>> CATHY: MINNESOTA IS NO STRANGER TO HEADLINES OF MISSING PERSON CASES, BUT ONE OF OUR STATE'S MOST SHOCKING CRIMES IS ALSO ONE OF ITS LEAST KNOWN.

THE KLEIN BROTHERS LEFT FOR FARVIEW PARK IN MINNEAPOLIS IN 1951 AND THE THREE CHILDREN WERE NEVER SEEN AGAIN.

POLICE SOON CLOSED THE CASE BUT THE KLEIN FAMILY AND THEIR COMMUNITY NEVER STOPPED LOOKING.

TPT IS PARTNERING WITH AUTHOR JACK EL-HAI TO DIVE INTO ONE OF THE STATE'S COLDEST MISSING PERSON CASES.

"LONG LOST" WILL EXPLORE WHAT HISTORY CAN REVEAL ABOUT WHAT WENT WRONG, WHERE WE GO FROM HERE, AND WHAT THE PUBLIC CAN DO TO HELP.

TAKE A LOOK.

♪♪ >> WE WERE ALL GOING TO GO TO THE PARK, THAT WAS THE PLAN FOR THE DAY.

I SHOULD HAVE WENT WITH THEM, I KNOW THAT.

THERE'S NO WAY TO GET AROUND THAT.

>> THE DAY THE BOYS WENT MISSING WAS NOVEMBER 10TH IN 1951.

THE THREE YOUNGER BOYS, DANNY, DAVIDS, KEN, AGES 6, 8, 4, WERE BEGGING THEIR MOM TO GO TO THE PARK.

>> THERE WAS A GREAT BIG OAK TREE AND THAT'S WHERE WE ALWAYS MET.

I LOOKED ALL OVER THAT PARK, THEY WEREN'T THERE.

I SURE NEVER THOUGHT AT THAT TIME THEY COULD BE GONE, I KNOW THAT.

>> AND THEN THE SEARCH WAS ON.

THEY HAD AN AIRPLANE SEARCHING FOR THE BOYS AND SAID IT WAS JUST OPTIMUM CONDITIONS, THAT THE RIVER, THE VISIBILITY WAS PERFECT.

>> MY HIM WAS THAT IF A PERSON DROWNS, THE BODY SURFACES.

ALL THREE BODIES SHOULD HAVE COME UP WITH THEY WERE IN THE RIVER.

>> THEY DID CLOSE THE CASE AND SAY THEY DROWNED IN THE RIVER AFTER ABOUT FIVE DAYS.

>> I KNOW THEY WOULDN'T HAVE WENT ANYWHERE WITHOUT ME.

THEY SURE WOULDN'T HAVE WENT TO THE RIVER, I CAN TELL YOU THAT.

>> THERE'S FAMILY THERE THAT ARE STILL PURSUING AND STILL WANING AN ANSWER, WHERE DID THESE BOYS GOING, THEY WENT SOMEWHERE.

>> I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A PLEA TO ALL YOU PEOPLE TO HELP US FIND OUR BOYS.

>> CATHY: TOMORROW MARKS THE 67TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE KLEIN BROTHERS.

WITH US TO TALK ABOUT THE CASE IS JACK EL-HAI, WHO HAS BEEN FOLOWING THE STORY FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS.

THREE ALSO BOY, THEY DON'T COME HOME FROM THE PARK, WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ABOUT THEIR DISAPPEARANCE?

>> AT THE TIME, BACK IN 1951, THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE HAD ONE THEORY WHICH WAS THAT THESE THREE ALSO BOYS WHO WERE 8, 6, 4, WANT DISERD, FOLLOWED A VERY CIRCUIT WOWS ROOT TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TWO TO THREE MILES AND SOMEHOW FELL IN IN, ALTHOUGH AS THE VIDEO MENTIONED, BODIES WERE NEVER RECOVERED AND ONLY A COUPLE OF CAPS WERE FOUND ON THE ICE, A COUPLE MILES DOWNSTREAM FROM WHERE THEY WERE THOUGHT TO HAVE GONE IN.

>> Cathy: DID THE CAPS BELONG TO THE LITTLE BOYS, I PRESUME?

>> THEY DID BELONG TO THE LITTLE BOYS.

THEY WERE EMBEDDED WITH BURRS FROM PLANTS SO THAT THEY WERE UNWEARABLE.

THE CAPS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN WORN BY ANYONE, CHILD OR ADULT.

>> Cathy: WHAT ARE THE CURRENT THEORIES ABOUT WHAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED?

>> WELL, NOWADAYS, WE NATURALLY THINK ABOUT CHILD ABDUCTION.

THAT'S SOMETHING THAT DID NOT OCCUR TO THE POLICE OR TO MANY PEOPLE AT ALL BACK IN 1951, BUT IT SEEMS THE MOST LIKELY EXPLANATION NOW BECAUSE IT APPEARS THAT THE DROWNING THEORY IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE.

I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR 20-SOME ODD YEARS.

WHAT IS THE FASCINATION FOR YOU?

>> I WAS DRAWN INTO THIS STORY WHEN I OPENED THE NEWSPAPER ONE MORNING, 20 OR SO YEARS AGO MUCH THERE WAS A LITTLE TINY AD IN THE CLASSIFIEDS THAT SAID SOMETHING LIKE SEEKING INFORMATION ABOUT KENNY, DAVID, DANNY KLEIN AND LISTED A PHONE NUMBER.

I CALLED THE NUMBER AND I FOUND MYSELF SPEAKING WITH -- ON THE PHONE WITH BETTE KLEIN.

SHE WAS THE WOMAN SPEAKING SO HEART-BREAKINGLY IN THE TRAILER WE JUST SAW.

>> Cathy: THAT'S THE MOTHER.

>> YEAH, THE MOTHER.

AND HER STORY WAS THAT THESE BOYS DISAPPEARED, SHE AND HER HUSBAND KENNETH NEVER STOPPED LOOKING AND NEVER -- CONTINUED LOOKING UNTIL THEIR OWN DEATHS, AND SO IT WAS A STORY ABOUT A FAMILY IN CRISIS AND AGONY, NOT JUST THE THREE LITTLE BOYS MISSING, ALTHOUGH THAT'S BAD ENOUGH.

SO IT'S A STORY WITH AN EVENT IN THE PAST AND WITH A PRESENT, ALSO.

>> Cathy: BUT, YOU KNOW, I'M CURIOUS, MEMORIES ARE FADING.

THAT WAS, I THINK, THE OLDER BROTHER THAT WAS IN THE TAPE THERE?

>> YES, GORDON IS THE OLDER BROTHER.

>> Cathy: IS THIS CASE AN OPEN CASE ANYWHERE AT THIS POINT, STILL BEING INVESTIGATED AT ALL?

>> WELL, IT HAS BEEN PRESENTED BY TWO INVESTIGATORS OF THE WRIGHT COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING ON THEIR OWN TIME AND HAVE PRESENTED IT TO THE MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION, AND I THINK IT'S CONSIDERED AN OPEN CASE WITH THE B.C.A.

IT IS NOT YET AN OPEN CASE OR AN ACTIVELY INVESTIGATED CASE WITH THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT.

THEY WOULD HAVE JURISDICTION TO DO SOME OF THE THINGS THAT SHOULD BE DONE NOW TO LOOK INTO IT.

MAYBE THEY WILL.

>> Cathy: WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO PUSH THEM TO OPEN THE CASE?

>> WELL, THEY -- FIRST OF ALL, PEOPLE NEED TO COME FORWARD, PERHAPS, WITH SOME OF THEIR MEMORIES, AND WE HAVE A PHONE NUMBER AND AN EMAIL ADDRESS THAT PEOPLE CAN USE TO SENDS THOSE IN.

AND THE POLICE, THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND PERHAPS THE F.B.I.

NEED TO BE PERSUADED THAT THIS IS A CASE WITH A POSSIBLE SOLUTION.

WE BELIEVE IT COULD BE SOLVED AND TO TAKE ACTION.

>> Cathy: WHAT'S THE FAMILY SAYING, THOSE WHO ARE STILL THERE?

>> SO THE FAMILY NOW CONSISTS OF THE OLDER BROTHER, WHO WE SAW IN THE TAPE, AND THEN SOME YOUNGER BROTHERS WHO WERE BORN AFTER ALL THIS HAPPENED AND THEY VERY MUCH WANT THIS RESOLVED.

THIS WAS THEIR FAMILY LIFE, SEARCHING FOR THESE THREE BROTHERS WHO DISAPPEARED, AND THEY WANT IT CLOSED.

THEY WANT SOMETHING TO HAPPEN.

>> Cathy: BECAUSE THEIR WHOLE CHILDHOOD REALLY, INTO THEIR ADULTHOOD HAS BEEN -- THIS SHADOW HAS BEEN CAST OVER THE WHOLE FAMILY.

I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT.

>> IT WAS THE FOCUS OF FAMILY LIFE, AND STILL IS.

>> Cathy: HOW SAD.

>> YES.

>> Cathy: SO WE WANT PEOPLE TO HELP.

SO TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT.

>> WELL, THERE MAY BE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AT THE TIME THIS OCCURRED IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS IN THE HAWTHORNE NEIGHBORHOOD, WHO KNOW ABOUT -- MAY HAVE SOME IDEAS, SOME MEMORIES, HAVE SOME MEMORIES ABOUT NEIGHBORS WHO MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WHO LIVED IN THE AREA AND SO WE WOULD -- WHATEVER IT IS, WHETHER IT SEEMS MINOR OR NOT, WE WOULD LIKE THEM TO TELL US WHAT THEY KNOW, AND WHAT WE HAVE -- THIS IS GOING TO BE AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION.

WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE THIS AS A PODCAST GOING FORWARD IN FUTURE.

AND THAT CAN BECOME PART OF THE STORY.

IT'S A STORY WITHOUT YET A FINAL SHAPE.

AND THE SHAPE WILL TAKE FORM AS WE CONTINUE WORKING ON IT, IT'S VERY EXCITING AND INTRIGUING AND IT HAS GREAT POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FAMILY.

>> Cathy: YOU'RE WRITING A BOOK, AS WELL.

>> I AM WRITING A BOOK FOR UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS, THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED NEXT YEAR.

>> Cathy: I HOPE THERE'S SOME BREAK IN THIS CASE OR SOME CLUE THAT LEADS TO IT BEING REOPENED WITH THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND HAVING SOMETHING COME FROM IT.

>> YEAH, AND THERE ARE SOME LEADS THAT CAN MAKE A BREAK.

SOMETHING CAN HAPPEN AND I HOPE WILL.

>> Jearlyn: THANKS SO MUCH.