`Unsolved Mysteries' Finds Tacoma Big Brother

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A television program has put a 26-year-old Fort Wayne man in touch with a long-lost friend in Tacoma.

Jeff Fisher's search for the Big Brother who befriended him in Elkhart 20 years ago was featured on a recent broadcast of NBC-TV's "Unsolved Mysteries."

Shortly after the broadcast, a show official told Fisher that the man he was hunting for called the program. Before the night was over, Fisher was on the phone with John Novotny in Tacoma.

In 1971, when Fisher was 7 years old, Novotny became Fisher's Big Brother.

The last time Fisher spoke to Novotny was in September 1973.

Fisher began his search last year by contacting the Elkhart Chapter of Big Brothers, which later informed Fisher no information was available on Novotny.