Announcer: Coming up, we look at the word "missing" and meet guests who have encountered this topic firsthand.

And what they found, you'll want to stick around for.

You've got to do what you feel is best for you.

Announcer: The Whitney Reynolds Show is made possible by O'Connor Law Firm.

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And by other sponsors.

The real-life version of Lost and Found .

Today's guests open up about loss and what's been missing in their life.

But what they found, now, those are stories you must hear.

[opening theme music] Our first guest missed a portion of his life after being wrongfully convicted for kidnapping, rape and murder.

After his case was overturned and he was exonerated, he still felt something was missing.

Let's take a look at what made him whole again.

Marcellius, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

We're talking about the word "missing" today.

And there was a major part of your life that was missing because you were wrongfully convicted.

Let's talk about your journey.

In 1987, I was getting ready for school, and the police showed up at my door and said they wanted to talk to me about some burglaries that was going on in the neighborhood.

And I didn't have no problem with it because I believe in the justice system, the police, being 16 years old, and I went to the police station where I was ushered into an interrogation room.

At that moment, did they say why you were there?

Because you went in for what you thought was burglary.

Yes.

Did they tell you what they were actually trying to do or say you did?

No, not at that moment, you know.

It's just me in the room handcuffed to a wall.

Wow.

When did they tell you that you were being arrested for murder, rape-- And kidnapping.

--and kidnapping?

And robbery.

It was about 2 or 3 hours later that they came back in the room with gloves on and then they told me about the nursing student who was killed on the railroad track.

And I told them, "I thought you all was questioning me about burglaries."

When did you have that moment of, I might never get out of here and I might actually go to prison?

Well, I thought that my life was going to end that day.

That day.

Yeah, because they was telling me... if I don't sign this confession they had written, that they was going to take me somewhere and kill me.

I can't even imagine what that moment was like.

So, did you sign the paperwork?

Yes.

Yes.

-Survival.

-I had to.

Yeah.

After two to three days later.

How long did you go to prison?

About six and a half years.

Six and a half years.

And you knew you were innocent.

Yes.

You signed the paperwork.

Yes.

What eventually set you free?

Hard work through my co-defendants.

And we had an attorney who believed that we was innocent of this crime.

Before that, it was another case that was before ours called the Ford Heights Four.

Mmm hmm.

And the crime lab investigator had lied over a number of cases, and ours was one of them.

Wow.

So, once one kind of got revealed, then your case was up.

Yeah.

So, you ended up getting out, but your missing story doesn't end there, because not only did you miss the six years of your life, but then a piece of your soul was missing.

Tell our viewers what happened next.

Drugs, alcohol, bad people, committing crimes.

Did you almost die?

Yes.

Yes.

Alcohol poisoning, OD'ing.

Do you believe you're here for a purpose now?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

I would have to say you've lived many, many different tough times.

Yeah.

But you're still standing.

And let's talk about why you are still standing.

You found an organization that really helped change your life.

Yes.

I was arrested on some charges that I did... due to my drug, alcohol use, you know.

It was a retail theft, you know.

I was sent home on house arrest and I still couldn't face my problems.

Right.

During that alcohol and the drug use, you know, I cut off my band and ran out of the house and was sent back to the county jail.

And the judge, he had belief in me and he said, "You're not a bad person.

"You just had some tough times in life.

"But I know a place you can go, A Safe Haven.

And I know you can straighten out your life."

So, at A Safe Haven, what did you find?

I found hope.

I found hope.

February 4th, 2020, I entered A Safe Haven and not knowing I'd be clean, sober, employed.

Yeah.

Keep listing them off.

I love that.

That's good.

My own residence, a person who found his self, you know.

Yeah.

And in case people don't understand what A Safe Haven is all about, it's actually an organization that believes in people that have hit tough times.

Yes.

And they say, "Maybe the world doesn't think you can, but we believe you can."

Yes.

And they pick people back up.

Yeah.

Have you found a community there?

Yes, yes.

And they made me confront everything that was bad about me.

Wow!

So, you literally had to look yourself-- In the eye and-- Do you feel like you have found your soul?

Yes, I have.

It sounds like to me you just found that community that can carry you.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

Marcellius, thank you for opening up today.

I know it's not always easy to go back into those dark places in our life.

But when we do, we see that there is hope just like you found hope.

So, thank you so much for coming on.

Thanks.

Thanks, thanks.

Prison can be one of the many ways kids are missing their fathers.

Our next guest saw a gap and decided to fill it.

Let's meet the man behind "Dad, How Do I?"

Hey kids, so today, I'm going to show you how to unclog a toilet.

So today, I'm going to show you how to tie a tie.

Today I'm going to show you how to use a stud finder.

Narrator:: Robert Kennedy, also known as the Internet's Dad, is the creator of the channel "Dad, How Do I?"

on YouTube.

Here he is a father figure to his 3.5 million subscribers giving everything from life advice to how-to tutorials for those who are unable to receive it from their own fathers.

I thought I was going to be helping 30 or 40 people.

You know, I just was trying to pass along something to help: how to change a tire, how to tie a tie.

And it's resonated on such a different level like you're speaking about, which is, you know, on one hand, I'm happy to be able to help.

On the other hand, it breaks my heart.

Narrator:: Rob's own experience with a missing father encouraged him to start this YouTube channel.

When I was about 12, our family started falling apart.

My dad got custody of us, but he didn't really want us.

Then he came home when I was 13 and announced that he was done raising kids.

We were either going to go off to foster homes or the older siblings would have to take us in.

And thankfully, my brother took me in.

A big thing I want people to know is, again, it's temporary and you don't have to live in the past.

Let's move forward.

So thankfully, I've been able to share my heart a little bit.

Other than, you know, just how-to's because there's way more to being a dad than just fixing things.

Narrator:: With two children of his own and the millions on YouTube, Rob is doing an incredible job supporting people that he's never even met.

He recently authored a book to bring his advice into more homes.

What I'm hoping to do with my channel is to be able to have people stand on our shoulders.

I hope that was helpful for you.

Thanks for watching, and God bless you, and you got this.

Next up, we had to Oklahoma and meet a high school senior who turned her missing year into a new career.

[guitar music] ♪ Blonde hair and big blue eyes ♪ ♪ You smiled at me and now I realize ♪ ♪ God blessed me when you walked through the door ♪ My name is Bailey Rae.

I'm 18 years old from a small town called Roberto, Oklahoma.

I'm as aspiring Texas country music artist and I've been doing that for about three years now.

Narrator: Bailey Rae's life hit an unexpected patch in 2020.

The Corona Virus pandemic caused her school to shut down leaving her missing out on one of her most important years of high school.

However, this missing year also brought surprising new opportunity.

The pandemic caused so many things to change.

My senior year, we didn't have a normal graduation and we didn't get to have prom.

It just wasn't the typical senior year.

The same day that I got the call that my school cancelled was the same day I got the call for The Voice .

And they asked me to come to L.A.

It was life-changing.

I was on Season 19 of The Voice.

It was definitely, definitely hard at times, but I think you just have to have a certain confidence and you have to believe in yourself.

You have to know that whatever you do, you have to be happy with because you can't go back and change it.

So, I think that's something that I had to learn.

John Legend, I learned a lot from him.

He pushed me vocally for sure.

He had me hit notes that I never thought that I could before and I was kind of nervous too.

And I definitely gained some confidence from it for sure.

Narrator: In the end, her missing year actually helped her find something much bigger.

There was 40,000 people that had tried out.

I think that was the number.

It was 40,000.

And for me to make top 9, that's insane.

I can't even put it into words.

I'm so blessed and so grateful.

I've had a lot of people support me, you know, whether it's from my high school or just random businesses in the community.

It's just, the community support has been absolutely incredible.

Narrator: Regardless of the chaos and the gap on this year, she is pushing on.

Even though Corona Virus took a hit to all of us, it's still awesome to be able to perform, be able to connect with the crowd.

That's just starting to pick up just a little bit.

So even though what seemed like a gap, I can't wait to see what the future holds.

[guitar music] ♪ I'm in love, I'm in an awful mess ♪ ♪ I'm in love ♪ It only took one kiss and then love ♪ ♪ Didn't know I could feel this way ♪ Missing: a word that we've examined on today's show.

However, our next guest is a reminder how sweet the reunion can be.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

So, the reunion, we have first of all, Lola.

Yes.

Which we have not ever had a dog in our new studio.

So, Lola, you are the first.

I'm so excited.

Yeah.

But I bet you're even more excited than I am to have her here because you actually lost Lola who is your service animal.

Yes.

Take us back to what happened.

Well, it started in October of 2017.

My husband and I took Lola to go visit some friends in Elk Grove Village.

And she was in their back yard during the visit, and then I would say probably about a half an hour later our friend received a phone call from his neighbor saying the dog escaped from the back yard.

They have a chain link standard height, about four feet with a gate and the dog was running down the street.

In that moment, for you, because she is your service animal, what did you feel like?

I felt multiple emotions.

At first, I was angry at her.

Like, you know better.

You're not supposed to do that.

But then it was complete shock and fear because we've never been there before and I don't know the area.

And we were supposed to be there just for the day.

And it's like, she better come back because we've got to leave.

So then, take me to what happened next.

Did you all go look for her?

We did.

We put it out on Facebook almost immediately that she was missing.

And my friend received a message on Facebook that she was a couple of roads over in these peoples' yards just relaxing up against their house in their porch.

And we immediately went over there and they were like, "We forgot to close the gate and she took off."

Again.

Yes.

So again, it's a new neighborhood and I'm not familiar with it.

I don't know what to do.

-Right.

-I don't know where to go.

So, what did you do?

When did you come to the conclusion that she might actually be lost?

Probably within a couple of hours.

The next day we ended up staying the night at our friend's house and that was on a Sunday, and we spent all Sunday looking for her.

We joined multiple Facebook groups.

Just to spread the word.

Yeah.

And tell us what type of service dog she is to you?

She is my seizure response dog.

Very important.

It's very important.

It's for many of us who have epilepsy when we have a seizure no matter the severity of it, we can be confused.

We don't know our name.

We don't know our location.

We don't even know what day it is or where we are.

After seizing?

Yeah.

And of course, I'm one of them.

So, she is trained to stay by me.

And if I can remember who she is, even, she's my dog, or, you know, that's Lola, it will help my memory to progress to okay, I'm in my house.

I might not know exactly what day it is but as long as I know that, I'm okay.

Yes.

I know who she is.

So, she kind of brings you back?

Yes.

To like, okay, after you've had a seizure.

So, she goes missing for how long?

Three years and two months, yeah.

Three years and two months.

So, at this point had you written off the fact that you'd ever see Lola again?

It took me until about a year and a half mark around Memorial Day of 2019.

I just woke up and it was like, something's different.

Yeah.

Something's thrown off in my universe that I just feel like she's passed on.

Oh.

I'm like, I don't know, it just felt that way.

Yeah.

What got you to the point of receiving the phone call and hearing that not only-- I mean, I think we know the end of this story because Lola's here today.

Yes.

Right.

But what got you to that point?

When did you get the call?

It happened on December 3rd.

I got a text notification and it just said, "Your pet, Lola."

And I just ignored it.

I'm like, you know, she had a birthday coming up in January, so I thought it was maybe like, oh, it's Lola's birthday, here's a coupon.

You know, something like that.

So, I ignored it.

And then about a minute later, I got a phone call.

I'm like, I don't know the number, I'll just answer it, you know.

And it said, "You just received a text message.

Your pet Lola's been found in DuPage County."

I'm like what?

[laughing] What?

Yeah.

And-- It had been three years.

Yeah.

I just stood there with my phone and all I could say was my husband's name over and over again like he was in trouble: Steven, Steven, Steven.

I'm like, that's all I could say.

Yeah.

'Cause my brain couldn't function, you know, grasp that.

And so, I got off the phone and I looked at the text and it gave me all the information and I'm just like, where's DuPage County?

Yeah.

I'm like, three years, she could be in Iowa, Wisconsin.

She could be anywhere.

Missouri, Florida, I don't know.

I'm like where's DuPage County?

So, we had to Google it and see that it was only like a half an hour away from where she disappeared.

And it was like, what?

So, you call DuPage County.

Yeah.

You find out that Lola is actually alive and well.

Did she have another family at this point?

There was a couple in Glendale Heights who was looking after her for two and a half years outside because she wouldn't come near them.

So-- For two and a half years she was kind of an outdoor-- They would just like, leave food out?

Yeah, yeah.

They would actually plow or shovel a path of snow in their backyard to where the bowl was, and a little patch, you know.

So, they did that every winter.

Tell us some stats real quick because this is the most remarkable story, I think.

She was gone for three years.

Yes.

She walked how many miles?

Their house from our friend's house, give or take 10 to 12 miles.

You had given up potentially that she was still alive.

Yes.

And then you get this call and she's back in your arms again.

What does it feel like to have her back?

In, some sense it feels like she's never left.

She still has the same personality.

You know, when it comes to her health, there's a little bit of guilt because I feel like I didn't do enough to protect her.

So, there's guilt, you know.

Like, well, if she didn't get lost would she have these health problems?

So, you know, it's an emotional-- Right.

--roller coaster.

You kind of have to snap out of it.

Since she's been back home, has she saved you after a seizure?

Luckily, I have not had a seizure since she's been back.

Have you tested to make sure she still remembers her job here?

Yes, and it's amazing.

Even where we live, we live in a nice residential neighborhood and my mom lives a block away from us, and I took her the next day to go visit my mom, and she knew that she's supposed to stop at intersections.

Wow.

So, she still remembers all that.

Yeah.

Three years on the run.

Nothing stopped her from remembering her main task here.

Yeah.

And last but not least, what would you tell our viewers that potentially could be missing an aspect of their life?

I would say first off, don't listen to the negativity.

There's going to be drama anywhere no matter what you do in life.

There's always going to be the negative people.

Don't listen to them.

You got to do what you feel is best for you.

If that is, I want to get a whole bunch of people and we do everything we possibly can, then do it.

If you just want to do the bare minimum, contacting animal shelters, then do it.

You've got to do what's best for you because there's, like you say, 10 people out there and 8 of them are going to be behind you, but you're going to have two people that are going to be like, no you can't do that.

Such good advice.

You can.

Well, this is one of the sweetest reunions I've seen.

So, thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you very much.

It's been fun.

Lost and now found.

What was missing now made whole.

Those are the stories from today.

Remember, your story matters.

[music] Announcer: The Whitney Reynolds Show is made possible by O'Connor Law Firm.

When it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Sciton because results matter.

Theraderm Clinical Skin Care: committed to developing skincare products designed to restore skin health and promote natural beauty.

Happy to Meat You: Prime.

Fresh.

Fast.

Leigh Marcus: Stop looking, start finding.

Children's Learning Place.

Ballroom Baths & Home Design.

Pedalheads.

UFC Gym Wrigleyville.

My Buddy's Chicago.

Brendon Studzinkski with State Farm.

Goldfish Swim School.

Ella's Bubbles.

The Kid's Table.

Hi-Five Sports Chicago.

The Metropolitan Chicago.

Fresh Dental.

Kevin Kelly with Jameson Sotheby's International Realty.

Mitchell Black.

Jewelry & Coin Mart of Schaumburg.

CI Med Spa.

Love Your Melon.

Deluxe Cleaning Services.

STI Moving & Storage.

Tutu School Chicago.

And by other sponsors.

Go beyond the interview with Whitney Reynolds and her 52-week guide of inspiration.

The book goes deeper into the topics you see on the Whitney Reynolds show.

To get your copy for $12.95 plus shipping and handling, go to whitneyreynolds.com/store and use code PBS.

For more information on today's program, visit whitneyreynolds.com or follow us on social media on Twitter @whitneyreynolds and on Instagram @whitney _reynolds.

Kids: Our mommy.