Heidie's aunt, 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.320 Rusty remembers when they were all at Nana and Grampy's house. 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:22.840 Grampy was kind of a grumpy He was the one 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.400 who decorated the tree every year, that was his tradition, 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.920 and the tree that he brought in that year had 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.240 a bird in it, a live bird. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.040 Grampy rescues the bird from the tree and brings it outside. 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:37.560 But while he's. 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.320 Gone, Nana said, let's have some fun on it, so 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:46.879 they started decorating the tree. Graffy was gone, and Heidi 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.000 was delighted. It was just wonderful to see her spirit 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:52.359 dancing around. 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:00.840 But then the worst thing that could happen happened. Grampy 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.520 retired and decided he wanted to move to Florida, eleven 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.440 hundred miles away from Ohio. 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.480 Nana just was wringing her hands about moving so far 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.240 away from Heidi, but. 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.680 Grampy's word was law in their relationship and she had 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:16.960 no choice but to go. 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.360 So there was no longer visits to Nana's house, where 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:24.400 there really was stability and home cooked meals. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.919 By nineteen seventy two, Heidi loses regular contact with the 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:33.800 most important and loving figure in her life. A few 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.640 years later, in nineteen seventy six, the family are gathered 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:41.320 together for a golden wedding party. Looking at a photo 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.000 from the day, you can see twelve year old Heidi, 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.400 who looks like a young Jodie Foster, but to her 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:52.760 cousins she seems almost unrecognizable. She's already had several run 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.840 ins with the law and is experiencing things that her 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.720 older cousins can't even imagine. 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.520 She was worried that she was pregnant and that she 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.359 might have hepatitis from shooting up with a dirty needle. 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:08.439 I went into shock. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.840 I felt like I had gone from being the cousin 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.560 who's ten years older who can lead the dancing, to 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:20.160 feeling like I was a country bumpkin who had no experience. 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.439 It was clear to everyone that Heidi was on a 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.920 downward spiral, and her father Tom seemed to be doing 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:31.320 nothing to stop it. Around that time, her aunt Rusty 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.960 stepped in. She moved Heidi in with her and her family. 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:35.520 No. 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.679 I thought, well, I could help her. No, and I 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:40.919 tried to give her some ground rules while we're at 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.320 the house, and she resisted everything. It was this bubble 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.560 that she was in. It seemed that it couldn't be penetrated. 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.199 So she really protected herself, like with a shield of 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:52.200 armor around her. 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:52.880 She did. 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.879 Eventually, Heidi was forced to attend a reform school in Ohio, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.760 and for a while she was doing doing well. Heidi 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.480 seemed to thrive with a bit of discipline and structure. 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.560 She was a naturally bright young girl and started advancing 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:09.920 in her education again. 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:12.960 And then the story goes that Tom came to visit her. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.080 This is Robert, and he took her away. He took 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:21.240 her back. Tom had this thing about bucking the system, 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.280 you know, fuck the man. He hated any kind of authority, 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:30.040 and so I think he valued that in Heidi too 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:31.600 and encouraged it. 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.360 Back in Toledo with her dad, Heidi wanted out. At 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.480 just fourteen years old. She told her dad Tom she 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.960 was moving to California to follow her dreams of being 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.080 an actress and a model. She said she could get 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.119 a ride with some long distance truck driver she had met. 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.400 Heidie's family couldn't believe Tom was okay with it. 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:58.000 You can't allow your daughter to just go and get 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.119 in a car with anyone. These are grown men. You 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:02.760 can't do it. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:03.560 You can't do it. 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:06.399 And he's just like, got this dumbass smile and a 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.040 drink in his hand and a pipe. He was, in 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.960 a weird way, proud of her independence. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.760 But there was no talking to Tom or to Heidi. 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.680 And so in nineteen seventy eight, with their dad's consent, 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.040 fourteen year old Heidi gets in the truck with this 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:49.240 random guy and sets off to make it big in California. 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.360 California was the furthest fourteen year old Heidi Bulch had 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:57.120 ever been from her family. Like so many other teen girls, 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:00.680 she had aspirations of being a star and an actress 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:03.680 or maybe a model. She didn't have all the details 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.560 figured out yet. Heidi's family don't know much about her 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:10.480 life at this point, but what they do know is 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:16.600 that she never made it big in Hollywood. We're pretty 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.320 sure that she didn't book any acting gigs, and she 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.320 decided that at five foot one, she was too short 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:26.280 to make it as a catalog model. So, at age sixteen, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.480 Heidi packs up her life and once again, with her 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:34.879 father's blessing, she decides to move, this time to New 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:42.280 York City. When Heidi arrives in the Big Apple, her 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.960 dreams have changed, well kind of, because of her height. 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:48.359 She thinks she might have better luck as a hand 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.439 and face model, so she starts putting a portfolio together. 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.080 Picturing a sixteen year old Heidi alone in New York, 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.760 it makes me think of my own daughter when she 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:03.800 was sixteen. She was still in school, she was learning 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.600 to drive a car and starting to think about colleges. 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.160 As a mother, it's hard for me to understand how 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.320 anyone could let their child go off alone into a 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:20.560 city as dangerous as New York in the eighties, Heidi 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.960 no doubt considered herself pretty street wise, and in a 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:26.919 lot of ways she was, but she was also just 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:31.960 a kid in need of some love and guidance. According 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:34.760 to her family, Heidie's dad paid the rent on a 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:38.920 studio apartment for her, but he never visited. Heidi was 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:46.639 left to fend for herself. Her life became increasingly turbulent. 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.160 She was falling deeper into the throes of drug addiction, 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:55.480 and she got arrested multiple times. According to her cousin, Robert, 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:58.159 who was living in New York at the time. Within 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:00.840 a few years of being in the city, Heidie found 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:05.440 herself an infamous Island jail Rikers her robbery and assault. 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:08.760 Heidi was a tough character by that point, so she 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:14.040 prided herself in knowing how to navigate being in Rikers 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:19.760 and she would ask for different things like socks and cigarettes, 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:24.160 whatever underpants, and she could barter use them to her advantage. 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.240 But she took real pride in being able to handle herself. 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:30.639 After Heidi came out of Rikers when she was around 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:33.399 twenty one, her family arranged for her to go to 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:37.199 Florida for a few months to stay with Nana. While there, 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.000 she spoke about getting clean and even got her high 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:43.879 school ged. But this brief respite from her life in 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:47.080 New York didn't last. Once she returned to the city, 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:51.240 she fell back into her old ways. She'd stop buy 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:53.560 and visit her family, who were living in the city, 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:55.840 every once in a while for dinner or to get 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:58.920 a few extra bucks, but they weren't seeing very much 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:01.960 of her. A lot of her life was a mystery 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:02.320 to them. 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:07.560 We knew she was addicted to drugs and using her 0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:08.840 sexuality in some way. 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:13.760 She was really on the downward spiral, and it may 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:16.560 have even been around a discussion about being a sex worker. 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:20.320 She just came out with this statement. She said, well, 0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:21.440 you know, I'm a lesbian. 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:26.680 But after coming out as a lesbian, Heidi suddenly marries 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:27.080 a man. 0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:32.679 She met this guy who was attempting to get a 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:35.280 green card and struck a deal. 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:40.040 Allegedly, he gave Heidi fifteen hundred dollars to marry him. 0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:43.960