HATBOX BABY UPDATE: In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption. On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away; she was eighty-six.
Joe Shambier seems like the most selfless man ever. What is a hero? A guy who can endure such heartbreak and still joyfully give of himself. A guy like Mr. Shambier.
Joe Shambier's story put me in tears, so sad he didn't get to meet his daughter and then after 45 years of searching he's finds out she died at 18 years old in an explosion?.....I can't help but wonder if there was a generation curse on her family to her. Her mother suddenly died after giving birth then her daughter at a such a young age. Strange!...
The way that baby was found in the hatbox plays out almost exactly like the way they found Kal-El in Chris Reeve's "Superman"! I half expected that kid to lift the car!
It was a setup. The woman who "found" her had arranged to find her. Sharon Elliot discovered who her birth parents were in 2017, just 1 year before she died. She passed away on December 1st, 2018 at the age of 86.
Um, sort of. She was going to be found because she wasn’t truly abandoned. Read up online what happened, her adoptive mother basically lied to her too, she was in on the “abandonment”.
@@reginashakirova6811 What are you talking about? There is no evidence whatsoever that her adoptive mother was in on anything. If it was staged, that was done between the couple that abandoned the baby (Freda and Walter Roth of Iowa) and the couple that found the baby, NOT the mother who adopted her. Her adoptive parents were chosen from a lot of 17 offers. There was no way they could have known they'd end up with that child. It was a decision of the courts. It was the great depression, and newlyweds in the Midwest commonly gave up babies because they had no way to feed them. Sharon was abandoned, that much is true, whether she was left in a desert in a hatbox to die, all we have is the word of the people who found her. It sure seems like a set up of some kind, maybe to ensure her a safe adoption during a time of scarcity (which worked, btw), especially considering the biological parents were in Iowa, but no proof of fabrication or any link between the biological parents and the people who found the baby was ever actually discovered. Sharon died in 2018 at the age of 86 after having found her biological roots and even a great grandniece. Funny you don't share your sources. Here are mine: www.history101.com/hatbox-baby/ www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2018/12/23/miracle-baby-found-roadside-one-arizonas-great-mysteries-new-clues-solve-hatbox-baby-sharon-elliott/2403545002/
I guess I'm oddball out.. there is no way I believe this coincidence..in the desert the baby was perfectly healthy and just so happened to break down at that spot to find baby? Looks like someone planned this well ..
That is quite a story from that web site that was posted! Such a lot of coincidences! Makes a person think it was all meant to be. What a dedicated reporter to spend all those years searching for Sharon. That is amazing dedication!
Joe Schambier's daughter, Alberta, wasn't just killed in any explosion... She was killed by her husband in a murder-suicide. He set a bomb in their car, killing both of them. R.I.P. Joe and Alberta Schambier. What a tragic case.
It makes sense that the Hatbox baby's birth mother was abandoned in infancy, as well. That is one amazing story, with twists and reveals I won't spoil here - but SO sad. At least she learned some of the truth and it led to her relative finding *her* own birth parents, too. Thanks for the update link @Hemi204
Now she could probably take an ancestry test. Since the show aired 30 years ago those 80 something year old people would be in thier 110's now so it's unlikely their alive. However if she had siblings or cousins that took the test on ancestry.com they might show up as matches
That whole story of them thinking he was dead and adopting her out is just not real. Sure he was in the pacific when Pearl Harbor happened but since he was in the military, the woman he left the baby with could have easily found out not only that he was alive but where he was. Smells very fishy.
Joseph Schambier's story has stuck with me for years. It's so tragic. I can't even imagine how he felt when he discovered what happened to her. The Unsolved Mysteries Wiki said Alberta Elaine was killed after her husband rigged his car with dynamite in an attempt to reconcile with her. Both of them and an innocent bystander were killed. Alberta was only 18 years old.
She was murdered,that was no reconciliation attempt,that was a premeditated murder attempt,that unfortunately was successful & on top of the murder suicide,a bystander,who had no connection to the couple,died needlessly
That's terrible. And it probably wouldn't have happened if that lady just kept her until her father was discharged. So it's basically her fault for lying and saying he was dead and giving the girl up for adoption. Smh
Currently pregnant right now and the story about the man with the missing baby after the update literally had me sobbing for about 30 minutes solid - literally the saddest story on here I ever heard on u.m.
I'm not particularly expressive emotionally, but I feel like a person crying for another person is a reliable indicator of goodness. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well and that the child inherits your goodness.
Oh heavens, I never recommend watching Unsolved Mysteries while pregnant. The between the hormones and the creep factor, you'll either be scared shitless convinced you'll be murdered by your neighbor, or spend the day crying over their touching, often sad "Lost Loves".
I love watching this show as we growing up it. Helped family's watch tv together... thank you for all those years of service raising awareness and gettign more people to help solve each case.💌
There is a lot of information in Branion's case that was left out. He denied owning a Walther PPK, but the police subsequently found a box for this type of weapon in his home and ammunition for it - the gun wasn't in the box, but the police traced it to a gun store and it turns out it was sold to someone who then gave it to Branion as a gift. Branion had 2 mistresses, not just one, and he took a ski trip with his kids and one of his mistresses the day after the murder. While the police were at his home he appeared to be crying and had his hands over his face; but a policeman noticed he was actually watching the police through his fingers and appeared to be pretending to cry. He claimed he hadn't touched his wife's body because he noticed blood pooling in her legs and therefore knew she was dead. But another doctor lived nearby and he called her over to his home after finding his wife's body; she testified there was no blood pooling in the legs and Branion's wife couldn't have been dead more than an hour. Branion called a woman the night before and asked her to have lunch with him the next day - this is the lunch date he supposedly was going to have with his son after picking his son up. But he had never called this woman before, much less asked her to have lunch with him, and she thought his request was strange. Finally, nothing in the home was missing - he had a large gun collection and all of the guns except the Walther PPK he denied owning (but did own) were there.
The whole mistress thing gives a motive but learning he had 2 says a lot that he had no interest in his wife. That Walther PPK is too much of a coincidence too with him telling his brother in law it was stolen the day before is just suspicious. I think he had someone do it for him.
I was scrolling down and didn't look directly at the this thumbnail and literally thought it was Debra Joe Rupp from that 70's show until I scrolled back up.
46:20 This is the saddest update I’ve ever seen on the show I feel terrible for Joe Schambier so sad he never found his daughter. 😥 Joe himself would pass away in 1997 at age 80.
Yeah it's the saddest update I seen. I guess this being the 1940's doctors weren't as good as they are now which is probably why his wife was said to be fine but she obviously wasn't.
Alice Syman was able to locate the Stewarts and Betty Mansfield. All of them remembered the incident very well but refused to appear on Unsolved Mysteries because they were offended by the skepticism surrounding the case. Ed passed away in 1992 and Julia in 2002. Betty has also since passed away; her brother John was discovered to have died in 1945. Sharon's adoptive mother Faith had told her that she had given all of Sharon's adoption documents to a friend. In 2011, the documents turned up; among them was a handwritten note from Faith. It stated that her "friend" was actually Sharon's biological cousin. It also stated that Sharon's biological mother was apparently Edna Sherman Roe, who had Sharon out of wedlock at age fifteen. Reports state that Edna died in a plane crash in 1951. However, it was discovered that Edna had a niece living in Tucson. Sharon attempted to contact the woman so that DNA testing can be done; however, the woman later stated that she did not want to be involved. It was later determined that Edna was not Sharon's mother. In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption. On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away at the age of 86.
After a forty-seven-year search for his daughter, Joseph received the most heartbreaking news. A viewer in Pittsburgh began to trace Joseph's family tree. The viewer, Nancy Bartoo, soon discovered from newspaper articles that Alberta died tragically in an explosion on July 25, 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of eighteen. She had been raised by Grace Williams of Bridgeville and believed that both of her parents were deceased. Her estranged husband, Paul Depew, had rigged his car with dynamite after his last attempt to reconcile with her failed. The explosion killed both Paul and Alberta, along with another innocent bystander. Joseph was saddened to learn of his daughter's death, but was content with the fact that his search was over. Joseph eventually passed away himself in 1997 at the age of 80.
It’s absolutely terrible and heartless how people can just dump babies in shoebox or trash etc instead of the hospital or to a church or even an adoption agency. Abandonment is one of the loneliness and saddest experiences as someone who was adopted myself. The sadness and pain is still there from time to time...
@@jeffcampbell2710 There’s zero chance that story is true. Back in those days it was a shame on the family for a girl to be pregnant out of wedlock. It’s likely a girl in the family got knocked up, and this family claimed they found the child in the desert to avoid the shame.
But most safe haven laws didn't exist until the end of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century. And this happened back around the time of the Great Depression, so it was highly likely the parents could've faced criminal charges if they'd done something like that. We have to remember when watching these segments that we can't hold them by todays standards. Laws and technologies were a lot different back then.
@Josh Kolbo In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption. On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away; she was eighty-six.
More info on the Alberta Elaine Schambier case: Solved. As a result of the broadcast, a Seattle woman came forward, believing that she was Alberta. She had been adopted and recalled her adoptive parents saying she had been previously raised by a "Mrs. Miller." However, DNA tests determined that she and Joe were not related. In February 1990, genealogical researcher Nancy Bartoo read about Joe's search in The Pittsburgh Press. She was familiar with records from that time period in Pittsburgh and decided to help him with his search. Although he had assumed Alberta had been adopted, Nancy did not believe that was the case because she knew that the adoptive family would have needed his permission, and it would have been easy to trace him since he was in the army. She found a marriage license which showed that Alberta, then seventeen, had married a twenty-nine-year-old dynamite blaster named Arthur H. DePew on February 16, 1957. The license said that Alberta's father's first name was Felix, that he was Canadian, and that he was deceased (all of which was not true). Nancy sent this information to Joe. He contacted Arthur's mother, who was living in Norwich, New York. She told him that, tragically, Alberta had died in a car explosion in Pittsburgh's North Side on July 25, 1957. She was eighteen. A friend of Joe's went to the Carnegie Library in Oakland and found a newspaper story about the explosion. On that day, Arthur convinced Alberta to meet with him so that they could discuss their relationship. They had separated a few weeks earlier. Arthur lured Alberta into a dynamite-rigged 1954 light green Plymouth parked on East Ohio St. The dynamite was concealed under the floorboards below her seat. According to relatives, he had previously threatened to blow up himself and Alberta. After his reconciliation attempt failed, he touched two wires together, causing the dynamite to explode. The car was destroyed and both were killed instantly. Tragically, eight-year-old Linda Kraus, who was walking nearby, was also killed. Assistant Police Chief Therese Rocco, who had previously helped Joe with his search, also discovered that Alberta had been raised by Grace Williams of Bridgeville. As Nancy had suspected, Alberta had never been legally adopted. Coincidentally, Chief Rocco remembered the explosion that killed Alberta because she had been working as a rookie police officer in Pittsburgh at the time. Joe was very saddened to learn that Alberta had died. However, he was happy that he was able to end his search. On April 28, 1997, he passed away at the age of eighty. unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Alberta_Elaine_Schambier?so=search
More info on the John Branion case: Unresolved. John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment; he was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified. However, some evidence not presented in the segment seems to suggest that John may have actually been guilty. No signs of forced entry were found in the apartment, nor was anything stolen. Just one day after the murder, John, his mistress Shirley, and his two children left Chicago and went skiing in Colorado. His statements to police about the day of the murder were also conflicted by witnesses. He claimed that he had picked up his son outside of school that day; however, his son's teacher said that he had come inside to pick him up. Investigators also discovered that the day of the murder was the first time he had ever asked Maxine to go to lunch with him. It was suspected that she would be his alibi for the murder and that he planned for her to be with him when he found Donna's body. John also claimed that he immediately knew she was dead because he noticed lividity in her legs. However, neighbor Dr. Helen Payne said that was impossible because she examined Donna's body at the same time and noticed no lividity. Investigators learned that, along with Shirley, John had another girlfriend, Anicetra Souza. They also learned that he had asked Donna for a divorce, but she refused. Following his conviction, he married and divorced Shirley and Anicetra several times. unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/John_Branion?so=search
Oh, my! What are the chances of finding a baby in a hat box in the desert? I am more inclined to think the baby was left to allow it to be found in order for the birth mother to avoid embarrassment in her community.
From the Fandom website about the John Branion case: "John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment; he was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified. However, some evidence not presented in the segment seems to suggest that John may have actually been guilty. No signs of forced entry were found in the apartment, nor was anything stolen. Just one day after the murder, John, his mistress Shirley, and his two children left Chicago and went skiing in Colorado. His statements to police about the day of the murder were also conflicted by witnesses. He claimed that he had picked up his son outside of school that day; however, his son's teacher said that he had come inside to pick him up. Investigators also discovered that the day of the murder was the first time he had ever asked Maxine to go to lunch with him. It was suspected that she would be his alibi for the murder and that he planned for her to be with him when he found Donna's body. John also claimed that he immediately knew she was dead because he noticed lividity in her legs. However, neighbor Dr. Helen Payne said that was impossible because she examined Donna's body at the same time and noticed no lividity. Investigators learned that, along with Shirley, John had another girlfriend, Anicetra Souza. They also learned that he had asked Donna for a divorce, but she refused. Following his conviction, he married and divorced Shirley and Anicetra several times".
@@guidadiehl9176 personally,I could care less about him knowing or not knowing MLK,I do think he knows who did it,but wouldn’t say for the reasons I mentioned before
Defense counsel Maurice Scott immediately argued that the trial had been prejudiced by Chicago's recent racial disturbances and vowed to appeal. Yet another stunning twist came in 1986, when Judge Reginald Holzer received an 18-year jail sentence for extortion and racketeering. Branion's lawyers seized this opportunity to charge that Holzer had received a $10,000 bribe during the 1968 trial, paid by the defendant's brother-in-law, Nelson Brown. Prosecutor Patrick Tuite admitted that he had heard rumors of Holzer's intention to overturn Branion's conviction and had gone to see him, urging that the law be allowed to take its course. The speculation is that Holzer, unnerved by Tuite's visit, swindled those who allegedly paid the bribe, then sought to placate them by substituting a ludicrously low bail of $5,000, allowing Branion to escape. Because there was no way of corroborating the story-Brown had himself been stabbed to death in 1983-this final effort to overturn Branion's conviction met with the same fate as its predecessors. This man was railroaded simply because he was a black during the long hot summer of 1967. During a time of “civil unrest” as supremacists like to refer, it was not only convenient to lock up and throw away the key on a circumstantial case for anyone of color, but also was entirely too easy! This man’s case was poorly handled and as u can see the judge in charge took a bribe to secure a conviction. So I, as a an educated woman of color, am convinced this man was indeed innocent! Especially looking at the behaviors of court officers during the proceedings of this trial! #doyourhistory #staywoke!
The "civil" rights guy killed his wife. Mentions the gun was stolen 4 days after she was murdered. Was sleeping with 2 women at the time who were not his wife. Classic murder Modus Operandi.
While I realize Sharon is a full grown woman at thetime of this interview, she is so cute she has the most innocent eyes and smile like a little sweet girl. I know she has passed on now, what a tremendous story she lived. RIP Sharon ❤❤
... To have a serious girlfriend while you are married is very suspicious, to marry her right after is even more suspicious. If his difference is only 10 minutes... then he doesn't have much of a difference.
John Branion is a bit arrogant , when he's saying bring me my accomplice if there is, and many witness testimony conflicted to his statement and the gun he denied owning. and the 10 minutes drive which is not impossible to do. I think he's guilty.
Is it just me or was Sharon (at 58 in this interview) really vibrant and beautiful, not to mention young looking for her age? That silent generation usually seemed old quicker too, making it more amazing
That hat box baby died just before xmas 2018 RIP they found her parents through DNA that story is fucking nuts too. I believe the evidence shows it to be a set up as them stopping in the exact spot in the desert is beyond crazy.
This episode of Unsolved Mysteries has 3 of the most CONFOUNDING and SADDEST cases EVER. You could watch this episode many times and still never figure out The Truth in the first two, while the last case is just downright SAD!!! 😫
to me, seems a bit suspicious how they just happen to breakdown at the exact spot where the baby was in a hat box and it was still alive...either that, or the reconstruction is exaggerated
It is not a "normal life" for any human being to grow up not knowing who and where they came from. There should be no sealed records for the adopted person.
@@Yahweh-dn9cv If only the people who are "the system" knew what it feels like not to have that huge vital piece of one's own history. Non adoptees have theirs, for better or worse.. It's theirs. It not only belongs to them. It IS them. Whatever errors of judgment or circumstances the biological parents had that resulted in having a child, they do not have the right to live thereafter as if it didn't happen. The child takes on enough of the burden as it is. To hide from them their own heritage is irresponsible and cowardly.
I would disagree in that we, I am adopted, kids can have a normal life with everything but our past. My birth family found me and I am grateful for it but not everyone wants that. You also need to remember that the birth parents have a right to their own privacy. My curiosity does not supersede that
I can hardly type through the tears!!! God bless that man's heart!! That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard 😥😥 I can't even imagine how he must have felt finding that out. And Mr Brandon also was a very sad story, my heart broke for him as well.
Yeah, It's called progress. Is this a difficult concept? Because I've seen other comments on here stating their amazement that things have changed. That's what things do.
@@prometheusunbound7628 Making it normal for children to be born without a family waiting isn't progress. It's the way of animals in forests and jungles.
@@gravynolastname3786 "dissolution of morality"? Can you be more specific? When I look around I see a society that has some problems but is still functioning about as well as one could expect
Segment 4: OUCH! That last segment update shattered my heart. A UM viewer from the Pittsburgh area contacted Joe via the UM hotline after his story aired to help him find his daughter. With his help, Joe discovered in 1990 that his daughter, who went by Elaine, had died in a car explosion in nearby Bridgewater, PA in 1957 at the age of 18. The explosion had been set by her estranged husband that killed them both plus a bystander. She died believing that her father had died in WWII. Joe Schambier himself died in 1997 at the age of 80.
You can always internet search for more information and details on cases featured in Unsolved Mysteries. Unfortunately, there are some background details or character traits left out in some of the cases.
The story of Joseph Shambier and his search for his daughter was truly heart wrenching and I agree with others, this was probably the saddest story on Unsolved Mysteries that I've seen. For a such a selfless and kindhearted person to go through such tragedy is mind boggling to me, but, hopefully his daughter lived a good life, even though it was short and that he could take some solace in that. I'm not a parent, so I can't even imagine the heartache he must have felt, I just hope that he was able to find some peace.
Well...Her estranged husband, Paul Depew, had rigged his car with dynamite after his last attempt to reconcile with her failed. The explosion killed both Paul and Alberta, along with another innocent bystander.
@@Seek1878 that doesn’t sound like a “reconciliation attempt “,it sounds premeditated murder suicide & unfortunately an innocent bystander died as well
All of you in this comment section should learn about swingers,polyamorous and polygamist people and those that are not that but are cool with or do not care about their partner being that way. We have no idea what his wife thought of it and why she never left him sooner if it bothered her. Why would he wait all those years to kill her and why not just divorce her? I am not seeing an obvious motive here it would be more likely for her to kill him or have him killed.Plus even if he wanted her dead it would be far smarter to have someone else kill her when he had an alibi with tons of witnesses.Even the cop says it wasnt planned out very well if he did kill her.
That wasn't what he said. He said if he had evidence of hiring a hitman let him bring that forward. As shown the prosecutor said he always thought he had hired someone. However, he presented a case instead with the doctor as the killer. What was arrogant was a prosecutor essentially saying well I think he's guilty anyway so who cares what we charge and convict him of. There was no evidence presented nor even the mention of the doctor hiring a contract killer in court. Instead they presented the case and evidence to show a man personally pulling the trigger. Yet the same prosecutor admits I always thought he hired someone and didn't actually pull it himself.
@@annepurcell4495 Because "she couldn't make it" all of a sudden, aka she was lying dead in their home from 4 gunshot wounds out of the very gun Branion owned. That's why she couldn't make it.
Obviously,, the theme song is fantastic. But, I love the music during segments and updates also. Like Stack, the music was/is crucial to the shows excellence.
I think if I was that guy looking for his daughter after WW2, I would have gone to Pittsburgh, tracked down that Alice Miller woman, go to court if necessary to unseal the adoption records and find her. You gotta be a bit of an SOB to get things done in this world sometimes, he was maybe too nice of a guy who didn’t push the issue enough. Furthermore, I wonder if due to his injury he was put down as a casualty, anything that takes a soldier out of service is defined as a casualty. They find out he was a “casualty” and adopted out Alberta Elaine, not really understanding that he wasn’t dead.
I hate people who claim to be fighting for civil rights, or anything that involves improving the human condition (activist, humanist, etc.). Only to reveal they did something horrible like silencing their spouse.
Best that might be said about the abandonment is that I feel there's a chance that whoever left the baby was nearby waiting for someone to find her. That thought comes to mind since the baby was well nourished and in perfect health. It would be a remarkable coincidence if this baby had been just left there to die. But then by sheer chance somebody has car problems which leads to finding her so soon after the abandonment that she was neither unfed nor in distress? Thus I feel there's a chance someone was nearby monitoring the situation and taking care of the baby till she was found. While the 'setup' theory is a possibility saying I found this baby in perfect condition in the desert seems unlikely. A more believable story would have been devised for such a setup.
Segment 1: Sharon did discover her birth parents. They had indeed conceived her out of wedlock but did marry just months before Sharon was born. Sadly they had already passed away as Sharon finally discovered then in 2017, the year before her death. She also discovered she had a biological brother who sadly died that very year in 2017 just before she had discovered him and their parents. Sharon Elliot died on December 1st, 2018, just presumably 16 days before her 87th birthday. Sharon did meet a biological grandniece shortly before her death.
John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment. He was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified. John and Donna's son Joby now works as a sports agent for the NFL.
He got her killed.... If he was so innocent why did he jump bail and leave the country for 7 years also he married the wan he was having an affair with quickly after his wife was killed... He wanted her out of the way and paid someone to do it
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 her biological parents had here when theyre very young and abandoned her in the place where she was found reason probably the shame of having her out of wedlock , but they got married months after what they did.
What a sad story about the man and his daughter! He loved her so much from a distance and she didn't even get to experience it. At least it led him to bringin joy to children
Missing: Cynthia Anderson, Mystery:West End Baptist Church Wanted: Melvine Aprille/Missing:Tony and Sherri Aprille, Murder:Signal Mountain Murders, Wanted: Wardell Ford and Larry Chism, UD: "Wanted: Ann Correcelli and Lena Marie Wilson."
BobcatJoeGutfeld omg, what did you do to upset the powers that be!?! I just finished the whole episode. You must've done something awful. What was it that was *_THAT_* bad? Oh, you have got to tell me.
In 1990 John Brainion Was Finally Granted Clemecy In Consideration For His Failing Heath Sadly He Died One Month Later I Always Believed John Brainion Was Innocent. From The Very Beginning Soo Sad Indeed
@A Moye Exactly Just Sooo Damn Sad😭 John Wasn't Given A Fair Trial Someone Got Away With The Shit And The Murder Probably Won't Ever Be Solved Due To The Passage Of Time I Pray Everyday That MF😡 Is DEAD, GONE And Rotting In HELL👿 R.I.P. JOHN BRAINION GONE WAY TOO SOON BUT TRULY NOT FORGOTTEN👆🙏😢🌷⚘
@@reneebrown1362 I believe the Chicago PD and some other arm of the US govts "Intelligence Community" set him up to discredit him since he was MLK personal Doctor! This is classic COINTELPRO smear campaign which was going on all over the US back then, they hired two criminals to kill the woman and then most likely killed them leaving no witnesses etc.
I think John Branion was guilty. He may not have pulled the trigger, but he had his wife killed. The day of, he was trying to establish alibis for the time of the killing, he wanted to be seen out and about during the crime. He had a side chick, while not necessarily indicative of a motive to kill, it certainly adds questions about his character...he also went on to marry that woman which is highly suspicious in my opinion. He also jumped bail for many years, indicating that he feared conviction at trial. He lawyered up and avoided a polygraph but volunteered for a gun shot analysis to be done on him. I believe that was because he was confident of coming out clean on that test having never fired a gun, but knew he would show signs of deception on the polygraph when asked about his involvement. Other than crack pot conspiracy theories, who else had a motive to commit this crime? Branion is the only one who could want his wife to die.
Dunkaroos, Totally agree!....His wife's name was Donna and I don't know how his wife was but every Donna I knew seemed weird or crazy!.......They said their marriage wasn't working out, like you said he wanted that side chick and still married her plus, since he knew he had her setup he didn't want the lie detectors test but the firearm test cause he didn't pull the trigger his boys did like you noticed as well. He knew alot of "left wing" malitia groups as he said it that could have done the job of killing his wife for him like the Black Panthers group. Then he jumps bail and lives in Africa for a minute until he is caught. Most of the story is focused on what he did or didn't do when in fact he didn't do it, he had someone else do it that's why he took his time with his son and anyone else along the way hence the neighbor heard the gunshots before he got home. I believe justice was served!...
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 The fact that he either did it himself or hired left wing militia to do it yet UM tried to insinuate white racism was the reason for the conviction of him actually murdering his wife is a pathetic joke. Even in those days, left wing propaganda was pushed in the media. Sick.
Any intelligent person would not take a lie detector test They're all bullshit The '90s proved that lie detector tests are bullshit there's a reason we don't use them in a court of law anymore So you're an idiot for thinking this guy's guilty because he wanted a more scientific proven way of showing his innocence. No he may have hired someone and he may have known he didn't shoot the gun and that's why he wanted to take the test I'm not arguing that but don't bring the lie detector tested to this those things are garbage I would never take a lie to test or test because then you're just okaying a kangaroo court. I think the guy is innocent. I wrote papers on systemic racism on Chicago I know the Chicago seen back then I know the Chicago Police but you would see out of them in the 68 Democratic convention I know what they thought of people that provided aid to Martin Luther King Jr his allies I think they used his wife's murder as a chance to put an uppity n*gger in their cage and not have to deal with him.
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 I don't agree with you and I don't think you understand what it was like to be black in the country back then and how racist America was. I think we're a much better country nowadays but it took time to get here and a lot of hard work. This so soon after the civil Rights movement especially in Chicago especially with that police force. Systematic racism was still built into that system just starting to be dismantled. Racist cops were the majority but more than just racist cops cops that hated anybody on the left look at this shit the shit the Chicago cops the mayhem they caused at the 68 Democratic convention They were anti anyone on the left. I think they saw this guy as an uppity n*gger And they weren't going to let him live a good life. Instead of doing their job on Friday justice and finding the killer of his wife they used it as a chance to frame the man and stick him in a cell. I don't care that He fleed to Africa I think he sensed the injustice of the trial and he had a way to get away and he took it If I was being framed and I knew I was innocence I'd run too I would serve time in the man's jail. I bet all of you are all authoritarian assholes who think the police never make a mistake. Police never do wrong they're always 100% right and this van is guilty because of that huh. I think you just saw another black person and thought yep he killed his wife not taking into account any context or consideration of the racism of the Chicago Police back in the '60s.
Развлечения
HATBOX BABY UPDATE:
In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption.
On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away; she was eighty-six.
is this real>>
they should update this on the video if it's true!
@@UFCMusic Yeah its on the Unsolved Mysteris website
Sounds legit. I'm sure a quick Google search would alleviate any doubts, I'm just not gonna go through the trouble of it. I'll take their word. 👍
Oh geez, thank you for the update, if it’s true of course lol
The last story of the guy looking for his daughter who it turns out has passed is heartbreaking 😢.
Thank you for the warning ☺️
I was I hoping he would find her so bad thats too bad about her tragic death 😢
@@Lili-sj7go
That is terrible, she died very young.
Joe Shambier seems like the most selfless man ever. What is a hero? A guy who can endure such heartbreak and still joyfully give of himself. A guy like Mr. Shambier.
It’s a shame he never met his daughter though.
Joe Shambier's story put me in tears, so sad he didn't get to meet his daughter and then after 45 years of searching he's finds out she died at 18 years old in an explosion?.....I can't help but wonder if there was a generation curse on her family to her. Her mother suddenly died after giving birth then her daughter at a such a young age. Strange!...
@@act4666 But he did meet her Him his wife and Alberta are all together in heaven and they will never be able to be hurt or be in pain again
The way that baby was found in the hatbox plays out almost exactly like the way they found Kal-El in Chris Reeve's "Superman"! I half expected that kid to lift the car!
Hah! That's true
Funny i was thinking same thing
Fucking Nerd!
@e M So?
It was a setup. The woman who "found" her had arranged to find her.
Sharon Elliot discovered who her birth parents were in 2017, just 1 year before she died. She passed away on December 1st, 2018 at the age of 86.
AMERICAN JUSTICE BILL KURTIS
FORENSIC FILES PETER THOMAS
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES ROBERT STACK* Best narrating voices of all time.
CHRIS HANSEN TO CATCH A PREDATOR.
@@shawnlittle3091 not a chance
@amy bastian
Absolutely!! Keach is definitely amazing and very unique!
*"Up next on American Greed..."*
AlphaDeltaXray To me Chris Hansen was a good host on to catch a Predator.
Will Lyman - Frontline
Im glad so many people are enjoying this show and are able to comment on it on RUclips.
It’s kinda weird hearing them talk about future release dates 30 years ago. In 2006 is his expected release date.
Personally I miss the 80’s.
@@luke125 It was a healthy time.
@@denissegoatcher-avila3113 At least healthier than it is now that’s for sure.
Some of the updates are as recent as 2017-18.
@@luke125true. I get up in the 80s & life was so much happier...
This lady is the most lucky person in the world. Found her in the desert and then adopted by a loving family.
Um, sort of. She was going to be found because she wasn’t truly abandoned. Read up online what happened, her adoptive mother basically lied to her too, she was in on the “abandonment”.
@@reginashakirova6811 What are you talking about? There is no evidence whatsoever that her adoptive mother was in on anything. If it was staged, that was done between the couple that abandoned the baby (Freda and Walter Roth of Iowa) and the couple that found the baby, NOT the mother who adopted her. Her adoptive parents were chosen from a lot of 17 offers. There was no way they could have known they'd end up with that child. It was a decision of the courts.
It was the great depression, and newlyweds in the Midwest commonly gave up babies because they had no way to feed them. Sharon was abandoned, that much is true, whether she was left in a desert in a hatbox to die, all we have is the word of the people who found her.
It sure seems like a set up of some kind, maybe to ensure her a safe adoption during a time of scarcity (which worked, btw), especially considering the biological parents were in Iowa, but no proof of fabrication or any link between the biological parents and the people who found the baby was ever actually discovered. Sharon died in 2018 at the age of 86 after having found her biological roots and even a great grandniece.
Funny you don't share your sources. Here are mine:
www.history101.com/hatbox-baby/
www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2018/12/23/miracle-baby-found-roadside-one-arizonas-great-mysteries-new-clues-solve-hatbox-baby-sharon-elliott/2403545002/
@@smittysmeee Thank you for that information
I guess I'm oddball out.. there is no way I believe this coincidence..in the desert the baby was perfectly healthy and just so happened to break down at that spot to find baby? Looks like someone planned this well ..
@@southernbelle850 I agree. It was planned.
That is quite a story from that web site that was posted! Such a lot of coincidences! Makes a person think it was all meant to be. What a dedicated reporter to spend all those years searching for Sharon. That is amazing dedication!
Joe Schambier's daughter, Alberta, wasn't just killed in any explosion... She was killed by her husband in a murder-suicide. He set a bomb in their car, killing both of them.
R.I.P. Joe and Alberta Schambier. What a tragic case.
Absolutely+ an innocent bystander
It makes sense that the Hatbox baby's birth mother was abandoned in infancy, as well. That is one amazing story, with twists and reveals I won't spoil here - but SO sad. At least she learned some of the truth and it led to her relative finding *her* own birth parents, too. Thanks for the update link @Hemi204
Now she could probably take an ancestry test. Since the show aired 30 years ago those 80 something year old people would be in thier 110's now so it's unlikely their alive. However if she had siblings or cousins that took the test on ancestry.com they might show up as matches
@@KentPetersonmoney They did DNA and found her mother. ruclips.net/video/RI2TvVlekF8/видео.html.
Aww joe is such a good man ,so very sad his girl died 😢😢
I love how she says "oh my gosh it's a baby" like she just saw a dead bird....
How would you react?
@@ashleelarsen5002
Shush!!
That baby died when she was 18 left me with a massive heart ache, how awful 😢
I nearly yelled
They will once see each other again in Heaven.
It was an awful feeling to know that but I guess it gave Joe some closure to his quest.
That whole story of them thinking he was dead and adopting her out is just not real. Sure he was in the pacific when Pearl Harbor happened but since he was in the military, the woman he left the baby with could have easily found out not only that he was alive but where he was. Smells very fishy.
Another Philomena story.
Joseph Schambier's story has stuck with me for years. It's so tragic. I can't even imagine how he felt when he discovered what happened to her. The Unsolved Mysteries Wiki said Alberta Elaine was killed after her husband rigged his car with dynamite in an attempt to reconcile with her. Both of them and an innocent bystander were killed. Alberta was only 18 years old.
She was murdered,that was no reconciliation attempt,that was a premeditated murder attempt,that unfortunately was successful & on top of the murder suicide,a bystander,who had no connection to the couple,died needlessly
That's terrible. And it probably wouldn't have happened if that lady just kept her until her father was discharged. So it's basically her fault for lying and saying he was dead and giving the girl up for adoption. Smh
Tragic tale for Joseph. The woman who accepted his baby was a con! Giving her up for adoption was not the deal
That theme song hard af
shit slaps my guy
Always scared me as a child in the late 80's.
@BuBba KuShInGToN LMAO
Taylor lol
BuBba KuShInGToN man, I’m 36 and I’m still creeped out bruh lol
Currently pregnant right now and the story about the man with the missing baby after the update literally had me sobbing for about 30 minutes solid - literally the saddest story on here I ever heard on u.m.
I'm not particularly expressive emotionally, but I feel like a person crying for another person is a reliable indicator of goodness. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well and that the child inherits your goodness.
Yeah I wonder how garnet died that’s so sad 😭
Oh heavens, I never recommend watching Unsolved Mysteries while pregnant. The between the hormones and the creep factor, you'll either be scared shitless convinced you'll be murdered by your neighbor, or spend the day crying over their touching, often sad "Lost Loves".
Did you have the baby?
@@Yahweh-dn9cv yep she just turned one and I still think about this story
Anyone else hear a baby sound before they opened the box only to see the baby sleeping. 😂
I love watching this show as we growing up it.
Helped family's watch tv together...
thank you for all those years of service raising awareness and gettign more people to help solve each case.💌
There is a lot of information in Branion's case that was left out. He denied owning a Walther PPK, but the police subsequently found a box for this type of weapon in his home and ammunition for it - the gun wasn't in the box, but the police traced it to a gun store and it turns out it was sold to someone who then gave it to Branion as a gift. Branion had 2 mistresses, not just one, and he took a ski trip with his kids and one of his mistresses the day after the murder. While the police were at his home he appeared to be crying and had his hands over his face; but a policeman noticed he was actually watching the police through his fingers and appeared to be pretending to cry. He claimed he hadn't touched his wife's body because he noticed blood pooling in her legs and therefore knew she was dead. But another doctor lived nearby and he called her over to his home after finding his wife's body; she testified there was no blood pooling in the legs and Branion's wife couldn't have been dead more than an hour. Branion called a woman the night before and asked her to have lunch with him the next day - this is the lunch date he supposedly was going to have with his son after picking his son up. But he had never called this woman before, much less asked her to have lunch with him, and she thought his request was strange. Finally, nothing in the home was missing - he had a large gun collection and all of the guns except the Walther PPK he denied owning (but did own) were there.
The whole mistress thing gives a motive but learning he had 2 says a lot that he had no interest in his wife. That Walther PPK is too much of a coincidence too with him telling his brother in law it was stolen the day before is just suspicious. I think he had someone do it for him.
I was scrolling down and didn't look directly at the this thumbnail and literally thought it was Debra Joe Rupp from that 70's show until I scrolled back up.
I hear ya
46:20 This is the saddest update I’ve ever seen on the show I feel terrible for Joe Schambier so sad he never found his daughter. 😥 Joe himself would pass away in 1997 at age 80.
Shawn Little 😭😭😭😭Right?!?
Dam
Yeah I saw this yesterday
I remember this as kid
Very sad
He seemed like such a great guy and this ended up happening
Smh
Yeah it's the saddest update I seen. I guess this being the 1940's doctors weren't as good as they are now which is probably why his wife was said to be fine but she obviously wasn't.
Just flat-out horrible.
I always wanted to help solve a mystery but alas the cards are not stacked in my favor
Never won the lottery, either?
I like what you did there
Alice Syman was able to locate the Stewarts and Betty Mansfield. All of them remembered the incident very well but refused to appear on Unsolved Mysteries because they were offended by the skepticism surrounding the case. Ed passed away in 1992 and Julia in 2002. Betty has also since passed away; her brother John was discovered to have died in 1945.
Sharon's adoptive mother Faith had told her that she had given all of Sharon's adoption documents to a friend. In 2011, the documents turned up; among them was a handwritten note from Faith. It stated that her "friend" was actually Sharon's biological cousin. It also stated that Sharon's biological mother was apparently Edna Sherman Roe, who had Sharon out of wedlock at age fifteen. Reports state that Edna died in a plane crash in 1951. However, it was discovered that Edna had a niece living in Tucson. Sharon attempted to contact the woman so that DNA testing can be done; however, the woman later stated that she did not want to be involved. It was later determined that Edna was not Sharon's mother.
In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption.
On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away at the age of 86.
Thanks so much for composing and posting this detailed update! :)
Thank you for the info!
@@reneedennis2011 Some flawed as that was my family that found the baby. They were old and did not want to appear on a TV show.
@@Quacks0 Not all true. My family found that baby and they were old and not in good health, that is why they declined.
Thank you for the information.
I need my fix of Robert Stack and Unsolved Mysteries
We all need it, brother.
@@ThirstyEye Yes we do
Oh me too!!!
After a forty-seven-year search for his daughter, Joseph received the most heartbreaking news. A viewer in Pittsburgh began to trace Joseph's family tree. The viewer, Nancy Bartoo, soon discovered from newspaper articles that Alberta died tragically in an explosion on July 25, 1957, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of eighteen. She had been raised by Grace Williams of Bridgeville and believed that both of her parents were deceased. Her estranged husband, Paul Depew, had rigged his car with dynamite after his last attempt to reconcile with her failed. The explosion killed both Paul and Alberta, along with another innocent bystander. Joseph was saddened to learn of his daughter's death, but was content with the fact that his search was over. Joseph eventually passed away himself in 1997 at the age of 80.
Sounds more like a premeditated murder attempt than a reconciliation attempt
Oh how times have changed since the 30’s! So glad the baby was ok!
When he said what you are about to see is not a news broadcast i thought it should be.
It’s absolutely terrible and heartless how people can just dump babies in shoebox or trash etc instead of the hospital or to a church or even an adoption agency. Abandonment is one of the loneliness and saddest experiences as someone who was adopted myself. The sadness and pain is still there from time to time...
But the craziness of the car breaking down right there? Her walking around? I haven't watched it yet, I stopped when they found it.
@@jeffcampbell2710 There’s zero chance that story is true.
Back in those days it was a shame on the family for a girl to be pregnant out of wedlock. It’s likely a girl in the family got knocked up, and this family claimed they found the child in the desert to avoid the shame.
But most safe haven laws didn't exist until the end of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st century. And this happened back around the time of the Great Depression, so it was highly likely the parents could've faced criminal charges if they'd done something like that.
We have to remember when watching these segments that we can't hold them by todays standards. Laws and technologies were a lot different back then.
hat box
They should've posted an update on the Hatbox Baby story since it's been already solved.
Either this was before the update episode or she found her mom well after Unsolved Mysteries ended its run.
I thought she died right before her grand niece was found through DNA?
@Josh Kolbo In 2017, a forensic genealogist named Bonnie Belza began investigating Sharon's case. Through DNA testing and genealogy websites, she was able to identify Sharon's biological parents. Sadly, her biological mother Freda Strackbein Roth died in 1991 and her biological father Walter Roth died in 2005. Her biological brother James died in 2017. However, Sharon was able to get in contact with her grand-niece. Interestingly, it was discovered that Freda and Walter had married a few months before Sharon's birth. It is believed that they abandoned Sharon or gave her away because she was conceived out of wedlock. A journalist who investigated the case believes that Sharon's adopted mother had connections to the Roth family and helped to arrange the "abandonment" and adoption.
On December 1, 2018, Sharon passed away; she was eighty-six.
Ikr! I wanted to see an update
2:03 Hat Box Baby 12:12 John Branion 38:38 Santa's Baby
RIP Hatbox Baby :(
More info on the Alberta Elaine Schambier case:
Solved. As a result of the broadcast, a Seattle woman came forward, believing that she was Alberta. She had been adopted and recalled her adoptive parents saying she had been previously raised by a "Mrs. Miller." However, DNA tests determined that she and Joe were not related.
In February 1990, genealogical researcher Nancy Bartoo read about Joe's search in The Pittsburgh Press. She was familiar with records from that time period in Pittsburgh and decided to help him with his search. Although he had assumed Alberta had been adopted, Nancy did not believe that was the case because she knew that the adoptive family would have needed his permission, and it would have been easy to trace him since he was in the army. She found a marriage license which showed that Alberta, then seventeen, had married a twenty-nine-year-old dynamite blaster named Arthur H. DePew on February 16, 1957. The license said that Alberta's father's first name was Felix, that he was Canadian, and that he was deceased (all of which was not true).
Nancy sent this information to Joe. He contacted Arthur's mother, who was living in Norwich, New York. She told him that, tragically, Alberta had died in a car explosion in Pittsburgh's North Side on July 25, 1957. She was eighteen. A friend of Joe's went to the Carnegie Library in Oakland and found a newspaper story about the explosion. On that day, Arthur convinced Alberta to meet with him so that they could discuss their relationship. They had separated a few weeks earlier.
Arthur lured Alberta into a dynamite-rigged 1954 light green Plymouth parked on East Ohio St. The dynamite was concealed under the floorboards below her seat. According to relatives, he had previously threatened to blow up himself and Alberta. After his reconciliation attempt failed, he touched two wires together, causing the dynamite to explode. The car was destroyed and both were killed instantly. Tragically, eight-year-old Linda Kraus, who was walking nearby, was also killed.
Assistant Police Chief Therese Rocco, who had previously helped Joe with his search, also discovered that Alberta had been raised by Grace Williams of Bridgeville. As Nancy had suspected, Alberta had never been legally adopted. Coincidentally, Chief Rocco remembered the explosion that killed Alberta because she had been working as a rookie police officer in Pittsburgh at the time.
Joe was very saddened to learn that Alberta had died. However, he was happy that he was able to end his search. On April 28, 1997, he passed away at the age of eighty.
unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Alberta_Elaine_Schambier?so=search
More info on the John Branion case:
Unresolved. John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment; he was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified.
However, some evidence not presented in the segment seems to suggest that John may have actually been guilty. No signs of forced entry were found in the apartment, nor was anything stolen. Just one day after the murder, John, his mistress Shirley, and his two children left Chicago and went skiing in Colorado. His statements to police about the day of the murder were also conflicted by witnesses. He claimed that he had picked up his son outside of school that day; however, his son's teacher said that he had come inside to pick him up.
Investigators also discovered that the day of the murder was the first time he had ever asked Maxine to go to lunch with him. It was suspected that she would be his alibi for the murder and that he planned for her to be with him when he found Donna's body. John also claimed that he immediately knew she was dead because he noticed lividity in her legs. However, neighbor Dr. Helen Payne said that was impossible because she examined Donna's body at the same time and noticed no lividity.
Investigators learned that, along with Shirley, John had another girlfriend, Anicetra Souza. They also learned that he had asked Donna for a divorce, but she refused. Following his conviction, he married and divorced Shirley and Anicetra several times.
unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/John_Branion?so=search
Actually killer? 🤣
Oh, my! What are the chances of finding a baby in a hat box in the desert? I am more inclined to think the baby was left to allow it to be found in order for the birth mother to avoid embarrassment in her community.
LadyEquipped The husband was in on it too. The car just happened to break down right there? Cool story bro
Well said,ma’am
From the Fandom website about the John Branion case: "John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment; he was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified.
However, some evidence not presented in the segment seems to suggest that John may have actually been guilty. No signs of forced entry were found in the apartment, nor was anything stolen. Just one day after the murder, John, his mistress Shirley, and his two children left Chicago and went skiing in Colorado. His statements to police about the day of the murder were also conflicted by witnesses. He claimed that he had picked up his son outside of school that day; however, his son's teacher said that he had come inside to pick him up.
Investigators also discovered that the day of the murder was the first time he had ever asked Maxine to go to lunch with him. It was suspected that she would be his alibi for the murder and that he planned for her to be with him when he found Donna's body. John also claimed that he immediately knew she was dead because he noticed lividity in her legs. However, neighbor Dr. Helen Payne said that was impossible because she examined Donna's body at the same time and noticed no lividity.
Investigators learned that, along with Shirley, John had another girlfriend, Anicetra Souza. They also learned that he had asked Donna for a divorce, but she refused. Following his conviction, he married and divorced Shirley and Anicetra several times".
I think John knew who killed the lady,but wouldn’t disclose their identities,maybe out of fear,who knows,anything is possible
He obviously killed her. People don't want to believe it because that nonsense about him knowing MLK immediately makes him a saint, apparently.
@@guidadiehl9176 personally,I could care less about him knowing or not knowing MLK,I do think he knows who did it,but wouldn’t say for the reasons I mentioned before
@@guidadiehl9176 💯
Defense counsel Maurice Scott immediately argued that the trial had been prejudiced by Chicago's recent racial disturbances and vowed to appeal.
Yet another stunning twist came in 1986, when Judge Reginald Holzer received an 18-year jail sentence for extortion and racketeering. Branion's lawyers seized this opportunity to charge that Holzer had received a $10,000 bribe during the 1968 trial, paid by the defendant's brother-in-law, Nelson Brown. Prosecutor Patrick Tuite admitted that he had heard rumors of Holzer's intention to overturn Branion's conviction and had gone to see him, urging that the law be allowed to take its course. The speculation is that Holzer, unnerved by Tuite's visit, swindled those who allegedly paid the bribe, then sought to placate them by substituting a ludicrously low bail of $5,000, allowing Branion to escape. Because there was no way of corroborating the story-Brown had himself been stabbed to death in 1983-this final effort to overturn Branion's conviction met with the same fate as its predecessors.
This man was railroaded simply because he was a black during the long hot summer of 1967. During a time of “civil unrest” as supremacists like to refer, it was not only convenient to lock up and throw away the key on a circumstantial case for anyone of color, but also was entirely too easy! This man’s case was poorly handled and as u can see the judge in charge took a bribe to secure a conviction. So I, as a an educated woman of color, am convinced this man was indeed innocent! Especially looking at the behaviors of court officers during the proceedings of this trial! #doyourhistory #staywoke!
That last story was really heart breaking!😭
Murder suicide to top it all off,RIP,Joe
That Doctor was guilty as the sun is bright!
More like a black hole. 😮
The "civil" rights guy killed his wife.
Mentions the gun was stolen 4 days after she was murdered.
Was sleeping with 2 women at the time who were not his wife.
Classic murder Modus Operandi.
Thank you for the upload FR.
Watching from NSW Australia.
Westall 66 UFO Incident! I'm an Aussie Too..
While I realize Sharon is a full grown woman at thetime of this interview, she is so cute she has the most innocent eyes and smile like a little sweet girl. I know she has passed on now, what a tremendous story she lived. RIP Sharon ❤❤
If a random guy called my house asking for my daughter claiming to be Santa Claus I'd call the cops
Me too.
I would if he did it a 2nd time,the 1st time I would consider a drunk calling
... To have a serious girlfriend while you are married is very suspicious, to marry her right after is even more suspicious. If his difference is only 10 minutes... then he doesn't have much of a difference.
John Branion is a bit arrogant , when he's saying bring me my accomplice if there is, and many witness testimony conflicted to his statement and the gun he denied owning. and the 10 minutes drive which is not impossible to do. I think he's guilty.
I think he knew who did it,but was afraid of retribution
Arrogance does not equal criminality
Is it just me or was Sharon (at 58 in this interview) really vibrant and beautiful, not to mention young looking for her age? That silent generation usually seemed old quicker too, making it more amazing
I thought the same thing. No way did I think she was 58.
I noticed that to. 👍
Good looking woman! There are lots of beautiful women on the planet!
I thought she did too! Her skin has a glow & she was beautiful 😍
That hat box baby died just before xmas 2018 RIP they found her parents through DNA that story is fucking nuts too. I believe the evidence shows it to be a set up as them stopping in the exact spot in the desert is beyond crazy.
Ikr
Love the 80s hair in a reenactment taking place in the 1930s 😂
This Ep really was Unsolved :(
That last story was heartbreaking
Murder suicide,very heartbreaking,RIP,Joe
So sad :(
If Dr. Branion didn’t kill his wife Donna as he claimed, then who did? I am still not convinced he was 100% innocent.
I don't think he's innocent either
perhaps a hitman hired by him
that he hid for 12 year in africa instead of doing his sentence is an odd thing for an innocent person to do.
Sad last story.
Just think...if his daughter had not been adopted out then she more than likely wouldn't have been where she was for the explosion that killed her.
Ikr
She would not have had a relationship with the guy who killed her with the dynamite explosion. He probably would have blown someone else up.
This episode of Unsolved Mysteries has 3 of the most CONFOUNDING and SADDEST cases EVER. You could watch this episode many times and still never figure out The Truth in the first two, while the last case is just downright SAD!!! 😫
to me, seems a bit suspicious how they just happen to breakdown at the exact spot where the baby was in a hat box and it was still alive...either that, or the reconstruction is exaggerated
It was an arranged abandonment. She was left there to be found by her adoptive parents.
Damn man, how sad was Joe’s story 💔
Very,his daughter was murdered by her looney tunes husband
Read online what actually happened to Sharon. Her adoptive mother was in on it, basically everyone lied to her.
Ikr
Why would you want to find your birth parents if you were abandoned by these people in the middle of nowhere to die?
That sweet caring father, Joe Shambier is in Heaven now with his beloved Alberta... how sad she was killed so young. BLESS them in God's Light.....
So many still watching these episodes. AMAZING! No new shows has been watched so many times.
Why is this Branion story in here? It seems entirely possible that he was the guy.
It is not a "normal life" for any human being to grow up not knowing who and where they came from. There should be no sealed records for the adopted person.
Obviously,the system disagrees with your assessment about adoption records
@@Yahweh-dn9cv If only the people who are "the system" knew what it feels like not to have that huge vital piece of one's own history. Non adoptees have theirs, for better or worse.. It's theirs. It not only belongs to them. It IS them. Whatever errors of judgment or circumstances the biological parents had that resulted in having a child, they do not have the right to live thereafter as if it didn't happen. The child takes on enough of the burden as it is. To hide from them their own heritage is irresponsible and cowardly.
@@au131951 excellent comment!
I would disagree in that we, I am adopted, kids can have a normal life with everything but our past. My birth family found me and I am grateful for it but not everyone wants that. You also need to remember that the birth parents have a right to their own privacy. My curiosity does not supersede that
My parents were born in ‘61 and ‘63 and to think that people we consider family that are the same age didn’t have the same rights makes me sad
That's how it was in those days.
@@jessestewart169 More than aware
I can hardly type through the tears!!! God bless that man's heart!! That's one of the saddest things I've ever heard 😥😥 I can't even imagine how he must have felt finding that out.
And Mr Brandon also was a very sad story, my heart broke for him as well.
10:41
Holy hell have times changed.
Yeah, It's called progress. Is this a difficult concept? Because I've seen other comments on here stating their amazement that things have changed. That's what things do.
@@prometheusunbound7628 sorry man but the degradation of society and the dissolution of morality isn't "progress."
@@prometheusunbound7628 Making it normal for children to be born without a family waiting isn't progress. It's the way of animals in forests and jungles.
@@gravynolastname3786 "dissolution of morality"? Can you be more specific? When I look around I see a society that has some problems but is still functioning about as well as one could expect
Segment 4: OUCH! That last segment update shattered my heart.
A UM viewer from the Pittsburgh area contacted Joe via the UM hotline after his story aired to help him find his daughter. With his help, Joe discovered in 1990 that his daughter, who went by Elaine, had died in a car explosion in nearby Bridgewater, PA in 1957 at the age of 18. The explosion had been set by her estranged husband that killed them both plus a bystander. She died believing that her father had died in WWII.
Joe Schambier himself died in 1997 at the age of 80.
Obviously her estranged husband was a looney tune!
Sharon, the hatbox baby, passed away at 83 years old, never finding the truth...
In the description where it gives you the episodes, does UD mean Update?
yes
No unexplained death
sad to hear that Santa Joe learned his daughter died....
Murdered is more like it
I bet that babys parents accidentally put the baby in the hat box and put the hat in the babys crib.
Doubtful.. Why would they put a hatbox in the dessert?
And accidentaly, were found in the desert!
@@aprilsilvers381 Think its a bad joke.
Makes no sense
What a miserable ending to this episode.
Such is life
@@tekbarrier And that was the name of a restaurant profiled on this program.
You can always internet search for more information and details on cases featured in Unsolved Mysteries. Unfortunately, there are some background details or character traits left out in some of the cases.
That very last update was awful. That poor man. His daughter died 30 years before!
😔
Murdered
That story of the baby sounds like the one from Silent Hill
That dude is guilty ASF.
What gets me, for those who did wrong, how can they live with themselves with no remorse.
Sociopaths have no remorse
The story of Joseph Shambier and his search for his daughter was truly heart wrenching and I agree with others, this was probably the saddest story on Unsolved Mysteries that I've seen. For a such a selfless and kindhearted person to go through such tragedy is mind boggling to me, but, hopefully his daughter lived a good life, even though it was short and that he could take some solace in that. I'm not a parent, so I can't even imagine the heartache he must have felt, I just hope that he was able to find some peace.
Hopefully.but,it’s hard to find peace when you find out your child was murdered
Well...Her estranged husband, Paul Depew, had rigged his car with dynamite after his last attempt to reconcile with her failed. The explosion killed both Paul and Alberta, along with another innocent bystander.
@@Seek1878 that doesn’t sound like a “reconciliation attempt “,it sounds premeditated murder suicide & unfortunately an innocent bystander died as well
Maybe the married couple where the parents of the Hat Box Baby...
Why would she look for her parents, they didn't no she would be found in a hat box, they left her for dead.
I was so believing that Dr. did not kill his wife. Yeahhhhh, then there was a girlfriend.
I read an article that said the day after his wife’s death he took the GF and his kids on a skiing trip! That’s when I doubted his story!!
@@molliemae6855 The idea that a wife is 'okay' with a side chick is bullshit.
Anytime you have a girlfriend with a wife on the side, anything can happen. Affairs are so poisonous and toxic that murder no longer seems so bad
All of you in this comment section should learn about swingers,polyamorous and polygamist people and those that are not that but are cool with or do not care about their partner being that way.
We have no idea what his wife thought of it and why she never left him sooner if it bothered her.
Why would he wait all those years to kill her and why not just divorce her?
I am not seeing an obvious motive here it would be more likely for her to kill him or have him killed.Plus even if he wanted her dead it would be far smarter to have someone else kill her when he had an alibi with tons of witnesses.Even the cop says it wasnt planned out very well if he did kill her.
Him having a girlfriend doesn't mean he killed his wife . A lot of married people cheat and still have there wife .
Imagine being the hatbox baby?
A prosecutor’s feeling that someone is guilty of a crime is irrelevant in a court of law. What arrogance!
That wasn't what he said. He said if he had evidence of hiring a hitman let him bring that forward. As shown the prosecutor said he always thought he had hired someone. However, he presented a case instead with the doctor as the killer. What was arrogant was a prosecutor essentially saying well I think he's guilty anyway so who cares what we charge and convict him of. There was no evidence presented nor even the mention of the doctor hiring a contract killer in court. Instead they presented the case and evidence to show a man personally pulling the trigger. Yet the same prosecutor admits I always thought he hired someone and didn't actually pull it himself.
Segment 1: Incredible...that baby hadn't been left there for very long at all. So glad she was found.
23:29 Then pick up Maxine for the luncheon date that was made AT THE VERY LAST MINUTE...THE NIGHT BEFORE. LOL 😂
Why was he going out to lunch with his wife's cousin? Why wasn't she joining them?
@@annepurcell4495 Because "she couldn't make it" all of a sudden, aka she was lying dead in their home from 4 gunshot wounds out of the very gun Branion owned. That's why she couldn't make it.
Obviously,, the theme song is fantastic. But, I love the music during segments and updates also. Like Stack, the music was/is crucial to the shows excellence.
The "Wanted" theme was always pretty damn cool
Locations are so beautiful! An update on them!
I think if I was that guy looking for his daughter after WW2, I would have gone to Pittsburgh, tracked down that Alice Miller woman, go to court if necessary to unseal the adoption records and find her. You gotta be a bit of an SOB to get things done in this world sometimes, he was maybe too nice of a guy who didn’t push the issue enough. Furthermore, I wonder if due to his injury he was put down as a casualty, anything that takes a soldier out of service is defined as a casualty. They find out he was a “casualty” and adopted out Alberta Elaine, not really understanding that he wasn’t dead.
I hate people who claim to be fighting for civil rights, or anything that involves improving the human condition (activist, humanist, etc.). Only to reveal they did something horrible like silencing their spouse.
That Last story got me 🙏
Absolutely,& it ended in a murder suicide + an innocent bystander dying
Best that might be said about the abandonment is that I feel there's a chance that whoever left the baby was nearby waiting for someone to find her. That thought comes to mind since the baby was well nourished and in perfect health.
It would be a remarkable coincidence if this baby had been just left there to die. But then by sheer chance somebody has car problems which leads to finding her so soon after the abandonment that she was neither unfed nor in distress?
Thus I feel there's a chance someone was nearby monitoring the situation and taking care of the baby till she was found.
While the 'setup' theory is a possibility saying I found this baby in perfect condition in the desert seems unlikely. A more believable story would have been devised for such a setup.
Segment 1: Sharon did discover her birth parents. They had indeed conceived her out of wedlock but did marry just months before Sharon was born. Sadly they had already passed away as Sharon finally discovered then in 2017, the year before her death. She also discovered she had a biological brother who sadly died that very year in 2017 just before she had discovered him and their parents. Sharon Elliot died on December 1st, 2018, just presumably 16 days before her 87th birthday. Sharon did meet a biological grandniece shortly before her death.
John was subsequently released from prison in August 1990 on clemency from a judge who reviewed his case. Sadly, he passed away a month later due to a tumor and heart ailment. He was sixty-four. If he was indeed innocent, Donna's actual killers were never identified.
John and Donna's son Joby now works as a sports agent for the NFL.
Wowww
It was pretty obvious he did it. www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-08-25-9103030674-story.html
He got her killed.... If he was so innocent why did he jump bail and leave the country for 7 years also he married the wan he was having an affair with quickly after his wife was killed... He wanted her out of the way and paid someone to do it
@@LoudPet636 you're naive because he didn't do it himself. He hired someone to kill her
That’s not his son that’s another joby not John brannion son
I watch this growibg up
Do “23 and me”‼️‼️👍🏻🌸
This episode was just heartbreaking. 🥺
The Hatbox baby is alreaby been solved in 2017 ,it is kinda messed up , at least she knew what she wanted before she died in 2018.
Asahel, What happened?...
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 her biological parents had here when theyre very young and abandoned her in the place where she was found reason probably the shame of having her out of wedlock , but they got married months after what they did.
@@asahel980, Oh wow okay, thanks.
What a sad story about the man and his daughter! He loved her so much from a distance and she didn't even get to experience it. At least it led him to bringin joy to children
Murder is very sad
what stories are on the 13th episode in season 2?
The video is blocked in the US
Missing: Cynthia Anderson, Mystery:West End Baptist Church Wanted: Melvine Aprille/Missing:Tony and Sherri Aprille, Murder:Signal Mountain Murders, Wanted: Wardell Ford and Larry Chism, UD: "Wanted: Ann Correcelli and Lena Marie Wilson."
BobcatJoeGutfeld omg, what did you do to upset the powers that be!?! I just finished the whole episode. You must've done something awful. What was it that was *_THAT_* bad? Oh, you have got to tell me.
Its something but Flimrise has it open here on their own channel:
ruclips.net/video/I2UYxCa99b4/видео.html
In 1990 John Brainion Was Finally Granted Clemecy In Consideration For His Failing Heath Sadly He Died One Month Later I Always Believed John Brainion Was Innocent. From The Very Beginning Soo Sad Indeed
Danm that's messed up if he was really innocent
@A Moye Exactly Just Sooo Damn Sad😭 John Wasn't Given A Fair Trial Someone Got Away With The Shit And The Murder Probably Won't Ever Be Solved Due To The Passage Of Time I Pray Everyday That MF😡 Is DEAD, GONE And Rotting In HELL👿 R.I.P. JOHN BRAINION GONE WAY TOO SOON BUT TRULY NOT FORGOTTEN👆🙏😢🌷⚘
@@reneebrown1362 I believe the Chicago PD and some other arm of the US govts "Intelligence Community" set him up to discredit him since he was MLK personal Doctor! This is classic COINTELPRO smear campaign which was going on all over the US back then, they hired two criminals to kill the woman and then most likely killed them leaving no witnesses etc.
Renee Brown If he wanted to kill her quietly as a doctor he would have had a verity of options so why would he switch to a gun? This is just damn sad
@@Watkins106 Maybe he thought people would think that. So he killed her a simple way like normal people would. I'm not convinced he was innocent
Good lord it was a stroke of huge luck that they came across the hatbox in time!
I think John Branion was guilty. He may not have pulled the trigger, but he had his wife killed. The day of, he was trying to establish alibis for the time of the killing, he wanted to be seen out and about during the crime. He had a side chick, while not necessarily indicative of a motive to kill, it certainly adds questions about his character...he also went on to marry that woman which is highly suspicious in my opinion. He also jumped bail for many years, indicating that he feared conviction at trial. He lawyered up and avoided a polygraph but volunteered for a gun shot analysis to be done on him. I believe that was because he was confident of coming out clean on that test having never fired a gun, but knew he would show signs of deception on the polygraph when asked about his involvement. Other than crack pot conspiracy theories, who else had a motive to commit this crime? Branion is the only one who could want his wife to die.
Dunkaroos, Totally agree!....His wife's name was Donna and I don't know how his wife was but every Donna I knew seemed weird or crazy!.......They said their marriage wasn't working out, like you said he wanted that side chick and still married her plus, since he knew he had her setup he didn't want the lie detectors test but the firearm test cause he didn't pull the trigger his boys did like you noticed as well. He knew alot of "left wing" malitia groups as he said it that could have done the job of killing his wife for him like the Black Panthers group. Then he jumps bail and lives in Africa for a minute until he is caught. Most of the story is focused on what he did or didn't do when in fact he didn't do it, he had someone else do it that's why he took his time with his son and anyone else along the way hence the neighbor heard the gunshots before he got home. I believe justice was served!...
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 The fact that he either did it himself or hired left wing militia to do it yet UM tried to insinuate white racism was the reason for the conviction of him actually murdering his wife is a pathetic joke. Even in those days, left wing propaganda was pushed in the media. Sick.
Any intelligent person would not take a lie detector test They're all bullshit The '90s proved that lie detector tests are bullshit there's a reason we don't use them in a court of law anymore So you're an idiot for thinking this guy's guilty because he wanted a more scientific proven way of showing his innocence. No he may have hired someone and he may have known he didn't shoot the gun and that's why he wanted to take the test I'm not arguing that but don't bring the lie detector tested to this those things are garbage I would never take a lie to test or test because then you're just okaying a kangaroo court. I think the guy is innocent. I wrote papers on systemic racism on Chicago I know the Chicago seen back then I know the Chicago Police but you would see out of them in the 68 Democratic convention I know what they thought of people that provided aid to Martin Luther King Jr his allies I think they used his wife's murder as a chance to put an uppity n*gger in their cage and not have to deal with him.
@@davidk.courtneysr.5332 I don't agree with you and I don't think you understand what it was like to be black in the country back then and how racist America was. I think we're a much better country nowadays but it took time to get here and a lot of hard work. This so soon after the civil Rights movement especially in Chicago especially with that police force. Systematic racism was still built into that system just starting to be dismantled. Racist cops were the majority but more than just racist cops cops that hated anybody on the left look at this shit the shit the Chicago cops the mayhem they caused at the 68 Democratic convention They were anti anyone on the left. I think they saw this guy as an uppity n*gger And they weren't going to let him live a good life. Instead of doing their job on Friday justice and finding the killer of his wife they used it as a chance to frame the man and stick him in a cell. I don't care that He fleed to Africa I think he sensed the injustice of the trial and he had a way to get away and he took it If I was being framed and I knew I was innocence I'd run too I would serve time in the man's jail. I bet all of you are all authoritarian assholes who think the police never make a mistake. Police never do wrong they're always 100% right and this van is guilty because of that huh. I think you just saw another black person and thought yep he killed his wife not taking into account any context or consideration of the racism of the Chicago Police back in the '60s.
Damnnnnn I think your right ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👏