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Geraldo Rivera - Reporter:
[archive footage]
I first heard of this big place with a pretty sounding name because of a call I received from a member of the Willowbrook staff, a Dr. Michael Wilkins. The doctor invited me to see the conditions he was talking about, so unannounced and unexpected by the school administration, we toured Building #6. The doctor had warned me it would be bad, it was horrible. There was one attendant for perhaps 50 severely and profoundly retarded children, lying on the floor naked and smeared with their own feces, they were making a pitiful sound, a kind of mournful wail that's impossible for me to forget. This is what it looked like, This is what it sounded like, but how can I tell you about the way It smelled? It smelled of filth, It smelled of disease and It smelled of death. Joshua Zeman:
Despite Geraldo's report, it still took more than 10 years before authorities began shutting down Willowbrook. Many patients were transferred to group homes, but others were left to fend for themselves. There are those who believe that some patients out of confusion and habit returned to the 365 acres of Willowbrook, to roam the abandoned buildings, and live in the tunnel system that lay underneath. Out of this, our own version of the Cropsey legend was born
[archive footage]
I first heard of this big place with a pretty sounding name because of a call I received from a member of the Willowbrook staff, a Dr. Michael Wilkins. The doctor invited me to see the conditions he was talking about, so unannounced and unexpected by the school administration, we toured Building #6. The doctor had warned me it would be bad, it was horrible. There was one attendant for perhaps 50 severely and profoundly retarded children, lying on the floor naked and smeared with their own feces, they were making a pitiful sound, a kind of mournful wail that's impossible for me to forget. This is what it looked like, This is what it sounded like, but how can I tell you about the way It smelled? It smelled of filth, It smelled of disease and It smelled of death. Joshua Zeman:
Despite Geraldo's report, it still took more than 10 years before authorities began shutting down Willowbrook. Many patients were transferred to group homes, but others were left to fend for themselves. There are those who believe that some patients out of confusion and habit returned to the 365 acres of Willowbrook, to roam the abandoned buildings, and live in the tunnel system that lay underneath. Out of this, our own version of the Cropsey legend was born
Full Transcript
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that you're asking me... why did
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he do this?
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What set him off?
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Believe me, we were wide-open
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for any type of motive.
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When we did interview him
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finally, there was gonna be a
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final interview, and we were
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gonna take him back through his
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alibi, and that's why we rented
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a hotel room.
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We said, "Andre, look, we got
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this tape of willowbrook.
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Remember you used to work at
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willowbrook?"
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"Oh yeah, it was terrible."
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I said, "remember how
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Geraldo Rivera did the exposé?"
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He said, "yeah, but I never
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"Well, we have it.
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Would you like to come up and
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see it?
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Cause we have a VCR up there."
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And he said, "you know, I'd
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really like that."
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And we're saying, "well, he did
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work at willowbrook for two
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He was a physical therapist.
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Maybe there's something on that
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tape that's gonna shake him."
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Perhaps the governor can
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defend and explain away the
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budget cuts for the department
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of mental hygiene, and perhaps
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Dr. Miller can explain and
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defend the filthy, dehumanizing
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conditions we found in this and
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other buildings, but they won't
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do it on this program.
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What we found and documented here is a disgrace
to all of us. This place isn't a school.
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It's a dark corner where we
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throw children who aren't pretty
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to look at.
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It's the big town's leper
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colony.
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We were sitting on both sides of him...
And he started to cry.
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He started to cry.
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And he said, "do you see how
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You see how it was?
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We were victims, too," meaning
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the attendants or the people
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that worked there.
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He just sat there, and his eyes,
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like, rolled, and he just
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started drooling in the hotel
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room.
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We could see what was
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happening to him, and it's like
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you would kneel right in front
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of him.
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Tell us the truth now."
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You know, "god will forgive
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you."
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We were so close.
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We thought we had it.
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Then he just started to rock.
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He was that way that whole
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night, the whole next day, and
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he didn't start talking to
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people until two or three days
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later.
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As much as it had started, in
the end, it all came back to
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were the answers to these
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missing children found on
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Geraldo's tape?
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And if so, had the sins of
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willowbrook finally come back to
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haunt the residents of
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all news, all the time.
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This is 1010 wins.
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You give us 22 minutes, we'll
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give you the world.
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A guilty verdict 23 years
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after 7-year-old
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Holly Ann Hughes vanished from
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outside of her Staten Island
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This is the heroes right
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heroes, heroes, heroes,
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heroes.
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He's a killer and a kidnapper.
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Tell us where she is.
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Tell us where the other kids
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I'll go look for them.
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I'll find them.
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The other ones, of course, yes.
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There's speculation.
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But we will make sure that those
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cases someday come to trial and
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that the rest of those families
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have the same type of justice
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that the Schweiger's and the
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Hughes have.
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A lot of weight is lifted off
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me right now.
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Do you feel any closure about
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the verdict?
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Well, you know, it...
It's not gonna bring back
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you know that.
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But...
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She's
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watching.
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That's enough.
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Well, the killer had a lot of
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nicknames... the pied Piper,
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Hannibal Lechter, the bogeyman
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of Staten Island.
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His victims were among the
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most vulnerable.
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They were children.
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And tonight, prosecutors are
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making sure that predator stays
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behind bars.
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23 years ago, the entire city
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was transfixed with the image of
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an innocent 7-year-old girl who
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disappeared in the blink of an
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eye.
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Sadly, Holly Ann Hughes has
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never made it home.
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Mr. Rand...
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Movie Summary
Realizing the urban legend of their youth has actually come true; two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearances.