Gone (2017) s01e05 Episode Script

1 Andrews: I have some pictures.
These are some happy pictures, really.
This picture is Michele eating her birthday cake.
I believe that was her first birthday.
I just love that she had her fingers in the cake.
Even though my daughter was missing, even though there was suspicion that she could be not alive anymore, I still was as determined, and I was still as heartbroken.
It's a whole gamut of possibilities.
There was a loose association with a murder case we had.
I think we all just thought that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My husband was downstairs in the sunroom, and I said, "Chuck, they found her.
" [Inhales, exhales sharply.]
Andrews: Shelli, don't you run away from me! Shelli! We've had big arguments before, but this was a big one.
I'm not finished talking to you yet! I don't remember what we argued about, to be honest with you.
[Slams door.]
We were really, really, really at odds, and there was nothing I could say to her to make her straighten herself up.
Narrator: Laura Andrews is worried that her 32-year-old daughter, Michele, is making all the wrong choices.
Don't ever shut a door on me again.
- Shelli! - Andrews: She was just drifting.
She's got friends that are not really friends, people that are Lifestyles are not healthy.
She worked occasionally at the diner to fill in when somebody called off and they needed extra help, but she was staying with different people, sleeping on the couches or in a car.
She just had no direction.
You need to back the hell off.
- I'm trying to help you.
- This is help? You have no idea the half of what's going on.
I thought that tough love was the only choice I had left.
You're 32.
You kind of live at home.
You're sometimes employed.
If I'm such a failure, it's your fault.
Great job, Mom.
You know what? I'm done.
What does that mean? You need to go.
She took off after that, and I just thought, "Well, I'll see her in a day or two.
" She's mad at me.
She won't talk to me for a while.
Narrator: But in the days that follow, there's no word from Michele until Laura gets a call from a friend of her daughter's named Brantley Cooke.
Andrews: She had been, apparently, sleeping on his couch for a few days Not very long.
Nothing was going on.
It was just a fella giving her a break, and he said, "Have you heard from Michele?" And I said, "No.
" And he said, "Well, she's been staying here, and I haven't seen her for two or three nights.
" Oh, dammit.
And he says, "I'm worried because she's kept in touch, and I can't reach her," and I said, "Oh, goodness.
" I'm sure I probably called everybody that I knew to call.
I couldn't find her.
I knew something was wrong and was not going to be good.
Genson: I mean, I just remember Mom, you know, calling me and just saying that, you know, "Your sister is missing.
We have no idea where she is.
We haven't heard from her.
" That was one of the biggest things.
Shelli always called.
If she didn't call Mom, like, if they were fighting or something, she called me, so you knew something was wrong.
We had a great childhood.
We did a lot of stuff together.
We had some of the same friends.
You know, just, I don't know.
We were very close.
Narrator: Raised in the small town of Geneseo, Illinois, Michele was one of five children.
With three older brothers and a younger sister, her childhood was idyllic.
I mean, I just remember going to the pizza parlor and ice-cream shop.
Shelli had the biggest heart.
She loved everybody.
She wanted everybody to love her, almost to a fault sometimes, because she was so, like, giving and open to everybody.
She had lots of friends there, and she was a really happy kid.
She really was.
Narrator: But at 15 years old, Michele's perfect world is shattered when the family relocates to North Carolina.
My husband found a job, actually, in Gastonia.
It was a tough time to make a move.
It really was because she went into a high school that she knew nobody.
She made friends, but, you know, it was still difficult for her.
You are my daughter.
You are my responsibility, and you are not going to that party.
Why do you insist on making me so miserable? My rules, or you're out.
Narrator: Soon, mother and daughter are at war.
So stupid, I can make my own decision.
I would definitely say that she started to rebel during high school.
I think it was her way to cope with moving to the south.
She would blame Mom for a lot of things and say that Mom was being too protective, or Mom was setting too many rules or whatever.
That's definitely when it started going south.
Narrator: During her senior year of high school, Michele considers joining the Navy but instead falls for the recruiter, Robert Bagley.
He was probably about six or eight years older than her, and he seemed to be really responsible, and she was crazy about him.
Narrator: Right after graduation, the two marry in a small backyard ceremony.
Andrews: So I thought, "Well, this might be okay.
" You know, people do marry young, as I did, and we're married almost 53 years, so, you know, that's not the worst thing in the world.
Narrator: But the marriage doesn't last long.
Andrews: I don't think they were together, maybe, a year, and it was bad, and it got worse, and it got worse, and she needed to get away from that man, and she did.
Genson: It tore her up, and somebody like Shelli takes all of it to heart, and she is going to blame herself for it.
Narrator: After her divorce, Michele's family moves to Spartanburg, an hour north of Gastonia.
Now 24 years old, Michele struggles to get her life back on track.
She was working, I think, part-time, probably.
Okay.
Your sides? She didn't have, really, any skills other than what high school teaches you.
And drink? Narrator: While Michele tries to make ends meet, her sister, Lynda, relocates to Atlanta to attend college.
Order in.
Genson: We kind of took totally different paths.
I think she was disappointed in herself.
You could tell Shelli over and over again how she could do so much with her life, and she never would believe you.
She would just keep on doing things to make her life just worse.
She was a rebellious, confused young adult for years, and it was tough.
[Distant thunder rumbles.]
Narrator: By the age of 30, Michele is still struggling to keep her life on a positive track.
Then, one night after work, she meets 25-year-old David Collins, who's in town visiting family.
Good night? - Bus-fare level.
- Where you headed? - Three miles down 29.
- Got a few minutes to spare.
Let me give you a ride.
Andrews: And she made the mistake of getting in a car, and he took her a couple places.
She called me on the phone and said, "Mom," and she was crying, and she said, "I've been raped," and she was torn up, devastated.
I said, "I'm calling 911.
" She was a mess.
I mean, she was beat up.
She had her face broken.
It was awful.
Genson: When she was ready to talk and able to talk, I feel like she was more, like, embarrassed or, like, again, blamed herself for something happening, that she must have done something to deserve it.
Andrews: Nobody deserves that at all, nobody, but she got in a car with a stranger, and I said, "Why in heaven's name would you do something like that? You set yourself up for someone evil like that to hurt you.
" Don't take this the wrong way.
But what were you thinking? Really? This is probably one thing that really hurt her, and she was upset with me because I put some responsibility for her behaving irresponsible, and maybe that sounds cruel, but I'm trying to teach her something.
She just figured that we didn't care.
Narrator: Michele gives the police detailed information about David Collins, and a year later, they track him down in Florida.
He makes a deal and agrees to plead guilty to assault and battery.
He's sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Genson: Shelli kept everything inside, though.
She's not going to just be able to move on and forget about it.
She just, you know, kept spiraling.
Andrews: Don't you walk away from me, Shelli! Narrator: After the trauma of her rape I'm not finished with you yet! Michele's life grows increasingly unstable.
And now, after a bitter fight with her mother, she seems to have disappeared for good.
Andrews: The next day, I went to the police department, and I said, "My daughter is missing, and this isn't like her.
Usually, she'll contact somebody, and I'm worried.
" I was told, "She's an adult, and there's nothing we can do about it.
" Narrator: So Laura calls her good friend, Allan Wood, who happens to be a sergeant for the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office I became friends with Laura in the neighborhood I lived in.
She lived about five or six houses down from me.
Because of Michele's transient kind of lifestyle, I assured Laura that, perhaps, Michele would come back, that just give it some time, keep reaching out to her circle of friends or acquaintances to see if anybody's seen or heard from her.
Narrator: During the days that follow, Laura continues to contact everyone she can think of, but there's still no news of Michele.
On August 21st, Laura files a missing-persons report with the sheriff's office.
I remember her telling me that, perhaps, something more has gone on here than Michele just having a temper tantrum.
Michele had such an anchor with her Mom.
It kind of raises your interest that, perhaps, this isn't your typical person who is just missing.
Narrator: Investigators run a check of Michele's bank records but find no activity since she's been gone.
They also dig into her background.
Wood: Since she had a prior marriage, that was one of the places that we entertained.
Is that person accessible to her? Is there any chance that he could run into her somewhere? You run down alibis for the individual to see if they could have been involved, and we felt very comfortable that he was not involved in anything, either.
Narrator: And after talking to family and friends, investigators feel strongly that Michele didn't take her own life.
Wood: Suicide was ruled out.
She's never displayed any motives or actions or feelings or comments about anything like that.
After the initial interview of people that knew her, whether it be social or work, you start reaching out a little bit further.
Narrator: And they soon get a huge lead.
Investigators find the last person to have seen Michele, and he's willing to share his story.
Wood: There was an individual named Doug that stepped forward and said that he was with Michele one evening.
He had a little bit of a criminal history.
Initially, when people insert themselves in an investigation, it draws some concern from law enforcement, especially when the circumstances are kind of sketchy.
It was like, "This guy has to know something, or he had to have done something.
" [Engine revs.]
Shelli used to frequent certain places, and I drove around to see if I'd see her.
You see somebody with her hairstyle and her little, skinny body, and, you know, walking down the street.
If it's familiar, you take a second look.
Sure, you do.
It was horrible.
Narrator: After speaking with Michele's friends and acquaintances, police are anxious to follow up with Doug Gilmour.
He met Michele at a local pool hall on the last night she was seen in town, 11 days after the fight with her mom.
Wood: He was a motorcycle-gang kind of a fellow, nothing real hardcore, just kind of more of a social group that participated in motorcycle riding and things like that.
Narrator: Doug claims they left after a few hours and drove around.
Took her back to my place, and she crashed on the couch.
Quite a gentleman.
Wood: And the following day, he had dropped her off at a truck stop, local truck stop in Spartanburg.
We knew it to be a significant-sized truck stop.
That could be a very dangerous situation.
You have a lot of people in and out, coming from all points of the United States, and if somebody had the intent to do harm to Michele, that was a great opportunity.
She had made the remark to him that she was going to Myrtle Beach, so that gave us two things The truck stop and Myrtle Beach.
Andrews: The police got together with us.
They printed up these flyers, and we went to all the truckers that were stopped in the truck stop for several hours and gave them a flyer and said, you know, "Do you know this lady?" No, none of them did.
Narrator: With no further leads, police can't help but wonder if Doug, the last person in town to see Michele alive, is lying to cover his tracks.
It was like, "This guy has to know something.
He has to know, or he had to have done something.
" Wood: He was offered a polygraph, which he passed and which clears him, but you don't forget the guy, in case something comes up, that, perhaps, she didn't make it to the truck stop.
We reached directly out to Myrtle Beach, said, "Be on the lookout for this girl.
If you run across her, just let us know," but nothing ever came out of our inquiry.
Genson: You find out, again, that it was a dead end.
Your heart just sinks.
It's like, "Well, there you go.
There's even more possibility, now, that she's gone.
" She effectively disappeared into thin air.
Narrator: And by now, Laura blames herself.
- I'm done.
- What is that supposed to mean? About the time that she was going through a lot of this stuff, the big thing, then, was tough love.
You need to go.
I did go that route, and I lost my daughter.
That's what happened, and so I'm sorry.
I'm going to get a little emotional.
Narrator: As weeks turn into months with no sign of Michele, police suspect she may be dead.
Wood: Knowing that Michele didn't have, like, a cell phone, credit cards, debit cards, anything that a normal person would be utilizing, we realized that some kind of harm could have come to her.
I was thinking, "She's got in a truck with a truck driver, and she's somewhere, buried in a shallow grave on the side of an interstate, somewhere," and of course, nothing that I wanted to relate to Laura at the time.
I'm still hoping that something positive comes up, but as more time goes by, it's less of a possibility.
I had visions of her laying in the woods, decomposed.
Those visions went in and out on my brain, off and on.
I didn't dwell on it.
I didn't think about it every day, because you couldn't.
You'd go crazy.
Genson: I think we all just thought that this was a "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and something horrible happened to her.
" Narrator: By the anniversary of Michele's disappearance, Spartanburg police have run out of new leads, and the case goes cold.
When it hit the year, it was extremely hard.
It's like there's no way that she would just have left the family and left, you know, her entire life behind.
I went to each one of the TV stations and begged them to redo the story.
Anyone with information about Michele Whitaker's whereabouts can call Andrews: It was with determination that, if this is going to help find my daughter, I've got to keep after it.
Somebody out there knows something about our daughter.
Lieutenant Gary.
Narrator: A few days after Michele's story airs on the local news, - police get a call.
- Okay.
Gary: It was at a fishing pier, Oak Island, North Carolina.
Someone said they think they saw her up there, and the person appeared to be homeless, no shoes and just ragged clothes, and they thought it looked like her.
Narrator: Officers immediately inform her family.
Police called, and I said, "We're on our way.
" Narrator: Knowing how Michele loves the beach, her family believes the tip could lead to something big.
And they went to everybody.
Like, they went all over the beach, on the piers, everything, passing out the flyers, asking if people had seen her.
You're always hanging on that.
You know, like, every second is waiting for Mom to call and say, "We've got something.
" We went to restaurants, bars, convenience stores, you name it, and there was no sign of her.
Narrator: Every year, the local news airs a story about Michele to remind the public about her case.
I think that call was someone who wanted to sit down and try to help us out.
Narrator: And in August of 2005, a few days after the story airs, the sheriff's office receives an anonymous letter.
Wood: A letter was sent basically about the whereabouts of Michele Whitaker.
Narrator: What's inside is every parent's worst nightmare.
Who in hell would do something like that? This is my sister's entire file from when she went missing, from day 1.
It starts out with the flyers that Mom and dad put up everywhere.
It has a picture of my sister in high school.
Having a missing sister is 24/7.
It's something that takes over your life.
There's not a waking moment, and even when you're asleep, whatever, you're thinking about it.
We received a letter that really wasn't a letter.
It basically is a hand-drawn map that says, "Michele Whitaker's body is here," and it's specific, "Near water's edge, buried under tall pines, southeast end of pond.
" That's always a bad thing to get in a missing-person case is information that's supposed to take you to a body.
Narrator: The location on the map is just 25 miles from where Michele was last seen at the truck stop.
Wood: We felt like this was too pointed.
It was just too much information.
Apparently, it was somebody that had some personal knowledge of what happened, and they could have been involved, and we felt like, maybe, perhaps, this could be it.
[Birds chirping.]
We found the lake, found the point of interest that the person was trying to direct us to.
We went out there, looking for the obvious signs of a grave.
Narrator: For two days, investigators scour the wooded area.
We searched.
We found absolutely nothing.
That's the frustration part, is you start getting excited about something.
The next thing you know, nope, that's not it.
You've been chasing that for no reason.
Narrator: With nothing else to go on, police have the letter analyzed.
DNA confirms it was written by a female, but there are no fingerprints or clues as to who she is and why she sent a false map.
Sometimes, people get their kicks, running cops like that, trying to lead law enforcement in a different direction.
A lot of days, you're running down leads that end up being dead ends.
They're frustrating for us.
Eventually, we did tell the family about the letter and the circumstances involved in it.
Genson: And we thought we may actually have some closure, knowing that she was maybe buried in this spot, meaning that she was gone.
But there was no truth to the letter, at all.
It was, like, someone playing a really horrible joke.
Narrator: Despite finding nothing, Laura refuses to give up hope.
Andrews: Even though my daughter was missing, even though there was a suspicion that she could be not alive anymore, I still was as determined, and I was still as heartbroken.
Narrator: Two months later, another case makes the headlines.
A man named Jonathan Vick is arrested for the 1995 rape and murder of beauty-salon owner Dana Satterfield.
The crime occurred 12 miles from where Michele was last seen.
She was raped, and she was hung from a pipe coming out of a hot-water tank at the back of her beauty shop.
It was awful.
It was vicious, nasty, horrible.
Narrator: The news raises suspicions that Michele might have known this suspected killer.
Andrews: The police got concerned because someone had reported that Shelli knew this man, this Jonathan Vick.
He was a frequent visitor to this diner that she worked at.
How can I help you? Narrator: Investigators also learn that Vick is connected to another missing-persons case.
There was an ex-girlfriend of Jonathan Vick that also waitressed at the same type of diners.
She had become missing.
Narrator: Vick's ex-girlfriend, Heather Sellars, disappeared in September 2002, about a month after Michele went missing.
Genson: They had, already, you know, a suspect of killing the salon owner in a horrific way.
There's a lot of connections between Shelli and him, where she works, some of the people that they knew.
I wanted to see this man and see what kind of a monster he really was.
Narrator: As news about suspected killer Jonathan Vick makes headlines, police explore whether Michele Whitaker could have been another one of his victims.
I think we were all hoping, again, that it was something, that either, if it wasn't him, that somebody that knew him knew her.
We really wanted to have something answered about what happened to Shelli.
Narrator: But Vick isn't talking, and investigators can't find any proof that he ever met Michele or had anything to do with her disappearance.
Wood: There wasn't anything substantial, but again, that's one of those pieces of information you tuck away in the corner of your mind.
You don't forget because you never know when it might become significant.
Narrator: Jonathan Vick goes to trial for the murder of Dana Satterfield.
I wanted to see this man and see what kind of a monster he really was.
I sat in the courthouse and watched the trial for a few hours.
He looked like he could hurt somebody.
Narrator: Vick is convicted of the kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and murder of Dana Satterfield.
He receives life in prison plus 60 years.
He's never charged with any crimes connected to his missing ex-girlfriend, Heather Sellars, or Michele Whitaker.
It was extremely hard.
I mean, it's the hardest thing ever to watch your mom go through this again.
My mom never gave up.
This poster was put together for the service of remembrance at the church for Shelli.
At the 5-year anniversary of Shelli being missing, the family put together a vigil for her.
A lot of our family came.
It was just very moving.
Genson: It was beautiful.
I mean, we had flowers.
We had pictures of her.
Andrews: Lynda was supposed to give the speech and talk about her sister.
She couldn't do it.
She couldn't.
The tears stuck right here, and so her brother, Bruce [Chuckles humorlessly.]
Her brother, Bruce, got up there and talked about his sister, and I'm sure everybody was crying, [shakily.]
just like I am now, but it was some way, I guess, if she was in heaven, to let her know we still loved her.
Narrator: The following year, Laura decides to try a new way to continue the search for her daughter.
There was a web page that Laura had developed that consisted of Michele's pictures of various ages, hairstyles, that kind of a thing, and that she was reported missing in Spartanburg county on this particular date and time, she was last seen at this particular location, and that, "If anybody has seen or heard from her, please contact us," either Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office or Laura, herself.
Andrews: I would get some messages but nothing that really stood out that this was anything.
Narrator: Then, on August 4th, 2008, a call comes into the police station that finally unlocks this agonizing mystery.
I'm sitting at my desk, doing something, and the phone rings, and I answer it - Lieutenant.
- just like any other day.
Person on the phone says, "I'm calling in about Michele Whitaker.
" Okay.
What is it? I said, "Okay.
What can I do for you?" She said, "I know where she is.
I know where Michele Whitaker is.
" [Phone rings.]
Gary: Lieutenant.
Yes.
Woman: I'm calling about Michele Whitaker.
I-I know her.
Gary: The caller said, "She's alive, and she's been living out here in Oregon.
" I need you to slowly go through everything for me.
Michele was helping take care of foster children.
Okay.
A friend of the people she was staying with is who made the phone call to me.
She said, "We're pretty sure it's her.
" My kids and I were looking up people on the Internet.
You know how you do it just for fun? She said, "We put all of our names in.
We put Michele Whitaker's name in there.
We ran across this website.
" Michele's mother created this website, so I was familiar with it.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm on the computer now.
Narrator: The woman is determined to prove she's telling the truth.
Gary: She told me where I could see a picture of her, and so I see this picture.
Damn.
And there's no doubt.
This is her, and it was taken, I think, July 4th of the year before, 2007.
I'm pretty elated.
I knew that Allan Wood, who was my sergeant at the time, knew the family, so first thing I did was print the picture off that I had, and above it, I wrote, "Who am I?" And I walked into his office.
He was sitting at his desk, and I just handed him the picture and didn't say anything.
And I said, "That's Michele Whitaker," and, "Where did you get that picture?" And I knew immediately.
It was Michele.
Narrator: Police are stunned to learn that Michele is alive.
She seemed to be happy in the picture.
She looked healthy.
Everything looked great in her life.
I was just taken aback by it, that it was her and that she was, apparently, thriving.
Once I saw the picture, we directed a plan, basically, to confirm that it was her.
Narrator: Investigators immediately contact the Oregon state police who send out an officer to the small town of Hermiston to check her fingerprints.
[Knocks on door.]
Michele Whitaker? Gary: She told him, "Yes, I'm Michele.
" She gave him her fingerprints and all.
We were able to verify that was her.
Narrator: Sergeant Wood immediately gives Michele a call and explains that her family has been looking for her for 6 long years.
Whitaker: Overwhelming is one word.
Heartbreaking is another word.
Guilt, breaks my heart knowing that they went through all that, and the last time we talked to each other, we were fighting.
Andrews: Don't you walk away from me, Shelli! I'm not finished with you yet! Narrator: After the argument with her mom, Michele drifted around town, trying to figure out her next step.
When I left, I was not in a good place.
I'd be dead.
I wouldn't have made it to 40, not in a million years.
There's no way.
I went from happy as a child to these bad things happening, and I just went down, down, down, down, down, down, and just kept going.
I had to get away from people, places, things, even family, because I couldn't get in a good place in my mind.
Andrews: I'm not finished with you yet! I didn't leave to hurt anybody.
I really thought it would make them happy.
When Shelli is not there, all the, you know, troubles and worries are gone, and, you know, hey, yay.
At first, I was going day-to-day, literally went into diners and ordered food with no money to pay for it, literally, slept on friends' couches, anywhere I could sleep, until I just decided I needed to leave town.
I planned to go to Myrtle and get a job and get paid under the table so, you know, nobody could know I was there.
Narrator: Before leaving Spartanburg, Michele met Doug Gilmour at a local pool hall.
Whitaker: I asked him to drop me off at a truck stop.
He fed me, and he gave me some clothes, a couple bucks, and dropped me off.
Narrator: Michele caught a ride with a truck driver but never made it to Myrtle Beach.
I went up north, and then I ended up in Vegas and then ended up in California, and then my final destination, before when they found me, was Oregon.
Narrator: Once in Oregon, Michele was determined to start over and turn her life around.
She used her real name but stayed completely off the grid.
Had I known what they were going through, Lord have mercy, I would have done Somehow, I would have reached out.
Andrews: Have you seen my daughter? I impressed upon her all the things that her mother had done for her while she'd been missing.
Whitaker: That was, probably, the first thing I felt, was guilt, because they spent so much time and effort and energy and money and everything.
I'm just stunned.
My mom and dad and my siblings, they love me that much.
Wood: I said, "Your mother wants you back.
You know? She wants to know you're okay.
" [Phone ringing.]
Narrator: While Michele wrestles with her shock and guilt, Sergeant Wood calls Michele's mother.
Andrews: It was about 10:00 in the morning, and I was asleep, still.
I'm a late sleeper.
And my phone rang and I answered the phone and it was Allan Wood and he says, "Laura, we found Shelli," and I was immediately wide awake.
You know, I was, like, stunned, and he said, "She's alive, and she's okay.
" I went down the stairs.
My husband was downstairs in the sunroom, and I said, "Chuck, they found her.
" [Sighs heavily.]
[Crying.]
and I cried, like I'm doing now.
[Sniffles.]
Genson: When Mom called and said that they found Shelli alive, literally, like, your heart just drops.
Everything just, like, "It's some kind of crazy dream, something.
This can't be real.
" To get that phone call will be [Chuckling.]
one of those moments that you will never, ever forget, ever.
Narrator: The next day, Michele finally calls home.
I remember the first thing I said to her [sniffs.]
besides, "I love you," [sniffs.]
Was that, "We never stopped looking for you, not one time, never stopped.
" Whitaker: I was hurt.
I was scared.
I was happy.
I was And she was feeling, I'm sure, most of the same emotions, if not all.
I remember saying how much I thought they were just going to be happy I was gone, and Mom, the astonishment in her voice I can still hear in my head.
She's like, "Are you kidding me? No! We've been looking for you.
" Andrews: I wasn't angry with her for what she did.
I just remember the relief, but still, I was in shock, because 6 years, and then, boom, all of a sudden, she's on the phone.
You know? It's surreal.
You hear that, but it is.
Narrator: A few weeks later, Michele flies east to see her family for the first time in 6 years.
- Your father.
- Oh, God.
It looks like Chris.
- [Indiscernible.]
- [laughter.]
Whitaker: I thought Chris was standing there.
I did.
- There you go, a little bit - Andrews: Oh, gosh.
She came down an escalator, if I remember right.
It was at the Atlanta Airport, came down the escalator, and that's it.
"Move, everybody.
Get out of my way.
I'm her mother," and I ran to her and just threw my arms around her and held her and held her and held her.
Do you see it? Can you? Oh, hi there.
- How are you doing, sir? - Man: Good.
How are you? Genson: I didn't ever think I'd see Shelli again.
- Whitaker: Of course, you do.
- Genson: It was crazy.
You go, like, every week, whatever, talking to your sister, and then 6 years, and it's like, "Whoa, wait a minute.
Let's start all over.
We got a lot of catching up to do.
" [Chatter.]
Narrator: Today, Michele and her mother are closer than ever.
Andrews: We had too many tears.
It's time for something better.
Amen to that one.
Can't change the past.
You can only That's what I said.
Focus on the future.
That's exactly what I said.
I can't change what happened.
All I can do is I know I'm in a better place, so that's all that matters, right now, and we are, too.
I said, "This is the best our relationship, I think, has ever been.
" [Sternly.]
look at me.
I'm thinking as I'm talking.
- [Both laugh.]
- Stop.
I think Shelli and Mom are doing great, now.
They worked through so much.
It's awesome to see how it is now.
I know Mom is happy to have her daughter back, and I know Shelli is happy that she's got the family back that, you know, she had forgotten she had.
Andrews: She's doing well.
She's making some money, and she's got her car, and she's got a boyfriend, and, you know, I think life is good for her, and she likes having a normal life.
She can look in the mirror and like who she sees, I think.
[Crying.]
she's come a long way.
Nothing's perfect, but my life is great.
I have no complaints.
I'm just glad I'm back.
I'm home and happy.