Real Name: Unrevealed
Case: Lost Son
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
Date: May 7, 1966
Case[]
Details: Bobette "Bobbi" Page Myler of Idaho Falls, Idaho, is searching for her son, whom she gave up for adoption decades ago. On a warm summer night in 1965, when she was fifteen, she gave in to "youthful desire" and the young man she loved. After she and her boyfriend, Don, slept together, he told her that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He even gave her a ring. She believed what he told her. Almost immediately, she knew she was pregnant. She was excited and happy because she thought she was getting married. She began thinking about her wedding. She thought he was her "knight in shining armor" coming to rescue her.
But just two weeks later, a vicious rumor brought Bobbi's romantic fantasy crashing to the ground. Word had it that Don was not the baby's father. One day, he came to her house and asked for the ring back. A friend of his had told him that she was two months pregnant, instead of two weeks. She asked him why he believed his friend over her. He then said that his sister had told him that Bobbi could not get pregnant after having sex only once. She also said Bobbi would not have morning sickness after being pregnant for two weeks. Bobbi told him that his sister was "crazy".
Bobbi urged Don to come to the doctor's office with her. He said he would not because the pregnancy had nothing to do with him. She told him it did have something to do with him because it was his baby. He said it was not. He demanded the ring back again. She gave it back to him, and he left. As he was leaving, she pleaded with him not to go. She was very afraid because she was pregnant, and he was leaving her. She did not want him to leave her. She felt betrayed.
Nine months later, on May 7, 1966, the day before Mother's Day, Bobbi gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Early on, she had made the painful decision to put him up for adoption. She knew that she could not keep him and wanted what was best for him. She knew that giving him up for adoption would give him the best chance at a good life.
Bobbi had been sedated when her son was born. When she woke up, she desperately wished to see him. But even that proved difficult. A caseworker came to visit her in the hospital and asked her to sign the adoption papers. However, she refused to do so unless she was able to see him. The caseworker said that was not allowed. She responded by saying that her doctor and original caseworker agreed that she would not sign anything until she saw her son. The other caseworker refused again, saying it was hospital policy. She again said she would not sign the papers.
In the end, Bobbi prevailed. But it was a bittersweet victory that has haunted her ever since. The heart-wrenching joy of seeing her son for the first and last time. She was only allowed to see him through a window in the maternity ward. She said that she wanted to take him home and keep him. She remembers that he had blue eyes which he opened and looked at her. She said he was beautiful.
After only a few moments, Bobbi's visit with her son was over. She said she was totally emotionally drained after that. She sobbed all the way back to her hospital room. She continued doing so for weeks after that. Despite her grief, she agreed to sign the papers. Because of the tears, she had trouble even seeing what she was signing. She just asked the caseworker where she needed to sign, and she signed them.
Bobbi eventually married and had three more children. But she never forgot the son she left behind. In 1984, when he turned eighteen, she traveled to the adoption center that had handled this case. She thought she could now gain access to his records and find out where he was. Unfortunately, that was not true. The center's worker told her that once the records are sealed, they can't open them, no matter what the child's age is. As a result, they could not show her anything.
However, the worker told Bobbi that she could write a letter to her son that would be placed in the adoption files. If he ever came to the center looking for information about her, they could show it to him, and he could contact her. She wrote it and spent the next several years waiting for him to answer. He never did.
Then, in 1993, a tragic series of events turned Bobbi's search into a desperate race against time. She was diagnosed with chronic active autoimmune hepatitis, a rare genetic disorder in which her own antibodies attack and will eventually destroy her liver. She was told she had, at most, ten years to live. According to her doctor, Dr. K.L. Christensen, there is no cure for her disorder. He said that the advantage of finding her son now would be that if he did have the disease, he could be treated early, which would prevent liver damage and extend his life quite a lot.
Since the diagnosis, Bobbi has stepped up her search with the full support of her other three children, who all run the risk of inheriting her disorder. Her son, Tim Tremayne, said he wants to see her happy. He wants to see her enjoy the time she has left. He thinks that finding his older brother would help her. Another son, Matt Tremayne, said that a lot can happen in thirty years. He says that she has wondered many things about her son's life: what he has done with it; what his career is; how his home life was; and did it turn out to be everything she had hoped for (by giving him up for adoption).
Bobbi has appeared on several television shows and hired a detective agency to help search for her son. However, she has been unable to locate him. She wants him to know that she loves him and has always loved him. She said that she loved him from day one. She always cared about him and wanted the very best for him. She hopes that he has had a wonderful life.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the April 18, 1997 episode.
Results: Solved. On the night of the broadcast, a woman called the telecenter, saying that she believed her adoptive son, thirty-year-old David Bills of Bountiful, Utah, was the one that Bobbi was looking for. She happened to catch the story while flipping through channels. She said David was having medical problems that doctors had been unable to diagnose. She spoke with him directly and said, "I know he is your son; he has your eyes." They talked for about forty minutes, and both cried.
David is married with two children. His wife, Tammy, also saw the broadcast and called him at work. He then called the telecenter and spoke to Bobbi for the first time. He said he had been ill since 1992, with what may be symptoms of her disorder. Despite the circumstances, they were very happy to have found each other. They were also delighted to learn that they lived just three hours apart. They and their families, including his half-siblings, have since been reunited. They remain close to this day.
Links:
- Bobbi Page Myler on Unsolved Archive
- Long search for adopted son finally ends - April 23, 1997
- Long Search For Adopted Son Finally Ends - April 23, 1997
- TV show helps woman find adopted son - April 23, 1997
- Birth mom finds son with help of TV show - May 12, 1997
- Looking back: This week in eastern Idaho history - April 24, 2022