tv Dateline MSNBC June 29, 2024 12:00am-2:00am PDT
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understand more understand more with msnbc. thanks again for hanging out with us on this friday night. remember, you can catch our nightcap again on saturdays at 11:00 p.m. eastern, right here on msnbc. if you like tonight and want to replay you've got it tomorrow, or if you have a friend or hot date tonight, they can tune in, too. i wish you all a very good night . rest up, this is a long week. from all our colleagues here at nbc news, thanks for staying up with me. i'll see you come on monday. ♪■ç her name was sarah, a sweet, single mom. the baby in a big-hearted
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family. >> tried to protect her anyway we could. >> family-turned army, when she vanished. >> this is how many people we have right now. >> we just started searching. >> they just wanted to find her. that kind of emotion really drives you. >> where was she? >> was someone following her connected someone attacked her? >> after scrutiny, the ex- boyfriend, and three others she encountered that night. >> scared. >> how many times did they talk to you? >> 30, plus. >> tantalizing clues, a handprint. >> there was blood on their hand >> you could almost see this happening in real-time. ■ç >> could she solve her own mystery? >> she's fighting him off. >> it was so emotional. >> i wanted to jump out of my seat. never in 1 million years would you expect something like that. ♪ ♪
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on long island, about 10 miles down the shoreline from the mansions and fancy cars, and the elites of the hamptons is a blue-collar beach town some call the poor man's paradise, but life was rich for these brothers and sisters in new york, filled with the love of a large tightknit family.■ç all that was taken away one warm evening when evil rolled in with the summer tide. their youngest sister was missing. >> we just want you to come home safely. >> and for better or worse this family would go to extraordinary lengths to find her. >> we are going to scour those with right now. >> we were our own investigators. >> we want answers.
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>> you ever seen so many people so involved in a case before? nonlaw enforcement? >> gratefully no. missing persons cases, especially missing girls, they always get everybody's motion >> i want to say i'm sorry it happened. [ ■çcrying ] ♪ >> 21-year-old sarah goode was the little one with the big personality . her older sisters, samantha, lizzie, tabitha, and jennifer, say even though she could take care of herself, they still saw themselves as her protectors. was everyone looking out for her, being the baby? >> always. >> how many children in your family? >> there is nine of us. nine siblings. >> 20 grandchildren. [ laughter ] yeah. >> 20, my goodness, how does your mom keep up?
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>> i don't think any of us can. >> [ laughter ] >> how many of us are there again? >> seven sisters and two brothers. jennifer,■ç who was 12 when sar was born, fondly recalls that day. >> i just remember going to the hospital after she was born, and mom let me change her first poopy diaper. >> [ laughter ] >> you were like mom in some ways. >> i would wake up in the middle of the night and feed her. >> that's a sign of a good family. >> she would scream until you stuffed the bottle in her mouth. >> as sarah grew older and sisters began to marry her brother-in-law, nick, appointed himself chief protector. he met sarah when she was just 3 years old. >> she was very outgoing and talkative, and a very fun to be
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talkative, and a very fun to be around."#mjdtqi q'ever i cooked was right next to me and wanting to learn how to do it or taste it. >> you two really bonded. >> oh yeah, absolutely. i was always there for her. and if sarah was bothered by someone sarah would definitely come to me. >> i heard a story, you would paint her nails? >> oh, yes. i mean, it was, you know, some of the sisters would always be painting their nails. me owning a hardwood business, with everything, how nice it had to be, i thought, how hard would it be to paint a fingernail? >> it was another way nick took care of sarah, but even under watchful eyes the unexpected can happen, and it did. after a romance with her high ■ç school sweetheart at 17, sarah got pregnant. was she excited to be a mom?
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>> yeah, she was. a little nervous, but everybody is. she has some legs so much experience. she was always babysitter number one. >> they grew up in the same neighborhood and quickly became best friends. alora says she was happy to hear sarah was having a girl. >> i thought him a she's going to be just like you, and it turns out that's what happened. she always put jocelyn first. everything was always about jocelyn as it should be. >> jocelyn's dad couldn't be there when she was born, he was deployed overseas. when he returned it became clear his relationship with■ç sarah wouldn't survive the challenges of growing up life. >> not really sure what happened there. i guess they grew apart. >> sarah was now a single mom raising a baby on her own. with the help of family, of course. >> she was such a natural
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mother, she knew how to take care of her and love her every second. and that's what she did. >> it had to be easier to also, with all of you, and all this family. >> built-in babysitters. >> sarah didn't let teenage motherhood stop her from following her dreams. >> she graduated high school, she went to college and graduated there. >> she landed a job as a medical technician and still handled being a mother to her now-4-year-old. >>■ç well happy birthday ♪ dear jocelyn ♪ >> her eyes would light up even if not seeing her for an hour. like when she held jocelyn and kissed her on the cheek you felt in your own heart. it was amazing. >> sarah was a great mother. you know, she really stepped up to the plate for jocelyn. >> so did nick, who was jocelyn's godfather. he was there for her first
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halloween. >> big uncle nick carrying jocelyn to her first house you know, getting candy. >> and he helped in other ways, like when she decided to get a car. >> she said i want a bmw. >> it's happened one of his friends was selling a bmw. >> we go look at it, she loves tiu car. i thought, i said let's think about it. >> i don't see her sitting on that. >> [ laughter ] she didn't. she's like come with me to get this car right now, i want that car. >> and so she got it. did she post it all over social media? >> oh yeah, oliver. >> was that how you could tell sarah was happy by looking at her social media? >> and she was so happy just all the time. to get her to be met is very hard. >> and on the night of friday, june 6th, 2014, nick said sarah
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was happy. she had recently broken up with a boy she had been dating for two years but was looking forward to a night out with friends. nick had agreed to babysit jocelyn, and nothing seemed out dropped off her daughter. >> i came home from work, and she's like paint my nails. i was like leave me alone, i'm tired, i'm going to shower. she said no, i want you to paint them now. so i was like all right, come on. we left, we talked. she was going out for the first time in a long time. >> four she left, sarah posted on instagram a smiling selfie showing off her freshly painted nails. did she have any parting words before she left? >> see you guys tomorrow, love you, kiss-kiss, jocelyn kiss, and very happy, got in the car and left. >> say geez. >> but, nick didn't see sarah
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the next day, no winded. she was supposed to pick up her daughter at a ■çbirthday party, but she never showed, and all calls and texts to her phone went unanswered. that's got to be an awful feeling. >> yes, in your mind, in your heart, you're saying to yourself this is not normal, this is not sarah. coming up. the first clues to the mystery. her car, near the woods. and, her messages on social media. >> was someone following her? did someone attack her? >> very creepy what she posted. >> yes, very creepy. >> when "dateline" continues. n that can last for weeks. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends. that's nice, but shingles doesn't care! 99% of adults 50 years or older already have the virus that causes shingles inside them, and it can reactivate at any time. a perfect day for a family outing! guess what? shingles doesn't care.
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but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. no, my denture's uncomfortable! dracula, let's fight back against discomfort. with new poligrip power max hold & comfort. it has superior hold plus keeps us comfy all day with it's pressure absording layer. time for a bite! if your mouth could talk it would ask for... poligrip.
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- [narrator] life with ear ringing sounded like a constant train whistle i couldn't escape. then i started taking lipo flavonoid. with 60 years of clinical experience, it's the number one doctor recommended brand for ear ringing. and now i'm finally free. take back control with lipo flavonoid. on saturday, june 7th, 2014, single mom, sarah goode, didn't show up to a family birthday party, where she was supposed to pick up her 4-year- old daughter, jocelyn.
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no one in the family could reach her all day. her sister, lizzie, says, she knew something was terribly wrong when sarah didn't respond to messages that her daughter was asking for her. >> ■e9 mom. i called her, it went to voicemail, so i thought something was not right. she always would answer if you mentioned jocelyn, especially. >> it's heartbreaking that a little girl wants to talk to her mom, and you can't find her. when sarah had not appeared sunday afternoon lizzie went to the police station to report her missing. >> she said i need to report her now. >> that report set things in motion. jenna albertson, since retired, was on this missing person's case from the beginning. she learned the day sarah was a no-show a woman spotted an abandoned blue bmw near the
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lot. >> the respondent thinking this was a stolen car, the plates wmrd bent. >> albertson says the bmw was found less than a mile from sarah's mother's house or sarah and jocelyn also lived. >> it came back to sarah good and nobody was there, because as they will learn they were at the birthday party. >> the officer noticed the abandoned car was still in the same spot. >> the officer radios it in again, and at this point now, sarah's family had reported her missing. >> so things were clicking now? >> executive. once it came back as a missing person now they have a reason to pay attention. >> detectives needed the spare key, so they headed to sarah's house. jennifer was there, and she ■ç desperately wanted to know where was the car. >> i just remembered overhearing one detective to the other detective that the car is in eagle estates. that's when i told them, like,
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he said the eagle estates, and we all followed them. they told us not to go follow them, and i was like i don't care to arrest me. you know? [ laughter ] >> eagle estates was a place they knew well, because it was so close by. a large entourage of sarah's family headed over there and tried to approach her bmw, but police would not let them get too close. what was that like seeing her car there? >> scary. >> hard. >> they wouldn't let us near it. >> the police had a job to do, so things got heated. sadie shouted at detectives, and detectives shouted back. >> we were yelling at them, like open the trunk. we are doing and anything until you we aren't doing anything until--
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>> we kept circling around in our cars instead of on our feet. >> later that night the family finally got some answers. detectives told them sarah was not in the car. were you trying to hold on to help? >> yeah, trying, yeah. >> hope turned to action when the family got organized in a big way. >> everybody came to my house, and we just started searching just anywhere we thought to go. >> how many ■çsuch volunteers a we talking about? >> it was at least 200 the first day. >> you can see how many people who cared about her. >> we put it together in an hour on, you know, social media, and you know, this is how many people we have right now. but there's more on the way, and there's already people searching. >> beyond searching, this large family started its own
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investigation, making calls and coming through social media. >> checking facebook, to make sure if she updated anything. >> the professional detectives were also looking at sarah's online life piecing together clues starting with the picture she posted on instagram of her freshly painted nails. they learned she was at nick's house around 6:00 p.m. and from the picture ■çthey cou see what she was wearing. >> she had on tank tops and this very unique tank top over it with an i will face, and her little headband. >> police then confirmed after sarah kissed her daughter goodbye and left her brother-in- law's house, she drove to a friend's place. >> she hooked up with a friend of hers, a childhood friend by the name of jason florez. >> a timeline was coming together. she picked up jason in her mw. >> they referred to each other
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as cousins, because they grew up together. >> a second selfie at 6:51. >> jason took a selfie where you can see sarah driving, and she is so happy. i mean, she was just beaming.■ç she looked like a happy kid, like for her first night out in while. >> he picked up brandon allen, a good friend of jason's, and a new friend of sarah's, and headed to a small gathering. a dozen or so young people hanging out in his front yard. investigators estimate they stayed there about 40 minutes before they left, they took this group shot at 10:18 p.m. that's sarah in the pink sweatshirt next to jason. >> where does she go, hmmm? >> at that point she and jason are going back to brandon's house, he lives around the corner. so, sarah drove jason and brandon back to brandon's house where they watch "the hobbit," the movie. >> sarah agreed■ç to drive jaso
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home. after she dropped him off he sent her a text at 1:17 a.m.. >> basically asking are you okay? she says okay. >> all that seemed routine. then something ominous. on sarah's twitter feed her brother-in-law, nick learned that days before sarah went missing she tweeted, so you know i live on a dead-end. i see you creepin. getting threatened for days now. is that the thing to do? >> that one got to me, was someone following her? did she get to the house and some attacker? it's very dark where she parks. >> very■ç creepy, the post. >> very creepy. >> no one had any idea who or
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what she was referring to. there were so many questions, and sarah's brother-in-law wanted answers. with the help of some large friends, nick went looking for anyone who was with sarah the night she vanished. it sounded more like a detective than a floor refinisher. >> who did you see her talking to you mark who did she leave with? who was she socializing with? >> you wanted to find information? >> yeah, i wanted answers. here's me and five of the biggest guys you could only imagine knocking on your door. >> was anybody getting ■çhot under the collar? >> not from anybody. >> that's got to be frustrating that nobody is standing out. >> nobody was standing out, everybody was really sincerely telling the truth. >> but someone in particular, sarah's ex-boyfriend, he wanted
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to question. their relationship had just ended, and sarah's family was getting suspicious. >> no one could say what was going on between them, why they split, but we thought we knew him well enough. we thought he was a great guy. >> you don't know everybody, you don't know exactly what a person is capable of doing. and he didn't show up to work the day after she went missing? >> no. coming up, new questions about■ç the ex-boyfriend. >> there were rumors going around about dj and his family. to severe eczema, it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, you can stay ahead of your eczema. it helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body
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searchers continued to comb through the woods, posting signs and leads hoping to locate her. >> we cannot wait to give you a hug when you come home. >> so far, detectives were revealing only one clue to the public. >> the fact that her car was found unoccupied, she loves this car-- something is suspicious here. and we want to find this girl. >> nicole covered the story for the advance. >> it was the biggest story i had gotten yet, and also hit home, because she was only a little younger than me. >> what were people saying? >> there are hashtags created almost immediately■ç. there wer postings on where they were going for searches, who was going, how many people were searching-- anybody was looking for sarah. >> and nicole says during the searches gossip mill was buzzing with rumors about sarah's recent breakup with her
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long-term boyfriend. his name was dj. >> there were a whole bunch of rumors going around about dj and his family, and that things were not going well in their relationship, that they had just broken up i think 10 days, they said, before she went missing. >> so nicole was a bit taken aback when she spotted the ex- boyfriend while she was out covering the story. she saw him in a crowd of searchers. >> as a reporter i felt like i ç had to talk to him once i knew who he was, but i was also cautious, like what if he actually had involvement in this? >> investigators who were working around the clock in hopes of finding sarah live heard about the ex-boyfriend. did he need to be looked at? >> i think everybody should be looked at. when you don't know what happened you can't exclude anybody. >> there was an anonymous call on the crime stoppers tip line, detectives learned a strange and disturbing story about the ex-boyfriend, dj, and his mother.
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apparently the breakup with sarah had gotten ugly. dj had left a threatening voicemail. >> the message dj left-- in the voicemail wasn't physically threatening bodily harm to sarah, it was more, take that post down, . >>■ç the message upset dj's motr , he threatened to kill her, so hence the 911 call. what's her concern? >> i think her concern in the call was to make the report, and really the report she was looking to make was that the mother had threatened her about this post. >> the prosecutor thought this might explain one of sarah's strange tweets, the one she posted four days for she went
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missing, getting threatened for days now, is that the new thing to do? >> the tweet was clearly associated with the phone call from the ex-boyfriend about take the posts down, and the mother being upset that she had put the post up. >> but she was not sure to makeç of the other one, so-- you know i live in a dead end? i see you creepin. >> obviously she and dj broke up. i don't know what the tweet was about. >> authorities questioned dj and took his fingerprints and continued their investigation. sarah's family also kept digging through at first, her brother-in-law, nick, didn't think dj had anything to do with sarah's disappearance. after all, he was one of the first people to volunteer in the search. >> he was there from day one when sarah went missing, he immediately came to my house. i was getting friends together, and we were going to look for sarah. >> until he heard about dj's angry words. >> once we found out he stood away, he didn't, detmcuives
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didn't want us talking to him. at that point, i really couldn't rule out dj, the detective did say to me you really can't trust nobody at this point right now. maybe you just want to leave him alone. >> what did you think? >> you know, a lot of things-- you know? a lot of bad things, i guess you could say. you know?■ç■ç■ç■ç■ç■ç■ç■ç
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>> reporter: and brandon says sarah didn't seem worried about her ex-boyfriend or anyone else that night. instead she looked happy and carefree as she left his house around 1:00 a.m. >> she goes on home. and that's it? >> that was the last time i've ever seen her. >> reporter: the police let brandon go but told him to stay in the area. he left the precinct, he says, and joined the search for sarah. >> why did you feel the need to be there? >> just because i felt like i had an obligation.■ç >> reporter: he had no idea his presence would cause such a stir with some members of sarah's family who were also out looking for her. >> you know, they threw me up against the car and started screaming at me and all that. they didn't know who to blame. so they were blaming anybody who was there that night. >> they knew that you had been with sarah that night. >> yeah. >> what did you say to them? >> at that point i was just, like, begging for my life. like, i'm sorry. like, i -- please don't hurt me. i don't know where she is. you know? like, let me go. >> did you really think they were going to hurt you? >> yeah. they were telling me if i didn't tell them where she was they were going to kill me. >> wow. >> and there were witnesses there who i was with who can c>u really afraid?
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>> uh-huh. afraid? i was really scared. traumatized. >> reporter: but while brandon was saying he had nothing to do with sarah's disappearance, police received puzzling information on the crimestopperr tipline. they heard about brandon's st brother posting this picture on social media. and the brother also mentioned in another post that sarah had been at their house the night she went missing. >> so brandon's brother had posted his bloody knuckles on facebook and said that sarah had been there? >> well -- >> is that odd? >> there were -- there were twoo different posts on two different days. >> reporter: the posts, she says, were not related. the picture of the knuckles had nothing to do with sarah. stys >> he was not there the night that this occurred. he's not at the party with theso kids. and he wasn't at the house with them watching "the hobbit.” >> reporter: detectives chased down more tips and questioned more people. but so far nothing was bringing them closer to finding sarah.
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so they pressed on. along with her ex-boyfriend and her new friend brandon, detectives were looking at someone else. they asked him to come to the station. h werdo hing s >> he goes from mr. nice guy to we know you know where she is. smacking me, choking me, spitting on me. coming up -- the last known person with sarah that night in jail. >> i was crying myself to sleep. >> did you feel like you were enemy number one? >> most definitely. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. only purple's gel flex grid passes the raw egg test. no other mattress cradles your body and simultaneously supports your spine. i think it's a great product.
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way to go. [ chuckling ] [ speaking minionese ] then two, then three, four and five, still no sign of sarah. as one day passed, then two, then three, four and five -- still no sign of sarah. for her family, the not knowing was unbearable. >> i think deep down, you hope, like, if you found her, like,
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maybe she was still alive. and she was breathing, you might be able to help her. >> reporter: each night, sarah's sisters, brothers, cousins, her entire extended family piled into one house, comforted by the closeness. >> we all stayed at my mom's house every single night on the floor, couches, kitchen, rooms. we were -- everybody was there. >> we didn't even sleep. you heard the helicopters. we went back out to search. >> oh, yeah, we were out. we were out all hours of the night. if we heard a helicopter, we all jumped in our car to follow it. or if we heard a police car, we were going. we were going to find it. >> reporter: they were relentless. using the #findsarahgoode, they organized a massive search effort covering miles and miles. >> how grueling was the search? >> it was horrible. >> it was bad. it was raining. some days it was steaming hot. >> even it was hot, you were still in layers because you were in woods and you didn't want the ticks all over you. >> and every day, no answers? >> no sarah. >> reporter: family and friends searched places like the smith point county park sarah loved. and the tick-infested woods near where her car had been found. for three of her six sisters -- jennifer, tabitha, and samantha -- the search was especially difficult.
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>> all three of you were pregnant during the search? that must have just added to how hard it was. >> it was hard. >> probably worse because i know by the end of the day my feet were so swollen, i didn't even want to move off of the couch but i knew i had to because i wanted to find her. you feel sick to your stomach, but you couldn't tell if it was sickness from pregnancy or sickness because you're afraid you're going to find her and she's going to be dead. >> reporter: one person they didn't reach a jason flores. he was the one sarah dropped off before going home that night. since he was the last person known to be with her before she vanished they called his cell phone. >> we tried to. >> did anyone worry that he could have been involved or know something? >> yeah. we don't know how or why but he was there with her and we just speculated that he had to have
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something to do it. >> reporter: not about to sit around and wait for jason's call, sarah's brother-in-law nick and his large posse went out looking for him. >> you couldn't find him? >> no. >> do you think that was on purpose on jason's part? >> i think at that point, the word was out that, you know, we were out looking and we were going to do whatever it had to take to get answers. so whoever got the word were so whoever got the word were hiding pretty good. >> do you think jason was nervous, worried that you were out looking for him? >> i would -- yes, yes. absolutely. >> because he wasn't making himself readily available, did that say anything to you? >> you have to say to yourself, does he know something? obviously she was with him. he's got to know something. >> reporter: what nick didn't know was the real reason jason was mia. he was behind bars. detectives had brought him in for questioning and discovered he had an unrelated harassment warrant, so they were able to detain him.
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>> two days jason was with investigators? >> yes. he spent a significant amount of time with 6th precinct detectives. >> did they feel, like, "hey, if you know -- we have to find sarah -- >> uh-huh. >> "if you know something, tell us.” >> oh, absolutely. he's the last person that she drops off. so, you know, at this point, you have to look at these people very seriously. and you have to make sure that they're telling you the truth. >> reporter: prosecutor albertson says jason's story was consistent, and he was adamant that he had no idea where sarah was. >> did they take his dna as well? >> they did. he consented. and he gave them his handprints. >> reporter: again handprints, not your typical police request in a missing person's case. the reason police were collecting them would soon become clear. jason also agreed to turn over the clothes he was wearing the night sarah went missing. his encounter with police all seemed very cooperative. >> everything is not what it seems. >> reporter: but when jason flores sat down to speak to us,
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he says his visit with detectives at the 6th precinct was like a scene out of a bad cop film. >> the detectives call me. and i willingly went there, obviously, because how would i not go? you know what i mean? >> to the police department? >> yeah. so we get there, this and that. he goes from mr. nice guy to "we know you know where she is.” smacking me. choking me. spitting on me. >> wow. >> and i was scared. i was scared. even though i knew i didn't do anything, they still had me, like thinking in my head, like, what the [ bleep ] is going on right now? i didn't get no phone call, no one read me my rights. >> what were they asking you? what kind of questions? >> it went from how do you know sarah to where the [ bleep ] is she? you [ bleep ] little [ bleep ]. we know you know where she is. yeah, you were in eagle estates? where the [ bleep ] were last night? like, just ripping my mind apart. >> reporter: and he says it didn't get easier when he was left alone in the jail cell.
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>> make me go crazy and cry in the cell all night. >> you actually were crying? >> yeah. i was crying myself to sleep. on a roll of toilet paper that was my pillow. >> what were you thinking about, as far as sarah? >> i was worried. i was concerned. because she had a lot to lose. beautiful baby, beautiful family. nice job. good career going for herself. >> did you have anything to do with sarah's disappearance? >> not one bit. >> reporter: after two days they let him go but warned him to stay close. >> did you feel like when you were walking out of that police department that they weren't done with you? that they still felt like -- >> oh, i knew. i knew they weren't. >> how many times did they come and talk to you -- >> 30 plus. >> reporter: the police declined to comment on jason's claims of how he was treated by detectives. as for sarah's family, they had their own suspicions. >> her family was convinced it was me. >> they were? >> yeah. >> how did you know that?
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>> the cops made it seem like that. >> did you feel like you were enemy number one? >> most definitely. i felt so targeted. and it wasn't a good feeling. >> reporter: sarah's family and friends were becoming more and more desperate. they didn't know who was behind her disappearance, so they kept digging and finally hit a solid lead. coming up -- >> it was so many unanswered questions. i just had to find stuff out. >> a best friend's hunch and an eagle-eyed neighbor. >> i was wondering what is he doing? >> helped put someone new on the radar. he peace of to really . yeah. yeah, i just hope it stays this way. once word gets out about these places they tend to -- -are you done? -aaand there it is. well, at least your vehicles are protected. let's hit the road. hey fam! i'm just at this beautiful lake that i just discovered.
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clear they weren't going to be spectators in the search for their sister. >> that's where her car was found and that's -- >> reporter: they were actively investigating her disappearance. and so were her friends. >> you decided to play detective a little bit. >> yeah, i guess. >> reporter: sarah had left a trail of cyber clues. and her best friend allaura cicero was determined to follow them. >> what was it that made you decide i need to do something more here than just search? >> there were so many unanswered questions. like, i felt like i just had to find stuff out. >> reporter: and she had an idea of where to start. turns out sarah was on allaura's family cell phone plan. that meant allaura had access to sarah's phone records. so she pulled them up on her cell. >> what did you find? anything that jumped out at you? >> just random numbers that i've never seen before, the same numbers over and over again. like, back and forth. >> did you start calling any of the numbers? >> i did. >> and? what kind of response were you getting when you would call? >> "last we seen her was at the
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party.” that's about it. nobody knew anything. >> reporter: as allaura scrolled through sarah's call log, there was one number that caught her attention. >> it was a number that kept reoccurring. so we wanted to figure out who it was, you know. so we called and then -- >> who answered? >> dante. just the same response as everyone else. i don't know where she is. haven't seen her. >> reporter: dante taylor was a friend of jason flores' and was part of the group sarah was hanging out with that friday night. his name wasn't familiar to her, but alluara's boyfriend had heard of him. >> my boyfriend was like, "oh, i think that's the kid up the block.” so that's when we realized that that was the neighbor. >> did your boyfriend's family want to keep an eye on dante? >> i guess we were looking out for him. looking out for everyone, you know. it's just like, when you're in a situation like that, every little thing that happens, you're paying extra attention to at this point.
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>> reporter: her boyfriend's mother, dehlia mckernan, heard about sarah's connection to dante, so she decided to pay extra attention to him. he lived with his mom, a few houses away. >> what kind of things were you seeing? anything suspicious? >> you know, at the time, i wouldn't know if it was suspicious. >> reporter: like when she says she thought she saw dante cleaning out his car. >> yeah, on two different occasions i noticed that he had all of the -- he had the car doors open, the trunk open. he was in and out of the vehicle. just unusual behavior. you know just wondering, i was wondering what is he doing. >> did you feel like, i should tell sarah's family what i'm seeing? >> oh, well, i was always in contact with them. >> reporter: not content to sit back and just watch delia became dante's part-time shadow. >> you actually followed him? >> i actually -- >> on occasion? >> i did. i actually did. because, honestly, i really, really thought he would lead us
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to sarah. >> weren't you nervous? i mean, if he really did have something to do with her disappearance, then that would make him very dangerous. >> ah, yes. and you know, sometimes you think with your heart. and you really hope for the best. and you think that this -- if this could lead you to sarah, then yeah. >> you're following him where, then? so what kind of places are you ending up? >> he went to an auto parts store on one occasion. he stopped at a hero shop. he stopped in the parking lot of a shopping center. i just kept thinking, okay. sooner or later, he's going to make his way back to sarah. >> did you feel at all like kind of an amateur private detective? >> i felt like a mom. and it was extremely personal because of the connection and the history that we have with sarah's family. >> reporter: delia had known sarah since she was a little girl. >> who was the sarah you knew as a child and beyond? >> feisty. independent. loving. she had a beautiful smile. she was very family-oriented. she loved, adored her daughter.
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>> reporter: when nick, who was running out of patience, heard about dante's number showing up on sarah's call log, he started following him. nick had heard the police wanted to talk to dante, so when he spotted him outside his house, nick called 911. >> this is about the sarah case, the girl that's been missing. >> okay. >> and that kid dante is on the corner, sitting in his car. >> reporter: but nick didn't wait for police to arrive. he went right up to dante and confronted him.
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anning : continug our story, sarah goode, a young single mom was missing. lizzy : it was horrible. nick giannetto : in your mind and in your heart and in your soul youre saying to yourself, this is not normal. andrea canning : her family wanted answers. tabitha : we just started searching. jennifer : we were our own investigators. andrea canning : under scrutiny, her ex-boyfriend and three
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others she was with that night. andrea canning : did you feel like you were enemy number one? jason flores : most definitely. andrea canning : where was she? a break in the case was coming. karen oswald : you cant ask for better evidence than your bad guys print in blood. nick giannetto : i just wanted to rip his heart out of him. andrea canning : sarah goode disappeared after a night out with friends and her brother-in-law nick suspected one of them knew more than they were telling. he soon learned that a party-goer named dante taylor called sarah's cell phone several times that evening and police wanted to talk to him. so did nick. janet albertson: ultimately nick finds him and t-- tails him, like in the movies. when dante taylor goes to his mother's house, nick calls 911 and demands a police presence to immediately come down and identifies him as an individual who, you know,
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is potentially wanted by the police in connection with the missing girl. andrea canning : with police on their way, nick went right up to dante and confronted him. nick giannetto : im like, get against the car, you blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, every curse word. and he seemed pretty-- like, confident. like-- andrea canning : you mustve wanted so badly to get this man to tell you where she was. nick giannetto : yes. andrea canning : but the police show up? nick giannetto : and the-- there was nothing i could do. andrea canning : as the detectives approached dante, nick continued yelling. nick giannetto : im just cursing at him and, you know vocally, being nasty to him. he wasnt saying nothing back to me. andrea canning : by this time a whole entourage of sarahs family had shown up. janet albertson: the police responds, more family came down and it got chaotic. andrea canning : with nick and the rest of sarahs family now shouting at dante, the police worried about his safety. janet albertson: mister taylor was ultimately transported
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to the local precinct. and then subsequently he was interviewed by detectives. andrea canning : was dante taylor giving them anything? was he helping? janet albertson: he provided the police with his palm prints, his fingerprints. he provided them with-- with a buccal swab. he gave a consent to search his phone. andrea canning : and when detectives confronted dante with phone records showing he had been talking to sarah the night she went missing, he had an explanation. janet albertson: he was calling, not to speak to sarah, but to speak to jason and that sarah picked up. andrea canning : and they confirmed dante was telling the truth. sarahs childhood friend jason had been using sarahs phone that night to communicate with dante because his own phone didnt have cell service. janet albertson: mister taylor was-- was released and he was free to go home while the investigation continued. andrea canning : did that say something that he willingly gave his prints and was talking to police? janet albertson: sure. you know, its always interesting when somebody gives you their samples. andrea canning : and he had even been supporting the search.
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posting this on twitter. it was a real whodunit. andrea canning six days and still no sign of sarah goode. her brother-in law nick had run out of people to question. so he did what many others do when they start to lose hope, he went to church. nick giannetto : i get on my hands and knees and i say, you know what, lord? you could not give me anything else in this lifetime. it-- let me bring her home, you know. i want to find her. andrea canning : later that day, nick met up with a search party. by now he and the rest of the family had exhausted every possible lead. so they decided to retrace their steps and went back to the woods not far from where sarahs car had been found. nick giannetto : i park. i get about a half a block over. i get a phone call. they think they see a-- a body in the woods.
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so we all start running and now theres-- i-- i couldnt tell you, maybe fifteen, twenty, thirty people at the end of the woods. and the smell was really bad. then you knew it was a body. andrea canning : nick and sarahs brother frankie took a closer look. nick giannetto : you know, everybodys screaming and yelling and crying on the floor. and-- andrea canning : was something telling you it was her? nick giannetto : mm-hm. the sweater, it was a total indication. so me and frankie look at each other and say, were going to tell them its not her. andrea canning : why? nick giannetto : we still wanted hope that she was alive. andrea canning : nick and frankie left the woods. and later ran into one of sarahs sisters. jennifer : and i just remember screaming at him like-- like, you have to tell me if its her or not. and she-- and i just remember my brother was like, its not her. and he just kept walking. like, they just didnt want to talk about it. andrea canning : did you believe him when-- jennifer : i didnt believe him. i-- i know it was her. andrea canning : sarahs family and friends
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had never stopped looking. their tireless efforts had finally paid off. they had found sarahs body. any last bits of hope were gone. one of the searchers called 911. when sarahs sister tabitha heard the sirens it became all too real. tabitha : there was like a white noise, like, you just felt go through your body, like you knew something-- whether it was sarah or something of sarahs, it was found. andrea canning : how do you get that official confirmation that it really was her? tabitha : they made us all go back to my moms house because it was around the block. he just stood us all in a circle and just said that they believe it was sarah. samantha : they think it was her. lizzy : but they couldnt confirm it yet. tabitha : yeah. lizzy : they wouldnt say it really was her. andrea canning : as chief of the homicide unit for the suffolk county das office,janet albertsonheaded straight to the scene. janet albertson: unfortunately, you know her body had decomposed a significant amount in that short six-day period.
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its just sad. you know, youre just standing over this-- what was clearly six days before, a beautiful, young girl. and what you had left was a horror. andrea canning : albertsonsays she didnt need to wait for test results. she knew it was sarah. she recognized her clothes from these pictures. andrea canning: did the shirt match the photos? janet albertson: yeah. and when the medical examiner removed the garments and she laid them out on the gurney to be photographed, you could visualize each of the tank tops including the owl shirt and the pink sweatshirt. andrea canning : the same crowds of family and friends who had searched for sarah had now come to say farewell. andrea canning : nick was back at church. this time for sarahs funeral. andrea canning : how is everyone handling the news that this-- this part of everything has now very tragically and sadly come to an end? nick giannetto : it is really, you know, a punch in the face.
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its just-- youre mad almost. youre mad at yourself, you know? because you couldnt do no-- like, you felt helpless. andrea canning : and youve always been sarahs protector. nick giannetto : yes. thats how i felt. like, i failed. andrea canning : and you were the last member of her family to say goodbye. nick giannetto : yes. its a-- its a big pill to swallow. andrea canning : you helped her get ready. nick giannetto : for her night out. and i painted her nails. yes. andrea canning : you never could have known. nick giannetto : you never know. you should always tell your loved ones you love them. you really dont know. andrea canning : his deep sorrow was clouded by anger and suspicion. now that the search for sarah was over, it was time to find her killer. so far detectives had made no arrests,
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but nick had his eye on someone. nick giannetto : he was the only one that i just wanted to rip his heart out of him. andrea canning : coming up-- andrea canning : thats a big deal? karen oswald : its tremendous deal. andrea canning : --a telltale piece of evidence. andrea canning : its almost like it was the killers calling card. janet albertson : it was his signature. andrea canning : when dateline continues. oooh! this is our night! shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. i'll be honest. by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh.
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the beach in mastic, new york, to say their final goodbyes at a place that had always brought her such joy. but as they tossed flowers into the ocean they felt no peace. weeks had gone by with no word on who killed sarah. andrea canning : youre trying to grieve the loss of your sister and theres the realization that theres a killer on the loose? lizzy : we werent told anything, basically. we were just told that they were looking into people and they have people in mind. tabitha : yeah, i think we called almost every day to see if they found somebody or if they were questioning more people and we just got the runaround. andrea canning : thats got to put the whole community on edge? tabitha : mm-hm. andrea canning : what the family didnt know was police were getting closer to finding her killer. and now sarahs body gave investigators more clues. they could tell it was a brutal murder. she had been stabbed more than forty times. janet albertson : this young lady has six sharp force
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injuries to her forehead, a broken nose, a-- a stab wound that went through and through the front to the back of her shoulder. shes got a-- a stab wound into the clavicle. shes got two stab wounds to her lower leg. andrea canning 1: the prosecutor had a theory as to what started this vicious attack. janet albertson : the killer wanted something from her she didnt want to give up. and he was pulling her towards him. andrea canning : albertson believes sarah had resisted a sexual advance, so her attacker raped her before stabbing her to death. janet albertson : its very clear when you looked at it that he landed on her from behind, pinned her down, and inflicted those injuries. because she had bruising on her legs, front and back, inside the right and left thigh that were inflicted while she was alive. andrea canning : semen was found in sarahs body and leaves and twigs had been stuffed between her legs in an attempt, the prosecutor surmised, to cover up dna. janet albertson : this is brute force. this is an animal. andrea canning : and when they looked at the forensic evidence, the prosecutor says it was clear the struggle began inside sarahs bmw.
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janet albertson : there was a significant amount of blood and a large clump of-- of her hair in the doorjamb. andrea canning : its a frightening discovery, finding hair and blood. janet albertson : it-- it is. and the amount of hair that was out-- hanging out of that doorjamb was significant. andrea canning : sarahs bmw had been towed to the police departments impound yard where forensic experts went to work. janet albertson : they spent quite a long amount of time going over that car. andrea canning : besides blood and hair, something else caught their attention. janet albertson : they noticed, almost immediately on the hood of her bmw was red-brown staining. andrea canning : karen oswald, a fingerprint expert, worked the case. she says once investigators visually inspected the staining on the hood, they dusted it for prints. karen oswald : there were a few handprints that were developed on the hood. andrea canning : and were-- were you able to get prints off of them? was it-- was it a usable handprint? karen oswald : they werent usable the way they were with just the white fingerprint powder. there werent enough characteristics to compare it to somebody else.
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andrea canning : then they did a second test using a chemical called amido black. and this time, there was enough detail. one of the handprints was useable for comparison. and the test told them something else. andrea canning: so if theres blood on this palm print, its going to now show up with this chemical? karen oswald : hopefully, yes. andrea canning : and what happened when you put the chemical on it? karen oswald : it did develop. andrea canning : so the palm print turned blue? karen oswald : yes. blue. andrea canning : which means that there was very likely blood in that palm print? karen oswald : correct. andrea canning : and thats a big deal? karen oswald : its tremendous deal. andrea canning : while oswald and her team examined the prints, other investigators tested the blood to see who it belonged to. karen oswald : the blood came back to sarah goode. andrea canning : oswald believed the killer had attacked sarah, got her blood on his hands and then carelessly left his prints. so thats why detectives had been gathering handprints from every potential suspect. the prosecutor says they knew if they could find a match, they could likely solve this crime. andrea canning : its almost like it was the killers calling card. janet albertson : it was his signature.
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andrea canning : the print specialist was able to compare that bloody signature with those of potential suspects detectives sent her way. karen oswald : you dont always know homicides level of interest in somebody. youre going to compare these prints to anybody they ask. andrea canning : and one by one she checked for possible matches helping police cross names of their list, like sarahs ex- boyfriend, dj. his prints did not match. neither did brandon allens. it was his house sarah had been at that night. he says once he was cleared, detectives started treating him differently. brandon allen : they just wanted to know what we knew. andrea canning : you could feel that. brandon allen : yeah. andrea canning : theyre not really looking at me. they just want me to help. brandon allen : mm-hm. andrea canning : and someone police had kept in jail for two days, the last known person to see sarah alive, jason flores was also cleared by his palm print. jason flores : and they come to my house and tell me. andrea canning : who came? the detectives? jason flores : yeah, because they knew how much i went through and they knew-- like, i mean, this wasnt
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easy for anyone to go through. especially someone youre accusing of it. i was just thinking, like, wow, i just really feel sarah, like, with me right now. andrea canning : as oswald cross-checked palm prints, delia mckernan had been keeping a close eye on her neighbor dante taylor. remember, hed been with the group sarah was hanging out with that fateful night and his cell number showed up on sarahs phone records. andrea canning : were you glued to your window? delia mckernan : absolutely. as crazy as that might sound, yes. andrea canning : even though dante had been questioned by detectives and let go, delia continued to watch him. using her high-powered binoculars, she kept an eye on his house. andrea canning : were you looking for every little-- delia mckernan: everything. andrea canning: anything you could see? delia mckernan: everything. even if it was an article of sarahs clothing, or, perhaps a-- a womans bag, or something that was out of character for him. andrea canning : and sure enough, one thing caught her attention. she watched as dante tried to hide his car--
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at least, thats what it looked like to her. delia mckernan : at one point, he actually put garbage pails behind his vehicle and kind of thought that that would help conceal it. andrea canning : and then one night, coming home from dinner, delia says her street was blocked off, a police flatbed was towing away dantes car. delia mckernan : we were unable to access my street because the tow truck had-- was blocking it. and also, the officers were not allowing anyone. even if you lived here, they werent allowing anyone down the street. we thought, at that point, okay. this is really serious. like, this-- this is-- this could be it. andrea canning : but weeks passed and nothing happened. police didnt arrest anyone. meanwhile, from the time sarah had gone missing, dante had been hanging out with brandon and jason. theyd all been friends for years. andrea canning : what kind of guy was he? jason flores : he was definitely a ladies man. he was very jealous. he was a jealous type of man. andrea canning : did the ladies like him? jason flores : yeah. i guess it was his eyes. thats what i always heard, was that they liked his eyes.
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andrea canning : and-- and did he like the attention from women? jason flores : yeah. he liked to be the center of attention all the time. anywhere we were he would try to be on the spotlight. andrea canning : and brandon says dante was trying to make something of his life. andrea canning : why did he want to go into the marines? brandon allen : i dont know. probably just like anybody else though. serve the country. andrea canning : but dante dropped out not long after basic training and had recently returned home. and while sarah was missing, brandon says dante seemed off. brandon allen : its hard to explain. you know, you would have to see for yourself. you know? like, being around him and getting vibes. it was just-- wasnt right. something wasnt right. andrea canning : talk about those vibes. brandon allen : creepy. like-- like, hell just stand there and just stare at you. andrea canning : did that make you uncomfortable? brandon allen : i would just look away. andrea canning : but yet you all kept hanging out with him? brandon allen : yeah. andrea canning : and jason thought maybe dantes short stint in the marines had changed him. jason flores : we were actually good friends at one point.
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and then he went away. came back and then he was just weird. andrea canning : jason remembers a weird incident one day when they were at a barbecue not long after sarah went missing. dante got into an argument with another one of their friends and pulled out a shotgun. jason flores : so dante popped his truck and started pointing the gun at him. and then brandon ran up to dante and pushed him back with the gun. and dante put the gun back in his trunk and that was that, like-- andrea canning : what did you think when he pulled out a gun? jason flores : i was just on the roof, like, im staying over here. im not going near that guy. i dont like guns. andrea canning : he had just bought it? jason flores : yes. andrea canning : to his friends, dantes behavior seemed erratic, but there was something else to consider. just as jason, brandon and the ex-boyfriend had done, dante willingly gave his handprints. if his prints had matched wouldnt police have arrested him? there was more to this story, so much more. andrea canning : coming up--
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lawrence opisso : if you follow it, its amazing. andrea canning : --a deep dive into sarahs cell phone records reveals a secret early-morning rendezvous. lawrence opisso : you see sarah is home and all hell broke loose from there. andrea canning : whendatelinecontinues. nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid before it begins. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant... everywhere. 4 out of 5 gynecologists would recommend whole body deodorant, which gives you 72 hour odor protection from your pits to your- (sfx: deoderant being sprayed) secret whole body deodorant. nexgard® plus helps you protect your dog from fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, and more... all in one delicious, monthly, soft chew. use with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. nexgard® plus: the one you want for one-and-done protection.
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introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. for up to 8 hours sarah goode was murdered, detectives already knew she had dropped off her friend jason at around 1 am.
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and a few minutes later, texted him that she had made it home safely. but it wasnt until they combed through sarahs phone records and checked cell tower data that they started to figure out what happened next. andrea canning : those cell phone records were really telling you a story? lawrence opisso : its incredibly powerful. if you follow it, its amazing. you see sarah is home. andrea canning : lawrence opisso, an assistant district attorney with the suffolk county das office, worked the case. lawrence opisso : and jason texts her, are you home? are you home safe? and-- and she says, yes. and all hell broke loose from there. andrea canning : he says after that text, sarah got a call from someone else. lawrence opisso : somebody is speaking to her and theres conversations going back and forth. andrea canning : when detectives tracked the cell phone movements, they could see whoever was talking to sarah started off in mastic, new york. then traveled about ten miles north to where sarah was living near eagle estates. lawrence opisso : shes home. but we see this phone number, this cell instrument
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with this phone number, move very deliberately right up to sarah goodes home, where the phones come together. andrea canning : once the cell phone pinged near sarahs house all phone communication stopped. prosecutors believe thats when sarah and her caller started communicating in person. janet albertson : she receives a call from-- from a young man and at one-thirty in the morning, you know, she went out to meet him. andrea canning : albertson theorized sarah, who was twenty-one and a single mom, wanted to make the most of this rare night out. so when she got an offer to keep the party going, she took it. janet albertson : i think her decision was just kind of naive and-- and foolish. and unfortunately, you know, it turned out to be fatal. andrea canning : so who was this person sarah met up with on the night she was murdered? police traced the number. janet albertson : it ultimately was identified to dante taylor. andrea canning : nineteen-year-old dante taylor, the handsome marine corps drop-out. when police had questioned him, back when sarah was missing, he told them he and sarah never got together after the group split up that night.
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janet albertson : he maintained that he asked her to hang out and that she said, no, she wasnt going to hang out. and he was confronted with phone records and cell tower information that said otherwise. and, you know, he basically said those records must be wrong. so the records are not wrong. you know, people are liars. records arent. andrea canning : and even though sarah and dante were part of the group hanging out together the night she went missing, their mutual friend jason flores says the two barely interacted. andrea canning: he didnt make any comment, "oh, shes cute," or any-- no-- jason flores : he came up to her car and we were sitting in her car. andrea canning : he says the three of them had a short conversation. jason flores : and then he walked away. and that was the only thing. andrea canning : the family had also been suspicious of dante. when they called him while looking for sarah-- jennifer : we talked to him twice. once at night, when we first started. and then in the morning. i think he just switched that either he did or didnt see her. i dont remember. andrea canning : he might not have gotten his story straight? jennifer : yeah. andrea canning : police already had cell
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records linking dante to sarah. so what about his palm print? karen oswald remembers when dante came in to give his prints. karen oswald : he was a regular guy. he was polite, helpful. he was a nice guy. andrea canning : when someone acts like that do you think, oh, it probably wasnt him? karen oswald : i dont make a determination on whether i think it was them or not. ive seen enough people who have done really bad things, and to your face theyre-- theyre nice, theyre polite, theyre respectful. but demeanors change. andrea canning : oswald carefully compared the ridges from the bloody palm print to dantes. finally, a hit. karen oswald : it matched to dante taylor. andrea canning : how did that feel to make that match? that now youve potentially caught the killer. karen oswald : in one instance, it feels great. because you always want to be part of that team that gives the evidence that catches somebody whos done something this awful. but the reality is, you never actually want to work a case like this.
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you never want to hear the story of what happened to sarah. you immediately think, you know, she met this guy at a party. that could have been me, or any of my friends or my sister. andrea canning : but even with the palm print and the cell phone records all pointing to dante as sarahs killer police didnt arrest him. there was a problem--and a brand new lead. andrea canning : coming up-- janet albertson : we received information that there might be another victim out there. andrea canning : another victim? nicole lukas : he had a knife. he had it at my throat. he just kept saying "ill kill you." andrea canning : when dateline continues. [ cellphone ringing ] phone call from the boss? sorry. outdoor time is me time. i hear that. that's why we protect all your vehicles here. but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know
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es built their case against dante taylor, the prosecutor worried about a key piece of evidence. the bloody palm print dante left on the hood of sarahs car. she wasnt sure shed be able to use it in court. remember when police brought dante in for questioning back when sarah was still missing? janet albertson : you have all the family members screaming and yelling. and the potential for a weapon. andrea canning : that was the time when nick had called police. and when they showed up, they handcuffed dante, brought him to the precinct, questioned him for hours, and got his handprints. but they never read him his rights. janet albertson : because the detectives believed theyd made
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it clear to him that he was not under arrest, that he was, in fact, free to go. andrea canning : but albertson knew there was a strong possibility a judge might not see it that way and could suppress dantes palm print, meaning the most damning piece of evidence linking him to sarahs murder would be thrown out. because police never read him his rights, for now, dante walked free. his neighbor delia continued to spy on him, and one day as a car drove past her, she saw something alarming. delia mckernan : he was hiding crouched down in the backseat, and so i made it a point to slow my vehicle as i passed, and i looked into the vehicle, and thats when i saw dante hiding in the backseat. andrea canning : what did you think of that? delia mckernan : i thought, wow, hes going to get away. hes going to go on the run. hes going to leave. andrea canning : did you tell someone immediately? delia mckernan : i did. andrea canning : thats how albertson learned dante was leaving for florida on a one-way ticket. janet albertson : we were grateful for the observations that she made because thats what led us to the one way ticket.
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andrea canning : since detectives werent ready to charge him with murder, they couldnt stop him from leaving town. instead they kept working the case hoping for a plan b, and then-- janet albertson : we received information that there might be another victim out there. andrea canning : the information came from sarahs friend jason flores. during one of his many interviews with police, jason told them about another girl who said dante had attacked her. jason flores : this girl, she messaged me, like, a couple months after me and dante hung out with her. she was like, oh, how can you let him do that to me? i was like, what are you talking about? shes like, he put a knife to my throat and tried to rape me in the room. andrea canning : did you tell the police about that? jason flores : yeah, i showed them the messages. i printed them out for them. andrea canning : the girl was nicole lukas. nicole lukas : he just kept saying "ill kill you. dont ---- with me." andrea canning : the incident happened about two years earlier in dantes house. jason says she told him she was so afraid of dante, she never reported it to police. now the police went looking for her
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and what she told them sounded like an eerie echo of what they believed happened to sarah. nicole lukas : he kept trying to touch my body, and he opened the zipper to my shorts, and then he had a knife above his bed, and he had it at my throat. he was like waving it around. andrea canning : nicole shared her story on video with a reporter from newsday, a long island newspaper. nicole lukas : and he said that he would kill me, and he said are you scared, and i said no because i was just trying to like-- i didnt want to show him fear. and then he got-- he actually touched my throat with the knife. andrea canning : nicole says they struggled, he punched her several times and then she panicked and hit him in the face. nicole lukas : that was my chance to run because he was like-- he was like on his side. he was just in shock that i smacked him.
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andrea canning : she escaped and for years tried to forget it ever happened. nicole lukas : i didnt want to talk about it. i just wanted it to be left alone, but what happened to sarah goode, i wanted to help them in a way. andrea canning : nicole was now willing to press charges and detectives hoped her case might give them a second shot at dante taylor. if they could get a warrant to arrest him for attempted rape, they would be able to take his palm prints again. andrea canning: this palm print could hold the key to this whole case. janet albertson : correct. andrea canning : so detectives tracked down people who corroborated nicoles story, and this, the prosecutor says, gave police what they needed. andrea canning: was this kind of like a do-over? janet albertson : in a way, yes. andrea canning : now they could arrest dante on the attempted rape charge and use his new palm prints in sarahs case. janet albertson : it helped protect the case. it helped protect the integrity of the evidence. unidentified man : hey, dante, how you doing? unidentified woman : why did you do it, dante? andrea canning : so more than a month after sarah
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had been brutally murdered-- unidentified man : are you sorry? andrea canning : --detectives flew down to florida armed with a warrant and brought her suspected killer back to new york-- unidentified man : whyd you kill her? andrea canning : where he was charged with rape and first-degree murder. sarahs brother-in-law nick heard about the arrest from police. nick giannetto : the detectives called at night, very late, and said that they were bringing dante taylor back. he was the one who murdered sarah. andrea canning : what was it like to hear that? nick giannetto : a lot of emotions. just want to get a hold of him really. you know? just give him to me. dont even, you know, worry about anything else. andrea canning : the court of nick? nick giannetto : yeah. yeah. andrea canning : he wasnt surprised to hear who it was. nick giannetto : he was the only one-- the only person that when i got to him, face-to-face, like me
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and you, i felt something that i just wanted to rip his heart out of him. it was just real bad. andrea canning : sarahs sister lizzy will never forget hearing the news. lizzy : the detective called me and said that, we arrested him, and then my body just-- i guess it went into shock, because just felt like the blood drained out of my body. i dont know why i was freezing cold and then i was sweating, and i didnt know what to do. andrea canning : the familys rage against dante taylor would slowly simmer during the two years before his trial. and when they finally entered the courtroom, it would take all their strength to keep their anger from boiling over. lizzy : you had to hold yourself in the seat because he was right there. if you just picked up your hand-- samantha : and every time he walked in, the smirk he had on his face want to jump over and deck him. andrea canning : coming up, an explosive claim in court.
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john lewis : from the very beginning, you cant trust the police or the district attorney in this case. andrea canning : and one haunting detail her family never heard. nick giannetto : i wanted to jump out of my seat. andrea canning : whendatelinecontinues. (♪♪) when life spells heartburn... how do you spell relief? r-o-l-a-i-d-s rolaids' dual-active formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. (whisper) air wick. how far would you go to control the fragrance in your home? there's an easier way. try air wick vibrant, with 2x more natural essential oils for up to 120 days of amazing fragrance per dual pack. now that's a breath of fresh air wick.
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a jury in riverhead, new york. he had pleaded not guilty. on may 11, 2016, sarahs family and friends packed the courtroom and continued to fill the seats every day during the five-week trial. andrea canning : you had t-shirts made up, "justice for sarah." the judge told you to tone it down a little bit? tabitha : a little bit? all the way. lizzy : whatever signs that we had hanging around the neighborhoods, we had outside of our houses, on the main roads-- samantha : on the cars. lizzy : --cars. the judge obviously said that was not allowed, you know? andrea canning : because of jurors? was that the idea? lizzy : yeah. the influence-- jennifer : he didnt want-- yeah, he didnt want them to influence the jurors in case they saw it. andrea canning : her family complied with the judges order. they sat quietly in the courtroom while the prosecution laid out its case. andrea canning: with all the strong evidence, was this a slam dunk? janet albertson : no. you never say its going to be a slam dunk. andrea canning : prosecutors took the jurors through the timeline of the night of the murder.
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no detail was too small. they began with sarahs selfie showing off her red nails. lawrence opisso: its amazing if you look at the social media in this case and the-- the instagram and the-- and the twitter, you can almost see this happening in real-time. andrea canning : to further bolster the timeline, prosecutorlawrence opissoalso showed the jury sarahs cell phone records and cell tower data. they illustrated that not only was dante taylor the last person to be with sarah, hed had also returned to the scene of the crime. lawrence opisso: the records tell really a story of a killer who went from his home to her home, and returned there several times in the course of the-- the next few days almost to see what was happening, and how the investigation was developing. andrea canning : their theory, after dante taylor lured sarah out of her house, he savagely beat her in the car, then dragged her into the woods, raped her and stabbed her more than forty times. the jury saw photos of the blood and hair found in sarahs bmw.
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and to support the theory of rape, a crime lab expert testified that dantes dna sample was a perfect match to the semen found in sarahs body. janet albertson : this was about complete domination of that young lady because she ends up in the woods face down, the way the jury saw her, with her legs slightly splayed out. shes naked from the waist down. her upper garments are on but pushed up. and her little black sandals are zippered and strapped to her feet still. andrea canning : the prosecution painted a portrait of a brutal killer who had carelessly left his calling card. albertson showed the jury dantes handprint covered in sarahs blood. and there was something else investigators had discovered that albertson also believed was irrefutable evidence. andrea canning : a drop of blood in dantes car. a fact janet albertson ended with in her closing argument. janet albertson : one bloodstain from a dead girl
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is one bloodstain too many. andrea canning : coming up dante's defense team drops a bombshell andrea canning : you think the police made mistakes from the very beginning. john lewis: mistake is being generous. it was no mistake. it was intentional. andrea canning : what will the jury believe? janet albertson : the familys getting more and more upset, and anxiety-ridden. so its really nerve- wracking. andrea canning: whendatelinecontinues. ♪♪ stay ahead of your moderate-to-severe eczema. and show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 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.
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narrator: prosecutors had meticulously laid out their evidence against dante taylor to prove he brutally raped and murdered sarah goode. her brother-in-law nick listened to the testimony, and there was something he found especially hard to hear. he was the one who had lovingly painted sarah's nails right before she went out that night. nick: when janet said to the jury, we have no more fingers no more, but we have her fingernails that were painted-- and i wanted to jump out of my seat and strangle him. narrator: but according to defense attorneys john lewis and debra buchsbaum, nick's rage was misplaced. they claimed dante taylor was innocent. there's no direct evidence links dante taylor to this crime. i felt like this really was a case of classic tunnel vision, where from the get go, this seemed to be targeted at dante taylor.
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everybody thought it has to be dante taylor. and any information that they came across or that they uncovered during their investigation that didn't point to dante taylor basically got swept aside or got ignored. narrator: his attorneys acknowledged to the jury that sarah and dante did meet. but they said it was simply a sexual encounter between two consenting adults, and dante left her unharmed. they called a former medical examiner to the stand, who testified there was no physical evidence on sarah's body that proved she had been raped. there is no evidence that that semen was placed there as part of a forcible compulsion. narrator: and then an explosive claim-- lewis told jurors not only had detectives botched the investigation, but he believed they were unethical. you think the police made mistakes from the very beginning? mistake is being generous. it was no mistake. it was intentional. you believe he was framed by detectives?
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i believe that the evidence, ok, is questionable. and that's the issue. the issue is i don't know what the truth is. and if you don't know what the truth is, then that's problematic, don't you think? narrator: the defense accused the police and prosecution of withholding information for a year and a half about other possible suspects, like the crime stoppers tip about sarah's ex-boyfriend's angry words? why do you think they were withholding all this information from you? because that's the way they operate. narrator: as for the drop of sarah's blood found in dante's car, lewis questioned how it got there, in the first place. john lewis: i don't think that was competent evidence, to begin with, based upon the fact that four detectives searched that car for over an hour before releasing it back to dante taylor and never found any blood in it, sarah goode's or otherwise.
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narrator: he says it wasn't until days later when police searched the car again that they found the blood. and that bloody palm print on sarah's car? the defense didn't deny it was dante's print. instead, they disputed whether or not it was actually a bloody print. there were discrepancies in the testing. the first sample from the print came back positive for blood. the second, done more than a year later, after the print had been chemically processed, came back negative. but wasn't it red or brown? i don't believe that that's the case. it's going to be hard for the viewers to understand. what else could it be? ok, so nobody owns photoshop? none of your viewers know what photoshop is. well, but now you're accusing the police of changing the color of the photo. i'm saying, from the very beginning, you can't trust the police or the district attorney in this case. there is no proof that they planted blood or photoshopped pictures of the palm print. i mean, these are just allegations by you.
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i'm not saying they did or they didn't. i'm saying, i'll never know whether they did or they didn't. and that's the scary part. narrator: police and the prosecution unequivocally deny photoshopping or planting evidence. they say this was all part of the defense's smokescreen. and as for withholding evidence, they say they turned over everything in plenty of time for trial. the defense attorney just kept saying, you can't trust the police. you can't trust the prosecutor. and it's really the only argument he made. after narrator: more than four weeks of testimony, the case went to the jury. woman: there was not a seat in the courtroom for deliberation. there were lines of people outside. the family's getting more and more upset and anxiety ridden. so it's really nerve wracking. narrator: three days went by before the jury reached a verdict. dante taylor was found guilty of rape and first degree murder. i felt like sarah was just right here.
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and i could i could see her and picture her saying, we got this piece of [bleep]. reporter: is this closure? i mean, what's the emotion? i wouldn't say closure if she's not coming back. it's never going to bring her back. but we got him. narrator: family and friends poured out of the courtroom and gathered outside to show jurors their gratitude. [cheering and applause ] it's never going to be enough. narrator: then they visited sarah's grave, as if to let her know justice had finally been served. the ways of truth and love have always won. judge: stand up. narrator: a month later, in front of a packed courtroom, dante went before the judge to hear his sentence. judge: dante taylor, for your conviction of murder in the first degree on count one, your sentence is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. your punishment will be the maximum,
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the only appropriate punishment for the evil man that did this. you may make chalk marks on the cell block and your walls in the cage in which you will live, and they will have no significance. you may circle dates on the calendar, but they will mean nothing because there is no date for you to get out. narrator: since dante received the maximum sentence, the da's office decided to drop the attempted rape charge. sarah's family says the judge's words were exactly what they wanted to hear. it was nice to know that he's on our side. he wasn't on his side. and he was emotional, too. and when he started reading, what he was going to say, he was trying to hold back tears. you could tell. narrator: a little more than a year into serving his life sentence, dante died by suicide in an upstate new york prison. his family is now suing several prison staff members. in the lawsuit, dante's family claims, shortly before killing himself,
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he was brutally beaten by corrections officers. the new york department of corrections said it does not comment on pending litigation. for sarah's family, there is little comfort in dante's passing. they say, her death has left a giant hole in the fabric of this tight-knit family, one that can never be mended. i would trade places with her in a heartbeat if it meant that she could come back. we were supposed to be her protector. i always said that the older ones were supposed to go first, not the younger ones. what you just said is. is something that a parent would say. she was like our baby. she was our baby sister. --my own kid, i guess, because i was older than her, try to protect her any way that we could, everybody, do it for each other. narrator: and now they focus their attention on sarah's baby. her daughter jocelyn is being raised by their mother. but like everything else, it's really a family affair.
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we find comfort going to mom's house when jocelyn is there. and her spirit is just like sarah's, so it's like sarah growing up all over again. so i believe sarah left us this gift. she's our other little angel that was given to us from sarah so her spirit can live on. give me a kiss. mmm, thank you. can i have another gift. mmm. guilt still in me. it makes me sick how i could do something like that.
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