Family finds grandfather’s remains in basement decades after he vanished

Michael Carroll’s son stiffened — a cold jolt running through him — when his shovel hit what looked like rags and bones in the basement on Halloween eve 2018.

Chris Carroll and his brother Mike Carroll Jr. had been digging for months at the family home in Lake Grove, Long Island, New York. The patriarch, who started digging, had recently suffered a stroke and needed help just walking down the stairs.

“Dad, I think I found something,” Chris said.

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The case of Michael Carroll’s father (pictured here), George Carroll, is the subject of a new true crime documentary called “The Secrets We Bury,” directed by Patricia E. Gillespie. (Courtesy of ID)

He and his brother had no idea they had discovered the skeletal remains of their grandfather, George Carroll, who had disappeared half a century earlier.

The months-long excavation is a new topic A true crime documentary It premiered on December 16 on Investigation Discovery (ID), titled “The Secrets We Bury”.

Michael Carroll spent months digging in the basement, driven by the belief that his father could be hiding below. (Courtesy of ID)

Patricia E. Gillespie, a New York-based filmmaker, found the story of Carroll’s quest in a local newspaper. She began her own investigations and soon found him.

Director Patricia E. Gillespie first learned of Michael Carroll’s story in a local newspaper before meeting him at a Dunkin’ Donuts to discuss the disappearance of his father, George. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

“I met Mike just two days after he revealed his father’s secret,” Gillespie told Fox News Digital. “We really hit it off so much that at the end of the meeting, he took me downstairs, where there was still a big hole. I thought, ‘I’m really lucky that he’s a good person.’”

“For many years, people thought Mike and his sister, Jane Kennedy, were crazy,” Gillespie said. “They were just told: ‘Your father is gone. Why can’t you accept this?’

“The solution to the puzzle itself became the starting point for thousands of other little mysteries and secrets,” Gillespie added.

People often dismissed Michael Carroll as delusional, yet he continued his research. (Courtesy of ID)

george, A US Army Korean War veteranHe disappeared in 1963. His son, Carol, was about 8 months old at the time. Carroll’s late mother, Dorothy Carroll, always said he went out to buy cigarettes and “never came back.” Rumors claimed that he met a woman in Korea and started a new life with her. The documentary noted that George was never reported missing.

Shown here is George Carroll with his daughter, Jane Kennedy, in a still from a Super 8 family video from the 1960s. The father of four disappeared from his Long Island home in 1963. (Courtesy of ID)

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“He came back from this war with a bunch of kids at home,” Gillespie said of George. “They weren’t talking about what happened in the war. You didn’t necessarily see a therapist in those generations. It was just a different time. It must have been hard going from the Korean War to your little house with a bunch of kids.” [But] His children loved him. “For those who were very young, they loved the idea of ​​it.”

A believer in the supernatural, Jane Kennedy consulted a psychic to obtain clues about her father. (Courtesy of ID)

For decades, Carroll’s children wondered what happened to their father. Desperate for answers, Kennedy — a no-nonsense believer in the supernatural — consulted a psychic in 2010. She convinced her brother to join her, even though he was skeptical.

Child photo of Jane Kennedy sitting on her father’s motorcycle in the 1950s. (Courtesy of ID)

The psychiatrist tells them that George was murdered and buried in the basement. Carroll bought the property from his mother in 1993. Dorothy died of cancer in 1998.

“Jane says it was her ‘long-distance call’ to her mother,” Gillespie said of Kennedy’s interest in psychics. “Like all of us, when you lose someone you care about, there are all these conversations you wish you had or things you wish you could have resolved. And for Jane, I think psychic was an opportunity to do that — to make that long-distance call beyond that.”

Shown here are the Carroll family children with their mother, Dorothy Carroll. (Courtesy of ID)

According to the documentary, George’s brother also told Carroll that his family believed George was murdered.

Michael Carroll was only 8 months old when his father disappeared. (Courtesy of ID)

Carroll, desperate for answers, began searching. He never wanted to believe that George had abandoned him and his three older brothers. Even after a dark family secret is revealed, the mystery is not over.

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Chris Carroll examines clothing fibers discovered in the hole he dug in the basement. (Courtesy of ID)

“It opened the door to something much deeper,” Gillespie said. “You’re looking for a man, and you find him in these dramatic circumstances — the end, right? I think a lot of stories end there. But for them, it was just the beginning of figuring out how to come to terms with this. And that answer wasn’t found in the forensics, the police report or the court proceedings.”

After Michael Carroll suffered a stroke, his sons took over the digging in the basement. (Courtesy of ID)

when Police initially received a call From Carol, they laughed at her, thinking it was a joke. But Carroll was persistent, and they eventually stopped at the house. To their dismay, bones were found several feet below the basement. It was later confirmed that they were George’s.

Police classified George’s death as a homicide. His skull was fractured due to blunt trauma.

Michael Carroll’s family home in Lake Grove, Long Island. (Fox News)

Carroll believes that the person who may have been responsible for his father’s disappearance was his stepfather, Richard Darris. He was a young handyman who George hired to help with a construction project and later lived in the house.

Shown here are Dorothy Carroll and Richard Darris in the 1960s. (Courtesy of ID)

Shortly after Dorothy told her children that their father had abandoned them, she married Darcy. They raised a son named “Richie” before divorcing in 1983. According to the documentary, the Carroll siblings claimed that their stepfather was physically abusive to them and sexually abused the girls.

“Richie [who appeared in the film] “He was put in such a difficult position,” Gillespie said.

Family photo of Dorothy Carroll and her second husband, Richard Darris, from the 1960s. Dars was a handyman before George Carroll’s disappearance. (Courtesy of ID)

“No matter who your father is, you love your father. And you don’t want to believe anything unkind about your father. But some of the other kids are starting to talk — not so much about George Carroll, but about some of their negative experiences growing up with their stepfather. I think a lot of men in Richie’s position would plug their ears and say, ‘No, not my father.’ Not part of me. And not my name.”

Rich Darris struggled to hear the allegations and theories that were being made about his late father. (Courtesy of ID)

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“Richie didn’t do it,” Gillespie continued. “Richie believed his brothers. He told us: ‘My brothers are my real family.’ “So, of course, I believe them. I think he showed a lot of strength and care. … He really prioritized his siblings’ feelings. At the same time, the siblings were also working to protect him, because as they delved deeper into this mystery, they started to find things that were scarier and scarier — things that were more troubling. But they were always thinking: What about Richie? How would he feel?”

Shown here is Michael Carroll with his mother’s piano. (Courtesy of ID)

Dries died in June 2018 at the age of 77, at a funeral home in Laredo, TexasHe previously told Fox News Digital. Before his death, he lived in Mexico, across the border from Laredo.

Richard Darris and his son, Rich, pose together on the beach in a photo from the 1970s. (Courtesy of ID)

For years, the siblings tried to question their mother, hoping she would have clues that could lead to answers. But Dorothy noted curtly that George was not a “good man.” While there is speculation that she may have been involved in George’s disappearance following their tumultuous marriage, her children continue to defend her.

“When that initial wave of press came out after Mike found his father, a lot of it pointed the finger at her very hard,” Gillespie said. “However, the thing that caught my attention the most Their relationship with their mother That’s how everyone loves her. They all absolutely adore her.”

Michael Carroll will never know what happened to his father. (Courtesy of ID)

“There were some complicated things that happened within the family,” she said. “There were some unanswered questions that, frankly, will remain unanswered forever, because most people were dead by the time George was found. But what struck me most was their unwavering defense of their mother. They are united by their love for her to this day.”

Patricia E. Gillespie told Fox News Digital that Carroll’s children remain fiercely protective of their late mother, Dorothy Carroll. (Courtesy of ID)

On October 25, 2019, George was buried with military honors at the National Cemetery on Long Island. Police said they may never determine how he died.

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“About two weeks ago, Mike’s son sent me a picture,” Gillespie said. “They’ve finally filled the hole in the basement. There’s a feeling that you can finally grieve, that you’ve done what you need to do for your family — both those who are here and those who are gone. … This story goes beyond just the mystery of how this man disappeared.”

The Secrets We Bury premieres December 16 at 9pm on ID and will be available to stream on HBO Max. Fox News Digital’s Robert Gerty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.