Marlena soon discovered she was pregnant, but there was no possible way that John could be the father since they hadn’t been intimate at the time. During an argument at the penthouse between Roman and John, Marlena tumbled down the stairs and lost her baby. She also lost her memory and was diagnosed with hysterical amnesia. Dr. Alex North came to town and manipulated Marlena into turning against John. It turns out that he was her presumed dead first husband, which made all her other subsequent marriages invalid. Marlena decided to honor her commitment with Alex and didn’t remember the love which she and John once shared. John did not trust Alex and set out to prove that he was a fraud. Marlena married Alex, then got caught in an explosion meant for John. When she regained her memory in the hospital, Alex drugged her and ran off with her. A struggle ensued between John and Alex after John caught up with him. As a result, Alex fell off a cliff to his death.
Marlena’s memory returned, and she and John left Salem for a while. However, she needed a separation from John so she could sort her life out. John soon suspected that she disappeared and went to New Jersey in search of her. He found her in a cart tied up and the two were happily reunited. Upon returning to Salem, they discovered that Steve and Kayla Johnson had been poisoned by a rare biotoxin, courtesy of the mysterious gloved hand crimes. They flew off to Canada to retrieve the cure for Kayla. When Marlena jumped from the plane and landed in the snow she was rescued by none other than Smokey Robinson. John soon found her and the two shared a romantic dance in Smokey’s cabin while he sang for them. The two soon returned to Salem with the cure.
John and Marlena traveled to Italy since they suspected that Stefano DiMera was still alive. They had a romantic private wedding ceremony in Italy and made a wish on an Italian coin. They were stunned to discover Stefano alive, but deathly ill. Upon returning to Salem, their newly wedded bliss didn’t last. EJ Wells shot John in December of 2006 and John lingered in a coma for the next five months. During his coma, EJ forced Steve Johnson to take John’s kidney since Stefano needed one. John finally woke up from his coma in May of 2007. He and Marlena were reunited again and spent much of that summer reading ancient love letters between Santo DiMera and Colleen Brady. It was revealed during this time that the real Tony DiMera had been living on an island for the past twenty years, courtesy of Stefano. Evil Andre DiMera had impersonated Tony and taken over his life, which meant that Andre was the one who married Kristen and framed John for his "murder," among other dastardly things.
John’s life came to a sudden halt when he was run down by a hit and run driver in October of 2007. Marlena was horrified to witness the incident. John was rushed to the hospital and suffered massive internal injuries. On October 17, 2007, John took his last breath and passed away. A few days later, John appeared before Sami in a nightmare.
In January of 2008, Marlena was shocked to discover John alive in Dr. Rolf and Stefano’s basement. John was the mysterious patient whom Stefano had programmed to carry out a mission. Unfortunately, John had no memory of his past life or the love he shared with Marlena. He was no longer the same kind, loving, generous man as before. He was cold, selfish, and sarcastic, and tests at the hospital proved that he was incapable of feeling emotion. John was only concerned with carrying out his mission, which was to kill Stefano’s nemesis: Colleen Brady.
John convinced Marlena to take him to Ireland. Bo, Hope, Steve, Kayla, Shawn, Belle, Philip, and Chloe were among the other Salemites to venture to Ireland since Claire had been kidnapped and taken there. They were stunned to discover Colleen Brady alive after all! She had been presumed dead when everyone thought she committed suicide and jumped off a cliff to her death. John tried to kill her until she dropped a bomb on John: he was the love child of Colleen Brady and Santo DiMera. It turns out that Colleen didn't have enough money to support John, or "Ryan" as she named him, so she visited him at the orphanage regularly, but then he was adopted by the Alamains. Colleen soon died in John's arms after begging him to hold her one last time. John was stunned when he displayed a tad bit of emotion after all.
John and the other passengers boarded his private jet to return to Salem. However, he soon discovered that the plane had been sabotaged and the pilots drugged. Everyone’s lives were at stake and depended on John to save them and land the plane. The plane crash landed somewhere in Greenland. Unfortunately, Grandpa Shawn heroically passed away giving up his oxygen mask for Bo. John bonded with his granddaughter Claire while awaiting rescue, and he and Marlena ended up making love! He told her how great the sex between them was, but still didn’t remember her. Marlena affirmed that he would get no more sex from her until he regained his memory. Will John ever remember the love he and Marlena once shared? Stay tuned!
