chapter to our life. >> the family gave the cold case detectives and the prosecutors gifts as well. each was engraved, justice for tara. >> here's to tara. cheers. >> they put in so much hard work and time, and respect, compassion. so, we wanted to give a little token of our appreciation and love for everything they have done. they gave terror peace and justice. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> she was the love of my life, always. >> she was daddy's girl. debutante and tomboy. the free spirit with fiery hair and a wide open heart. >> she was a very, very kind

person. >> then she vanished. >> i called the police. something is wrong. >> and something was. >> days passed, then months, no leads, no clues, no progress. >> we've got to get going. we've got to get moving on this. >> enter the a-team. a band of tough guy privatize. >> yes something to hide. >> a brief encounter with the mysterious stranger. >> on the train coming home, she had met this woman. >> did that hold the answer? >> she's talking about how someone is trying to assume her identity. >> a chilling case of a daughter in danger. >> somebody was after her. >> welcome to dateline. i'm lester holt. she was beautiful, talented, trusting, and sometimes troubled. a young woman from a prominent family finally grabbing the promise and life right up to the day she vanished. when the police seemed unable to find her, her family had to plan, and the usual strategy to solve the mystery. here is keith morrison. >> it began on the bright morning in may. slipped from its platform in washington station and eased out into an eight-hour run down the eastern seaboard charleston, south carolina. on board was a beautiful, tall, and feisty red named kate waring. the daughter of the south of a fine southern family that often traveled young woman who sitting on the strain is finally on the brink of something very good. and what is it about trains? the ease there in that enclosed space of finding perfect strangers.

somewhere along the line, between greeting and goodbye, her invisible faith jumped its track. quite unaware of the dark force descending. she disembark to future utterly changed. charleston, south carolina, it almost goes without saying it is a showcase of american history and southern manners. its charm is deeply embedded as the families who count seven, eight, ten generations here. kate waring was born to one of those families. grew up in a fine because along the historic waterfront called the battery. dance losses, birthday parties. >> that, if we catch a turtle, can we keep it? >> doting parents, janice and tom, who adored their only daughter. >> and she had you simply wrapped around her finger? >> absolutely. she was a love of my life. and not stupidly so, i mean, i could not always tell when i was being manipulated, but some of the time, sure. katie and i had a very special bond, always. >> she was the middle child sandwiched retain two brothers, older joe, younger richard. she was bright, maybe too bright. school board her, animals, all animals, enchanted her. she was naive, sweet. younger brother richard sochi, could not turn away a stray animal or human. >> she was a very kind person, whereas some people would dismiss someone who wasn't generally accepted by most. she would kind of helpless

people out. >> somewhere in the course of an enchanted childhood, something happened to kate. outsider saw a fearless tomboy morph into a sophisticated debutante. but at home, kate struggled often in secret with eating disorders, depression, college wasn't interrupted disaster. >> she sort of land toward risk. i noticed that in a lot of things she did. she seemed to court it. >> parents discovered she had been sexually abused by someone they knew. years of therapy followed, still she drank to excess, lost her drivers license, she abused drugs, she so brought up, she

fell off the wagon. she came home to live with her parents. tried and failed at dozens of strategies to achieve the straight and narrow. finally, out of desperation, tom offered kate a trip with him anywhere she wanted to go. anywhere on the planet to see polar bears. >> it must have been an amazing trip? >> it was the trip of a lifetime. i'm so happy we share that together. >> the photographs show how happy she was there. >> she saw young men who, with their families, about her age who were happy and she said to me, dad, i don't have to settle for whatever settled for, do i? i said no, honey, you don't. you can basically write your own script. >> and it was a bit of magic. the change seemed almost instant. kate, reborn. on board the ship was a russian crewmen who was amazed how quickly kate picked up his language, which is why months after that trip, the newly inspired k travel to moscow to meet him again to explore the city, the culture, and to test drive a budding relationship and her fledgling russian skills. snapshots of kate here in moscow are far more than just souvenirs. the reporters of a young woman transformed. the case you stood here on red square had a new passion and life that depressions and pillars of the past had fallen away. she was consumed by all things

russian. in fact, she was making plans, even, here to return to moscow in the summer to take oppression studies. finally, her life was taking off. >> and that's why kate waring was in washington that fine may morning. she was on her way back to russia. there is a problem with the visa. paperwork but south sort of things that would have center into a tailspin. now, the new kate vowed to try again later. boarded the plummet over charleston, and went to college classes and a children's book she's been writing. big brother joe was, to say the least, encouraged. >> when i talk to her, was the happiest i can remember hearing her in the last ten years. >> june, 2009, heat rising in charleston's deepening green. on saturday morning, june 13th, tom waring at his summer house outside the city built an absence. cell phone hadn't run. no call from kate. kate who always called or texted her parents practically hourly. >> she always checked in and was unusual. >> he drove home to check her room here in the big silent house on the battery. >> all the lights were on, and it looked like katie had

planned to come back. and she had left her medicine. she never went anywhere without her medicine. >> and on sunday, we came by the house also. no sign of her. >> now there was dred. was it possible that kate had slipped back into that old destructive life? >> we called police station. we called the detention center. >> wow, and this is by the end of the weekend? >> nobody had a jane doe in the hospital. nobody had been brought in. we called some of her friends, and nobody had heard from her. >> what to do? kate was 28, and though she lived at home, she was an adult her decision bad or good. for hers, they elected to give it one more day if she wasn't back by monday they called the police. then, when monday came, there was word.

no, not from kate. from kate's bank. >> once i got off the phone with the branch manager, i called the police. >> what were you thinking? >> i was thinking something is wrong. >> coming up, something was wrong. but could they discover what? and would the police help? >> we've got to get going. they've got to get moving on this. >> when dateline continues. >> it was monday morning, the 15th of june, 2009. kate waring had been missing for 48 hours when a surveillance camera captured a young man named ethan mack standing at the counter of a bank, waiting to catch a check signed by kate waring. problem, missouri count nearly totaled $100 and those chakras were 4500. the signature seemed off.

the teller called kate's dad. he called police. >> i never met ethan. didn't know his last name, all i knew was the name ethan who was a friend. it's too strong to say that she had a secret life, but she certainly had friends and did things we didn't know anything about. >> of course she did. she was 20 years old. and even though she was financially and emotionally depended on her parents, she had lots of friends. some they knew, sunday didn't. it was howard gatch for example, martial arts trainer in the midst of a divorce who had carried on something of a romance. >> i felt in my heart something was wrong, and i was concerned.

>> then there was jason lock, a young lawyer with whom she often shared lunch and a spirited debates. >> she was strong willed. she was very energetic. she was rarely incorrect. that's -- >> but her best friend, as she made clear to all the others, was ethan mack. >> she really liked. ethan she trusted him and said this is my best friend, jason. she put a lot of trust in him. >> she's a lovable person, full of energy, always rambunctious. >> ethan worked at a local hotel, very different background of kate. yet been her best buddy for years, and in a way, her protector. everybody in ethan's neighborhood knew you don't

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keith morrison (voiceover): the early sun for 8 grams of fiber, had cooked the mist off the marshes of wadmalaw island. a-team together to look for kate wearing, that lovely young charleston woman that had been missing for two months, and according to kate's parents, tom and janice, the charleston police were still saying this -- >> they think maybe she wants somewhere. she's probably just up in greenville. >> what did you say to that? >> she doesn't have a car. how is she going to get there? >> it was after that when the atms jean frazier got his tip. kate's best friend, ethan, had lied to the police about where he live. to deliver the house see a loud police to search. he lived behind this house, and one of two apartments, five miles away. >> which presented to the police? >> yes. >> and? >> they didn't search the houston ever got a search

warrant, never asked for permission to search the, houston never went back to them and said, hey, you must let us three months ago. >> but, as the a-team discovered, ethan failed to mention something else as well, he had a girlfriend in this little place, a woman named heather angelica kamp and when janice waring heard that, her mind went straight to an afternoon at home, three months earlier. >> i heard voices upstairs, and so i went up and katie had this strange girl that i never met before in the room with her. >> and that was her name, heather kamp. kate explain she met and rapidly became fast friends with heather on the train during her trip down from washington. typical kate, janice thought

back then, drawn to someone who needed help who had told her a hard luck story. >> she said, when she got on the train, her pocketbook was stolen. and she is here in charleston, and she doesn't have any money. and i am helping her out until she can, whatever. >> but kate told her mother that heather would pay her back soon because she was a pediatric surgeon. and charleston to take in a post at the local medical center. a few days, later distraught kate told mother heather's daughter back home in new jersey had been killed in a car accident. but something seemed odd about that, said janice. >> didn't seem like she was rushing to go up to new jersey to attend to the child that just -- >> or she is a grief stricken woman? >> she did not live that way at all. >> now, here is news heather was living with kate's friend ethan in this tiny apartment? >> to me, she just looked like a con artist. >> but no, said kate back then, janice had it all wrong. heather was nice. in fact, kate such introduced heather to her friend ethan and

very quickly a romance had blossomed. they were even talking marriage. really? if janice waring was suspicious about heather back then, the a-team was doubly so now. sure enough, a few key strokes on the cold lobby that mothers intuition was right. >> i told her she'd been arrested for forgery, and in indiana, she had been arrested in other states as well. >> essentially, if you just google her name, i suppose, you could find out -- >> that's how i found her. she had been impersonating a doctor. in fact, a gould her. >> even wouldn't be her first husband. she had been married before, and had four children. now they know about heather, a few fuzzy details were suddenly clearer. for one thing, the bill for kates last dinner with ethan made sense because there are three bills on that bill. the other diner was heather kamp. more important, not check even try to cash, no one that teller flagged, maybe that was another heather forgery. >> right away, point man shames randall fresh that information here to police headquarters. surely, somebody here put two and two together, a win known to have committed forgery, indiana and other states. a so-called best friend who tries to catch a bogus check

with kate's name on it, then lies to police. seemed like evidence these two were involved in her disappearance up to their next. and up to haul them in, anyway. but... >> i was told that the story pandemic, and that these were petty criminals, and the czech was going to be taken separate from the missing persons. >> what did you say to that? >> i didn't think it was the right thing to do. we had to figure out who wrote and endorsed those checks. who signed and wrote those checks? >> sure. >> it was obvious the a-team would have to find the connection between ethan and heather and kate's disappearance without police help. >> sort of remain stealth as much as possible. >> come to keep a careful quite ion ethan mack and other kamp. gene frazier persuaded ethan's landlord to allow surveillance specialist bobby to talk a hidden camera into the corner of his kitchen window. camera trained right at ethan's front door. >> with a motion detector, just like that light they've got over the door, so when they drove an, it would light up, and light up for our camera. >> that's enough illumination to illuminate to see what they would be carrying, and that would lead us to know they had something to do with kate's disappearance.

>> one even and had left the apartment, bobby had that cover too. he'd already tracked ethan to his job at a local will tell and attached a gps locator on his car, as it sat in the parking lot. now there is no minute of the day when the team didn't know where ethan and father were. and what they were doing. almost immediately, they got a surprise. when ethan was at work, other sneaked over to visit the man living next door. right around town with him. >> they were going to the bank a lot. one of the investigators -- they were kiting checks. they're actually stealing money from the bank. >> despite would bobby told, bank and never resulted in charges against anybody. but that wasn't all he discovered. the gps tracker ethan's car led bobby to a couple of local pawnshops. >> they were planning jewelry. the jewelry was the red flag. >> was it kates jewelry? they couldn't be sure yet without more surveillance, that is, and then the landlord called gene again, another tip, this one bad, ethan and heather weren't paying rent. >> he says i'm going to evict these people. so after he said that -- >> this is not good news. >> i said, hold on, if these people are evicted, we don't know where they are going.

>> if the a-team didn't think of something and fast, other and even might slip out of their sight and charleston for good. >> coming up, an enticing offer from the a team. >> twenties, fifties, everybody sees that, and their eyes jump. >> when dateline continues. >> the team of retired tech of searching for kate waring had a big problem -- crime solving 1:01 told him heather and ethan had to be serious suspects, last people to see kate alive, won a known forge, or the other on tape trying to take money from kates bank account. but they were about to be evicted for lack of a rent payment, and if that happened, they would slip the invisible night the a-team had woven. >> we had the kind, why would the gps, as we were tracking every movement that they had. >> so, they made a call here to the quite office overlooking charleston, or the team's money man john rivers decided he'd pay ethan's rent. secretly, of course, and it was a plan which, after little brainstorming, offered a bonus of built-in opportunities. here is how. the a-team one and know if heather or ethan forged kates 4500 dollar check but needed original handwriting samples. >> we determined what was on the check that we needed a comparison sample. we had numbers, obviously, on the check. >> then the a-team helped even

slathered prepare iowa use that contained the need to numbers and letters. when heather and ethan signed the documents agreed to pay the rent in installments, they were giving the team the very samples that could prove they forged kates check. the team took the handwriting to the expert, mickey dawson, the man who set up a state police handwriting lab. a question was simple, did either end or ethan forge that check from kate, the one ethan tried to cash? >> immediately, that day, our handwriting examiner said, that's them, no question about it. >> so, if he thin and heather ford to check from kate. what still might be evide > the landlord has her right to inspect a tenants homes for if he went with him mitchell' easton's car wa of >> surveillance expert bobby mitchell's gps device showed easton's car was out somewhere i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. options start at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate-lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason.

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keith morrison (voiceover): most everybody around charleston, south carolina seems to know who the county solicitor is. scarlett is what people call her, solicitor inside, ethan mack sitting on the couch, smoking a joint. >> for god sake. >> i'm like, hell, unlike, hey, the exterminators coming, in 30 years dangerous chemicals. you have to step out on the outside while we get this done. >> no idea who you are? >> no, no. >> you share about that? >> absolutely. the exterminator and i went inside, closed the door behind, us searched the apartment and in one of the backpacks, ethan max backpack was some chinese money, chinese currency. >> chinese money? yes, just like the chinese bills team saw and kate's bedroom. janice waring brought those bills to kid from hong kong, souvenirs, had even stolen them? >> i put it here on this poll. >> just or things, apply some pressure. bobby knew just how. >> he put on every telephone pole, every vacant house, every oak tree, every stop sign, wanted information, missing person, kate waring's poster -- >> right where those people hung out? >> wherever they went,

including on mack's wind shield, even where he was working that way, to send a psychological message to them. >> but no response. at which point john rivers said -- >> perhaps what they do understand, and on the street, as it, where is andrew jackson. maybe benjamin franklin, and they would recognize their faces on a 20 or 50 dollar bill. >> $10,000 worth of those bills went into a grocery bag. >> then, twenties, fifties, like a bag. when you open it up, you know, two roles, and everyone sees that, their eyes just jump. >> and better to wave that bag of money they decided that under the nose of that neighbor heather was going to see? the man named terry only, i'm the one that we're creating checks with her. >> we knocked on the door, and he comes to the door with no shirt on. no shirt on, short pants. i said terri, listen, we know you are great friends with these people, you don't have to live in this condition. we know you are back on your rent. we know -- look at this bag of money. this could be all yours. >> now to close the sale with terry williams, they tried to bluff. >> tell us what happened to

kate and where we can find her. we know mack and kamp killed her, and this money could be yours, low that point, that's when the bedroom door buster open, and there's a lot of yelling and screaming. >> to the other surprise, there came another kamp, angrily and quickly pulling her clothes back together. didn't appear to be a business meeting, the team interrupted. the detectives told who they were, and who they work for. >> heather kamp gets on the cell phone, and makes the call to ethan mack. said, even, andy savages investigators are here trying to get terri williams of roll on us. and when she said that, the three of us looked at one another, and police terms, we knew that was definitely the case. we knew they had done it. >> oh, yes, decades of investigating made it perfectly clear to the a-team. whatever happened to kate waring, events mack and heather kamp or in it up to their eyeballs. >> coming up -- >> we knew something was up. >> a new direction. the search for kate waring takes the a-team to a wild and desolate place. what would they find there? when dateline continues. >> it was so awkward now, but necessary. the ones very private waring and their only daughters intensely personal struggles were now so glaringly public. they had to be. >> you can't sit back and hope that she will be found. i mean, we worked every day,

all day long, trying to find her. >> that's when it hit home. kate was the latest of hundreds of people still lost in south carolina, and it seemed to china's and tom police weren't taking cases like theirs seriously. what about all those other families also desperate for help? the waring held a vigil for common cause. >> somehow or another, someone will be moved and will want to come forward and tell us where katie is. >> that was the public waring family. at home the private tom waring couldn't be help but be drawn to the play back on their voice mail to hear her voice. >> that, don please pick up the phone. coming back later. >> i would look at photographs of her, or play those voice mail messages, just keeping her voice current in my mind. >> meanwhile, andy savage a-team detectives were making progress. when i flash that grocery bag of cash around the neighborhood, they certainly got a rise out of ethan and heather. a furious ethan called andy. >> your investigators are out there in accusing me of being involved in this homicide. kate was my best friend in life. as he's on the phone, kamp calls and starts out on this rage about, you know, what are you doing out here? accusing me of this, we had nothing to do with that. >> fascinating reaction, thought andy savage. and perhaps an opportunity. >> we had done a lot of background on kamp, and so we knew her, and with her

personality, and we knew a little bit about what was the push. a reaction we had towards heather was one of conflict. that one banks. during that time, we planted the seeds as a mother. she must know the feeling of janice waring missing her dollar, and try to apply to her empathy for a mother. >> the call from heather wasn't all that fat bag of money accomplished. before long, it reeled in a fish, that neighborhood there was sneaking off to sea called. the a-team want to talk to him. >> he said i know ethan and heather did something to kate, and terry went to the bathroom, came back, out and had this ipad. terry said, i believe this ipad is going to belong to kate. >> now that was huge. last time he was seen with that i pod, it was at the gym the day she went missing. now a man kate never met said heather gave him the ipad days after kate disappeared. just to be sure this was in fact kate's ipod, tech expert bill capps got the serial number and within minutes had the proof. >> i examined the registry files and all the computers who had access in the past, it approved positive that was kids i pod. >> coming up -- >>, we'll find her, today? i knew they wouldn't find her. >> was heather kamp the con artist at it again?

where was kate waring? when dateline continues. >> she has been missing for months now. kate wearing, a trusting young woman so eager to help those innate. the trailer of clues has pointed to of kate's friends, and now the private investigators recruited by her family believe that they are close to falling the final part of the mystery. fighting kate at last. but there are a few more things in store. here again is keith morrison. >> they told the police about the ipod, the one that heather had given to a friend days after kate disappeared. and also handed over the handwriting experts report showing that heather and ethan forged cates chet two days after she vanished. and now things started happening fast. after the hard charge with andy savage, heather made a remarkable decision. she called the charleston police department and confessed. no, not to murder. instead she said it was xi who forged the bogus checks supposedly signed by kate

wearing. and he who tried to catch it two days after kate disappeared. they were sure that police would swoop in and arrest them both. but here is something that you should know about the way that it worked between the a-team and their former colleagues, the cops. the deal was entirely one-way. that is to say the a-team told the cops everything that they uncovered. and the cops told the a-team nothing. so they kept their ears to the ground and waited for something to happen. but they did not have to wait for long. >> we knew something was up. so the first thing that we did was we got the gps off the car because we did not want the police to see that car and have our gps. >> ethan was easy enough for the charleston police to find. they arrested him at his hotel job. but they did not seem to know whether to find heather. so. >> we had to tell them where she was working. obviously they did not have a surveillance on her. >> and you can tell them that? >> >> yes we told them where

she was working. she was working at the local gas station. >> i walked into the gas station and bought a pepsi. paid for it and walked out. and the police officer in uniform had pulled up and was peeping around the corner of the building. and i said that is her inside. >> ethan and hair or wear charged with forgery and obstruction of justice. what a merger charge follow shortly? >> we get a call from someone at the police department. we got a call and say hey, the police are searching. the island for kate body. >> the island? wild. beautiful. isolated. and 20 miles from kates home. >> so i got in the car and i drove out to the island. >> and there were police. a serious search going on. >> so i sat there in the shade and watch them all afternoon. didn't attempt to interfere. >> watch the police to see what they were doing? >> just watched. a lot of officers and cadaver dogs. >> a ton of folks out there.

>> they had brought heather out here to lead them to kate's body. >> there were a couple of detectives that i did ask them if they had any luck. and they just said no. and continue driving on. >> police called off the search. drove heather back to jail. had she intentionally given them bad information? perhaps no one would find cates. not the police. not the a-team. and then? >> we got a terrific break by the criminal justice system. mac and camp both came to the bond hearing and it is done by video. at the bond hearing mac shows up with his family. who are all there to support him. and, not only a public defender.

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keith morrison (voiceover): you just join the millions of people taking back their privacy never can tell how a jury will react to the facts of a complicated murder case or the accusations of a person like heather kamp. kent has no one. she has no family, she has no friends, she has no support to speak on her behalf. now i immediately said. james jean go see her. treat her with kindness. treat her with carry. >> and within minutes. the same man who had set up heather with the bag of money, wear face to face with her. >> what was the look on her face when she came out? >> stunned. very surprised. and i said heather, we need to help you. all we want is the body. and she said well, they didn't find her. did they? she said i put them through the test. they told me that they were gonna help me, they would not arrest me. and the minute i told them the area of which he was, the general area of which he was, they got all abusive with me. and they berated me. so they failed the test. >> and just at that moment. what happened was.

well sheer luck. >> directly across the lobby. in the male side of the visitation area. they had mac to see his attorneys who happen to arrive the same time as we did. >> coincidentally? >> and also coincidentally the jailers had them ikea across the hall from each other. separated by glass partitions. >> they could see each other? >> yes. i said he has his lawyer and detective over there with him. and he is writing you out. so she starts to wave her arms to get his attention. so she snaps and she breaks. >> with a little bit more encouragement from andy savage that is, his deal? if heather told him exactly where to find cates body, and if it turned out that she had nothing to do with any murder. and he would help her with her forgery charges. and at that moment heather agreed to tell the a-team what they needed to know. her directions were precise. they drove out here right away. >> that is the large oak tree that she described. and then she says if you look farther up to your left in the

marsh. you will see a -- running down to the water. and she says that after you do that. you look to your left over here. on my right and left. and she said you will see some under brush growing. and she said that case remains, or the body, is five feet from this path. from this roadway. >> incredibly detailed. just the sort of place to leave a body. but? just like the police. the team found nothing. >> i was very disturbed. why are we not finding her? because we were super convinced that she was here. >> they searched until darkness. finally forcing them out of the marsh. and then they called andy savage who was out of town on business. >> they are on the cell phone from where they are. i am in the hotel in boston. i punch of the address from google earth. and i'm looking at the satellite imagery of where they

are. and i said while james is there a doc off to your left? so i was pretty well able to identify where they were. so i said what you have to do is just print that off. >> isn't that amazing you can do that from thousands of miles away? >> you can also do it from the police station. >> the google maps team shows the 18 how and why they while the trail. savage wasn't ready to give up on heather. but he wasn't naive either. >> we knew that she was a sociopath liar. i wanted something specific from her. give me something that nobody else knows so that we can believe what you are saying is true. and that is when she told us about the souvenirs from kate's body. the jewelry she was wearing and

where it was located. >> they found kates jewelry at a pawn shop. and behind the dresser in their tiny apartment, kate's key chain. the one that she had gotten in moscow. ethan, said, heather took it from kate's purse as a memento. she was telling them the truth. so they decided the next morning and first night. armed with google mail and more detail from heather. that they would return to the island. >> all that we were believing was now coming to fruition. all of our suspicions had activity. at that point we knew that we had the right people. >> once they. they would be going without the police. good idea? maybe not. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> coming up, the a-team. under arrest? >> you mean you are arrested? >> we were -- we couldn't leave because they -- >> this was a twist that even they did not see coming. when dateline continues. >> they early son had cuts the mist off the marshes island, now the still air was heating up to another dripping hot day. bobby and jean frazier shared a car from the city and wrote in silence most of the way. confident that the directions

that heather had given them where correct this time so this was it but it was somehow fitting that bobby which is the one they call the human bloodhound was the first to spot her. >> i saw what looked like an animal path where animals or something had pretty much beat down the bush so i walked up the animal path and started walking parallel with the warm road and i saw what looked like bones and i said i think i found her. i said hey y'all come here i think i found her and it was just like a ton of bricks came off of me up that point and i said oh my god there she is and there wasn't much left but just bowed. >> in the end it took only six minutes to find the remains of kate and does that last to sell their promise to the parents. >> bobby which standing and took two shots with my camera just a document the scene where it was where we saw it and i went back out of the woods and bobby followed me out and we called 9-1-1. >> 9-1-1 emergency? >> yes this is robert. >> do you need police or ems there?

>> police. >> where is the address? >> there is no i address. it's in the words. >> you believe that you found the body of kate? >> yes. >> in the woods? >> yes. >> but listen to what happens after bobby hangs up, the 9-1-1 recording continues. you can hear the operator spreading the body around a bit skeptical that the mystery is finally solved. >> hey. sergeant. you ready for this? this guy says he found kate wearing off the words off of poly-point road. on the island. >> all right. >> he says he knows he has her. >> of poly point roads the cobbs instinctively reverted to long practice procedure. >> we said okay let's see here the crime scene and back out before lawton forsman gets here. >> so far so good. but what happened next was quite a surprise. >> the first officer was a deputy. and pretty much said we are going to show you where the remains are. but it's your crime scene now. and we are backing off. and that's what we did. >> but that wasn't the end of

it. was it? >> no. we were detained. to put it mildly. >> detained? >> detained. placed in separate police cars. >> the man you are arrested? >> very strictly by the legal definition we were not free to leave. that made that clear. and well we couldn't leave because they seized my car. >> but wait a minute. you found the body. showed him where it was? >> that is correct. they wanted a statement from us. we had from the better beginning. not just what we had that day. >> the whole long story? >> basically what they were asking for. and in fact they had been given the story all the way along as it occurred. >> hours later the ex detectives were finally released. but not bill's car. they didn't get that back until they filed motion papers for an injunction. and even now, years later, the memory still rankles. all of them. till rankles all of them. all of them. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com feeling ughh from a backed up gut?

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but st. jude is doing the work, continually researching towards cures, giving more than just my child a chance at life. interviewer: please, call or go online right now and become a st. jude partner in hope for only $19 a month. subject 5: those donations really matter because we're not going to give up. and when you see other people not giving up on your child, it makes all the difference in the world. interviewer: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt. you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. subject 6: st. jude is hope. even today after losing a child, it's still about the hope of tomorrow, because. childhood cancer has to end.

interviewer: please, call or go online right now. [music playing] [coughs] when caroline has a cough, she takes robitussin. so, she can have those one on ones again. hey jim! can we talk about casual fridays? oh sure. what's up? get fast, powerful cough relief with robitussin, and find your voice. ♪robitussin♪ >> 34 years and the police and find your voice. keith morrison (voiceover): they call it the palmetto, the train that glides down the eastern seaboard, eight hours from washington to charleston. fine city to meet a stranger. department. he said in the back in the police car and have some guy question you? get you to take a statement? >> that's right.

like a criminal. we were sitting in the back of a car like a criminal. and we called it like we see it. >> still. this was it. the news travel to the house on the battery. the wearing's fell from their anxiety. and into grief. >> mixed emotions. relief that she has been found. but at the same time devastating grief that now you have conclusive evidence that your only daughter is dead. and that you are never going to see her again. >> and then as soon as they were allowed after the crime scene tape came down. after all the evidence was taken away. the whole team assembled at the spot where kate lay hidden for so long. all except tom who did not want the image burned into his brain. the dismal place, the love of his life lay dead. but perhaps it was a mother thing. jen's had to be here. she said. had to see it. >> it helped me to see for myself that it was so remote. we would not have found her in 1 million years. and not knowing where she is.

i mean it is just, it would've been horrible. >> they formed a circle. and held hands. around the place that they knew that she had been. >> one of the investigators is at duke at his church. and he said a prayer. >> it's beautiful what they're marsh. and docks and i think it might have given me is wearing some pace. thinking at least it wasn't in a garbage dump somewhere. it's a peaceful place. god's place. >> so now the a-team had done its job. and kate's killers could finally be brought to justice. or so you would think. but the mystery, the web that was spun on that train down from washington. was far stranger and more bizarre than you had so far heard.

and justice? well. we shall see. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> coming up. they thought they solved the case. but what it stick? >> frankly. we did not have a lot of evidence. we had a lot of opinions, and we had a lot of conjecture. moïse but actual evidence? it just was not there. >> and the close call that just might have saved kate waring life. >> i always feel if i could've hung on one more month. i could've helped her. >> when dateline continues. >> almost everybody in charleston, south carolina knows who the county solicitor is. scarlett they call her.

solicitor scarlett wilson officially. well-known popular prosecutor. and solicitor wilson had a problem. actually two problems. for one thing, -- lifted a deal to turn state evidence against eight. and then plead guilty to murder in exchange. her credibility, as you will soon see, is not exactly aaa. and despite all the information that the a-team uncovered. what could be used in court was thin. >> frankly we did not have a lot of evidence. we had a lot of opinions. and we had a lot of conjecture. but actual evidence. tried it just was not there. >> cates skeletal remains gave them none of the evidence the

jury like to see. and the coroner was unable to establish in the cause of death. and as for the personal items of cates that they found ethan 's apartment? those could have easily been gifts. the two are supposedly best friends after all. and to top it off there was the amazing tale that came with the state star witness. heather. it is true that she helped the investigators find cates body. and agreed to testify against the man that she revealed she saint-front had actually married soon after the crime. but heather was also, as ethan's lawyer was discovering, agreed a world-class liar. agreed a world-class liar. agreed a world-class liar. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect

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conniving, evil, evil, lying type director. she was a true con artist. just with the most horrid background of anyone i had ever seen. a true sociopath. >> david was certain that heather on that trade took one look at kate waring and knew that she had found her ideal next mark. why was david aylor so sure? his research he said had turned up so many victims to filibuster the poor house. >> we had 13 different names that we could use for her.

these were men and women all over the country. she would say that she was pregnant she. would say that her children had died of leukemia. that man had beat her. >> her scam? control the internet for men and move in, and police, him and leave him with a mountain of debt. all the while pretending to be the doctor, the heiress, or the daughter of a mafia style drug family. >> that was probably the worst whirlwind that i've ever been through. seen. done. in my entire life. >> there was chris beard for example. in pennsylvania. >> just being around her made me feel better. because that is what i wanted. i wanted to be loved. >> he found her on the internet. in less than two months they were engaged. and she said that she was pregnant. >> at the time that i had met her i had no credit cards to my

name whatsoever. >> she persuaded him she said to get 15 cards. which he maxed out leaving him $33,000 in debt. and by the way she told his sister in law lori. >> that she was a pediatric specialist and she had worked with children and. that was her specialty. >> and as lori had been having some behavioral issues with her daughter. heather gave the girl a blood test. >> to see if there was anything wrong with her. >> and?

>> she said i want you to know that your daughter's bipolar. >> but it was odd. how would geno based on a blood test that her daughter was bipolar? and why would heather use her own diabetes kid for the test? lori hit the internet to check out the woman who was playing doctor with her child. >> and found that she actually was a wanted felon. >> so she called the cops who arrested heather in the act of spending more of chris's mother. but somehow she got off the hook. the lorry press charges and pushed hard for a prosecution. nobody followed through. and lori eventually gave up. lives with the guilt now. >> i think it was a month or so after i gave it up. that's when she came to d. c. and she had met kate. and i always feel if i could've hung on one more month i could've helped them get her. >> now as he prepared to defend ethan, david was feeling much better. his chief accuser was a practiced con artist. would any jury believe her? ethan might be naive, said

eylar, but the story had never changed. >> they had gone out to dinner. he, kate, heather. after they went up to dinner he dropped kate off at their parents home in downtown austin. spoke with her a couple times he had text message that night. and did not talk to her again after that. >> so it was all on heather. and with her as ethan's chief accuser. how could any jury convict him? but just days before the trial was to start. solicitors scarlett wilson finally uncovered something the case lacked. a clear motive. she found it she said in letters that kate wrote to a friend just before she disappeared. >> she was talking about how someone has tried to extend her credit limit. or has tried to assume her identity. and mess with her money in her bank. and she was livid. and i think that kate was threatening to get her father involved. and that was a new dimension for heather camp. >> but she didn't need katy is an enemy? . >> i have no doubt that katie confronted heather camp with

that. >> and that prosecutor says that ethan and kate decided that they had to keep her from talking. kate had to die. >> he began to make a choice to join in the scam to rip off kate waring. >> finally the prosecutors felt ready. almost a year to the day after kate was found she launched the trial of eaton mac. the sole defendant in the courtroom. heather having taken the plea agreement. -- though what they saw defied preparation. >> we had to see images. and see what they was like when they found her. and go through all the forensics. we were seeing that for the first time along with the jurors and all those other spectators in the courtroom. >> the a-team took the stand, as well as detectives and those from the police department to present the evidence. >> over a stupid forgery? >> prosecutor wilson told the jury that ethan and heather killed cage to avoid getting caught forging checks and using her credit cards. and then heather took the stand. and told the jury that it was ethan, not her, who learned cates to their tiny apartments. then sscha wdrowned her in the . and dumpebeca wth convince could've ho>> e things. >> heather camp iheather camp if eather camp is someone stealing. >> but, heather's testimony did seem to terrify one person.etha. and it showed>> when he was in , it. on this man? did the jury, did anyone have this crime figure out? >> coming up! a surprise from the jury. and another one from ethan max mom. >> his mother said there is more to the story. and you need to tell, it and you need to tell it right now. >> when dateline continues! >> they call it the palmetto. the train that rides down the eastern seaboard -- . from washington to charleston. to be a stranger. >> sat in the same seat. laughed. we're joking the whole way. started talking. >> heather camp, freshly supplied with jewelry and cash on her last mark. just by chance found herself setting with a woman wearing jewelry and access to such cash as heather had never seen before. >> what did you see in her? why did you like her? >> she was funny. very funny.

>> now, sitting here in jail. heather claimed she saw kate not as her next victim, but her friend. in charleston when she professed her lover kates professed her lover kates lili>>you her. says heather. they took kate back to the apartet>>he starts chasing her. and he doesn't stop. tase rsonse her death. >> i do not take i that. >> stolem her,bu kill kate? no heather camp will not co t instead, thithe stor grifter had for us right from the start y husband wanted to rihe because she had many >> but wt. would ethan want any har to ce to hfriend kate >> the was was tha ethan never consered h friend >> no. friend hers he babysng her and she became a proor ho're.ame a real problem s when katd out that she and ethan were stealing from her. he was like i'm gonna anat scared ethan. that nightghtmare cause he not going to go jail. >> so yo sayinthan was the mastermind not yo>> yes yes. >> so afr dinnnigh says heath they took kato the ethan got her le high.>> after h was in a very good mood. >> there was a big suitcase on the floor. ethan dared her to get in. she did. did not see the taser that h was holding. he starts chasing her. and he doesn't stop. and by the time he removes thi taser. whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. options start at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate-lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. so call now for free information, and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. and it's yours free just for calling, so call now for free information.

. i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." you just never know. [screams] dennis murphy (voiceover): it started with a frightening horror flick from the '80s. the premise of the movie is, we're going to take

i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm craig melvin >> and and then, poof, they're going to be hunted down. dennis murphy (voiceover): then, decades later, something truly frightening. it was happening for real-- a strange vanishing in the forest. immediately, we knew something was wrong. dennis murphy (voiceover): then-- your heart just broke. dennis murphy (voiceover): --cheryl, then meredith, two women missing and two desperate efforts to find them. she could be alive, and we just can't let up. dennis murphy (voiceover): could this old movie hold the key to these new cases? a little blood, a little sex, a little violence. dennis murphy (voiceover): a film fantasy turns chilling reality. if someone has her, she's afraid. dennis murphy (voiceover): who could be behind this? and how would this real life story end? she was a blue belt in judo. if anybody could survive it, it was meredith. if anybody could fight, it was meredith.

our national forests are places of refuge for folks that want to get away from the city and have a sense of peace, commune with nature. but you have to be aware of your surroundings all the time because you just never know. dennis murphy (voiceover): the splendors of america's national parks and forest lands are poems just waiting to be written by each new visitor, from the cathedrals of the rockies to the quiet glades and old growth of the appalachians. it's here in the parks we have the promise of stepping out of the hubbub of our chattering daily routine. that was the kind of serenity meredith emerson sought on a crisp new year's day in the north georgia mountains, not more than foothills, really, for a young woman who loved to trail climb her native rockies. it was 2008 as the young sales assistant set out from buford,

georgia, with her dog, ella. her roommate, julia karrenbauer, from college days had slept in that morning. julia karrenbauer: she had left me a note, just a little note on a chalkboard. took ella, went hiking. not where, not when, not when i'm going to be back. so it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. dennis murphy (voiceover): meredith, like roomie julia, was a dog person. she doted on ella, her black lab mix, since finding her at a rescue shelter. julia karrenbauer: she had two dogs growing up, and she wanted one of her own. and so she just kind of talked about it and researched what she wanted and definitely wanted to rescue a dog. and finally found one, went out, loved her, and brought her home. and it really was the light of her life. dennis murphy (voiceover): julia, the roommate, didn't know that meredith and ella were heading 40 miles north to blood mountain in the chattahoochee national forest. despite the creepy teen slasher movie name, blood mountain is one of the most popular places to hike in the southeast.

the famous appalachian trail to maine takes off from just south of here. back in buford, the roommate spent her new year's day with friends and didn't notice that meredith hadn't come home until the next morning, a back to work day. she would leave ella in my room. and i would take care of her in the morning. and i'm like, oh, ella's not here. that was a little strange to me. and i called her cell phone, and it went straight to voicemail. and i kind of thought maybe she was at work. when did you become anxious, julia? when i got to work. she worked with a good friend of ours. and the friend called me and said meredith didn't show up for work. and meredith was always at work. she was the first one at work. dennis murphy (voiceover): reliable meredith wasn't where she was supposed to be. julia called the sheriff's office. then she and some of meredith's other friends assembled a search party. maybe she'd twisted her ankle hiking and taken a tumble. they started with that note on the chalkboard. do you know where "i'm going hiking" would naturally be? we had a few ideas. we took some books that she had and some

places that she highlighted and kind of just started driving. dennis murphy (voiceover): the friends split up, looking for meredith's car at trailheads she'd marked in her hiking guides. there was four of us in the car. we were trying to call park rangers and anybody that may have seen her or her car. and then a friend of hers found her car, called us and said, i found it. and there was snow on it. dennis murphy (voiceover): the car was in a parking area at the base of blood mountain. and we drove as fast as we could there and just knew, you know, just that sinking feeling when you first see it. dennis murphy (voiceover): the friends raced up the blood mountain feeder path to the appalachian trail, but no trace of meredith or ella. so by nightfall, the search became all the more urgent as a cold front moved in, and temperatures on blood mountain plunged below zero. at daybreak, thursday now, the friends were joined by deputies from the local sheriff's office. john cagle, just shy of retirement, was the agent in charge for the georgia bureau of investigation, the state's top cops.

we received a request from a local agency to help with a missing hiker. dennis murphy (voiceover): the case of the hiker missing for two days didn't look good to the seasoned detective because of some disturbing items that had been recovered on the trail. dennis murphy: what were the things that were found out in that trail area that you thought were alarming? john cagle: a couple of water bottles, a dog leash, and a police expandable baton. this is a piece of professional gear. it is. it's just a metal pipe that is expandable. you see almost every uniformed police officer in the nation carrying these things. did those artifacts, the water bottle, the baton, found together, tell you a story at all or suggest something ominous? yes, we found those items in an area where the ground had appeared to have been disturbed. and we became concerned that possibly a struggle took place there. dennis murphy (voiceover): meredith's water bottles, ella's leash, and signs of a struggle-- nothing about the scene looked good to the veteran lawman, especially that expandable police baton that was found.

he called in help. we eventually partnered with over 18 or 19 police agencies to help for the search of meredith. dennis murphy (voiceover): her friends were naturally beside themselves. you know, your heart just broke because you think something happened. somebody had a weapon. and her stuff was there. so you're thinking at the very least, she's been abducted. yep, and it was so hard because it wasn't something that we could talk about until we could actually prove that. dennis murphy (voiceover): the cops commandeered a park building as headquarters. we began getting information pretty quickly. from people who had hiked the trails that day? - right. - remembered her. remembered her, and we began to get disturbing news of a strange-looking individual with meredith, who also had a dog. thumbnail description, this other person. what were you hearing? strange-looking, just a wiry kind of guy. older guy. older guy. we even developed a vehicle description, a white van. dennis murphy (voiceover): the lead

on the van came from this photo taken by a hiker in the blood mountain parking lot the night before meredith emerson went missing. a "be on the lookout" advisory went out for the guy driving a white van accompanied by his reddish dog. it is going to be a white male between the ages of 50 and 60 years old, approximately 160 pounds. it was described as he has bad dental. he had a dark reddish colored retriever. we put out that information through the media in atlanta and actually got a call from someone who said i think i know who this is. dennis murphy (voiceover): coming up, this mysterious stranger would prove to be stranger than anyone expected. i just turned white at one point. i felt the blood leave my face. dennis murphy (voiceover): meredith emerson had not been the only one missing in the forest. if she's still alive and someone has her, she's afraid. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues.

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rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine.

the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? make it arexvy. feeling ughh from a backed up gut? miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go... ...free your gut. and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber, try new mirafiber gummies.

shingles. some describe it as an intense burning sensation, or an unbearable itch. this painful, blistering rash can disrupt your life for weeks and could make it hard to be there for your loved ones. shingles could also lead to serious complications that can last for years. if you're over 50, the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside you. and as you age, your risk of developing shingles increases. don't wait. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles today. ask your doctor or pharmacist meredith emerson and her lab, ella, were two days missing on georgia's blood mountain early in a freezing january of 2007. her friends had alerted the authorities, and people from all over the greater atlanta area were scouring the hiking trails. so many volunteers, they couldn't use all of them. people just showed up and just said, i have a daughter who likes to hike. i have a sister who could have been meredith easily.

and they just volunteered their time. dennis murphy (voiceover): but the search in the national forest had become something more ominous than a lost hiker incident. meredith had been last seen in the company of an unsavory looking stranger. and law enforcement was about to identify him. the tip came from john tabor, an atlanta businessman. he was watching the continuing news coverage of missing meredith during his morning workout. when they started giving the description of the person of interest, my ears really perked up. i think i just turned white at one point. i felt the blood leave my face. tabor, the businessman, thought, this has got to be gary hilton. hilton was a guy who'd worked on and off for him for years, first as a telemarketer, then as an independent contractor in a siding business. he even lived for a while in this little house that tabor owned. what was the thought that was taking shape as you're listening to this? the first thing that really got my attention is where the event happened, where she went missing, blood mountain.

i knew that was a place he liked to hang out, that he had a dog with him. and most importantly was the evidence that they had found at the scene. i knew hilton always had a extendable police baton with him. dennis murphy (voiceover): the tip and a name quickly led to a georgia driver's license for 61-year-old gary michael hilton. investigators showed the photo to hikers who id'd him as the scruffy mystery man seen with meredith on blood mountain. the manhunt was on. john cagle: we put that name and face out. and it's plastered all over the metro atlanta area. it is. dennis murphy (voiceover): the apb went well beyond the georgia border. hilton's name and picture were all over the regional news. light bulbs began going off to the south around tallahassee, florida's capital, when people there saw his photo on tv. the search for gary hilton was about to widen. the mystery man person of interest in the meredith emerson case looked familiar to people who thought they'd seen him just about the time they'd learned

of the sad case of another woman who'd gone missing, cheryl dunlap, a nurse and mother. when cheryl didn't turn up for church one december sunday in 2007 and then missed her sunday school class, red flags went up. next door neighbor and friend tanya land. sunday morning at church, i turned around and looked at her usual spot, and she wasn't there. and she didn't teach her class. she didn't. and immediately, we knew something was wrong because that's just not like her. dennis murphy (voiceover): everyone who knew her agreed-- 46-year-old cheryl was reliable, a woman solid in her faith and set in her habits. her fellow nurse friend and prayer partner, laura walker. she always liked to hear what we call our praise reports, like something good that happened with a patient or a coworker. dennis murphy (voiceover): when monday morning rolled around and tanya still hadn't been able to reach cheryl, she walked next door. i went back down to her house and saw that the dog was at the house, but the car was gone. so i called her office several times, and they hadn't seen her.

dennis murphy (voiceover): cheryl's daughter-in-law tabitha called the sheriff's office to report her missing. when tanya said she didn't show up for work, i knew that there was a problem. dennis murphy (voiceover): after that missing persons report was filed, the friends heard about a car that looked like cheryl's spotted on the side of the highway leading into tallahassee. they headed up there. tanya land: it was cheryl's car and immediately, they sent a deputy up there and just took over from that point. are you apprehensive? yeah, i was very uneasy. i knew that there was something wrong. dennis murphy (voiceover): cheryl's car was parked well off the highway. florida department of law enforcement agent annie white. it was pretty clear from the beginning that that's not someplace that she would have parked it, as well as the tire looked like it had been purposely flattened on the vehicle. dennis murphy (voiceover): an abandoned car, a slashed tire. lord, where is she? dennis murphy (voiceover): searchers, law enforcement volunteers began fanning out into the adjacent 57,000 acre apalachicola national forest, all of them with dread in their hearts. i would be devastated if something like this

happened to my family. and so that's why i want to be out here and try to help as much as i can. there were massive searches in town. thousands of people showed up to comb the woods looking for her. it was clear very early on that this was unusual for her. she would not have gotten in the car with someone. she just was not the person who would have disappeared. dennis murphy (voiceover): jennifer portman was a senior writer for the "tallahassee democrat." jennifer portman: we're talking about north florida in the panhandle area. people are bound by their schools, by their family, by their churches. and sunday school teachers with children and a grandchild don't go missing. that's exactly right. dennis murphy (voiceover): her friends and family were as baffled as the police by cheryl's disappearance. law enforcement was trying to put the pieces together. when they looked into cheryl's background, nothing jumped out at them. two sons, a long settled divorce, no boyfriends. then, on tuesday, four days after she was last seen, the cops got her bank records. something was up. we found where some atm activity had occurred in leon county.

so that's a big break. yes, sir, and then upon viewing that video in leon county, it was clear it was not her. this was a male subject using her card. he was disguising his face. so we knew at that point definitely that it was probably not going to be a good outcome for ms. dunlap. dennis murphy (voiceover): the disguised man made three separate withdrawals of $700. the atm he tapped was in downtown tallahassee near the campus of the state u, miles from where cheryl's car was found. so you and the team stake out the atm machine. annie white: we stayed there several days, day and night, watching the atm. and he never came back to that one. dennis murphy (voiceover): the search for cheryl stretched on for weeks. tanya land: and a lot of us went out on our own and searched the woods and went to places we thought, you know, she could possibly be. dennis murphy: but the more time goes on, inevitably-- laura walker: i just remember just-- --the fear sets in, huh? yeah, just sleepless-- dennis murphy: this is not going to end well. --nights. just because i'm thinking, if she's still alive and someone has her, she's afraid.

dennis murphy (voiceover): mid-december 2007, two weeks after cheryl disappeared, some hunters out training their dogs in the national forest noticed a vulture circling in the sky above them. and went to check it out and discovered the body. dennis murphy (voiceover): a female body missing its head and hands, a grisly fact not released at the time. you'd think that this is someone trying to conceal the identity. very much. dennis murphy (voiceover): it took a dna sample from her toothbrush to identify the remains as those of cheryl dunlap. someone called and said, laura, they found a body. we pulled over on the side of the road and just, you know, just-- that was it, huh? laura walker: yeah. the awareness was there. it was surreal. you know, the thing you hear about in movies. and it was so close to home that in our small community, that something like this could happen. dennis murphy (voiceover): now with cops in florida looking hard at gary hilton in the dunlap murder and counterparts in georgia convinced that he'd taken meredith emerson, authorities started

hearing about yet another national forest homicide, this one in north carolina. so then you've got to be saying to all your team of investigators, what do we have here? that's right. and so now we're really wondering who we have here and where is he. and more importantly, where's meredith? dennis murphy (voiceover): coming up. do we have a killer running around loose in the national forest? dennis murphy (voiceover): concern for meredith deepens, but her friends know something that man on the mountain couldn't. a blue belt in aikido and a blue belt in judo. if anybody could survive, it was meredith. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues. i'm jonathan lawson, here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price.

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join the millions of people where was meredith hope emerson? could she still be alive somewhere out there in george's chattahoochee national forest? and did the 24-year-old hiker have a prayer if she were, indeed, in the clutches of mystery man gary hilton? the search on blood mountain went into a third day. we had the hope. i mean, we were there from sunup to sundown plus. i mean, we were there through the night in the cold and all the searchers. but if anybody could survive, it was meredith. and if anybody could fight somebody like that, it was meredith. dennis murphy (voiceover): meredith's parents had flown in from colorado and joined the searchers. peggy bailey, a family friend, was their spokeswoman. let me tell you something. meredith emerson could do anything. she is feisty.

she is strong. she's tiny and petite, 120 pounds. but let me tell you, i have every hope that if anybody could-- she can run those mountains. she-- she's a strong person. if anybody can survive this, she can. dennis murphy (voiceover): the missing woman was deceptively strong. not just an experienced hiker, but an accomplished martial arts enthusiast as well. a blue belt in aikido and a blue belt in judo. so take her on at your peril. absolutely. i mean, she would fight you. and she would actually come home and tell me, you know, i threw this 220-pound man. i beat him up today in class. dennis murphy (voiceover): by now, with half of georgia looking for this gary hilton, authorities outside tallahassee, florida to the south were wondering about his connections with a missing woman there. it was then that the detectives got solid information about another killing in a national forest. we're in our command post, and a detective walked in and said that they had a case. it took place in north carolina involving a husband and wife,

that the wife had been murdered in the pisgah national forest. dennis murphy (voiceover): that detective was working an unsolved case that had cops in north carolina bewildered. david mahoney, a sheriff of transylvania county, a beautiful place with an ominous name that has nothing to do with fangs dripping blood. we have some wonderful attractions here. all of those things, along with the slower pace of life, is what brings folks and keeps folks here. dennis murphy (voiceover): folks like john and irene bryant, who, after raising a family, retired here, far from the brutal winters of upstate new york and close to the hiking trails they loved. holly bryant is the youngest of their four children. they love the outdoors. when they were first married, they used to go out hiking in the mountains. they would take us hiking. and as they got older, they'd take the grandchildren out hiking, too. dennis murphy (voiceover): the bryants had a lifetime of outdoors experience, had hiked all over the world.

holly bryant: my father completed the appalachian trail, which is 2,000 miles from georgia to maine. they traveled extensively to new zealand and all through europe, all through america, especially the southwestern and northwestern united states. dennis murphy (voiceover): in late october 2008, two months before meredith emerson disappeared, the couple set off on a day hike in the 500,000 acre pisgah national forest. no one heard from them for two weeks. they always let us know if they were going on one of their many trips. so it was totally unlike them to just disappear. dennis murphy (voiceover): their son bob flew in from texas. the newspapers were around the doorstep. he broke into the home and found their breakfast was still out on the table, but obviously, many days old. and he knew something was terribly wrong. my brother searched.

he went up and down every little back road throughout the park. dennis murphy (voiceover): he found their car at a trailhead in the national forest. by then, sheriff mahoney's office was involved. the rescue squad began a search, assuming that there had been some medical problem or some illness that had fallen upon them. in my heart, i knew that wasn't the case. there was just no way they would both be hurt like that. they were very, very experienced. unfortunately, it was not very long after we began that search that we discovered the body of mrs. bryant. there was a sense of finality. i knew she was gone already. but that little glimmer particle of hope was extinguished when they found her body. dennis murphy (voiceover): irene bryant's remains were located 30 yards from where her son had come upon the car. she had been bludgeoned to death. but where was the husband? david mahoney: we began an even more extensive search for mr. bryant.

and that search really involved the entire area of the pisgah national forest. dennis murphy (voiceover): within hours of discovering irene bryant's body, detectives learned $300 had been withdrawn from the bryants' accounts using an atm card in ducktown, tennessee. they had a picture from the machine. the man that had concealed his head and face that was able to successfully use the bryants' atm. dennis murphy (voiceover): whoever was making the withdrawal, it wasn't 79-year-old john bryant. but time and geography were working against the lawmen. we spent weeks everywhere in that entire area. we did everything from vehicle patrol, atv patrolling, horseback, on foot, everywhere. dennis murphy (voiceover): john bryant had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. the fbi posted a $10,000 reward for information, but the bryant case went cold until meredith emerson loomed on the lawmen's radar. david mahoney: our lead investigator

began following that case. and immediately, there were some similarities that we saw between the two cases. both of these incidents occurred on forest service land. we really felt like that the two were probably connected. we may go years without a homicide. this was very, very different. do we have a killer running around loose in the national forest? dennis murphy (voiceover): in georgia, the searchers looking for meredith emerson and her dog ella on blood mountain were hoping and praying that they weren't dealing with a homicide. do everything we can do to make sure that if she's up there, that we get her out of there and get her out of there safely. if she's not out there, to do everything we can do to eliminate that as a possibility and then continue the investigation from there. dennis murphy (voiceover): georgia authorities were compositing a profile of gary hilton, who was starting to look like a person of interest not only in the meredith emerson disappearance case, but in at least two unsolved murders in the national forest.

their findings were deeply troubling. coming up, might a movie hold the key to this case? premise of the movie is, we're going to take some women into the woods, and then, poof, they're going to be hunted down. dennis murphy (voiceover): maybe, once investigators learn who was behind it. is gary involved in this? gary is helping me throughout. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues. hey, you should try new robitussin honey medi-soothers for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills.

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hi. i'm fran esrivera with a look at the hour's top stories. in south korea a south korean leader was injured by an unknown attacker. an officialicize lee is conscious but his exact condition is not yet known. and the match up for monday's title game is set.

the michigan wolverines will take on the washington huskies in houston following their new year's day win at the rose bowl and sugar bowl. now back to "dateline." bowl now back to "dateline. somewhere warm, their dog, you know, and somebody might just have her or something like that. it kind of makes me feel a little better knowing that we haven't found anything here yet. dennis murphy (voiceover): while hundreds of volunteers and deputies scoured the forest for clues, detectives were trying to get a handle on gary hilton, the suspect in her disappearance and who was by now a person of interest in at least two murders. john tabor, hilton's former boss, gave investigators what background he had on his eccentric loner employee. tabor had known him for nearly a decade. the only interest that he had in life seemed to be his dog and going out camping for extended periods of time in the wilderness with his dog. and he seemed to like that type of isolation.

dennis murphy (voiceover): hilton's dog dandy had been at his side since he started working for tabor. the former boss had come to regard hilton as a hare triggered nutcase. he often told stories of going to parks with his dog. and he would end up in altercations with other pet owners. it was always the same story. he would reprimand the other dog owner's behavior. then the other dog owner would get angry at him and verbally or physically assault him, so he was always the victim. dennis murphy (voiceover): for the first nine years, hilton worked at his siding business. tabor recalled him as a good employee. then something seemed to snap. things started to change quite dramatically starting in 2007. and what happened then? he just wasn't doing any work. i decided to go and just see what was going on over there. it was a very bizarre scene. how so? his physical appearance was quite different. he immediately smiled to show that he was missing several teeth. and he went on to explain that he had actually taken a pair of pliers and removed some of his teeth. and he said he enjoyed doing that because it

frightened people. and he seemed to enjoy showing himself in that manner? john tabor: yes. that kind of ghoulish presentation? he was acting-- he was very animated. he was very talkative. dennis murphy (voiceover): tabor fired hilton, who then turned around and claimed tabor owed him money. by midsummer 2007, the siding guy said he feared for his safety. he finally threatened to kill me. i mean, he made it very clear. dennis murphy (voiceover): tabor took those threats seriously. i immediately armed myself with a glock 9 millimeter and an ar-15 assault rifle. i started driving a rental car so he wouldn't know what vehicle i was in. he was your boogeyman. absolutely. it was a terrifying ordeal not to know what was going to happen, to pull in your driveway and have someone jump out of the bushes and maybe assassinate you. dennis murphy (voiceover): when the former boss finally went to the police with his story, it seemed to do the trick. within a day or two, he had packed up all of his belongings and moved on. put all the stuff in the van and took off. yes. dennis murphy (voiceover): john tabor was relieved to see hilton in his rear view mirror, but he was nonetheless puzzled by the change

that had come over the man. when you're around someone for nearly 10 years and it's uneventful, there's nothing that ever happens that suggests a demonic violent personality that apparently materialized somehow. dennis murphy (voiceover): tabor had part of the gary hilton picture. a veteran atlanta criminal defense lawyer added more. sam rael had defended hilton years back on some minor-ish beefs. we did a jury trial on a drug case possession. he was accused on a misdemeanor of acting like a charity, and he really wasn't a charity. and he'd raise money to help the little children. of course, he pocketed it. did he have a job to speak of or anything that he did professionally? his job was scamming. that's what he did, mostly. dennis murphy: you knew him as a con man, basically. right. he was a little con. when he got tripped up, he'd go call on you. he did. dennis murphy (voiceover): rael, the lawyer, wears two hats. he's also a movie producer. not hollywood, but more of the direct release to video school.

his low budget titles are seen more often in asian night market stalls than your local multiplex. this is a 2004 release. robert, i can't do that! don't do it. shoot me, nelly. no, no. shoot me! horror, gory, what's the genre? i try not to make it gory. but at the end of the day, a little blood, a little sex, a little violence can't hurt. dennis murphy (voiceover): as it turned out, cops on the meredith emerson case were particularly interested in rael's first movie, "deadly run." he made it back in 1985 with the assistance of his scam artist client, gary hilton. the movie is that we're going to take some women into the woods, and then we're going to befriend those women. and then, poof, they're going to be hunted down and killed. is gary involved in this? i mean, the sense of, like, a scriptwriter or anything

that formal? gary is helping me throughout and then helping the star figure out how to be a serial killer. these are ideas you guys are knocking around. gary has a dark side sometimes here and there. he wants to get involved in the movie, but he wants to make it darker and more horrible. he'd like to have more blood, more gore, have rape, have more killings, things like that. i thought we toned it down and made a better movie. [screams] sam rael: he suggested that we do it up in the woods. he helped me find some of the locations. we found the cabin. dennis murphy (voiceover): that cabin used in the movie happened to be in the chattahoochee national forest, just north of where meredith emerson went missing. he's around the table as you guys collaborate on this film. how is he behaving around your group of movie people? sam rael: when the movie was being made, he's animated, but interesting. so he's not a loner. no, he's a loner. he's a psychopath.

he's a sociopath. he's always trying to get one step ahead of the law. he's always doing something a little bit wrong. but all my clients, they do that, too. it sounds like you're talking about kind of a charming guy. he was charming. he was personable. he was a fellow that you'd want to meet. which are all skills you need to be a successful con man, if you're going to keep an edge. dennis murphy (voiceover): but the lawyer and movie producer had a falling out with hilton over, of all things, a dog. dogs seem to be important to him. dogs were very important to him. he wound up with my dog. but-- what do you mean? i had a dog, a nice little golden retriever. we had him in the backyard. all of a sudden, i come back one day. the dog is gone. of course, i'm very upset about it. and then i find out that gary took the dog. he stole your dog? yeah. dennis murphy (voiceover): as their profile of hilton became clearer and became more troubling, investigators looking for him and meredith were desperate for any lead on his whereabouts.

and they were about to get one. i answer my cell phone. and i heard his voice. i couldn't believe it. dennis murphy (voiceover): coming up, a trap is set to lure gary hilton from his hiding spot. i was trying to play it cool. dennis murphy (voiceover): and a dramatic new lead-- could it lead police to meredith? she could be alive. and we just can't let up. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com feeling ughh from a backed up gut?

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and find your voice. police were convinced the missing hiker meredith emerson was under the control of gary hilton somewhere in north georgia. the more they learned about the survivalist oddball who was a person of interest in two murders in national forest elsewhere, the more they feared for her. a friend of meredith's family appealed directly to hilton. i hope that if he realized that this would be helpful, that his heart would be softened and turned to coming forward with information. so please, please have the courage to come forward. we need you. dennis murphy (voiceover): their next lead, the big one, came from an unlikely source-- the suspect himself. three days into meredith's disappearance, gary hilton called his old boss, tabor. i answer my cell phone, and i heard his voice. i couldn't believe it. he pretended and acted as though nothing was wrong. so he didn't let on to you that he was the subject of a manhunt. oh, absolutely not. he acted as though he knew nothing about it, which,

apparently, was the case. he apparently had no idea. he apologized at length for his past behavior and on the terms of which he left. he said that he was ill and that, now, he felt better. and he realized the errors of his ways, and he was ready to get back to work. dennis murphy (voiceover): startled, but thinking fast, tabor tried to lure hilton to an agreed upon location with a promise of money. i was trying to play it cool as though i didn't know anything about what was going on. i told him that i would give him a check for $800. and we discussed a place to leave the check. were you baiting that place that he knew to come and show up? well, it was certainly my objective to get him to a place where authorities could apprehend him. dennis murphy (voiceover): the trap was set at a building owned by tabor where hilton had lived for a while. the swat team was dispatched. would hilton fall for the pick-up-some-money ruse? and what about the missing woman? dennis murphy: in your gut, did you think meredith was still alive? you know, meredith's name was meredith hope emerson. and we all hoped that she was alive.

but, you know, the longer these things carry on, as time passes you, you continue to hope, but it diminishes after time. dennis murphy (voiceover): as the manhunt continued, there was a glimmer of hope. friday morning, january 4, 2008, four days after meredith vanished, the us marshal service traced activity on meredith's bank cards. the card was used at a local bank, you know, 15 miles from the abduction site, and then again, 50 miles south of the abduction site, and then the next day, 80 miles. these were attempts where no money was taken. which suggests what? suggested that meredith wouldn't give him the right pin. which also suggests maybe she's still alive. that's right. dennis murphy (voiceover): investigators, meanwhile, had been able to trace the phone gary hilton used earlier to call his old boss, john tabor, who'd set that trap for him. that call was made from a restaurant about 50 miles from blood mountain.

hilton, it seemed, was moving south towards atlanta. metro pd swat concealed themselves in and near tabor's building. that was the drop point where his old boss had promised hilton he'd leave him $800. you stake out the location. you're surveilling it, and? he didn't show up. dennis murphy: no show. no show. we're still looking and wondering where could this guy be. now we have him 50 miles from blood mountain. dennis murphy (voiceover): the veteran agent, working his last gbi case before retirement, was talking constantly, meanwhile, with meredith's parents. her father, dave emerson. i appeal to everyone to search their hearts and memories for anything they can remember and do to help us find meredith. after i met the emersons, i knew that i had to tell them everything. i couldn't hold back any information from these two people. they were terrified. why did you take it personally? this case was a little bit different because not only me, but the other investigators recognized the fact early on that we have to embrace this family

and tell them everything, even though what we were telling them was not good news. dennis murphy (voiceover): hilton, meredith, her lab, ella, the tip line kept ringing with leads, good and bad. then four days in, a friday afternoon, a shopper called to say that she'd found a black lab mix wandering around a supermarket parking lot. the surprise to see any dog running loose in the parking lot and then to find out that it's the one that meredith-- was her dog was, you know, a pretty big surprise and shock. dennis murphy (voiceover): she took the dog to an animal clinic where the vet was able to read an identity chip implanted in her. sure enough, it was ella. but where was her owner, meredith? now events were moving quickly. right away came another tip. we get a call from a female acquaintance of hilton, stating that she had just hung up the phone. he had called her and wanted money. and she commented that she said, don't you know the world is looking for you? and he hung up.

dennis murphy (voiceover): hilton called from a payphone at a convenience store near where meredith's dog had turned up. you have a living pet, a missing owner, and a phone which is somewhere in the vicinity of this-- - yes. --guy you believe is her abductor. while the agents are searching in the area of the convenience store, they look in a dumpster. and it was in the dumpster we found meredith's identification, her purse, bags of bloody clothing. and at that point, we felt like that this was not going to turn out as we'd hoped. dennis murphy (voiceover): the purse, three bloody fleece tops. agent cagel and his boss gave meredith's parents the grim update. then around 8:00 that night, still friday, not far from where tabor had set the trap for hilton, more than one eagle-eyed citizen noticed a man emptying a white van. dennis murphy (voiceover): calls lit up 911. this one lasted for 12 minutes.

dennis murphy (voiceover): gary hilton was under arrest. detectives swarmed over the filthy astro van and inventoried his possessions, looking for any clue to meredith's fate. a gbi spokesman updated the media. it's a missing persons investigation right now. and that's how we're pursuing it. the important key might be any knowledge that mr. hilton has. take me inside your situation room when you get the news that atlanta's got him. we're very pleased with the fact that now we have this man.

but we can't lose sight of the fact we don't have meredith yet and the possibility that she could be alive. and we just can't let up. and so, we attempt to interview him. he refuses. dennis murphy (voiceover): cops had their man, but not meredith. could they crack him, get from him the story of what had happened in the national forest? coming up. in your decades a law enforcement agent, have you ever had a session of interviews like this one? no. no, he was very straightforward and was very nonchalant. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower

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attack your friends and steal their coins. saturday morning, five days after meredith emerson vanished on blood mountain, gary hilton was charged with a crime against her, kidnapping with bodily injury. hilton was in custody, but he was uncooperative, zipped up, giving his interrogators nothing on meredith's whereabouts and what he'd done with her. meredith's middle name is hope. and that's exactly what the lord gives us for her. so we are hoping that we're talking of meredith in the present tense and that we will be finding her and that she will safely come home to us. dennis murphy (voiceover): the searchers in the field, meanwhile, shifted their focus from blood mountain

to these woods called dawson forest, about 30 miles to the south. it was from around here that hilton had made those phone calls to his ex-boss. remember, by then, meredith's bloody clothing had been retrieved from a dumpster-- not a good sign at all. but as long as there was the most remote chance that she was still alive, the search was going to continue. but lead agent john cagle knew these vast woodlands very well. and he knew the odds of finding needles in haystacks. as he saw it, he had only one option, repugnant as it was, and that was to cut a deal with gary hilton. sunday morning, we got him a lawyer. and i went up and had a talk with their lawyer and essentially laid out our case. dennis murphy (voiceover): hilton's lawyer then conferred with his client. the district attorney was brought into the loop and a deal went down. hilton would plead guilty to murder because that is what it had been. and then he said he'd lead investigators to meredith's body in exchange for taking the death

penalty off the table. nobody in law enforcement likes to make deals without holding their nose. no. we had to do it, and, you know, we needed to find meredith. and given the circumstances, i would do the same thing now. so i'm guessing, agent, the situation in your interview room is, gary, you told us what you did to her. now, where'd you put her? yes, and he told us. dennis murphy (voiceover): a manacled hilton was loaded into a vehicle and he led lawmen down a trail in dawson forest. dennis murphy (voiceover): a clearly shaken agent cagle told atlanta about the tragic outcome. at approximately 7:30 this evening,

the body of meredith emerson was discovered in a wooded area. the specific information given as to the location of the body was given to me by gary hilton. dennis murphy (voiceover): the kidnapping charge was anted up. mr. hilton is being charged with one count of murder of meredith emerson. he has been taken into custody and brought to our detention centers, where he is being housed. dennis murphy (voiceover): coming up, police learn what happened to meredith in grim detail. dennis murphy (voiceover): and were there more victims? he would not talk about anybody to us other than meredith. dennis murphy (voiceover): when "mystery on blood mountain" continues.