Deadly dreams

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

It begins here, at the moment of birth. Something unconscious, uncontrolled. The half-glimpsed world of sleep. Soothing. Amusing. Sometimes terrifying. And on the rarest of occasions, unconsciously deadly.

Sleep. Love. Sex.  What is a person capable of without even knowing it?

Such a beautiful place, Catalina. Such a perfect evening for escapist dreams, an island tryst, with a younger man.

Her name was Eva, and she was exotic, lovely, magnetic. And 42.

Lannelle Piro: Eva was always living like she was 22. Carefree, very young for her age. She was fun. She was generous and she'd light up a room. She's the person you call. And no matter what, you always feel better for what she had to say.

She told her niece Lannelle Piro about the young man. Stephen was just 25. Not that it mattered.

Lannelle Piro: I guess he had come over to the house one day.

Came to hang out with Eva's son... who made the introductions.

Lannelle Piro: Remember she called me and told me that she met this really nice guy.  He's really good looking, you know?

It was instant chemistry.

Lannelle Piro: He was obviously attracted to her.  Who wouldn't be? She was drop-dead gorgeous. She had an enormous capacity to love people. And people were drawn to her. And yeah, there was 17 years age difference. She was the ultimate cougar (laughs).

Stephen worked sporadically at a variety of odd jobs. Sometimes even at sea, as a commercial fisherman. Eva a thrice married - and separated - former flight attendant.

Keith Morrison: Why do I keeping thinking of that Cindy Lauper song "Girls just wanna have fun"?

April Bozarth: That was us. That was definitely us. Yes!

April Bozarth was Eva's friend and flying companion back at the airline.   A kind of magic time for both of them.

April Bozarth: Everywhere we went people would just be drawn to her. And she just had a presence about her that was just fun loving. You know, very welcoming. She would give you the shirt off her back.

But, as April came to understand, Eva could not abide boredom.  She was restless. So, when she left the flying life, settling down was not easy.

April Bozarth: I think she was looking for excitement in other ways. It was almost like "Let me stir the pot a little."

Keith Morrison: Yeah, and along comes this young guy.

April Bozarth: Sure. Exciting.

April was Eva's bridesmaid. Hoped Eva would reconcile with her pilot husband. And when this Steven thing began, she heard all about it. 

April Bozarth: He's, you know, a good-looking guy, fun to be around. He was available to do pretty much anything she wanted to do, because I don't really think he had a job.  And I think that, you know, they'd go on these little trips, jaunts, you know, to different places. I think that he was kind of a trophy to her-- being so much younger.  you know, here she is in her early 40's and, you know, "Oh wow, look, I'm-- I'm with somebody that's in their '20s." I just said, "Proceed with caution, you know?"

Stephen knew she was married, of course. Knew the marriage was on-again-off-again. He was wrong for her, she seemed to know it. Seventeen years younger, no career... It couldn't last.

Lanelle Piro: She really did love her husband and wanted to reconcile that and move forward with their relationship.

And yet, as months went by, Eva and Steven carried on.

Lanelle Piro: And she was open to me and my sister and a-- just a few people about her relationship with Steven. But, still hiding him. Still keeping, you know, the extent of their relationship just between them.  Mostly because sh-- I don't think she was proud of it.

But with Steven it was something else. 

April Bozarth: I think he was kind of like a drug to her, in a way. Like nothing she had ever had before.

Lanelle Piro: She was, I think, extremely conflicted with what to do-- how to break this off. 

And then, that Friday in September.

April Bozarth: She phoned me on Friday.

Video   What is sleepwalking? Dr. Alon Avidan explains what happens when you sleepwalk. Dateline NBC

Eva had promised to be with April for the birth of her baby, now just days away.

April Bozarth: And she said, "So if Sunday looks good for you, I'd like to come out." And I said, "That'd be great. You know, just let me know what time, you know, and I'll pick ya up." 

Already, Eva's husband had invited her to Catalina when he returned from a flight the following week. An effort to reconcile. She accepted. And then Eva placed another call. Must have. Though it was secret. To Stephen.

How about Catalina right now? she asked him.

Before the trip she was supposed to take with her husband.

April Bozarth: And then Sunday night kinda rolled around and I never heard from her. And I thought, "This is gettin' kinda strange," you know. 

Strange, indeed. How strange? She had no idea.

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