this election is about who shares your values. let me share mine. i'm the only candidate with a record of taking on maga republicans, and winning. when they overturned roe, i secured abortion rights in our state constitution. when trump attacked our lgbtq and asian neighbors, i strengthened our hate crime laws. i fought for all of us struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living. i'm evan low, and i approve this message for all of our shared values. they were kind of a romeo and juliet couple, trying to run away together. and the tragedy of it all going so terribly wrong. they were kind of a romeo and juliet couple. trying to run away together. in the tragedy of it all going so terribly wrong. >> a mystery hiding in a lake.

>> i remember it being so unbelievable, that a plane has landed in our families like. >> a couple of young people on. >> we're trying to locate with fish finders. >> they found it, and her. >> she was a pretty girl. >> some of her long hair was caught in the door. >> she looked like she was actually sleeping. >> but where was the pilot? >> they were pretty sure he was heading to mexico. >> i can remember getting calls to interpol even. >> 24 years later, a woman uncovers a little white lie. >> he said that he was actually 43. i was like, so what else have you lied to me about? >> was he a monster? was he romeo? you just don't know. and those are the best stories, aren't they? >> now, we hear his version of the story. you're the only person on the planet who knows the truth. it is, in its own strange way, a dissertation on love.

love, intoxicating, impetuous, foolish. love that lives, like a fugitive. a long secret tunnel of regret. >> there's a reason that the story of romeo and juliet, has held up over centuries. >> or maybe, could you tell me? maybe it wasn't love at all. maybe it was something else altogether. >> oh diana, why did you take that ride? why did you, why did you put your life in his hands? how did it all go so terribly wrong? >> it began, the way myths sometimes do. with a whispered story. which started right about here. at traveled, mouth to, ear, to

mouth among the camps and cabs and won the cold deep lake in the rockies of northwestern montana. one of the countless glacial lakes carved eons ago. just west of glacier national park. this one called, little bitter route. named for the royal local plant, that fed ancient tribes. now the name for a magical summer place. with this woman's grandfather built a cabin in the 19 twenties. in where generation after generation distort up of centuries of memories. >> it was a family gathering place. we'd swim to the rock out there, and stand on it. a simpler time. >> you have to have a strong constitution is so minute. lake >> is beautiful clean water, but it is a little brisk

getting in. >> twins jim in john young grew up on the shores of the lake to. free and easy. back in the day's parents did not worry so much. >> as long as we left at breakfast and we're home by dinner, we were fine. we used to meet down here in those swimming and stuff. >> camp right here. >> swim off the dam. that was kind of the big thing. it's right over here. >> it sounds so idyllic. >> yeah it was fun. >> it was the summer of 1982. when the whole weird saga began. jim and john were 15 years old, kim was 20 about to head off to her junior year at college. when she and her mom drove off to the cottage for a final summer visit, and encountered a surprise. >> as we pulled up we saw someone in this corner of the deck that we did not recognize, and i did not even have the pick up stopped, i was slowing down to pull into the drive there. mom opened the door and hopped out. to find out who was on our deck. >> she wouldn't run the other way? >> not my mother. so i got the truck in gear, and came up here as quickly as i could. and she was talking to this young man. >> what did he look like?

>> he did not look like a lake person to me. he was very well kept looking. he had a white, kind of polo shirt and. in it looked like it had just come out of a suitcase. it was just great weight. >> kim's mother made it clear to the young man no matter how player well dressed, he was trespassing. >> were you worried about him? i was actually more worried about my mother, she wanted to know who he was of course, in what he was doing there. and he was very vague in his answers. and i remember asking him, where did you come from? any pointed over here, and he said, over the mountains. well again we thought, no one comes from that way. you are not dressed like a hiker or a backpacker. and it did not make sense. >> how unusual would it be to find a stranger here? this place is been in the family for generations.

so? >> it had never happened. that i am aware of. to have someone on our deck, that we did not know. >> anyway, the young stranger was clearly not dangerous. and after the talking to he got from her mom, he got up and wondered off the shoreline, and out of sight. it was maybe 50 yards away, where jim and jon had already encountered him. maybe earlier that day. but the fellow they saw looks very different. they remember him as not being well kept it all. in fact he was soaking wet, and it appeared, injured. >> he had some pretty good bruises and scratches, across his neck. you could see it coming out of his shirt. it was pretty good gouges. >> and he explain this how? >> he said he had a bare chasing. >> through the woods. >> he said you guys wouldn't have matches or later would you? >> what did you do? >> we jumped on her motorbikes and went down to the store down

here. >> off to buy matches. the sort of thing people would do for a stranger around here. except well, was it a coincidence? around the same time as those unusual encounters, some other folks notice that the lake itself, looked kind of odd. there seemed to be a sheen of some sort on the water. unusual oil slick maybe? pat walsh was a young deputy sheriff at the time. >> one of the time of the people that saw the oil in the lake was a pilots. in so he informs the deputies at that time, that that is not oil from a boat motor. >> i was going to say. there's lots of boats in that. lake >> he said that's not oil from about one or. >> so what? there had been rumors of smugglers around here from time to time.

a smugglers airplane did it land on the lake? and then take off again? >> how can an airplane go down in a lake without anybody hearing? >> probably would not have made much more than a splashing noise. and if you are in a cabin on the shore, if you hear splashed, it's not going to be anything to you. >> then people around the, lake heard about the young stranger, and wondered, are these incidents somehow related? jim and john remember that the guy was carrying a duffel bag, wrapped in green plastic. in when they return from the store and gave him those matches, he whipped a fire, and guess what he did. >> he started to burn, they were probably maps. they just looked like newspapers. and then it went to some clothing and stuff. and he burned everything. there >> he burnt clothes and everything? >> yes. >> then they said, this strange man, just slaughtered off. just like he did after running into kim and her mom. >> we watched him go a little bit and i, thought this is probably spying on him. so we went inside the cabin. we went inside the cabin, and we watched him through the window. until he was out of sight. that was basically the last we

saw of him. >> oh, but not the last they heard of him. myths in mysteries can lie a round in haunt you for decades. and the revelation that was coming to little bitter route lake, made very sure of that. coming up. >> the sheriff believed there was a plane in this lake. and we are trying to locate it with fish finders. >> but no one was prepared for what they found. >> she was a pretty girl. and she was a young girl. and it was just a shame. >> she just looked like she was actually sleeping. that was the erie part about. it >> when dateline continues. dat it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler,

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as summer came to a close in 1982, there were rumors in the water. as summer came to a close in 1982, they were were rumors in the water. the crazy idea was making the

rounds, that a mysterious airplane that landed maybe even crashed, on pristine little bitter root like. and that the odd young man who onto the shoreline, in court third several locals, was perhaps the pilot. >> i don't remember being afraid he might come back we are anything like that. >> so you forgot about it? >> i think we kind of forgot about it. >> but naturally the share of heard about all of this. set a young deputy named jim dupont, to look around. >> by the time we talk to dupont, back in 2008, he'd be looking at a mystery for most of his career. in fact our own video here, hints at how long we'd be following the story. anyway, dupont was assigned the case way back in 1982. hardly because he was a private pilot, as well as a deputy. so he knew a thing or two about small planes. we and low and behold, in the very spot where twins jimmy

john's of the young men had built a fire. >> we indeed found a little firing, and right away i found, what's called a gust lock. >> agus lock? >> it is a bend piece of metal that actually feats into the yoke of an airplane. >> in the fire? >> burnt up in the fire. i'm plus there was some wires, and a jack plug of a microphone jack. and i knew was a mic jack from an airplane. >> so what then? >> actually took that gust doc, and found the 1:50, and indeed it fit the 1:50 that i looked. at >> a 1:50 would be a cessna one five zero. so, did that mean the rest of the system was indeed in the lead just like the officers were saying? dupont reported all of this to the boss, the share called in a couple of expert divers. we >> the sheriff believe that there was a plane in this lake. and bernie and i suited up.

we and we were on boats trying to locate it with fish finders. >> you can only imagine the challenge back then. technology being what it was. in the 19 eighties, the lake being well over 200 feet deep. still, the sheriff had confident that they find the plane. and alerted the media. which certainly came to watch the divers diving, and listen to the sheriff optimistic daily predictions. overly, optimistic predictions. >> we texted the media quite a few times, today's the day. we yes, we go out and everybody would work hard and it wouldn't have been. what so they would all go home again. >> and then the next day, today's the day. >> just as everyone was doing with they could do. >> that went on for days. more than a week. so maybe all of that talk about an airplane and the lake was just that. talk. and then the share of heard

about a thing imaging that was new at the time called, side scanning sonar. so they brought one of those in. and lowered way down to the bottom. >> if we don't get results here today or tomorrow, we will call off the search because there's a limit to the resources and time and effort. >> but just as the sheriff was about to give up, a breakthrough. when >> we got a hit on the sonar. we also brought a remote camera with that had an umbilical, basically flow that camera down to the aircraft. there was, the plane. right there on the video screen. >> what was it like to see that thing? do you remember? >> it was, actually, somewhat satisfying. to know all the hours that you spent out there looking, it was actually there. >> except now there was another problem. the plane was more than 250 feet down. way too deep to safely send the divers. so they use this summer's jib camera, the guide hooks onto the airplane, and they pulled

it up to the depth of about 100 feet, where the divers were sent down to retrieve it. the water was very clear. they could see the plane almost like it was flying down in the cold water. but then they saw something else. the plane wasn't empty. inside -- >> it's not pleasant when you see it. the body of a woman. just a girl really. >> she was sitting in the passenger seat. seatbelt was still on. >> whether to look like? >> as i recall she was a pretty girl, and she was a young girl. and it was just a shame. >> the divers each got behind a wing, and short of flew the wings up to the surface. as the plane came out, the crowd watching saw something many of the people here would never forget.

the girl's hair, was stuck in the door. and her long locks were weaving in the water. the twins were there. crowded up close. >> it was a little more than i expected. they pulled it up, and the hair was for. now never seen a dead person before. >> they push it over the aircraft, window while the law men moved. in >> we removed or and tucker mediately down to our state pathologists. >> what sort of condition was or body? >> she was in excellent condition. she just looked like she was actually sleeping. with that was the eerie part about. >> the girl in the lake. who was she? what was she doing alone in the passenger seat of a cessna 1:50, at the bottom of montana lake? and if she was the passenger where. was the pilot? >> coming up. >> a modern twist on

shakespeare. >> what emerged was the suggestion that they were kind of a romeo and juliet, that their families have been disapproving of their relationship. >> they were wealthy? >> that was the suggestion. >> when dateline continues. dat because a lot can happen in 48 hours. dermatologist-recommended cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. with nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. head & shoulders is launching something huge. nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients - no sulfates, silicones or dyes and packaged with 45% less plastic - giving you outstanding dandruff protection

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if you're over 50, talk to youevents around littlest bitterroot lake were beyond puzzling as the autumn chill descended. events around a little bit arugula, eight were beyond puzzling. and the autumn chill ended. a strange young man, a plane in the lake, the dead girl trapped in the plane, then deputy sheriff jim dupont had trouble shaking that image. >> everything starts to transform in your, brain of what happened that day. of what happened to her when she went down. you know knowing that you're doomed type of thing. >> but where did she come from? and why. a few hundred miles northwest of little bitter, rule across the border in canada, in the

heart of british columbia. is a sweet small city. where on a monday morning, almost a month before they fish that plane out of the lake, ron peterson, then a constable with the royal canadian mounted police, noted unusual activity, out of the airport. >> i saw the search and rescue aircraft, because that always has been a search base. >> so they're looking for somebody. >> when i see things like, that i like to know what's going on. >> what was going on, was this search. for a small plane gone missing the previous evening. the constable found out it was a training aircraft from vancouver, four hours to the west. which had flown the day before, with two on board, both teenagers. >> i found that a little bit unusual especially in those, days of his 19 to 20 year olds didn't fly over in small planes. >> now in that terrain can be

very treacherous. >> so the constable, though no one asked him to, started poking around. >> i spoke to the main review will, or he service the aircraft to fill them up with fuel, in the spent the afternoon inside the aircraft on a blanket, in the emory organizing stuff out of the airplane, and putting it in these bags. >> i wonder if maybe they were smuggling something. >> we didn't know. >> then constable peterson went looking for witnesses who may have seen the plane flying by. and yes, several did. >> they noticed because it had gone up into a narrow win the valley, that posted no fly zone, and not on a flight plan. it buzzed a ski mountain outside of town. in a nearby observatory, with its massive radio telescopes. >> i spoke to the fellow there, and i said, what happens if someone flies over?

does anything trigger an alarm or anything like that? >> and he said yes this is a no fly zone over here. and there was a disturbance registered. he said that was a small airplane. he said we've seen them before. >> after, that no idea where the plane went. and there was no emergency located transmitter on. board since it was a training aircraft, that was not used more than 25 miles from vancouver. >> did you think maybe they crashed in the bush somewhere in maybe just in survive? >> absolutely. everyone was looking for this. plain absolutely. >> that very same summer monday, a reporter, brand-new, 22 years old, had just started working at the vancouver sun newspaper. margo harper, heard about the missing plane. she dug a little. and came up with the names. the people on board. jerry ambrozuk, the pilot's name is jerry. a 19 year old who had solo just a year before, an immigrant from poland in the age of, ten and a boy scout, with dreams of

becoming a commercial airline pilot. in his patched enduring girlfriend, 18 year old dianne babcock. >> she was a very good student she was a runner and set on a career in nursing she was ambitious and determined to be successful. >> when margot harper started nosing around the high school which jerry and dianne hits recently graduated, she learned a theory was rapidly circulating here. he theory with an ancient in universal theme. >> what emerged right away, was this suggestion that, they were kind of a romeo and juliet couple. that their families had been disapproving of their relationship. in this suggestion emerge that they were trying to run away together. >> they were eloping. >> that was the suggestion, that they had been trying to get away from parental pressure. from an unhappy social scene.

>> they jerry had a strong parental influence that he was trying to get away from, and she had a family that did not want or involved with this polish kid. >> from kind of the wrong side of the tracks etc, indeed. >> that's one way to romeo and juliet. >> according to dianne's family, i spoke with mr. babcock, dianne's father who suddenly dismissed that theory, insisted there was no reason that they would've had to elope. and if jerry and dianne had wanted to be together, that they could've been together. >> and i remember thinking at the time, it didn't quite ring true, and i wondered whether mr. babcock was appealing to his daughter, through the media to come home, if she was out there somewhere. that everything would be okay. they were absolutely out of their minds with the you know, worry, desperation, fear. at that point, their daughter

was simply missing. and so is jerry. and so is the plane. >> then so it went, families frantic with worry, search and rescue missions flying all over british columbia, wondering where those teenagers could've gone. and then a week later, everything changed. with a strange and alarming phone call. from new york city. >> what was that? like >> stunning. i said what? >> coming up, >> one mystery solved. so many more not. >> they're gonna look for you, you know, forever. >> and they'll never find me. >> when dateline continues. dat here's my tip. there's nothing cool about smoking and having a stroke. i guess they forgot to mention that in the ads. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now.

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i'm richard louis for hours top stories.

donald trump has been fined more than 300 and $50 million and barred from running business in new york for three years. new york's attorney general brought the case against trump. she said is, quote, finally facing accountability for his line, cheating, and staggering fraud. and the new york times reports trump has told advisers privately he likes the idea of a 16-week national abortion ban with the exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the mother's life. now back to dateline. back to d by the last days of august in 1982, canadian search and rescue had been scouring the mountains for a week for probably last days of august in 1982, canadian search and rescue had been scouring the mountains for a week, for probably a crashed airplane. and the missing teenagers, jerry, and dianne. but what happened then, stop them cold. back in vancouver a close

friend of the couple had received a phone call. and it was hard to believe that the call had said to be from the missing pilot himself, jerry ambrozuk. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> i was just floored. i couldn't comprehend. i don't think anyone could. >> when i first heard this, i thought you have to be kidding me. >> but it was true. it lisa courting to the friend. a young man named, tom pulaski reported the jury with annexed honest story. a story that explained what happened to that small plane that they had been looking for. the plane had been ditched, jerry claimed to his friend. crushed on purpose. on to the surface of the late across the border of the lake in montana. and then was still in the plane. with deep in the cold cold water of litter bitter route. like and jerry, in shock, told his friend, and that phone

call, had fled the scene of the crash. calling his friend somehow from a bus terminal in new york city. >> i think one of the things that was so captivating about the story for everyone was, yet this notion that somehow this young couple could actually pull off this incredible magical disappearing act. look, the idea that they successfully runway to be together. and that they had defied all laws. and they made. it and then you hear that, well, he crashed the plane and her body is at the bottom of the lake, and he's on the run. it becomes a completely different story. >> investigators and reporters alike wondered, was jerry's friend tom telling the truth about that phone call? >> they put him to the polygraph. and he was to be found truthful. >> all this was pre-internet of course. and that's probably why the rcmp, had no idea that a sheriff found there in montana, had just begun investigating an oil sheen on the water. and reports of a stranger

wandering the shoreline. and then, after that phone call from jerry, the rcmp called the sheriff, and told him about the young couple and the plane way down deep and the young woman still inside. constable peterson went to montana to help out. and in vancouver, the mounties put a tap on thompson. just in case jerry called again. and sure enough he did. >> hello? >> yes i'd like to talk to tom pulaski, >> from? where >> it's to tom pulaski from lewis gomez, in dallas. >> yes. >> the fact that he would use an alias was strange. but he was at a phone booth near this store in east dallas, texas. >> hi? how are you? doing >> what the hell are you doing there? >> and then as they talk. jerry offered a version of the

story that didn't sound much at all like the one of romeo and juliet in all the headlines. >> i want because i was going, and she was because she was in love with me or something like that. but it wasn't because we both wanted to run away from home and you know -- >> what was it? >> it was because i wanted to get away, that's all. she just tagged along. and she says i can't live without you and all that, that's what she said. >> like he didn't really care. >> but then later same conversation, he said that losing dianne was like half of him dying. >> she's gone. that means i am alone, and i mean it's lonely. >> jerry was calling, he told his friend, to try and make sure dianne was found. but giving the circumstances of die instead, he said that he would not be coming home. would not turn himself. and >> they find the plane with a dead body. inside >> then that's, find its

murder, that's what it's, that's what it's gonna be so -- >> why you didn't killer, so why would you, you know why would you make that free. >> i don't know why, you tell me to look for, me than i don't want to look for. me >> but listen, i mean you can't be -- you know you don't want somebody to look for your for something that you did not do. >> i didn't do anything. i told, do i mean, it's not like i killed or, they -- they can see that there's no wounds on, her knife or anything like that. >> but jerry had already told tom his decision was already made. he was not coming home ever. >> why don't you come back? jerry? >> i told you i'm not coming back, why. >> because that stupid everyone's looking for you. everyone because, they're going to look for you you know forever. >> and then they'll never find. >> did you wonder why, why he would kind of throw himself at the mercy of a court and come back and apologized and try to get on with his life?

>> i believe that too, and tom his friend really worked on him to do that. because you know the longer you leave, the worse it gets. the story gets bigger and bigger. as to why you runaway. and now becomes more suspicious. >> and a bigger story. so reporter margot harper, embarked on her first international assignment. to little bitter root lake. where they believed they were very close to finding the airplane. and dianne. >> i remember thinking, i'm kind of hoping that somehow she escaped somehow. it seemed conceivable that the body in the plane could be anyone but her. but you don't know until you actually see. >> and see, she did. she arrived at the lakeshore just in time to see the plane emerged from the water with that image of the girl's hair stuck in the door, long blond locks went from waving around

in the water. >> i remember looking at it and thinking, oh my god, she looks like affiliate. from hamlet. i remember just walking over to the plane, and i looked inside and she was perfectly preserved. the lake was so cold, she was kind of slumped over, my recollection was her head was on the side of the door. her hair was dreaming. out and she just looked like she was. asleep >> [inaudible] >> that image with her streaming out of the window, and the watery great lake has really haunted me. i think almost like no other image in my career. >> after dianne was taken away, the sheriff invited margot back to the hangar, to see what else is on the plane. >> they had taken out a life raft, some kind of disguises, survival gear, there was

another duffel bag, sleeping bags, extra clothing. and it became, in that moment, crystal clear what the plan had been. it was clear that they were going to crash the plane, dump the plane, digit, and jump into a life raft, and make their way to shore. tried to disguise themselves somehow. and so i filed a story the next day in the vancouver sun, which was front page, confirming the, i would like to say, the allotment theory, but it's hardly an allotment, it's escape fantasy really. >> but the reality, dianne was dead. and two law enforcement agencies, from two countries, we're not work to solve the mystery of what really happened on little bitter lake. >> coming up. >> he could've gotten her out of there. well that's my opinion.

>> more questions about would have been and suspicions about. >> why did he really want to run away with her forever? if that's the woman i was going to eloped with. and i couldn't get out of the airplane, i -- you would've found a minute or two. >> when dateline continues. dates the number one prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent.

ask your eczema specialist it was when the royal canadian mounted police showed up that the mystery behind what happened at little bitterroot lake finally, like the plane, itself it was when the royal canadian mounted police showed, up that the mystery behind what happened that little bit of lake finally when the plane itself, emerged into something like clarity. or at least who was who in what they were doing there. the young pilot, 19 year old jerry ambrozuk, jerry's girlfriend 18 year old dianne babcock, descending in the plane, to her death. >> i remember it being so unbelievable, first of all that a plane had landed, in when i considered our families lake, and that someone was killed, and that we had actually met the person who is flying that plane. >> now detectives said about trying to find out what exactly

happened when the plane came down, in how and why death came to dianne. >> we concluded that she died by drowning. >> dianne did have a broken collarbone, a fracture in her neck and bruised to the right side of her forehead, almost likely incurred when the plane hit the water. but they were all survival injuries. except, when they found dianne, she was still strapped in. so, maybe the seatbelt instead staving her life help end it. may be the buckle jammed. this man is a retired detective, he was a deputy back then. >> her lap battle it flipped over so the buckle was against her body, where she couldn't have reached it in a hurry. without realizing. >> so the buckle it actually flipped around? >> yes it flipped around, which is going to happen, if it's a little bit loose and not cinched down tight. >> aside from, that the belt

was not malfunctioning in any way. >> it wasn't jammed, it wasn't. locked >> and yet, it was obvious that dianne did not even tried to get it opened. >> not like you think a person would if her life depended on it. >> one of the first thing i checked during the autopsy was your fingernails, none of her nails were broke. there was no bruising or anything of the fingertips, you can just imagine yourself being in a craft that sinking, and you're holding your, breath and your scrambling, and you know the belt is stuck. and you can't get the belt free, i probably break my fingers trying to get the thing loose. if nothing else. by straining pulling just on the belt fruitlessly, until you have to give it up. there was none of that. and i don't understand that today. why did that happen? >> then suddenly a new twist. dianne's doctor revealed to investigators that just days before the crash and her death, she had had an abortion.

>> that raised deputies antenna, especially given what jerry had said in one of those calls to his friend. taped by the rcmp, after the crash. >> she won because i guess she was in love with me or something like that. and she says, you know, like can't we i can't live without, you and all this. >> it thing go through your mind at that point? >> did he really want her to be there? did he really want to run away with her, forever? she is the one that was madly in love with him, it probably wasn't the same type of issue in reverse. >> maybe the crash presented an opportunity, to not have a clingy girlfriend, or maybe as dianne's family later claimed, she was a vulnerable young woman afraid of being left by the only lover she never had, and her emotions told her to get on board, even if jerry did not really want her to. jim, a pilot remember, i've been doing some informed thinking. and he figured jerry would certainly have had time to save

dianne's life, if he wanted to. >> i would guess, you'd be lucky to get five minutes, five minutes is a long time when you're in a hurry. you can do a lot of things in five minutes. you can get two people out of an airplane and get what you want out of it. >> and if there was that much, time why didn't jerry get her out of there. why did he not even take out the two person rubber raft stashed in the cargo compartment? my theory begin to harden, in the deputies head. >> he could've gotten her out of there. >> that's my opinion, my opinion is he could. >> and you must of been thinking that at the time. >> i was concerned as to why. because he also he also got out with his equipment. >> oh, yes jerry's equipment. that duffel bag, wrapped in green plastic. he was seen with an onshore after the, crash it contained his clothes, and money, though they didn't know that for quite awhile, $2200, he and dianne, mostly dianne, had saved for the trip. >> i thought it was very

convenient, that he got that back, and he was not able to get her out. >> convenient. >> it's convenient for him. >> not so convenient for her >> now. >> we've all been 18 in love and we know how intense that, is if that's the woman i was going to eloped with a run away with, and i couldn't get her out of the airplane, you would've found me into. >> in that really was the heart of your belief that this guy had done on purpose. >> i think he took advantage of an opportunity, in letter go down, or just in try. >> he saved himself and not her, one of the two things happened, i don't know how you could explain it any other way. >> and there was one more thing troubling jim dupont. maybe more important than all of the other clues. mainly, if jerry did not do anything wrong, why did he run? not long after dianne was lifted out of little bitterer

lake, she was laid to rest in a small family plot in the cemetery across the border in british columbia, and in montana, lawmen decided, what jerry did was a crime, they filed charges, negligent homicide, so, jerry was now a wanted man, a fugitive. in the man hunt was on. coming up, from canada to the u.s., to south of the border. >> i was not sure he was not in mexico. >> and more tragedy for dianne's father. >> how much more can a family endure? >> when dateline continues. dat j has a bubble around him. -do we want to be inside -- ohh. -hey, i'm keith. there are some situations that young homeowners turning into their parents just can't handle. yeah, there he is. -there's my nephew. -very cool.

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jerry ambrozuk was like a ghost, an apparition on the lake shore, and then gone, vanished into where. jerry ambrozuk like a ghost. an aberration on the lakeshore,

and then gone. vanished? where there is just one clue to me where have disappeared. telephonically at least. >> a phone call, place from dallas texas, the last phone call he made to his friend tom. was traced to a phone booth, you remember those don't? you long gone now, it was near a grocery store. in these dallas. rick calk, one of the divers who pulled the plane out of the, lake was also a detective, and he was assigned to find jerry. he knew about the phone booth. >> there would've been much of a guarantee he'd go back to that same phone booth. in my sheriff was not about to send me down to texas to sit on a phone booth for an unspecified number of hours, days, weeks, months. he was an 18 or 17 year old kid. he got all the way to texas somehow and disappeared. >> i thought he was under a

cactus someplace. >> a reasonable assumption, one would think. it was like the guy just didn't exist. months pass, ten years. they kept looking but wouldn't rapidly diminishing expectations. jerry did non contact anyone, as far as they could tell. >> i was not sure he was not in mexico. he certainly could've been. >> what's the point of trying to chase around, after a ghost? >> well, that's my job. >> by 1990, one nine years after the crash, deputy jim dupont had become the elected sheriff, and jerry ambrozuk, and join the list of america's most wanted. appearing on several versions of the popular tv program, and including final justice. he stayed on that very big deal list all the way through the 19 nineties.

>> about the third time it was featured on america's most, wanted i actually went back to d. c.. >> when you do when you take part in a show like that? >> my job was to be on the phone, in case a tip came in, that sounded real, and none of the calls that came in were credible. >> it was depressing. not a tip is short of jury turning himself, in there was almost nothing law enforcement could go on, >> and this was kind of a lost cause. >> i can remember, we had calls from interpol, people called and said i think it's this guy, in an attempt not to be him. >> in canada, dianne bob cox father called the rcmp once a week for years. and then once a month, hoping for news, and it never came. then, in 1999, 17 years after the crash, dianne's father and mother, were driving to the cemetery where she was buried, as they had done so faithfully,

each year since her death. it was a bus that collided with them, smashed into their car, dianne's mother adele was killed, she was 65. >> i thought how much more can a family endure? >> by 2000, rcmp council tim peterson retired. >> those unsolved cases stick with you. in your line of. work >> they do. yes. >> sometimes you wake up in the middle and thinking about. them long after. >> and is the 25th anniversary of the crash closed in, with sheriff to pop pondering retirement after four terms, he wondered if what he considered the biggest case he could not solve, would haunt him long after he took off the sheriff star for good. >> this case seemed to really get under your skin. >> jim spent a lot of time talking to the family. and whenever, there was any communication with the victims father, jim would be the one that would talk to him.

and he always tried to stay in touch. >> yes, that will certainly get you invested in the case, if you know the family. >> i felt he had a personal investment in it, yes. >> but would share of two pawns investment ever payoff? and, it will cost? coming up. a twist quite out of the blue. she wanted an honest man. >> he deliberately, was untruthful. and it really bothers me. >> she ended up with a wanted man. >> i was like, so would also be lied to me about? >> when dateline continues. dat

keith morrison: returning to our story. it was unbelievable. keith morrison: it was also a mystery. returning to our ,story. >> it was unbelievable. >> it was also a mystery. a young couple, possibly eloping ditched their small plane in a montana lake.

>> they were kind of a romeo and juliet couple. >> dianne was found dead in the sunken plane. >> she just looked like she was actually sleeping. >> her lover jerry had disappeared and for decades he's been a fugitive. >> they were pretty sure he was heading to mexico. >> now a little white lie was about to leaded to astounding truth. >> did you confront him about these discoveries? >> i didn't want him to know i'd seen the article. >> after 24 years would the mystery finally be solved? >> should i make that call or let him be? >> the incredible story made public. >> some people probably see it as a crime story, some people see it as a love story. how do you see it?

dianne babcock died a terrible death. jerry ambrozuk was a fugitive. he had successfully done what few had ever pulled off. he disappeared without a trace. as if he were at the bottom of some lake himself. >> i often wondered what happened to jerry ambrozuk. over the years i had all kinds of theories. probably the theory that was floating around the journalistic community was he was a broken man sitting in a mexican bar somewhere. >> and then it was almost like it happens in the movies. a twist quite out of the blue. once again there was a woman. gina johnson was her name. this is about what happened back in 2006, 24 years after the cessna 150 went down on little bitterroot lake.

gina made a decision to put herself out there online. >> this getting online, was that a big decision for you? >> my work schedule doesn't allow for a lot of going out and meeting new people. >> when we met her, gina worked for texas instruments in the dallas area. what matters in our story is what she did for that giant semiconductor company. >> my job is to help when they are bringing up a new technology on the line they send our lab a sample, so it's my job to find very small, minute things that look off and then look closer. >> gina's job title? technician in failure analysis. >> i guess it's a good job for me because i do that in every aspect of my life. >> have you always done that? >> i'm generally a very trusting person. but when something doesn't add up or it just looks off i

automatically feel the urge to look closer. >> kind of built in bs detector. honed just then on the raw and recent wounds inflicted by a certain ex-mate's cheating lies. so as she wrote in her online profile. >> i hate dishonesty. being deliberately untruthful really bothers me. >> anyway, men responded. and in the spring of 2006, one reply in particular caught her eye. >> he had a nice picture. he was close to my age. at the time i was 33. he wanted to find someone he was going to settle down with and have a family with and accident, you know, marry. >> saying all the right things. >> in different order, you know. he seemed intelligent. he seemed to like a lot of the activities that i would like. >> and something else in that

ad caught gina's eye. the words i am honest and don't cheat or play games. >> and i was like good, because that's very important to me. >> so gina and this guy who had a rather vanilla sounding name of michael smith made dinner plans at a local restaurant. >> you met him there. >> yes, met him there. he drove a viper. >> he showed up in a viper? >> even back in 2006, the dodge viper had a sticker price upwards of $80,000. >> when i saw that i thought okay, it appears that he makes a good living. >> so they were having dinner and, well, remember, gina is a paid professional noticer. >> i notice his class ring. so i took a closer look and it said he had a bachelors in

aerospace engineering and i thought well that's odd. >> what exactly made it odd? well, gina and michael were supposedly the same age. his class ring said he finished college around the same time gina was finishing high school. so gina being gina, she said something. >> wow, you must be pretty intelligent and he just smiled really big and let it go. but that stuck in my head. like i just couldn't quite get it out of my head. >> but as the days passed they talked of all kinds of things, as people do at the fresh end of a relationship. >> did he talk much about his past? >> he said he had only been in love once and that it was this girl that he had known from

when he was a teenager but that she had been killed in a horrible accident. and that he was just heart broken over her loss. >> they bonded in a way over their respective personal losses. or as just good friends at least at first. >> we didn't kiss for a couple of weeks. >> really? >> well he was patient and i appreciated that. >> when they did get intimate, gina's radar went off again. remember michael smith told her he was 34. >> maybe into your 30s most people can still really maintain that youthful i might be 20 something look. okay? >> sure. >> speaking from experience, between those 30s and 40s age just starts to do things to you. >> odd, isn't it? >> yeah.

doesn't seem to matter how good of shape you're in or whatever. there were those little things or details that he looked older than he actually was. >> gina didn't say anything then. just pondered. silent in her heart. and then. >> we were on the grocery store and he was talking about how good he looked for his age and he was like don't you agree? and i looked at him and i'm like you want me to be honest with you? well, actually, you look older than you say you are. >> how'd he react to that? >> he wasn't real pleased with that. we kept discussing this and he's like well, actually i am older. and then i was instantly enraged. >> well i should think. you're the woman who loves honesty. >> i'd been harping on how

important honesty was to me the entire month that we'd been going out. >> and he lied to you about his age. >> and how much i hated being lied to. i was like okay, well how old are you? and he said he was not 34 that he was actually 43. >> so did you get up and walk out on him? >> no. i griped at him. so what else have you lied to me about because if you've lied to me about that what else have you lied about? did you lie about your name is michael smith even your real name? and he just kind of hung his head and goes -- >> oh boy. >> and i was like you're freaking kidding me. >> well. as you and i know, he certainly wasn't some guy named michael smith, was he? coming up. should she stay or should she go? >> i was a little nervous about going on the trip.

>> and that was the easy decision. >> should i make that call or should i just let him be? >> when dateline continues. tel that didn't get clean? i don't. platinum plus is cascade's best clean ever. with double the dawn and double the scrubbers, it removes the toughest grease and residue for an irresistible clean and shine. cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. billy: one second, grandma. this guy is going to buy my car. okay? cascade platinum plus. grandma: you need carvana... entering plate number... grandma: no accidents, right? billy: no. grandma: generating offer... carvana can pick it up tomorrow! billy: that's an amazing offer. announcer: sell your car the easy way with carvana.

genea johnson had held her suspicious tongue for one whole month. genea, the detail noticer, didn't believe for a minute genea johnson had held her suspicious song for one whole month. the detail noticer didn't believe for a minute that the

man she met online was just 34 years old. in fact, she had noticed multiple red flags in the story he had spun. buttoned her lip about all of it. and then one day she couldn't hold back. she finally belled the cat. careful what you wish for. >> okay, what's your real name? tell me, what is it? and he told me. >> what was it? >> jaroc ambrozuk. think he said he went by jerry or something. >> there it was. his real name. the man at the center of our mystery. >> why'd he change it to michael smith? did he tell you? >> no. he did not. and then all i could think about was how his profile had talked about how honest he was and how dishonest this was. >> if you ever needed red flags to tell you to walk out. >> huge red flags. >> that would be it. >> did you? >> i didn't break up with him

immediately if that's what you're asking. >> that's what i'm asking, yeah. >> did you give him another chance? >> yeah. the next day i went to work and i actually googled his real name. >> oh. >> and the very first thing that came up was the story of the plane crash. >> what was it like to find that out? >> that freaked me out. it said he was the -- it was the longest running fugitive from america's most wanted. >> wanted the article said for negligent homicide in connection with the death of sweet young dianne. killed in the ditching of that plane. all those many years ago. >> it was pretty shocking. >> did you confront him about these discoveries of yours? >> uh, i didn't want him to know i'd seen the article. >> why not? genea said she wasn't sure if

she was guilty. mike or jarek had invited her to come along on his business trip to japan. >> i was a little nervous about going on the trip. there was that thing in my head saying is he somebody i need to worry about or really is he harmless? >> but he liked you. >> he very much liked me. >> you didn't really want to believe he'd engaged in homicide. >> who do you want to -- do you ever really want to believe that somebody's capable of that? >> did you kind of fool yourself there? >> no, i went in with eyes wide open. >> but before the trip genea couldn't not say something. jerry took it well, she said. not defensive. more wistful. >> he talked about wanting to go back and be with his family

and being able to one day not have to hide his true identity. and i was like, well if you're innocent just go ahead and turn yourself in. and go up there and i'll support you through it. i said but i just can't see myself being with someone who is living a lie. >> you of all people. >> but he's like i'm just not ready yet. >> so to japan they went. >> notice the netting around the top to keep the pigeons out of the rafters. very clever. >> here genea was in kyoto. one of the world's most beautiful cities. >> the place is gorgeous. and he took me to lots of great places. he was patient. but he did start to get impatient with me because i love taking pictures. and there was a lot of beautiful scenery in japan.

i was snapping pictures most of the time. >> maybe you weren't paying quite enough attention to him. >> yes, towards the end of the trip he started to get a little testy with me because i wasn't warming up to him. >> so eventually they had words. the trip to the far east went south. mind you, michael, jarek, ever the gentleman willingly gave up his first class seat home to dallas so genea could experience flying up front on an international flight. when the plane hit the ground the relationship did too. >> it really bothered me that someone could live this lie. and he was calm. he was cool about it. he said well, if you ever change your mind my door will always be open to you. >> but it was a break up. >> it was a break up. >> then for a few months genea

danced on the head of her dilemma. >> how often did you think about it? >> all the time. i mean in my head i'm thinking well if he's innocent why is he so hesitant. should i make that call or just let him be? >> after all he trusted her to keep his secret. about that time genea had also read about dianne's family. >> her father has no closure. i would want the person who was there to be held responsible. >> while genea was mulling this over, that sheriff went out one last wistful vacation before he officially retired. >> i was with a friend and we were reminiscing over and he asked me is there any cases you're leaving behind that

weren't solved or anything and this case popped immediately into my brain. i wish we had some answers to it. i wish we'd have found him. >> sheriff dupont went back to his office to pack it all up 1800 miles south a woman in the dallas suburbs was about to present him with the ultimate retirement gift. >> i picked up the phone and i was shaking. and i just left a message saying that i think i had been dating this suspect and i said, you know, give me a call and i'll talk to you about it. >> and when the soon to be retiring sheriff got that message. >> i almost fell out of my chair. >> so, happy ending? all straightened out. or maybe not.

coming up. meet michael smith. >> what went through your mind when you realized they got me? >> when dateline continues. dat there they are! everybody get their banking done? let's go! drive! we got to go! someone's in a hurry. annnd doo-do-do-doooo-do! one mississippi. two mississippi. -can we go!? -yeah! faster! oh, no sirree. you see, i get discounts for my safe driving with snapshot from progressive. you should see my savings -- they're nuts. you told us he was a skilled wheelman. no, i'm a wheelman. it's a family name on my mother's side. -what? -irish. ( ♪♪ ) feel the power of osteo bi-flex®. taken every day, it's clinically shown to improve joint comfort in 7 days, with significant improvement over time. ( ♪♪ )

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when genea johnson called the flathead county sheriff's which could cause allergic reactions like anaphylaxis. department about a certain ex-boyfriend, she didn't have to wait long for sheriff jim dupont when urgenea johnson called the flathead county sheriff's department about a certain exboyfriend, she didn't have to wait long for sheriff jim

dupont to return her call. >> he sounded excited. i guess that he knew i was telling the truth because i told him details that had not been published that jarek had told me. >> i don't know when i've last spoken to somebody who brought an end to an international man hunt before. >> really? i figured it happened all the time. >> that's right. >> didn't take long after that. dallas pd found an old mug shot of this michael lee smith. turned out he'd been arrested twice for burglary back in those early years in dallas. >> and that photograph looked like his high school picture a lot. >> so on a wednesday morning in august 2006, 24 years after a cessna 150 sank into the frigid depths of little bitterroot lake, a team of plain clothes officers knocked at the door of an upscale house in plano, texas. there he was.

>> nice young guy in a polo shirt asked if i'm michael smith. i go yeah. another guy jumps out of the side and put as gun in my face. >> this is jarek ambrozuk. the fugitive so many had searched for. the man who pulled off the impossible and vanished for decades. >> did you know immediately the jig was up? >> i did not know. i was very disoriented. what happened was the guy had papers in his hands and on top of the papers had ambrozuk. i put the dots together quickly. >> he asked one of the officers to fetch the pet parrot he put out on the patio to catch the morning sun. >> what went through your mind when you realized finally they've got me. >> i was very calm. i didn't really -- sort of process all this. >> then just like that he was in jail. in a padded cell as he recalls

it. deemed a suicide risk. but there was an upside. he got to call home to talk to his parents for the first time in nearly a quarter century. >> what was that conversation like? >> you know, surprisingly it was very calm. it was like nothing ever happened almost. >> what was it like to catch up with him? >> it was amazing. they never lost hope over the years. they never actually moved and switched houses and changed numbers because they always thought i'd come back. >> they never forgot you. >> never forgot me. >> so why? why did he or he and dianne decide they just had to run away in the first place? why come up with that crazy plan and why did he run after she was killed? how did he pull off his decades long disappearing act? that is quite a story. straight out of a movie. >> when people say what is this

story about. some people probably see it as a crime story. some people see it as a love story. how do you see it? >> it's definitely a love story. and unfortunately a tragic accident happened and dianne ended up drowning. i went into shock and lost basically out of my mind. >> after he left that lake in montana he took a train to new york and then hitchhiked to texas. where the man he was riding with stole the $2200 jarek had managed to save in one of those duffel bags when the plane went down. there he was in texas tote destitute. then he met a guy who gave him a place to stay for free and told him how to get a new identity. >> i went to a cemetery and found somebody deceased that was like a year old and so would not have any record on him, dental records, doctors records or anything. >> but he was about your age?

>> pretty close to my age. michael lee smith of all the names. generic name. went to the records building and asked for a birth certificate. here's his name, birth date. five minutes later the guy came back with a certified copy stamped no questions asked. >> that would be a little harder these days. >> i don't think you can do that these days. >> but back then he could. he used that birth certificate to get a driver's license and a social security card and a job and a ged. and eventually a degree from the university of texas at arlington. aerospace engineering. then hiccup. >> when you start applying for security clearances with aero space jobs they're going to dig deep into your background and i knew they would probably find i'm not michael smith so i kind of pretty much decided time to switch and get into computers. >> he turned out to be quite an

entrepreneur. his tech support private lesson web design company made lots of money. >> nice big house. you had what, two, three cars. >> yeah. had a couple cars. >> viper. >> yeah. it was toys. it was a lot of hard work over the years and eventually sort of the work became the salvation. >> eventually he landed honda racing as a client and with a u.s. passport now he traveled the world. including that trip to japan with genea that we told you about. and then a few months after their breakup those officers were at hiss door and he was in the clink. >> was there a lightbulb moment? >> first few days i figured out the only person that knew about my past that would do anything would have been genea. >> so was this relationship revenge? >> that's what it looked like to me. >> was it a blessing in disguise though? >> it was. crazy as it sounds after 24 years living as michael smith,

i finally got my family back again. >> but blessing or not, remember, there was a steep penalty waiting to be paid. jarek ambrozuk was facing a charge of negligent homicide in montana. no matter he'd matured into that sleek and polished business owner in plano, texas. he was facing as much as a decade in the very humble confines of a state prison. coming up. >> we did something stupid. this was not my idea. this was not just me and that's not negligent homicide. >> for the first time in public, the pilot tells his story. >> i'm laying halfway on the wing with my arm trying to hold the door open and reach in to get dianne. >> when dateline continues. tel , the worst lies are the lies you tell yourself, like smoking isn't that dangerous. [announcer] you can quit. for free help,

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hi, i'm richard liu. a new york judge ruled donald trump must pay more than $350 million in penalties. the ruling also bars trump and his company from conducting business in new york or applying for any bank loans for three years. and russian opposition leader alexei navalny died in a russian prison colony friday. he was arrested in 2021 on politically motivated charges just months after he was poisoned by a soviet era nerve agent.

now back to dateline. to datel it was a headline making moment that september of 2006 it was a headline-making moment that september of 2006 when jarek ambrozuk ex-fugitive was excourted off the plane in montana. >> i remember looking at the wire late in the afternoon one day and i'm like what? and it was just unbelievable. the fake name. the career as a successful software developer. it was the furthest thing from what i had imagined as ambrozuk's fate. >> sure. >> wasn't a broken man in a mexican bar. >> ambrozuk was marched through the airport and into the custody of an eagerly awaiting sheriff jim dupont. >> i just sort of actually wanted to physically see what he looked like. >> you'd been thinking about him all these years. >> yeah. you could tell he was

intelligent. my opinion he's a sociopath. i don't know if he's got any feelings or not. >> you believe he's a sociopath? >> there's good sociopaths and bad sociopaths. i don't believe he's got feelings. how do you lose your mom, dad, family, friends and loved one at the bottom of a lake? i don't get it. i guess i never will. >> it was pretty obvious the sheriff didn't exactly hold jarek in high regard. but there was a legal question now. the charge would be negligent homicide. could jarek in montana state prison for ten years. >> negligent homicide you do something really stupid that could cause the death of a person and sure enough somebody dies. negligent homicide. >> well, we did something stupid. this was not my idea. this was not just me and that's not negligent homicide. that's, you know, two kids in love did something stupid is what it comes down to.

>> so jarek pleaded not guilty. dug in his heels. chuck watson was the defense attorney. >> the word homicide was extremely problematic for jarek. he takes responsibility for the fact that he screwed up landing the airplane and he takes responsibility for the fact that he shouldn't have left, but i guarantee you that he hasn't gotten over her death to this day. >> do you see this as a romeo and juliet story? >> there's an element of that in the case. these are two young people who thought they were star crossed and decided to take their future into their own hands. >> exactly, said jarek. the sheriff and prosecutor were so determined it was homicide but it wasn't anything like that. and he clammed up, let the lawyers do the talking. waited for the consequences. now sitting with us here years later he was finally ready to give his account in public for

the first time of where their crazy idea came from and just what happened when it all went wrong. here goes. >> you know, we just two crazy kids in love and there's some barriers, i guess in our relationship that we saw that's going to be difficult to overcome. end up watching this movie called tarzan the ape man and apocalypse now. we came up with this crazy plan to elope and live in the jungle and survive off the land. >> that's nuts. >> it's nuts. >> where did you plan to end up? >> south america is what the goal was. >> hitchhike? >> take buses. back then, borders were not as strict. so we were already past the canadian-u.s. border. just a matter of the u.s.- mexico border and onwards. >> the idea of ditching a plane came to him while taking flying

lessons. they'd land on water and get out before the plane sank. >> they take the dingy, rode to shore and the plane sinks and nobody knows any better. >> but as they were getting ready to go that summer of '82 there was a ditch. dianne got pregnant. >> so we ended up she went to a doctor and they aborted the baby and it was a few days before we took off. so i asked her, we actually went to the theater the night before and i said how you feeling and stuff and he said 110% good to go. >> on sunday, august 22, 1982 they went to the vancouver airport, rented that cessna 150 and full of excitement flew east to penticton where they hung around all afternoon and then fooled people a bit when they flew north before turning around to head southeast into montana. >> how did you prepare for landing on the lake the two of

you? >> before we took off we end up switching our clothes to swim clothes. we distributed everything to two bags. >> and three hours later they were flying on fumes as they descended in the near dark toward the shimmering surface of little bitterroot lake. >> as you were coming in for a landing you must have been pretty nervous. >> sure. nobody practices landing in water on a fixed wheel aircraft. >> he slowed to stall speed. he took off his seat belt, figured his grip on the controls would hold him in place. dianne kept her seat belt fastened. and then. >> when the wheels hit that water it was like hitting a cement wall. >> suddenly you're in cold water. >> i remember tasting blood and so there was blood in any nose. >> did you see anything?

>> no. outside is pitch black. worse underneath the water. i'm spinning around trying to orient myself. once i stabilized and came to the surface i yelled out dianne where are you are you okay. she said yeah, i just can't get my seat belt off. >> probably didn't say it quite so calmly. >> no, actually she was fairly calm, i believe. >> desperately he tried to get to her. unaware when the plane hit the water it flipped. he ended up behind the airplane. when he struggled through the water to what he thought was the passenger door where dianne was he was on the wrong side across the plane from where dianne was hanging upside down trapped. >> by the time i got to the door and got to try to open it and when it did open and the water started rushing in the plane was almost completely underneath the water. i'm laying halfway in the water halfway on the wing with my arm trying to hold the door open and reach in to get dianne and

then the plane just submerges below the water. that's how it ended. >> the plane did not float. it sank in mere seconds. dianne couldn't get out of her seat belt, he said. and he couldn't help her because there simply wasn't time. >> the plane went down. >> his last glimpse of dianne was not that haunting image of her hair in the airplane's door. no one knows how that happened. no. the last he.

>> would never ever anticipated something like this. >> what did you do right then when that plane went down? >> was hoping somehow she would be able to get that seat belt off. so i'm swimming around just to see if i can maybe she'll pop up somewhere. >> but she did not. no, he said the only thing that floated up was that one duffel bag. the one containing his clothes and the $2200 they'd saved for the trip. a fact pointed to by many law officers as suspicious. >> they would say why did he only get his clothes and the money and let her clothes go sinking down to the bottom of the lake. >> just random. >> law officers would say there's no accident in life. thing are either on purpose or they don't happen. >> people always speculate. it was just a random by chance. >> speculate, that's what people did all right. that a man who truly loved her

might have tried harder. might have sacrificed. >> afterwards this became a problem for some of the people who were looking into the incident because numbers of them would say god if that was me i would have done anything. i would have drowned. i would have got into that plane. i would have got her out of there. i would have saved her somehow even if i died in the process. why didn't you do that? >> easy to do that when you're sitting on the couch. not so easy when you've got 15, 20 seconds and the plane is sinking in front of you and you can't open the door. when you do open the door the plane is almost completely underwater. people don't visualize and picture what this was and how quickly this happened. >> what took over then was overwhelming, numbing shock. >> my limbs were starting to get numb and i could barely do the paddling to stay afloat. i ended up take that one bag, paddling and got to shore and spent the next few days in

shock. >> and in shock he ran, he said. around the country for weeks. to new york city and finally to dallas. where turning himself in seemed like a very bad idea. does that sound like romeo and juliet? or something else all together? coming up. >> the only thing they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that he left. that he ran away. >> justice delayed or justice denied? >> this is one of those kind of cases where really you're the only person on the planet who knows the truth. >> when dateline continues. tel s on tails on tails? try lobster lover's dream with two lobster tails and lobster & shrimp linguini it's one of ten next-level lobster creations red lobster. is your party ready? feeling ughh from a backed up gut?

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trying a criminal case more than a quarter century old is a tall order. trying a criminal case morej than a quarter century old is a tall order. memories fade, witnesses die. a fact not lost on jarek's defense attorney. >> if you take this case apart, the only thing they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that he left. that he ran away. >> he just made the wrong decision. >> he did make the wrong decision. but it it was an understandable decision. a forgivable decision. >> not surprisingly dianneback's family was pushing for a prison sentence. they did not believe dianne

was. they did believe she was an unwilling participant. >> this is one of those kind of cases where really you're the only person on the planet who knows the truth. >> sure. >> mr. babcock was hoping you'd spend at least ten years in prison. he was quite understandably and naturally wanted to blame somebody for the death of his daughter and there you were. could you understand where he felt that way? >> no. i find their attitude almost appalling. this was not some crime that you see on tv. this was two people in love, eloping and an accident happened. >> in may 2007 after jarek had spent nine months in the county jail the prosecutor cut a deal. he dropped the charge of negligent homicide and jarek agreed to plead guilty to criminal mischief and criminal endangerment. the sentence ten years on each

count. suspended. which meant he would not spend a single day of that sentence behind bars in montana. >> did he go yay, let's take this. >> not at all. what'd he say? >> it didn't really change anything for him except what was going to happen to him. didn't absolve him from the sense of responsibility he'd been carrying for nearly 30 years for the death of somebody who he cared a lot about. and for the suffering that he caused other people. primarily her family and his family. >> the county attorney acknowledged that dianne's family didn't like the outcome, but alas what could he do? >> better believe if true she was essentially kidnapped and murdered and that's a terrible burden for a family to deal with over the loss of a child. if i were dealing with a prosecutor who felt otherwise i wouldn't be happy with them

either. >> dianne's family declined our requests to take part. sheriff dupont is no longer with us. he died in 2012. but in his last years he grew close to the babcock's and he spoke for them as much as for himself. >> it was a tragedy to that family. we could have executed jerry ambrozuk and wouldn't have helped them. >> they need to see some kind of justice done. >> they needed to see some and they didn't. >> mind you, jarek ambrozuk's legal troubles weren't over. shipped back to texas to face federal charges including passport fraud. after all he'd gotten a u.s. passport under a false name. michael lee smith. but again, after another four months behind bars and some stiff fines, jarek was set free. >> federal government in their wisdom for punishment deported him back to where it all started to vancouver. so he got a free ride home.

>> to the very place he and dianne so desperately sought to escape as teenagers. where no criminal jeopardy awaited. a theft charge he'd face for essentially stealing that airplane had long since been dropped by canadian authorities. jarek ambrozuk was on final approach to freedom. back where it all began. >> does it feel like home? >> it does. especially now with my parents and my sister and her kids being here. it's definitely home. >> it's a very interesting life you have now. these pieces that none of them seem to belong together and you have to put that one over here and this one over here. >> lived like that 24 years as michael smith. i think it i was a model u.s. citizen when i did do that. >> model fake u.s. citizen. >> nonetheless, i made lots of money and i paid lots of taxes. i was exemplary citizen, model

or fictitious. whatever you call it. >> still, even after all this time there are questions. did he truly love dianne and do all he could to save her? were they eloping? after all, there was that phone call to his friend tom. >> i went because i was going and she went because i guess she was in love with me or something like that. >> how do you explain that? >> i don't. >> it supports their theory that you're a bad dude who killed his girlfriend and saying i was in love it was romeo and juliet. >> right. people read anything they want into it. the only way i can explain this is the shock i was in. >> and you know a lot of people still don't believe you even. probably won't believe you even when you go chapter and verse through the whole story. >> sure. >> and how much you did love her. they still won't believe that. >> all i can do is tell them what happened and how it happened. the rest i can't control. >> he wrote it all down.

every bit of his story in a book he published called a tear in my life the brutal truth. to set the record straight, he said. and he created an elaborate website with all the documents from his cases. all of them. he's an unusual person, jarek ambrozuk. stubborn. particular. hooked on the tiniest of details. >> was he a crazy man? was he a monster? was he romeo? was he a grief-stricken boyfriend? you just don't know. >> does it help to tell his story? does he feel responsible? guilty? if you're jarek ambrozuk, it's complicated. you said you were a life long catholic. is it important to you to feel somehow forgiven for this? >> i'm not expecting anybody to forgive me. i know what happened. i unfortunately lost something

very precious to me. that ended that night. getting people to accept that i don't think it really matters to me. >> and if we can believe him, he is still deeply in love with his teenage sweet heart. that innocent young woman who entrusted her fate to her romeo. dianne of the vision so haunting who rose from the lake. so long in her grave. rave. e. well, rest-assured, company's in great hands. hit the vid', marci. (marci) now? (luke) yeah, now. we're bringing together the nation's agents in a super-comprehensive agent directory. (dave) did you know he bought a helicopter? (luke) gathering up-close, detailed info on neighborhoods.

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ask your doctor about onhello, i'm craig melvin,d and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." he very much recognized how bad she was for him. but she kept showing up in his life, hello, i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline. >> jodi became travis's drug. he very much recog