Case 333: Dianne Babcock

On the evening of Sunday, August 22 1982, a Cessna C150 disappeared during a flight to Vancouver, Canada. On board were 19-year-old pilot Jerry Ambrozuk and his 18-year-old passenger, Dianne Babcock. As fears of a crash prompted an urgent search, a close friend of the couple received a mysterious phone call… --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Milly Raso Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-333-dianne-babcock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 2:16Speaker 00

  On the morning of Sunday, August 22, 1982, a white, two-seat Cessna C-150 aircraft with red trims departed from Vancouver, Canada. At the controls was 19-year-old Jaroslav Ambrosic, Yarek for short, and better known to friends and family simply as Jerry.

• 2:38Speaker 00

  Beside him in the passenger seat sat his high-school sweetheart, 18-year-old Diane Babcock. After flying over the rugged, forested mountain ranges east of the city, the Cessna landed at the regional airport in Pantiktun, an inland city between Okanagan and Skaha Lakes. From the airport lobby, an upbeat Diane phoned her family to let them know that she and Jerry had arrived safely. The weather was nice, and they planned to visit Skaha’s lakefront for a swim before returning to Vancouver later that afternoon. Jerry and Diane returned to the Cessna at around 4:30pm.

• 3:21Speaker 00

  Before taking off again, Jerry filed a detailed flight plan with Pantiktun Air Traffic Control, outlining their route home. The couple planned to head west over the small town of Princeton, then north toward the community of Spasum. From there, they would cross Harrison Lake and the nearby resort village of Harrison Hot Springs before continuing to pit meadows at the eastern edge of metropolitan Vancouver, and finally land in the city itself. The journey spanned roughly 200 miles and would take about 2 and a half hours.

• 3:59Speaker 00

  The skies above Pantiktun were clear just before 6pm when Jerry received clearance for takeoff.

• 4:07Speaker 00

  With Diane beside him, he taxied onto runway 34, climbed steadily into the air, and banked left toward Vancouver.

• 4:17Speaker 00

  The Cessna reached cruising altitude and stayed on course for 10 minutes, until it soared out of range of Pantiktun’s air-traffic-control radar.

• 4:50Speaker 00

  The following afternoon of Monday, August 23, 1982, Penticton Police received reports of a missing Cessna C-150 that was overdue on its flight to Vancouver. Two teenagers from Vancouver's Lower Mainland were on board: the pilot, Gerry Ambrosic, and his passenger, Diane Babcock. The couple had departed Penticton the previous evening without incident, but hadn't been seen or heard from since. Gerry's car was still parked at Vancouver Airport, where the Cessna was conspicuously absent.

• 5:28Speaker 00

  The trip had been intended as a one-day adventure for Gerry and Diane, a last fling of sorts before school resumed in the autumn. Gerry was planning to study geographics at university while Diane had enrolled in a psychiatric nursing programme at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She was volunteering at a children's hospital in the meantime. The Ambrosic and Babcock families had mixed feelings about the flight. Diane's father was particularly uneasy about the idea. On the morning of the trip, he warned her to be careful. However, Diane and Gerry had both been excited, expressing no apprehension at all.

• 6:14Speaker 00

  Gerry even turned down his mother's request to attend church that morning, explaining it would cut into his time with Diane and delay their return until after nightfall.

• 6:26Speaker 00

  The start of their journey home had been relatively smooth. Penticton lies between two long lakes nestled on a narrow valley floor. After takeoff, the Cessna ascended over the city, gliding above the surrounding lakes, vineyards and orchards that stretched across the open rolling hills. The scenery was as easy to navigate as it was picturesque. Beyond the valley, though, the landscape quickly became far more treacherous.

• 6:57Speaker 00

  Approaching Princeton, the rolling hills gave way to forested ridges and sharp eroded cliffs. The terrain tightened further at spasm, with jagged peaks and sheer rock faces plunging towards the roaring Fraser River. Cedar, hemlock, and fir trees covered the slopes, while moss and ferns created a damp, darker atmosphere inside the deep cut gorge. Further west, Harrison Lake stretched out like a fjord, its deep blue waters framed by more steep forested mountains.

• 7:34Speaker 00

  At its southern tip lay the small resort town of Harrison Hot Springs, the only sign of civilization in the otherwise vast wilderness.

• 7:45Speaker 00

  Beyond the mountains, the land flattened into Fraser Valley, where patchwork farmland spread across the plain. From there, the eastern suburbs gave way to Vancouver itself, with its sprawling grid of streets and neighborhoods stretching out to the Strait of Georgia.

• 8:05Speaker 00

  Although conditions were ideal when the Cessna took off, it hadn't been spotted over any settlements along its intended route, which immediately raised concerns. Its last confirmed sighting came from the air traffic controller at Penticton who oversaw its departure, but troubling reports were emerging elsewhere.

• 8:28Speaker 00

  The first waypoint on Jerry's flight plan was Princeton, west of Skaha Lake. Yet, multiple witnesses on the ground reported seeing the Cessna veering south towards a narrow, windy valley. This was significant because the area was in a no-fly zone. The Cessna allegedly passed over the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, which was equipped with monitoring devices that detected aircrafts entering its airspace. Early that evening, a disturbance resembling a small airplane was recorded in the zone, but it quickly vanished without a trace.

• 9:10Speaker 00

  Gerry hadn't radioed any flight service stations, nor did he broadcast a mayday call, the international aviation signal for a life-threatening emergency. The only plausible explanation for the Cessna's sudden disappearance seemed to be that it had run into trouble, leaving Gerry and Diane with no chance or ability to call for help.

• 9:37Speaker 00

  While piloting an aircraft was an unusual hobby for a teenager, Gerry held a private pilot's licence with about 18 months of flying experience, including a solo flight. He was working towards earning his commercial licence with ambitions to fly for an airline one day.

• 9:57Speaker 00

  Every Monday night, Gerry attended flight school at Vancouver Airport, studying everything from aircraft mechanics to emergency landings. He was well acquainted with the Cessna C-150, a simple, compact and reliable training aircraft. Its high-wing design provided excellent visibility below and to the sides, while its fixed tricycle landing gear made ground handling straightforward. Gerry's instructor described him as "an average pilot", who had not been night or mountain checked, meaning he hadn't received specialised training to fly at night or safely navigate mountainous terrain.

• 10:39Speaker 00

  Even so, he had previously flown to Penticton, completed another cross-country trip, and earned a top score for flight planning. His instructor believed Gerry was fully capable of completing the Penticton round trip, though acknowledged that a young pilot could easily veer off course by misreading their compass.

• 11:03Speaker 00

  The Cessna wasn't equipped with a fixed emergency locator transmitter, or ELT, making immediate efforts to locate it challenging. In the event of a crash, this distress beacon automatically transmits a signal to help rescuers find the aircraft, even if no one survives. Because the Cessna was primarily used for training and typically remained within a 25-mile radius of Vancouver, regulations didn't require it to have an ELT. Portable ones were available, but Gerry and Diane hadn't taken one on their flight.

• 11:42Speaker 00

  Consequently, rescuers had to meticulously comb both the couple's flight path and the surrounding terrain in case the aircraft had travelled off course. Armed Forces aircraft searched from the skies between Penticton and Vancouver, supported by volunteer private and commercial planes.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, military and provincial emergency program personnel trekked the traversable areas below. The search had to be conducted three times over with negative results before it could be called off, a process that could take three to four weeks depending on equipment availability and weather conditions.

• 12:24Speaker 00

  The situation was undeniably grim. A controlled emergency landing was nearly impossible in the mountains, gorges and forests. A hard crash into trees, cliffs or water was unlikely to spare the Cessna's occupants, who had only seatbelts for protection. Even in summer, the higher mountain elevations were cold, damp and unpredictable. Anyone who did survive the impact would still face hypothermia, exposure or dehydration within hours or days.

• 13:00Speaker 00

  Landing in one of the few open valleys offered the only realistic chance of survival, yet the Cessna wasn't spotted in any of them. A water landing on a lake might have been survivable if the plane hadn't sunk quickly, but the glacial water would have brought on hypothermia within minutes. Survival also heavily depended on a timely rescue, and the wilderness was vast. Even with the dozens of aircraft searching, the wreckage could remain hidden in the dense terrain for days, weeks, or longer. Without a distress signal or radio contact, the odds of being discovered in time were slim.

• 13:44Speaker 00

  Searchers deployed an electrical parabolic microphone, a device previously used to locate missing children and other lost individuals. If the Cessna had crashed and anyone remained alive onboard, the microphone could amplify even the faintest sounds of life. It was used to detect irregular noises throughout the search zone, but produced no worthwhile results.

• 14:11Speaker 00

  By Monday, August 30, the search had been underway for a week, covering more than 13,000 square miles. No clues and no traces of the Cessna, Jerry Ambrozuk, or Diane Babcock had been found.

• 14:32Speaker 00

  That morning, at 10 o'clock, Vancouver teenager Tomasz Palowski received an unexpected phone call. Better known as Tom, he was Jerry Ambrozuk's longtime best friend. Both had immigrated to Canada from Poland, and their family's standing within the local Polish community had brought them together. Their close bond, combined with their names, led to people playfully comparing them to the famous cartoon cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Tom was also close friends with Diane Babcock, and the trio formed a tight-knit group that spent most of their time together.

• 15:15Speaker 00

  On Monday, August thirty, Tom's home phone rang with a collect call from someone who had given the operator the name Louis Gomez. Although Tom didn't know anyone by that name, he accepted the call and was stunned to hear a familiar voice. It was Jerry.

• 15:36Speaker 00

  Tom couldn't believe it was really him. After all, Jerry and Diane had now been missing for a week. The voice sounded strange, but after hearing a few words, Tom was certain it was his friend on the other line.

• 15:53Speaker 00

  The pair normally spoke English, but Jerry switched to their native Polish during the call, making him difficult to understand. Tom missed much of what he said and had to ask him to repeat himself. When Jerry mentioned being in New York City, Tom was baffled.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  Flying straight east from Vancouver to New York is roughly two and a half thousand miles. The journey would require days of careful route planning, numerous fuel stops, perfect weather, and a high level of expertise. The idea that Jerry could have pulled it off seemed absurd.

• 16:35Speaker 00

  When Tom asked how he had gotten to New York, Jerry changed his story. He now claimed that he didn't know his exact location, only that it was a very small town.

• 16:48Speaker 00

  As for why he hadn't returned home, Jerry explained that there had been an accident. He described the Cessna crashing into a lake and flipping over, with Diane trapped by her seatbelt inside. He tried to rescue her, but water rushed into the cabin and rapidly sank the plane. Helpless, Jerry swam to shore as Diane went down with the Cessna.

• 17:17Speaker 00

  Although Tom wasn't sure what to make of the story, Jerry sounded genuinely distraught and possibly in shock. Tom tried to reassure him by insisting there was nothing he could have done for Diane, but this only seemed to irritate Jerry. He insisted that he loved Diane and accused Tom of not understanding. "Everything is finished," Jerry said. He was unwilling to return home, certain his parents would soon forget him. However, when the conversation turned to Diane's parents, his voice grew more upset.

• 17:57Speaker 00

  While Tom was still on the phone, Jerry's father, Tadeusz Shambroszak, walked through the door. Coincidentally, he had just retrieved Jerry's abandoned car from the airport with Tom's father and brought it to the Pelowski residence. After realizing who Tom was talking to, Tadeusz took over and immediately asked his son what had happened. Initially silent, Jerry eventually spoke up and admitted that he felt like a murderer because Diane was dead. Tadeusz urged him to come home. When Jerry resisted, his father promised to find him a lawyer. After speaking with his father for three minutes,

• 18:42Speaker 00

  Jerry appeared receptive to the idea of returning. But when Tom picked up the phone again, Jerry accused him of betrayal, believing Tom had deliberately involved Tadeusz in the call. Tom denied this, insisting it had been unplanned and reassuring Jerry that they were still best friends. But Jerry was now withdrawn and no longer wanted to talk. He promised to call back later, said bye, and ended the 15-minute call.

• 19:21Speaker 00

  At this stage, nothing had been found in or around any bodies of water between Penticton and Vancouver to support Gerry's account. And despite sounding cooperative with his father, he didn't return home. Though, he did keep his other promise. The next day, at around 5pm, Gerry called Tom Palowski again and the pair had another long conversation. Gerry was just as frantic and difficult to understand as before, but this time, he managed to convey a few crucial details. Despite previously claiming to be in New York City, Gerry clarified he was actually

• 20:04Speaker 00

  in Whitefish, a resort town in the Rocky Mountains of northwest Montana. While much closer than New York, Whitefish was still nearly 500 miles east of Vancouver. It was reachable in the Cessna, but would be pushing the aircraft's fuel limits. Whatever the case, Gerry's whereabouts implied he had travelled east from Penticton, rather than west as originally planned. Surprisingly, he wanted Tom to contact the police to tell them where to search for the downed Cessna. He didn't know its exact location, but said it was in Little Bitterroot Lake, a small

• 20:48Speaker 00

  mountain lake outside the town of Marion, less than an hour southwest of Whitefish. Tom kept his word and relayed the information to the authorities, who were in utter disbelief. The notion that the missing teenagers had flown nearly four hours to Montana, attempted a perilous water landing that killed Diane, and that Gerry was now phoning a friend to confess it all, sounded absurd.

• 21:18Speaker 00

  To prove he was telling the truth about the calls, Tom submitted to a polygraph test and passed.

• 21:26Speaker 00

  Although Jerry's first call couldn't be traced, records revealed that someone using the name Louis Gomez had been systematically attempting to reach individuals with the surname Pulowski in the days following August twenty-two, before eventually connecting with Tom. The second call was traced to a telephone booth at a bus depot in New York City, not Whitefish, as Jerry had claimed.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  Why he was in New York remained a mystery. He had no friends or relatives in the city. His only connection was through Tom, whose mother lived there. However, she had a different surname and her details were not listed in the telephone book, making it unlikely that Jerry could locate her.

• 22:17Speaker 00

  Following Tom Pulowski's tip-off, authorities descended on Little Bitterroot Lake. Nestled in a remote valley, the lake stretches roughly one mile long and a quarter mile wide. Its edges are fringed with rocky outcrops, dense undergrowth, and occasional wetlands, while its clear waters mirror the steep forested slopes that rise around it. A few cabins are scattered among the trees, most of which serve as seasonal or vacation homes rather than permanent residences.

• 22:52Speaker 00

  Although investigators remained skeptical of Jerry's story, inquiries with Montana authorities revealed some unusual information. They'd just recently begun investigating an oily sheen on the surface of Little Bitterroot Lake. There had also been reports of a strange man seen wandering along the shoreline.

• 23:15Speaker 00

  John Taylor lived north of the lake. At around eleven o'clock the morning after the August twenty-two flight, John noticed that an old shag rug was missing from his front porch, along with a brand-new hammock he'd left folded on an outdoor table.

• 23:33Speaker 00

  After speaking with his wife, the couple concluded that the items had been taken.

• 23:39Speaker 00

  While searching the area for the missing items, John encountered a young man. He was wearing a dark hat and white shorts with no shirt. It was odd attire for the depths of the cold forest, where the weak August sunlight barely filtered through the trees.

• 23:58Speaker 00

  Weirder still, he was soaking wet and carrying a duffel bag.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  The young man told John that he was just passing through, which struck John as peculiar, given that he lived on a dead-end road in the remote wilderness.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  The young man politely asked if he could build a fire in a neighbour's fire pit. John said it wasn't a good idea, and suggested he use a pit on a vacant lot about nine hundred feet away. The stranger thanked him and went on his way. A short time later, John passed the lot and saw the young man standing beside the fire he had lit.

• 24:40Speaker 00

  A total of six people reported seeing the young man around Little Bitterroot Lake in the week following August twenty-two.

• 24:49Speaker 00

  He was spotted sitting alone on cabin porches and repeated the line that he was just passing through. When asked by inquisitive teens about some cuts visible on his legs, he claimed a bear had chased him over a hill.

• 25:05Speaker 00

  When these witnesses were shown a photograph of Gerry Ambrosick, they confirmed to varying degrees that he was the person they'd encountered. However, some noted a discrepancy. The man they saw had no moustache, whereas Gerry did in the photo. At no time was a young woman seen with him.

• 25:29Speaker 00

  Because the local community kept their surroundings pristine, investigators quickly noticed a few out-of-place items. One was a green plastic garbage bag sealed with black tape but torn open at the side. They also found the clear plastic cover of a disposable razor. Among the remnants of the stranger's campfire were the charred remains of a radio microphone cord and a gust lock, used to keep a parked plane from moving in the wind.

• 26:02Speaker 00

  Both items were from a Cessna C-150.

• 26:07Speaker 00

  Local reports from the night of August 22 varied. Some residents heard nothing unusual, while others recalled a loud noise like metal or tin falling rapidly. According to Jerry Ambrozuk, the answer to the mystery lay at the bottom of a little bitterroot lake.

• 26:30Speaker 00

  The task ahead was arduous. Chili, blustery weather made entering the choppy water a challenge. The lake was fed primarily by snowmelt from the surrounding ridges, making it freezing cold. Its bottom was also extremely rugged, resembling a mountain range, with the deepest point reaching 260 feet. A layer of silt blanketed the lake's floor, ranging from 2 to 16 feet thick.

• 27:02Speaker 00

  Based on the probable flight path from Canada, the Cessna likely approached a little bitterroot lake from the north and went down somewhere in the south. Authorities spent a week scouring the southern half of the lake, but found no trace of the aircraft. A local sheriff told the media they would: “Search until we feel we have done the best we can to search the whole lake.”

• 27:30Speaker 00

  Still, the possibility that Gerry had deliberately misled them lingered. After all, he lied to Tom regarding his whereabouts, suggesting he was trying to throw authorities off his trail.

• 27:44Speaker 00

  If Gerry's account was true, he might have been so shaken by the crash and Diane's death that he wasn't thinking clearly or acting rationally. But investigators couldn't dismiss the possibility that the Cessna had never crashed at all.

• 28:02Speaker 00

  While Diane's loved ones clung to hope that she was still alive, others sceptical of Gerry's story wondered whether the little bitterroot Lake lead was a calculated diversion to obscure the truth of what really happened to the pair.

• 28:21Speaker 00

  As the investigation deepened, more peculiar clues and theories emerged. A witness at Vancouver Airport recalled seeing Gerry and Diane at the fuel station before takeoff. They were studying a map and were overheard mentioning a destination possibly starting with K or C and ending in the letter A, which didn't align with anywhere listed on their flight plan. Right before takeoff, Gerry hurried back to his car to collect a duffel bag, joking to the witness as he passed by. "I can't forget this, it's very important." He and Diane were also observed reorganising items from the plane into bags,

• 29:06Speaker 00

  leading investigators to speculate whether they had been transporting something unusual, possibly even smuggling.

• 29:15Speaker 00

  Another theory came from classmates and friends of the couple. Gerry and Diane had been going steady for about fifteen months and were by all accounts happy together, though discreet about their romance. However, their parents weren't as thrilled by the pairing. The Ambrosics had hoped Gerry would date a Polish girl, while the Babcocks rarely engaged with Gerry at all.

• 29:44Speaker 00

  They appeared in denial about their relationship, insisting the pair were just close friends and objecting to how late Gerry sometimes brought Diane home.

• 29:55Speaker 00

  The couple were compared to Romeo and Juliet, the timeless tragedy of young lovers doomed by their disapproving families. This fuelled speculation that Gerry and Diane had fled Vancouver to be together, free from parental expectations.

• 30:13Speaker 00

  Perhaps Gerry had concocted a scheme to convince the world Diane had perished, hoping the search would be called off. Diane's father strongly rejected this theory, telling the media that the teens had no reason to elope. He insisted that if they had truly wanted to be together, they would have been able to do so with support in Vancouver.

• 30:37Speaker 00

  Some remained unconvinced by his assertions, wondering if his diplomatic words were merely a desperate attempt to persuade Diane to return home.

• 30:48Speaker 00

  If Gerry and Diane had truly run away for good, they'd left behind no clear evidence of it. Gerry had rented the Susna for just one day. He and Diane had packed lightly, only taking a change of clothes, swimwear and lunch, while everyday essentials such as their toothbrushes remained at home. They carried only small amounts of cash, with no savings, credit cards or other financial means to support an extended absence. They had never expressed any desire to run away together to anybody else and were making plans for a future in Vancouver.

• 31:30Speaker 00

  Yet, rumours surfaced that Gerry had recently tried to sell his car and some personal belongings. And a review of Diane's finances suggested she had close to $1,600 in her possession, which she hadn't disclosed to anyone. Even though she had this money, she hadn't paid for her school books or tuition. So what was she saving it for? By Monday, September 13, the search of Little Bitterroot Lake had entered its 13th fruitless day. That same day, Tom Palowski received another collect call from Luis Gomez.

• 32:22Speaker 00

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• 35:22Speaker 00

  As expected, Gerry Ambroszak was on the other line. Roughly 90% of the call was in English, with Gerry speaking Polish the rest of the time.

• 35:35Speaker 00

  "Hi, how are you doing?" he began. Tom immediately asked why he hadn't returned yet, to which Gerry replied, "I told you, I'm not coming back."

• 35:48Speaker 00

  "Did they find the plane?" Gerry asked. "No, not yet," Tom responded, adding, "I told them where it was, they can't find it."

• 36:00Speaker 00

  Gerry insisted it was in Little Bitterroot Lake, saying, "Looking from the lake, I guess it's well south, southeast, or close to the south part of the lake or something. But it's pretty well right in the middle."

• 36:17Speaker 00

  He was confident that if authorities sent in divers, they would find it. Tom explained they had been searching the southern area for several days with no success. "You're kidding," Gerry replied. "I'm serious," Tom assured him.

• 36:36Speaker 00

  When Tom mentioned Diane, Gerry remarked, "Well, she's dead. If they find the plane, she'll be inside."

• 36:47Speaker 00

  Throughout the call, Gerry opened up more about what had allegedly happened on Sunday, August 22.

• 36:55Speaker 00

  He admitted that he and Diane had been planning to leave Vancouver and had spent months secretly planning their escape. After considering several options, they decided to use a plane as it would get them over the US border more easily. They could then travel further and be harder to trace. They had no intention of returning to Canada, going so far as to provide a fake flight route home to avoid suspicion and give the impression that they must have crashed somewhere along the way. They'd hoped that after a week of searching, everyone would assume they were dead and give up looking for them.

• 37:38Speaker 00

  They planned to take the Cessna as far as its fuel would allow, then put it down on a lake before continuing their escape on foot. Gerry's flight instructor had once explained that in the event of an emergency water landing, a plane could float for 10 to 30 minutes. This would provide the couple enough time to gather their belongings, disembark and reach the shore in an inflatable two-man raft, leaving the Cessna to sink and vanish. Once on land, Gerry and Diane intended to hitchhike to New York City, reasoning that its sire would allow them to blend in unnoticed.

• 38:20Speaker 00

  Once they had gathered enough supplies, they would proceed to their ultimate goal of relocating somewhere remote to live off the land. Using topographical maps, they'd calculated the maximum distance they could cover from Pantecton and identified large bodies of water within range. Timing was everything. If they left too early, much of the journey would be in daylight, increasing the risk of detection. Too late, and the darkness would make it nearly impossible to safely navigate through the mountains or pick out landmarks below. They settled on Flathead Lake in Montana, far enough away to give them a substantial head start

• 39:05Speaker 00

  and so far off course that no one would suspect they could have ended up there.

• 39:12Speaker 00

  Although they understood the risks of a water landing and had no opportunity to practise it, they spent countless hours discussing every detail, including their exit strategy. Gerry used his flight training to practise aerial manoeuvres and emergency recoveries, such as stalls, spirals and engine failures. To prevent their families from suspecting that their trip would last longer than expected, they deliberately left behind many essentials. Each packed only a small bag of items to get them through their first few days on the run, including a razor, hair dye and a hair perming kit to walter their appearances.

• 39:55Speaker 00

  After touching down in Panticton, the couple wandered over to a grassy patch near the runway and spread out their spare clothes as a makeshift picnic rug. For the next several hours, they ate lunch, watched aircraft come and go and studied their navigation maps while going over their plan one last time.

• 40:17Speaker 00

  Back at the Cessna, they sealed their travel bags in garbage bags and changed into their swimwear in preparation for the lake crossing.

• 40:30Speaker 00

  Once in the air and out of range of Panticton's air traffic control radar, Gerry and Diane followed their secret route south, navigating with the Cessna's flight instruments to remain below US border radar and away from checkpoints and observation towers.

• 40:48Speaker 00

  However, as they approached Flathead Lake on the night of Sunday, August 22, the numerous lights from nearby residences deterred them and they quickly switched to a more remote location.

• 41:02Speaker 00

  They settled on Little Bitterroot Lake, which was twenty-five miles closer and secluded enough to avoid detection. It was also small enough that swimming to shore would be feasible if necessary. No one nearby would have heard the plane approach as Jerry killed the engine during the final descent. He planned to stall the plane and glide it gently onto the water's surface, but the Cessna was now low on fuel and the pitch-black night severely limited visibility. As Jerry descended from the north, he realized his timing was off and feared he was coming in too close to the southern shore.

• 41:46Speaker 00

  He unfastened his seatbelt, trusting that his tight grip on the controls would keep him in place, and attempted to slow the plane by dragging the tail along the water, a technique he'd learnt in flight school. But, he miscalculated. The Cessna's wheels hit the water first, which felt like hitting a brick rock and caused the aircraft to immediately flip over, propelling Jerry through the plastic windshield. The next thing he remembered was tasting blood as he desperately tried to orientate himself in the dark, freezing water. He had sustained injuries, including a bleeding nose, cuts on his legs, and a suspected broken rib.

• 42:31Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, Diane called out for help. Jerry shouted to her, asking if she was okay. "Yarek," she replied, "I can't get my belt off." He then realized she was trapped inside the Cessna, strapped into her seat. The seatbelt consisted of a harness across her chest and a strap across her waist secured by a buckle she couldn't release. Jerry himself wasn't even sure how to unlock the mechanism. And despite having been told the plane would float on water for up to thirty minutes, it began sinking within seconds.

• 43:13Speaker 00

  Likely concussed, disoriented and blinded by the dark, Jerry struggled to find his bearings. He crawled over the aircraft towards the passenger door, but just as he managed to open the door, water rushed into the Cessna's cabin as if a dam had burst.

• 43:33Speaker 00

  It surged around Jerry's head, filling his mouth and blinding him. Frantically, he reached inside for Diane, but couldn't feel her. He suddenly realised the impact had flipped the plane, reversing the pilot and passenger sides. Diane was suspended upside down on the other side of the cabin.

• 43:57Speaker 00

  Within twenty seconds, the Cessna sank beneath the surface of the lake, taking Diane with it. Referring to the botched landing as "the stupid thing", Jerry admitted on the phone to his friend Tom Polowski that it was mostly his fault. Yet, he also criticised the Diane, adding: "Her big fault is she couldn't even take the seatbelt off."

• 44:25Speaker 00

  Jerry noted how there was so much emphasis on the importance of seatbelts, yet the one time he didn't wear his and Diane did, it saved his life and killed her. "Crazy, isn't it?", he told Tom. "Real ironic."

• 44:46Speaker 00

  After watching the Cessna vanish, Jerry treaded water in a circle for what felt like an eternity, hoping Diane would eventually resurface. She never did.

• 44:59Speaker 00

  Once the adrenaline wore off, Jerry realised he was numb with cold. Remarkably, the garbage bag containing his duffel of belongings floated out of the Cessna. He used it to stay afloat as he swam the mile to shore.

• 45:17Speaker 00

  Sitting alone in the woods, freezing and in shock, he felt as though he was stranded in the middle of a desert with no compass or water. He visited a nearby cabin, stole a rug and hammock to keep warm, then spent the rest of the night curled up and struggling to sleep.

• 45:37Speaker 00

  The next morning, Jerry encountered a local man who advised him to light a fire at a nearby pit. He used it to incinerate most of the evidence of his and Diane's plan that had been in his duffel bag, including their navigational maps and items removed from the Cessna's glove compartment. He also burnt his ID, having decided to continue with the original plan as intended, even without Diane.

• 46:08Speaker 00

  His bag contained a few items to kick-start his journey, including cash he'd saved up, some spare clothes, a few cans of food, and a razor he used to shave off his moustache.

• 46:21Speaker 00

  Despite his desire to leave everything behind, he couldn't abandon Diane at the bottom of the lake. He therefore kept one map showing the Cessna's location, and after wandering aimlessly through the forest for several days, he began his journey to New York.

• 46:40Speaker 00

  Once in the city, he used a phone booth to call various Palowski listings in the phone book until he finally reached Tom. After sharing details of the incident and Diane's whereabouts, Jerry left in New York and travelled nearly fourteen hundred miles southwest. Along the way, a man who had given him a ride stole his bag, leaving him with virtually nothing. He eventually arrived in Dallas, Texas, destitute and homeless, but soon met someone who offered him a place to stay.

• 47:17Speaker 00

  Jerry told Tom that while he wanted Diane to be found, he had no intention of ever returning to Vancouver. He was certain that once police found the Cessna with Diane's body inside, he would be charged with murder despite being innocent. "I didn't do anything," he said. "I told you, it's not like I killed her. They know the plane crashed and she died. They can see that there are no wounds on her or anything showing I killed her. It was an accident."

• 47:54Speaker 00

  But it doesn't make sense that you're running, Tom countered, implying that if it truly was an accident, Jerry had nothing to fear.

• 48:05Speaker 00

  Jerry remained determined to start a new life, saying, "I think I'll like it this way. I don't know why, but it seems kinda, I guess adventurous or something. You know I was always a freak for that." He even expressed a desire to write a book, telling Tom, "I'll bring it back to you in twenty years, okay? You can read it, the whole story, detail by detail."

• 48:36Speaker 00

  Although Jerry sometimes sounded indifferent about what had happened to Diane, he also expressed sadness about her loss and being by himself. "It's like half of you dying," he confided. He admitted to feeling remorse over her death and blamed himself, as he had encouraged her to wear her seatbelt.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  When Tom mentioned that Diane's parents still hoped she was alive, Jerry replied, "So do I," though he couldn't imagine facing them again.

• 49:12Speaker 00

  Even though he didn't believe he had done anything wrong, he knew he would feel guilty if he returned home. To Tom, it seemed as though Jerry was still in a state of shock. He even admitted to trying to erase the incident from his subconscious memory as a way to cope. Tom continued to urge Jerry to turn himself in. The police were working overtime, and it was only a matter of time before they tracked him down. The case was even making the news, prompting Jerry to exclaim, "Hey, I'll be famous."

• 49:51Speaker 00

  Tom pressed on, saying, "They'll find you. They will, sooner or later."

• 49:59Speaker 00

  Jerry replied, "Sooner or later, Tom," before jokingly suggesting he'd bet money that they wouldn't.

• 50:08Speaker 00

  Tom appealed to Jerry by describing the toll the situation was taking on his mother. She had stopped working and eating, and her health was deteriorating. Jerry was sympathetic, but resolute. When Tom warned that his family would never stop searching for him, Jerry replied confidently: “And they’ll never find me.”

• 50:34Speaker 00

  During the final minutes of the call, Jerry assured Tom that once the Cessna was found, the truth would come to light, and he would be vindicated. “Okay, well, I’ll see you later then,” he concluded. “Yeah,” Tom replied.

• 50:53Speaker 00

  The pair exchanged goodbyes and wished each other well in Polish, before ending their nearly one-and-a-half-hour conversation.

• 51:05Speaker 00

  Unbeknownst to Jerry, the police had put a tap on Tom’s phone and recorded their entire conversation. They wondered, if Diane’s death truly was an accident, why would Jerry be so adamant about staying away? If his goal was to go into a self-imposed exile and to begin a new life, then his actions seemed contradictory. Surely, the longer the case dragged on, the more attention it would attract, therefore reducing his chances of remaining undetected.

• 51:41Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, the search at Little Bitterroot Lake continued. Echo sounders, devices used to detect objects underwater, had uncovered something in the depths towards the southern end. Searchers placed six buoys around the location, but divers were unable to locate anything during two separate dives. A salvage expert experienced in recovering underwater objects was called to the site.

• 52:11Speaker 00

  He brought in sophisticated electronic sonar, which created a detailed image of the water over a wide area, including objects on or near the bottom.

• 52:22Speaker 00

  The sonar equipment detected an object about 250 feet below.

• 52:29Speaker 00

  The search crew dragged an anchor across the spot and hauled it back up. It came back streaked with red and white paint, the colours of the missing Cessna. A remote-controlled submersible camera was then lowered into the water, transmitting a live feed to a monitor on a pontoon boat above. The camera's propellers stirred up the thick silt, clouding visibility and resulting in no further breakthroughs.

• 53:01Speaker 00

  The camera was redeployed the following day of Thursday, September 16, three days after Gerry Ambrosick's third call. This time, the unmistakable outline of the missing Cessna came into view, resting intact on the lake bed.

• 53:20Speaker 00

  Apart from the pilot's side door being open and some damage to the tail fin, the aircraft looked almost undisturbed, positioned upright as if it had simply been parked there. The camera soon revealed the body of 19-year-old Diane Babcock inside the Cessna's cabin, perfectly preserved due to the cool temperatures of the water. Salvage crews raised the aircraft, and just as Gerry had described, Diane was strapped into the passenger seat. Her long hair was caught in the closed passenger door. Her shoulder harness hung loose, but her lap belt remained fastened,

• 54:02Speaker 00

  twisted with the buckle reversed, holding her securely in place. An autopsy determined that Diane had sustained a bruised forehead, a broken collarbone and a neck fracture likely caused by the shoulder strap during impact, though her cause of death was drowning.

• 54:22Speaker 00

  The autopsy also revealed that, in the days before the flight, Diane had undergone an abortion. This came as a surprise, as she had not mentioned it to her family.

• 54:36Speaker 00

  Also recovered from the Cessna was an inflatable raft, tools, survival gear, sleeping bags, and a backpack in a green garbage bag that contained the few belongings Diane had packed for the trip, including a change of clothes, some food, and a roll of toilet paper. Among these items were a bottle of hair dye and a hair perming kit. They lent credence to Jerry's account that the pair had planned to disguise themselves and start a new life together.

• 55:10Speaker 00

  Speculation had run rife that the Cessna might have been carrying illicit drugs or other incriminating items, suggesting an alternative explanation for the incident. However, no such evidence was found. US Federal Aviation Inspectors thoroughly examined the aircraft and discovered no signs of mechanical failure or any other factor that could explain the crash. They ultimately concluded that the Cessna had gone down as the result of a botched landing attempt, just as Jerry had described.

• 55:45Speaker 00

  The aircraft was not designed for water landings, and it appeared that Jerry had misjudged both his altitude and angle of descent. Even expert pilots attempting night landings on smooth reflective water found the task extremely challenging.

• 56:04Speaker 00

  Not everyone was convinced it was an accident. Diane's family couldn't reconcile that their intelligent and compassionate daughter would choose to run away. Diane was preparing to go to school the next day, her mother pointed out. The Babcocks made public appeals for Jerry's return, believing he's the only one who really knows what happened. They wondered why he was still running if he had nothing to hide. He had volunteered information about Diane's whereabouts, details that might never have surfaced had he remained silent. Doing so placed him at the centre of a police investigation, but that hadn't deterred him.

• 56:50Speaker 00

  This made for a puzzling contradiction.

• 56:55Speaker 00

  Another pressing question remained: what motive could Gerry have had to harm Diane? There were no reports of any conflicts between the couple, there was no life insurance policy or inheritance involved, no shared finances, property in dispute, or children to fight over. And was it really plausible that a nineteen-year-old could or would plan such an elaborate crime months in advance? Using an aeroplane as a murder weapon was a unique idea, but it was fraught with uncontrollable variables that would make predicting and executing such a scheme nearly impossible.

• 57:37Speaker 00

  Then, there was the fact that Gerry had invited Tom Polowski on the Penticton trip, a detail the two referenced during their recorded phone call. Why would Gerry consider bringing another person along if he intended to kill Diane?

• 57:55Speaker 00

  Whatever the case, many felt that if Gerry had any compassion, he would return to Vancouver and face the music.

• 58:07Speaker 00

  Authorities were divided in their assessments of the case. Canadian officials accepted Gerry's account, and although they initially pursued him for the theft of the Cessna, they ultimately dropped the matter.

• 58:21Speaker 00

  In contrast, American authorities remained highly suspicious and weren't willing to let the case go.

• 58:29Speaker 00

  Firstly, his account appeared far from a tale of star-crossed lovers fleeing disapproving parents. On the recorded call to Tom Polowski, Gerry admitted: "It's not that we wanted to run away from home, we just wanted to get away." He vanted that he had suffered for the past eighteen years, claiming his parents yelled at him daily, constantly badgered him to get a job, and criticised everything he did. They never spoke openly and affectionately like a normal family, leaving many things unsaid.

• 59:07Speaker 00

  Jerry emphasized that his desire to leave was entirely his own and had little to do with Diane or their relationship. According to Jerry, she had "tagged along" because she was in love with him, or something like that. She had told him she couldn't live without him, and, in his words, "all this shit like that."

• 59:31Speaker 00

  To Jerry's critics, it sounded like his primary motivation was to escape his home life, not to elope with Diane. In his account, she came across as the devoted, almost desperate partner who was deeply in love with him, while he seemed far less invested in their relationship.

• 59:52Speaker 00

  Critics also questioned why Diane had struggled to release her seatbelt, which functioned no differently to a standard car seatbelt. The buckle wasn't jammed, and there was no evidence of any malfunction.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  Diane's fingers were carefully examined for bruises, cuts, or broken nails, signs that she had desperately tried to free herself, but none were found. Speaking about the case for Dateline's program "At the Bottom of the Lake", Detective Pat Walsh said: "Imagine being in a craft that's sinking, and you're holding your breath, and you're scrambling. You know the belt's stuck. You can't get that belt free.

• 1:00:36Speaker 00

  I'd probably break my fingers, if nothing else, by straining, pulling just on the belt fruitlessly until you have to give it up." There was none of that.

• 1:00:49Speaker 00

  In Walsh's view, Jerry could have rescued Diane if he intended to. He also doubted Jerry's claim that his belongings had conveniently floated free from the sinking plane, suggesting instead that Jerry retrieved the bag himself, while ignoring Diane's pleas for help.

• 1:01:09Speaker 00

  Then, his first act upon reaching the shore was to burn evidence, hinting at a cover-up. American police believed that Jerry deliberately allowed Diane to die. They issued a warrant for his arrest, intending to charge him with negligent homicide.

• 1:01:31Speaker 00

  The last call Jerry made to his friend Tom Polowski was traced to a phone booth outside a grocery store in Dallas, Texas, exactly where Jerry claimed to be. Beyond that, the lead went cold. Although the search for him began with urgency, it lost momentum within weeks. Jerry neither contacted Tom again nor reached out to anyone else. With no further clues in Dallas, investigators began to suspect he had fled the city, possibly to Mexico. Then, in late 1982, four months after the ill-fated flight, Jerry's parents received

• 1:02:16Speaker 00

  a Christmas card from him postmarked "Dallas", confirming he'd remained in the city. The card depicted a cat outside in the snow, peering into a cozy home with a lit fireplace and Christmas stockings hanging across the mantel. Inside, a handwritten message in Polish read: "Family: In the first place, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Everything is well with me. I'm healthy, and I'm sure I'll somehow make it on my own." After sending the card, Jerry went silent again.

• 1:03:01Speaker 00

  As time passed, media coverage dwindled, reduced to occasional mentions on anniversaries of the incident or sporadic televised features seeking information from the public. American authorities sometimes received potential tips from Interpol, with possible sightings of Jerry reported around the globe. However, none proved credible.

• 1:03:26Speaker 00

  The Babcocks called the detectives who were handling their daughter's case every week for years, seeking updates that never came. The mystery persisted through the 1990s and into the 2000s, with speculation swirling over the question: "Whatever happened to Gerry Ambrosic?"

• 1:03:48Speaker 00

  As original case detectives retired and the investigation slipped down the list of priorities, a Montana police spokesperson assured the press: "Nobody's given up on it, it's just that we haven't had a break."

• 1:04:11Speaker 00

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• 1:06:30Speaker 00

  In 2006, 24 years after Diane Babcock's death, 33-year-old divorcee Gina Johnson decided to try online dating. She joined the website Yahoo Personals where she saw a man who could be her "best friend and lover in one package," someone with whom she felt chemistry on every level. "I'm looking for something real and lasting," her profile read. "Not a fling or a one-night-stand."

• 1:07:02Speaker 00

  For Gina, nothing was more important than honesty. Her ex-husband had cheated on her, and men she'd subsequently met online had lied about their relationship history, marital status, career or lifestyle, which only served to make her wearier. On her dating profile, she clearly outlined her values. "Do you understand the importance of mutual trust, respect and teamwork in a relationship? If the answer is yes, I'd be interested in hearing from you."

• 1:07:38Speaker 00

  Soon, the profile of a thirty-four-year-old fellow Texan named Michael Smith caught Gina's eye. He wrote about being fortunate in his career and grateful for the friends who made his days enjoyable, yet he felt that something was still missing. Like Gina, Michael wanted a lasting relationship, someone to share his life with and possibly have children with. His profile read: "To be honest, I guess I'm still a little old-fashioned when it comes to relationships, and believe that you marry once, you marry for life, and marry for love. I also believe that there are people that you come across in your life that are very special,

• 1:08:23Speaker 00

  but there are very few of them that you can call soulmates. I want to meet that someone special to share things with, spend more time with, and eventually, grow old with."

• 1:08:37Speaker 00

  Michael intrigued Gina. He seemed intelligent, attractive, and shared many of her interests. Most importantly, Michael had written the words Gina needed to see. "I am honest and don't cheat or play games. I would like to meet someone that has the same philosophy."

• 1:09:00Speaker 00

  On the night of Wednesday, March 1, 2006, Gina reached out to Michael through email. To her surprise, he replied immediately. Encouraged, she responded with her phone number, inviting him to call the next morning. Michael did just that, and their first conversation flowed effortlessly. Gina did most of the talking, but the call stretched on for two hours and still left both eager for more. From that point on, the pair spoke daily for hours at a time. By the end of the week, they agreed to meet in person for dinner.

• 1:09:42Speaker 00

  Any lingering doubts evaporated as soon as they met face to face. Both were exactly who they appeared to be online. In fact, Michael pulled up in a sleek 2003 Dodge Viper, a sports car that cost eighty thousand dollars at the time. He broke the ice with a smile and the question. Are you disappointed? Gina beamed and replied, no. When she asked the same, he looked her up and down, grinned, and said. No, definitely not.

• 1:10:25Speaker 00

  Their first date was going well when Gina suddenly noticed something peculiar. As a failure analysis technician for a major semiconductor company, she was trained to spot small inconsistencies and examine them further. Her eyes landed on a ring on Michael's finger. It was a class ring from the University of Texas, awarded when he completed a bachelor's in aerospace engineering. Although Michael's online dating profile suggested he and Gina were only a year apart in age, the year inscribed on his ring indicated he had graduated college the same year she'd finished high school.

• 1:11:08Speaker 00

  Wow, she remarked, you must be really intelligent. Michael smiled broadly, then quickly changed the subject.

• 1:11:19Speaker 00

  Gina didn't press the matter further, but the strange observation lingered in her mind.

• 1:11:26Speaker 00

  Over the following month, the two grew closer and shared personal stories with one another. Michael confided to Gina that he had only ever been in love once with a girl he had known in his teens. He said she'd died tragically in a plane accident, and he was left heartbroken.

• 1:11:47Speaker 00

  Despite this, he worked hard to build a successful life, channeling his interest in computers into a highly successful software company. His upscale home in the city of Plano boasted a massive theatre system, multiple big screen televisions, a California king bed, a swimming pool and a hot tub.

• 1:12:09Speaker 00

  Alongside his Dodge Viper, he had a prized 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula and a 1981 Chevrolet Corvette.

• 1:12:19Speaker 00

  He travelled the world and owned two additional lakefront properties.

• 1:12:25Speaker 00

  Michael was currently working on a project for Honda Formula One, which supplied engines to various auto racing teams. He had an upcoming business trip to Japan and Gina excitedly agreed to accompany him.

• 1:12:41Speaker 00

  To Gina, Michael was a considerate, calm and patient man who respected her boundaries and genuinely enjoyed her company. However, when they first became physically intimate, Gina noticed something else odd.

• 1:12:57Speaker 00

  Certain features of Michael's body suggested he was older than 34. Later, when he remarked that he looked good for his age, Gina replied honestly. He was initially displeased, but as the conversation continued, he reluctantly acknowledged, "Well, actually, I am older."

• 1:13:22Speaker 00

  Gina was furious. She had made it clear to Michael from the beginning how much she valued honesty. Demanding the truth, she asked, "How old are you really?" He admitted he was actually 43 and that he hadn't found the right moment to tell her sooner. While Gina felt some empathy for Michael, she remained guarded.

• 1:13:49Speaker 00

  Later, Michael opened up more about his high school sweetheart, explaining she hadn't died in just any plane accident. It had been a flight where he was the pilot. He shared how they had been deeply in love and concocted a daring plan to elope by plane. Teary eyed, he described how the plane sank in a lake with his girlfriend trapped inside. When he mentioned arriving in Texas and obtaining a new ID, Gina asked, "Is Michael Smith even your real name?" He hung his head, shook it, and then confessed that his real name was Yarek Ambrozuk,

• 1:14:33Speaker 00

  before clarifying that he went by Jerry.

• 1:14:41Speaker 00

  That night, Gina typed Jerry Ambrozuk's name into Google. The first result was a newspaper article from Montana's Daily Interlake, headlined "Pilot Holds Answers in Woman's Death."

• 1:14:57Speaker 00

  The story read: "A Canadian, Jerry Ambrozuk, was nineteen when his brief and unexpected trajectory through Montana set off a nationwide manhunt and a quest for answers about what happened here on August 22, 1982. Ambrozuk piloted a Cessna 150 from Penticton with his girlfriend Diane Babcock, eighteen, in the passenger seat. They somehow veered into Montana on their way to Vancouver. The plane and Babcock wound up at the bottom of Little Bitterroot Lake. Ambrozuk has evaded law enforcement's questions ever since."

• 1:15:40Speaker 00

  Gina Johnson became even more unnerved upon reading that Gerry was wanted for negligent homicide. She felt compelled to confront him, but based on the story he'd told her about the incident, she wasn't entirely sure of his guilt. And admittedly, she still wanted to accompany him on the all-expenses-paid trip to Japan. Gina knew she had to address the matter before they left. She called Gerry and told him what she'd discovered. He calmly asserted his innocence without defensiveness and spoke wistfully about wanting to return to Vancouver, reunite with his family, and live openly without hiding his true identity.

• 1:16:27Speaker 00

  Gina suggested that if he was truly innocent, he should turn himself in. She promised her support, but explained she couldn't stay with him while he continued living a lie.

• 1:16:40Speaker 00

  Gerry replied that he simply wasn't ready. In the lead-up to the Japan trip, Gina wrestled with conflicting feelings. The trip itself was ultimately marred by the growing tension, and by the time Gina and Michael returned to the US, their relationship was effectively over. Gina couldn't make peace with his deception, and they parted ways.

• 1:17:08Speaker 00

  Months passed, yet not a day went by without Gina thinking of Gerry Ambrosek. If he was truly innocent, why was he so hesitant to turn himself in? Gina researched Diane and the Babcock family, discovering that Diane's mother had died in a car accident in 1999 while on her way to visit her daughter's grave, a trip she'd made faithfully with her husband every year. Diane's father was still alive, awaiting closure and accountability.

• 1:17:44Speaker 00

  Tormented, Gina agonized over whether to contact the authorities or let Gerry remain a free man.

• 1:17:53Speaker 00

  In the end, she picked up the phone and made the call.

• 1:18:00Speaker 00

  August 22, 2006 marked the 24th anniversary of Diane Babcock's death. A little over a week later, on Wednesday, August 30, the front doorbell rang at Jerry Ambrozuk's home in Plano, Texas. He opened the door to find a man dressed in plain street clothes and holding papers, who asked him: "Are you Michael Smith?" "Yeah," Jerry responded. Just then, a second man appeared, aiming a gun at Jerry. The two men quickly ushered him inside, cuffed his hands behind his back, and seated him on a dining room chair. "What is your real name?" one demanded.

• 1:18:46Speaker 00

  Disorientated, Jerry had no idea what was happening, until he caught a glimpse of the papers in the man's hands and saw "Yaroslav Ambrozuk" printed in bold at the top. Realizing the men were police, Jerry remained calm, but largely silent. He was swiftly taken to the city jail, where he was questioned again. When asked for his name, Jerry replied: "Michael Smith." He was pressed about who Yaroslav Ambrozuk was, and his country of citizenship. After a brief pause, Jerry answered: "Canada."

• 1:19:27Speaker 00

  Unwilling to respond further without consulting a lawyer, he was taken into custody.

• 1:19:34Speaker 00

  Jerry's capture both surprised and thrilled investigators, as it brought an end to a decades-long international manhunt. When they checked their database, they realized that Jerry had two encounters with police after 1982, having been arrested twice for burglary during his early years on the run.

• 1:19:57Speaker 00

  At the time of these arrests, he was known as "Michael Smith." Because he had no prior police record under the name Jerry Ambrozuk, there was nothing to connect the two identities.

• 1:20:10Speaker 00

  The story of how Jerry became Michael began shortly after he arrived in Texas. He'd wandered through a cemetery and found the grave of a boy named Michael Smith who had died in infancy. This meant his financial and medical records would be blank. The name was also common, and their birth dates were less than a year apart, making the identity easier to assume.

• 1:20:38Speaker 00

  That same day, Jerry obtained Michael's birth certificate from a records office with no questions asked, and used it to secure a social security number, a driver's licence, and a job. From that point on, he was, on paper, an American citizen. With a fabricated backstory, he enrolled in university, built a career, and established a new life.

• 1:21:06Speaker 00

  Following his arrest, Jerry spoke with his parents for the first time in 20 years over the prison phone. The conversation was surprisingly calm, as if nothing had happened. His parents picked up right where they had left off, updating him on everything he had missed. They shared that they had prayed for him every day and never moved from their home, so he could always find them if he returned.

• 1:21:35Speaker 00

  Overwhelmed, Jerry broke down in tears.

• 1:21:42Speaker 00

  Jerry maintained the same account he had given in 1982, that he never intended for Diane to die. They were simply two naive kids who fell in love, eloped, and suffered a tragic accident that claimed her life. He hoped that his exemplary conduct in the US afterwards would persuade the federal government to drop all charges. His case was supported by 25 character references, including one from his old best friend, Tom Polowski.

• 1:22:16Speaker 00

  Yet, the US government was unmoved, adding counts of criminal mischief and criminal endangerment, as well as negligent homicide.

• 1:22:26Speaker 00

  Gerry was prepared to fight the accusations, but just before trial, he accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and criminal endangerment in exchange for the negligent homicide charge being dismissed. He received two concurrent 10-year sentences, all suspended, meaning he served no prison time for Diane Babcock's death. He did, however, spend four and a half months in federal custody for passport fraud. He was also ordered to pay approximately $34,500 in restitution and fines, including court

• 1:23:06Speaker 00

  costs, damages to the owner of the Cessna, and $5,000 to Diane's family to help cover funeral expenses. After completing his short sentence, Gerry was deported to Vancouver, where Canadian authorities maintained their longstanding view that Diane's death was accidental and declined to lay further charges. To this day, the circumstances surrounding Diane Babcock's death remain a matter of debate and interpretation. Without Diane to share her side of the story, any conclusions drawn about the case remain purely speculative.

• 1:23:48Speaker 00

  Some see the case as Gerry Ambrosic intended, a Romeo and Juliet-esque love story with a tragic ending. He has since self-published a book titled “A Tear in My Life: The Brutal Truth”. He also created a companion website, ambrosic.com, with extensive information, evidence, and documentation about the case. In his words, “His goal was to demystify the case and set the record straight by correcting misinformation.”

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  In Jerry's explanation, he clarifies that conflict with his parents influenced his decision to leave, but it was nothing more than typical teenage angst. He confirms that he invited his friend, Tom Polowski, on the Penticton trip, hoping to include him in their escape, before ultimately deciding it was too risky to involve a third person. Jerry also knew that Diane had an abortion days before the flight. She had chosen to end the pregnancy with his support and remained fully committed to their plan. Jerry claims that his dismissive remarks about Diane during the recorded call with Tom were cherry picked.

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  At other points in the call, he expressed his love for her and his devastation over her death. Finally, Jerry believes Gina Johnson turned him in out of personal spite and felt American investigators were similarly biased, citing multiple instances where their reporting directly contradicted the evidence. Jerry has described his relationship with Diane as “the kind of youthful passion that left no room for reflection or consequences”. He claimed their fatal plan began in 1981, inspired by the films Tarzan, The Eight Man, and Apocalypse Now.

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  The untouched golden beaches, blue lagoons, and vibrant rainforests depicted in these movies captured their imagination. They shared a wild idea to survive in the jungle, where they would build a treehouse as their home and to live off whatever they caught or killed. As they continued to discuss their imagined utopia, it gradually became a realistic ambition. Part of the allure was the desire to disappear without a trace. They didn’t want to be searched for, they simply wanted to be forgotten. Eventually, they devised a plan involving landing a plane on a lake with the hopes

• 1:26:32Speaker 00

  of reaching South America to live out their dream together. Speaking exclusively to Dateline in his first media interview after his release, Jerry admitted their plan was “nuts”, but added, “it didn’t seem nuts at the time”.

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  For Gerry, witnessing Diane's death was horrifying. He told Dateline: "Twenty seconds before, we were the two happiest people in the world, and my life was just torn to pieces in that moment." When asked why he didn't try harder to save Diane, or essentially sacrifice himself as some claimed they would in that situation, Gerry replied: "It's easy to say that when you're sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, but not so easy when you have fifteen or twenty seconds, the plane is sinking in front of you, and you can't open the door. By the time you do, the plane is almost completely underwater."

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  People don't visualize it this way, or how quickly it happens.

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  The only way Gerry could justify his actions after the crash was to attribute them to shock that caused him to lose his mind.

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  "That only thing that made sense was my instinct to carry on. We had a goal, and I was determined to execute it. If I fulfilled our plan, somehow it felt like I would not let Diane down." As for the part where his duffel bag allegedly floated out of the Cessna with his belongings and cash, Gerry described it as simply "random luck." He referred to the moment when his former girlfriend Gina Johnson turned him into the police as "a blessing in disguise", saying: "As crazy as it sounds, after twenty-four years of living as Michael Smith, I finally got my family back again."

• 1:28:43Speaker 00

  He maintains that Diane was a fully receptive, consenting and involved participant in the plan to leave Vancouver, which is why he never accepted the negligent homicide charge. While taking full responsibility for having screwed up the aeroplane's landing, he argued both he and Diane were equally responsible for the events that led to the tragedy. He told Dateline: "We did something stupid. This was not my idea. This was not just me, and that's not negligent homicide. That's two kids in love who did something stupid. That's what it comes down to."

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  For those unwilling to accept Jerry's version of events, Diane Babcock's death is a crime story, possibly one of abduction and murder. This belief is still held by US authorities, as well as the Babcock family, who pushed for Jerry to face prison. They believe Jerry is hiding deep, dark secrets and view him as a sociopath, pointing to the lavish life he built as evidence that he was not a grieving man mourning the love of his life. Lingering questions remain, such as how Diane's hair came to be trapped in the Cessna's passenger

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  side door if Jerry claimed he had mistakenly opened the pilot side. Detective Pat Walsh told Dateline: "I think he took advantage of an opportunity and let her go down, or just didn't try. He saved himself and not her. One of the two things happened. I don't know how you can explain it any other way." Jerry's lawyer offers a different perspective. The only thing they can prove beyond reasonable doubt is that he left, that he ran away.

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  He did make the wrong decision, but it was an understandable decision, a forgivable decision.

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  Gerry told Dateline that he found the Babcock's attitude towards him appalling, and their assertions against him slanderous. Nevertheless, he offered both them and his family an apology, which he read aloud in court. "I now know the hurt and the pain that I have caused my family and the Babcock family with my foolish ideas that resulted in the loss of Diane Babcock. There is no apology sufficient enough to erase the pain and suffering of all those involved.

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  But, I would also like to say that the one and most important reason I could not come forward earlier is because of the pain and sorrow in my own heart due to the loss of Diane, whom I still cherish and hold dear to this day. I am hopeful that someday the Babcock family will be able to find peace. I am very sorry for all I did and did not do in their eyes.

• 1:32:03Speaker 00

  I ask God to help us all, and that He may someday allow them to forgive me."

• 1:32:12Speaker 00

  During his interview with Gerry Ambrosic, Dateline host Keith Morrison remarked: "This is one of those kinds of cases where, really, you're the only person on the planet who knows the truth."

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  After a moment of silent nodding, Gerry calmly replied: "True."

• 1:33:02Speaker 02

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