Could a suspected murder victim — back from the dead — really be an impostor?
CBSN
This story previously aired on Jan. 9, 2021. KATHY PIRES [on video with detective]: This is corner where he was hittin' her, the fight was back here… KATHY PIRES: Last time I saw her, she had the blood coming out of her mouth. KATHY PIRES [on video with detective]: We were not supposed to come over to this part. CHARLOTTE HOULE: You don't have whips and chains do ya? CHARLOTTE HOULE: You know life is full of regrets. If you go back and say, you know, "if I had did this, and this and this." COP: When's the last time you heard from Mary? CHARLOTTE HOULE: Oh, what a mess. It was like trying to get … a night crawler out of a wormhole and just grabbin' it and it was gone, and grabbin' it, it was gone … I mean … how many times did she run away? You know, all of these questions I can't answer. DET. JOE BERTAINA [phone call]: Do you want to talk about what happened that last night? MARY [phone call]: Can I throw one question at you if you if you don't mind? DET. JOE BERTAINA [phone call]: That's an interesting dialect you have Mary. MARY [phone call]: Nobody … knows me as Mary. I gave that name up years ago. MARY [Phone call]: Can I throw one question at you if you if you don't mind?
Mary Day was 13 when she vanished from her family's Seaside, California, home in 1981. There is no record of her parents ever reporting her missing. DET. JOE BERTAINA: You weren't supposed to come over there? Who told you that? COP: Oh, absolutely not. CHARLOTTE HOULE: '81, last time she ran away. COP: When you was back in California … did you guys take any kind of steps to find her? MARY: It hurts. DET. JOE BERTAINA: Go ahead, Mary. MARY: What do you mean? DET. JOE BERTAINA: What name would they know you by? DET. JOE BERTAINA: Go ahead, Mary.
"I can't remember a time when a child was not reported by the parents," former Seaside Police Chief Steve Cercone told "48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher. KATHY PIRES: My father. CHARLOTTE HOULE: We should have, we should have. DET. JOE BERTAINA: I'm sure it does … but what happened that last night? MARY: If you were to find my body, how were you gonna be able to prove who the hell I was? DET. JOE BERTAINA: I don't know I've ever heard that particular manner of speaking. MARY: Monica Devereaux. MARY: If you were to find my body… how were you gonna be able to prove who the hell I was?
