WEBVTT - Aftermath 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:02.599 Previously on happy Face. 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:06.600 Today I find out if my worst fears and insecurities 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.760 are true. If I'm capable of being like my dad. 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.040 You would never do what your father's done, and you 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:14.800 could never. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:16.240 Be what he is. 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.000 I would like to tell my story, the writer of 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.400 the letter begins. The exclamation point is all his, so 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.360 is the labored printing, and the odd mixture of capital 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:29.160 and lowercase letters. 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:31.080 Are hurt people. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.239 But I'm scared of You're not like him. 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.240 Because of that, our universe has a plan for each 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:38.199 and every one of us. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:39.680 I wish I could see this. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.000 I want to help you feel it. You have to 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:43.479 let me. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.320 The letter has a happy face at the top of 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.680 the first page, two tiny circles for eyes, an upturned 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:53.280 sliver of a moon for mouth. 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:55.360 Have a nice day. 0:00:56.720 --> 0:01:01.280 Doctor James Fallon is a neuroscientist at the University of California. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.679 So here you are, and here's the normal. And it 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.360 turns out yours is completely normal. 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:23.000 That's amazing. Yeah, with the sun, I don't know shine. 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:27.920 Oh I. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:33.920 Mm hmm. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.800 You told me once that being the daughter of a 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.319 serial killer isn't something you grow out of, it's something 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:48.640 you grow into. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:54.960 Yes, you just can't run it. You can't even when 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:55.520 he dies. 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:57.640 One day, when he dies. 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.880 Those swimmories will still be there. I mean, I don't 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:02.360 think about the future with hit my. 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:02.880 Dad in it. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.560 I live my life by my own desires and I 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:13.919 own attentions, and I could get everything I want, except 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:16.440 forgetting things. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:24.960 As Arthur Golden writes and Memoirs of a Geisha. After all, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.120 when a stone is dropped into a pond, the water 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.720 continues quivering even after the stone has sunk to the bottom. 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:43.760 I'm Lauren Brighte Pacheco, and this is happy face. While 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.480 having the brain scan last week removed certain doubts from Melissa, 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.600 the healing is still a process. Even simple things like 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:53.760 a happy memory of her dad and the smell of 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.760 house paint as he painted the walls of her childhood 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.920 home are tainted by his crimes. 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.320 I remember when we took possession of the house, my 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:07.760 dad painting the walls white, and it came to my mind. 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:17.000 Sorry, it came to my mind. This weekend. 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:24.520 I I bought a fixer upper in Ohio, and when 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:29.399 I entered the fixer upper, I thought, this needs gallery 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:30.320 white walls. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.519 I just see it's had beautiful arches. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.160 I saw white. The walls would need to be white, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:38.640 So I started painting. 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:39.080 The walls white. 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.360 And for hours, I says, painting, I saw my dad 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.520 and the smell of the fresh paint and my dad's 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.240 care and painting the walls white in this. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.840 Farmhouse is one of those good memories, you know, of 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:55.760 my dad taking care of a property. 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:59.880 And he's the one who taught me, or instilled in me, 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.000 this love for real estate and this love for fixing 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.200 up properties. And that's something that I've had to reconcile 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.480 because a lot of things that I love are rooted 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:11.800 back to my dad. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.599 Now, every time Melissa looks at white paint, those good 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.560 memories are overridden by what she learned that Keith used 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:25.080 paint to cover over the splattered blood after killing Tanya Bennett. 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.240 And that's not the first thing that happened. But on 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.880 my birthday was just a couple weeks ago, and my 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.800 boyfriend bought me a road bike. And I grew up 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:44.240 with my dad cycling, and he bought me the cycling shoes, 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.200 and the first thing that went into my mind was 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.039 Tanya Bennett and my dad saying I would wear my 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.680 cycling shoes so when it leave the soul print and. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.840 I it's it's so. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.479 Hard because I love these things. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:05.200 Everything. 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:05.880 I love. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:07.960 It. 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:13.120 I've tried, I've tried a run. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:18.960 I can't and I'll never I'll never put those shoes, 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.560 all those cycling shoes and not think of Tanya. 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.040 I'll never be able to. 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:25.040 I want to. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:31.440 But Melissa, you didn't kill Tanya Bennett. 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:31.800 I know. 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:39.640 Maybe it's a question of going back to those memories 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:45.640 and just trying to take the good from them. You 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:54.320 cannot take responsibility for your father's actions. For Keith's family, 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:59.520 shaking off guilt isn't easy. Here's Melissa's mother Rose talking 0:05:59.560 --> 0:05:59.880 about it. 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:05.320 Well, everybody assumes you are guilty by association just because 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.520 you knew him. Because I was his wife. 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.120 I knew everything that he did. I knew he murdered 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:11.679 those women. 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:13.720 I knew, and. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:15.159 I had no clue he. 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:16.080 Had a second life. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.119 Over the years, accusations have come in that Melissa wants 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.839 attention for her father's crimes. People attack her on social 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.440 media or flood the comment sections on websites. Even her 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.240 own father has accused her of trying to profit off 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.599 of his murders. In his letters to her. But the 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.080 truth is Melissa's whole career has been a way to 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.479 atone for her father's sins, and that's true of her 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.120 whole family. One of her siblings is a nurse, another 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.320 has enlisted to protect the country, her mother spends her 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.680 days trying to resettle families in desperate situations, and Melissa, 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.760 of course, is working to speak out for victims and 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:03.120 give them a voice. What's interesting is that as much 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.040 as the family has tried to distance themselves from Keith's 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.960 horrific crimes, Keith is also constantly reminding the public that 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.040 they are his own. It's important to him. No one 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.880 else takes credit for them. Here's reporter Phil Stafford talking 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:18.320 about it. 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.200 Have you written to my father since our conversation? 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.720 No, I haven't been in touch with him for years. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.960 I've done a number of things since then. But you know, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.680 to say the least, we're dealing with a split personality here, 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:38.480 someone driven by some pretty serious unconscious compulsions. So that's 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.080 one side of it, and the other side of it 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.800 was every once in a while, this monster from the 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:46.200 unconscious would break through. 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.520 At one point, Keith was allegedly offered the opportunity to 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.760 give false testimony against Phil in exchange for favorable treatment 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:59.320 in prison, and to his credit, driven by some strange 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.440 moral code, he refused. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.240 But there's also the chance that someone who's as mentally 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:12.280 unusual as obviously he was might also have been interested 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.880 in just playing more games and keeping people in the air. 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:19.200 He did confess to murders that he didn't commit, so 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.400 he was playing fast and loose with the truth at 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.040 some point, trying to get more attention, which I think 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.040 is one of the deeper reasons behind some of these killings, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.920 just getting attention, getting recognition as some sort of person 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.080 that he felt had been denied him all his life. 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.040 When you met Jasperson, you had read those letters. So 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:46.679 was there that moment of authenticity that you knew he 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.640 was the author? And what did that feel like? Because 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.800 I can imagine that those letters were terrifying to read. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.760 I knew from my own research that he had to 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.920 be the guy. I mean, there were times when I 0:08:59.960 --> 0:09:02.240 was talking with him, when he was talking to me 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.120 about what he had done, that I had those skin 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.040 crawling moments, that's for sure. When he talked about killing 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.840 one of the truck stop whores in the cab of 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.720 his truck and he watched it from twenty feet above. 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.880 That's when I realized that this is a very strange. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:26.160 Person, and regardless of everything Melissa has undertaken and tried 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.559 to prove, that very strange person will always be her father. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.839 Well, how I even started my whole beginning was when 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.720 my daughter asked me a question. She got off the 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:43.520 school bus. She was learning about genealogy in the family tree, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.079 and they were being basic. Of course, the family tree 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.200 is going up to your grandparents. So she filled out 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:54.000 her dad's side, you know, samside, Nana, Papa, and then 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:59.280 on my side Grandma rose me. And then she realized 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.800 there's a miss grandfather here. She said, you know, mom, 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.200 everybody has a daddy. Where's your daddy? And I wasn't 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.160 expecting that she was six the kindergarten. It just took 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.160 me back. I thought, how am I going to answer 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.959 this for her? And so I said, yes, I have 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.360 a daddy lives in Salem. And I left it at that, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.880 and I gave her the name to put, just the 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.240 first name to put in. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:23.520 I didn't want the last name. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.079 From there, I went to the libraries, I went everywhere, 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:34.560 just scouring for information about how do I reconcile this 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.720 for myself so that I can tell my child this 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.200 in a way that she can understand without terrifying her. 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.480 And I didn't want to be public because at this 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.360 point I had nobody knew I had a business, Nobody 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:49.000 knew who my father was. 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.920 We had bought our house, our first home. 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.240 My daughter was happy and well adjusted in kindergarten. None 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.880 of my friends knew, my church groups didn't know. But 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:02.880 I kept thinking about my daughter's question. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.240 What do you want your children to take away from 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:13.880 your journey? 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.079 Finding out that I'm not a psychopath liberated me too 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.959 as a parent, because my son was scared, and I 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.000 think my son was asking a very complex question when 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.280 he asked, like, is it a choice or is it 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:29.600 something that you are? 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.240 He wants to know more about his grandfather, my dad, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.920 and I had to keep telling him you're nothing like him, 0:11:37.120 --> 0:12:01.320 You're nothing like him. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.920 As both Leroy and Don Findley made a huge impact 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.880 on the Happy Face team, and he stayed in contact 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:10.560 with both Melissa and me. 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.719 Is it Don or is it Leroy? 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.800 Well, you know what, after talking to you, I started 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.640 telling people my real name. 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.760 Really, Yes, ma'am, why did you start doing that? 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:29.280 Someone pointed out to me that, well, if LeRoy's really healed, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.479 why don't you just start introducing people who don't. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:34.959 Know you as who you are. 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:40.400 Because I'm back to where I was before it happened, 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.400 and I saw myself changing. 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:45.720 I felt it in my energy. 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:49.680 People who were They're like, something's different about you. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.160 So this whole thing was like because of. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:58.720 Meeting Melissa amazingly lifted off my shoulders, because she answered 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:04.119 the questions that I needed answered. And God, the universe 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:09.360 has rewarded me in so many ways. He's like, I 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.959 put you through hell, you have come out smelling like carnations. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.920 Now it's time for you to be rewarded. So I've 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.120 turned into a whole different person. But at the same time, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:22.839 I'm still same spirit and soul. 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.160 So it sounds like you went back to your former name, 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.400 but you've gotten a new life, yes, ma'am. And it 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:33.079 would seem that Don had left a huge impression on 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:34.240 Melissa as well. 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.200 You were in my thoughts last night actually when I 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:43.720 went to this floating restaurant on the water and I thought, oh, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.760 the last time I was here was a puffins with Don, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.320 and I remembered that whole experience and how intense it 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:58.000 felt leading up to that moment. I was terrified, absolutely 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.040 terrified to meet it up with you because it I 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.880 didn't know. I didn't know what you would think of me, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:07.240 And I've already dealt with so many people having preconceived 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.800 notions of me and criticizing me. And I'm not saying 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.240 this to feel sorry for myself, but I had enough 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:14.080 already on my plate. 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.520 I didn't need I know. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.880 What you mean on some level, Don. I think Melissa's 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:25.280 biggest fear was that twenty years ago when she read 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:29.160 your words in the newspaper. Yeah, she knew that you 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.600 were speaking the truth. She knew that you saw through everything, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:36.400 and the narrative that she'd been fed by her father 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.080 all those years was not the truth. So her fear 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.680 in facing you was that you would look in her 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.320 face and you would see the face of her father, 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:52.000 and that you would blame her for his horrible crimes. 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.560 And I fully understand that because people, like I said, 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.360 don't know how to take me. And everybody in society 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:04.680 always prejudges everybody and assumes that they know about everybody, 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.560 but they don't know about themselves, and now Melissa learned 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.880 that none of it's true. Everybody has assumptions, everybody's gonna 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.120 come up with their own ideas, but it's only us 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.080 as individuals that we can do for ourselves. I'm trying 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:20.760 to word this the right way, but we all know 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.280 I'm the Stone or Yogi so. 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:25.600 Perfect. 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.800 But if they understand it's cool, they don't. 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.680 That's their problem, Melissa, because they're not the ones having 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.800 to live in our body or walk our shoes. 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.280 As we set out to make this series, we wanted 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:49.000 to give Melissa the tools and opportunity to understand and 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.080 confront her dad, the man she hadn't seen in so 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.720 many years, but still had such control over her and 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:00.600 her life choices. What Melissa ultimately got, though, was actually 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:05.480 much better, a release from Keith's manipulation and the confidence 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.240 to create her own narrative. In the end, it was 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.600 Melissa's choice not to confront Keith. She knew she didn't 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.720 need to see him, or read his letters, or let 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:21.200 him invade her life anymore, and that realization set her 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.360 free on so many levels. And it was a direct 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.080 result of her meeting with Don. 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.200 I'm trying to find words of what that experience was. 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:37.480 I think that I have found that meeting to be 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.880 a sacred meeting, and I felt like it was a 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:42.640 crossroads moment in my life. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.000 That was a gift. 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:48.440 I thought you would blame me and see my father 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.840 and me, and I said, I wanted to go to 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:56.640 this doctor to find out if I am biologically hardwired 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.200 to be like my dad, And you said, well, your 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.280 brain may be, but your heart isn't. 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.399 I said, you may have his blood, but you don't 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.800 have his heart, mind, or soul, because you wouldn't do 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.240 what you do for others. So when you told me 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.160 that you were going to go to the doctors and 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.760 get that checked out, I believe I told you that 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.760 you're not and I never got the answer to see 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.520 if I was correct or wrong. 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:29.879 Well, you were correct. 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.520 My brain is perfectly normal and not hardwired to be 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.400 a psychopath. And what gave me the courage to go 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.440 do that was actually your statement to me after that though. 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:47.480 I mean, it is like history just erased. Like there 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.719 was this pressure that I always felt walking around this world, 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.399 feeling like I have to prove myself. 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:55.840 That's a lot of energy. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:18:00.080 To take into every encounter and it's unconscious that this 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.000 point has been decades, so it's just well left this 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:09.320 void like this open space. And I felt it all sudden. 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.440 These wonderful things in the world just started to pour 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.200 into that space. And yes, yes, I didn't know I 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.000 was going to meet you this summer. I didn't know 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:23.720 that the universe had this in store for me, and 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.440 I didn't know that was worthy of this gift. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.520 You don't have to say no more. I am so happy, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:32.440 I really am. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.920 I'm not scared of my dad anymore. The Eliza has 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.800 told me. I believed them, and I allowed him to 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.200 shape me and put me in this place, this box. 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.919 And I was terrified of him because everybody believed his 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:53.840 narrative always, and so I couldn't outrun even his lies. 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.560 And now he could say whatever he wanted to say and. 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.919 I would be fine. 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:07.240 During that conversation, Melissa brought up the fact that my dad, 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:13.000 my father, had taken very seriously ill. She expressed her 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.960 sentiments and almost envy that he had the benefit of 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:22.200 being surrounded by his loving, proud family during this painful 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.639 time and the sharp contrast to her own reality. 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.640 You know, Lauren, sitting across from me, and her dad 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:32.720 right now is in the hospital. 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:34.960 Or in care, and. 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.240 Lauren and I have had quite an opposite of upbringing, 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.600 and the love that she has for her father and 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.400 the care that she has for her father and that 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.600 he has for her makes it so that she's right 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:57.239 now currently in the most intense grief and pain, and 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:02.000 that her father is surrounded by beautiful daughters, a beautiful 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.720 family that loves him, and my dad will never get 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.760 that because he didn't deserve that, because he didn't create 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.400 the life that her dad created. 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:11.240 And that's what I know. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.560 You know what, I bet you, There's going to come 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.440 a day where my dad passes away and I won't 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.919 even know it, Like I won't even know my dad 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.720 died because all these years will have passed and I 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:28.760 didn't say a word to him, and he never said 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:29.320 a word to me. 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:35.000 To be honest, I initially cringed and immediately felt protective 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:40.320 of my privacy. Then my dad died the next day. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:44.840 Now that I've had the time to reflect, I realize 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:50.040 Melissa was also grieving with me and for her father. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:55.440 Keith didn't just murder eight women. He killed the man 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:59.000 Melissa thought she knew, and the father she dearly loved. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.720 Melissa's dad died when she was fifteen, and she's still 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:08.760 grieving that loss. In that moment of mentioning my dad, 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:15.159 she clearly expressed empathy and remorse, confirming she's truly the 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:21.119 antithesis of a psychopath. But for Melissa's mom Rose, even 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:24.560 her life with Keith was filled with a sort of grief. 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:27.440 She struggled to articulate and understand. 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.439 You know, an intimate partner, you hold each other and 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.800 kindle each other. It was like, Okay, I'm gonna go 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:35.320 watch TV. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:38.560 It was robotic. 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:40.560 Yeah, or did you feel used? 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:41.160 No? 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:46.119 I just because I mean I never had men. I 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.000 don't know what like, I'm a hooyfriend. 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:51.200 Yeah, how men are? 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.000 I thought that was the norm. 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:55.440 You must have been so lonely. 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.560 I was extremely lonely. Matter of fact, I would go 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:03.160 to church and I knew my life was out of balance, 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:05.280 but I just couldn't figure out why it. 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:05.919 Was out of balance. 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.280 But then I used to have a neighbor when we 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:11.399 lived in Zilla, and there was a little old couple 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.520 and summertimes they would sit out in the patio and 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:17.879 play cards and they had their little lights on, you know, 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:20.760 and I'd sit there and I'd listen to their conversation 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:23.680 because they were so close, and I just thought, that's 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.880 what our relations should be like, that you enjoy each 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.159 other when you're even that old. And they'd laugh and 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.720 they would just crack up jokes between them, and I thought, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.360 that's what it is, that's what I you know, that's 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:39.199 what it's supposed to be. 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:39.399 Like. 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:59.280 Melissa and Don were initially linked by Keith, but they're 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:03.280 both determined and to transcend his effects on their lives. 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:10.760 Our gift now is to pass on the words of 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:14.399 survival and that when you do make it through the 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:16.840 tough times that are put in front of you that 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.760 are out of your control, if you handle them in 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:20.880 the right way. 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:22.560 You will be rewarded. 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:27.200 Whether you believe in God, the universe, aliens, birds. 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:30.200 The gypsy and cats, you will be rewarded. 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.199 And we are proof of that because both of us 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:36.639 have lived in deep dark places. 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:42.400 I just you know, for me, it really is humbling 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:45.879 to watch. It is the triumph of good over evil. 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:51.080 Ultimately, I mean, I really hope we can help not 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:54.720 just each other grow further in our lives and stay connected, 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:56.640 but to help other people. 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:00.600 And I did tell you you will love and you 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:06.320 will care. So I said those words, but I didn't 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:09.720 believe them one hundred percent. I had to tell myself 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:13.160 that stuff for years to get through it, and when 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:14.840 I met Melissa. 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:20.639 All those words were proven right. Does any of that 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:21.280 make sense? 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:23.159 Absolutely? Absolutely? 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:29.040 The most telling change in Don was evident when confronted 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:31.320 with the idea of being face to face with Keith 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:32.400 present day. 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:40.840 If I met him in person, I would hope that 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:43.679 my power and my strength would hold me back and 0:24:43.720 --> 0:24:48.160 I would say you lose me and your daughter win. 0:24:49.080 --> 0:24:55.359 But in honesty action at this very moment, my anger 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:57.600