this is "nightline." tonight, the money trail. the missing mom mystery. where did millions of dollars go? her estranged husband in court, locked in heated exchanges. >> $14,000 a year, even after jennifer is missing? >> the prime suspect in her disappearance sending a surprising message outside of court. >> i wish jennifer and her family happy holidays. >> following the blood and money in the still-unsolved cases. plus. taking one last look, sir, at my friends. >> the "star wars" heroes. >> it's the destiny of a jedi. >> hoping to save the galaxy. >> your destiny. >> one last time before the final fight.

the first look at a top secret ride, and sitting down with the rise of skywalker's star-studded cast. how one beloved princess returns to the screen. >> the force will be with you. >> always. >> but first the "nightline" five.

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thanks for joining us. the case of a connecticut mother who mysteriously vanished is sparking new headlines. her estranged husband now in court over money. her family's money. tonight inside the courtroom showdown raising questions. >> reporter: it's been a little more than six months since his estranged wife went missing, and now making this strange statement outside of court. >> i wish jennifer and her family a happy holidays. and i just pray they give my kids my love and best wishes. >> reporter: she first went missing in may, her home considered a crime scene. her blood found there and in multiple locations. he and his girlfriend arrested for evidence tampering and hindering prosecutors in connection to her disappearance.

but this week, dulos' court appearance wasn't connected to those charges. he was sued by his mother-in-law over $2.5 million. >> we're talking a civil case. it involves money damages, a fight basically between dulos and the family of his estranged wife. very different than the charges related to her actual disappearance. >> reporter: they say they lent him money for their home loan. he says it was a gift. >> by 2010, their relationship did not have any promissory notes, no obligation to pay any of the funds that was advanced. >> reporter: jennifer filed for divorce in 2017, but dulos said he still expected her more to continue paying out the money she and her husband had agreed to. >> you expect the mother of jennifer to be giving you gifts, $14,000 a year, even after jennifer's missing, and you've been accused of criminal conduct

in connection with her missing? >> i don't expect anything. i know what the agreement was. >> reporter: testimony revealed that dulos took traconeis and at times her daughter to trips. >> you didn't pay lalimony, did you? >> it's not a yes or no question. >> you think this is funny? >> no, i don't. >> reporter: he isn't expected to appear in court again in this civil case. a judge will rule early next year whether he needs to repay the money to his mother-in-law, but the criminal kpcase is stil ongoing as investigators are still on the hunt to solve the disappearance. it started in new canaan, connecticut. it was a friday morning in late may, almost the end of the academic year when jennifer dropped off her five children for school. surveillance camera shows she returned to her rented home around 8:00, then vanished.

>> we love you, and we are doing everything we can to bring you home. >> reporter: hours later, worried friends called the police after she missed several appointments. her disappearance sparking an intense search across state line, making headlines in the national enoughs. >> new developments in the case of that missing mother of five. >> reporter: drones, k-9s and a helicopter scoured the area. her vehicle found near a wooded park, but key evidence discovered inside her rented home. the police affidavit released back in june revealed that authorities found multiple stains on the garage floor, multiple areas of suspected blood spatter and evidence of attempts to clean the crime scene. >> look at the affidavit. it says blood spatter. spatter. that's significant. >> reporter: that affidavit showing that jennifer was the suspected victim of a serious physical assault. jennifer and dulos had been in the midst of a bitter divorce battle.

in court documents, jennifer seemed to fear for her safety, claiming in 2017, i am afraid of my husband, i know that filing for divorce and filing this motion will enrage him. i know he will retaliate by trying to harm me in some way. dulos strongly denied any threatening behavior, calling his wife incapable of parenting because she allegedly was taking anti-psychotic medications. >> i've seen it so many times, and every time it's heartbreaking. jennifer said at the time the split started, she was afraid. she was afraid to file for divorce. she was afraid her husband would seek vengeance on her. >> reporter: little more than a week after jennifer's disappearance, the first arrests. her husband, and his then live-in girlfriend michelle. that police affidavit in june found clothing and sponges stained with what appeared to be blood in the trash. surveillance cameras capturing a man appearing to be dulos

discarding more than 30 garbage bags, his cell phone showing pings in the area at the time. the blood confirmed to be jennifer's. dulos and traconis appeared app. three months later a similar scene. dulos was taken into custody a second time and again charged with tampering with evidence in her disappearance. >> there's not much here that we haven't heard before, and i question the wisdom of these charges. we intend to plead not guilty these charges. >> it's an exhausting fight. i love my children. >> they do, but where's the murder charge? >> reporter: traconnis was also arrested, facing that same murder charge. police released a detailed, 38-page warrant, complete with surveillance video, cell phone data and dna analysis, showing a

trail of suspicious activity in the days following jennifer's disappearance. crucial details, including traconis admitting she hadn't been truthful during previous questioning. >> detectives have a circumstantial case. >> reporter: she said she and e morning she disappeared, providing an alibi, but she later admitted she didn't see him that morning. instead, police believe dulos was at jennifer's house lying in wait. >> the big question is to figure out what michelle knows and whether or not she's going to testify against dulos, the big question for the defense right now is what risk is there in making michelle the key witness. >> reporter: investigators say he borrowed a co-worker's toyota tacoma, dna in that car matched to jennifer.

something they brought up in august. >> she also was asked about why that truck was taken to be washed in detail. and she told the police, well, you told me there was that's correct so ,so it must be that jennifer's body was inside that truck. >> reporter: they have both pled not guilty. >> will we eventually see a murder charge in this case? we don't know until the state continues to investigate and hand over more evidence. >> reporter: for her reefigriev family, they released a statement, encouraging acts of caring and generosity, adding "hug your loved ones close." >> dulos will be in court again next month in the criminal case. up next, the stunning end to a "star wars" saga, how the cast of the rise of skywalker is honoring a fallen member in their final fight.

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it's hard to believe after more than four decades, nine films and millions of die-hard fans around the world, the story of a generation ends with the "rise of skywalker." the force awakening for one final battle between good and evil later this month, but first sitting down with the cast revealing to chris connelly the memories and friendships they'll cherish forever. >> reporter: few know, but millions await what takes place

in the "rise of skywalker." the climactic episode nine of the "star wars" saga, for its fans and for members of its cast, it's a conclusion fraught with feeling. >> i think that's what was so thrilling about it. it has always been a very david and goliath story. this small team of people up against impossible odds. >> i don't think there was a day where i wasn't feeling very emotional, because even the fun scenes were so out of the ordinary for me. i was like, oh, my god, we're having fun, how do i do this thing? >> reporter: joining his cast, assembled at disneyland's rise of the resistance attraction, director and co-writer, jj abrams, putting a bow on this trilogy. >> coming in. >> reporter: and 42 years' worth of the biggest movie franchise ever. >> part of the fun of working on

this new trilogy has been sort of embracing what has come before as the history of these characters. >> what are you doing there, 3 po? >> taking one last look, sir. >> reporter: the fondly remembered and freshly imagined, rekindled star war fever, with 2015's force awakens. now he's back at it. >> the force, it's calling to you. >> how do we embrace what came before, the familiar, to tell a new story and go somewhere else. if you look at this asini nine films, not a trilogy but the end of nine chapters, this chapter needs to connect all those that came before. >> reporter: a product of lucasfilm, which, like abc is owned by the waltz disney company. much of the movie's beating heart is thought to be based on daisy ridley and confrontations in the drivers. >> it is so desperate for

understanding her place in things. there's a desperate searching for where she comes from, what that means for her. >> reporter: throughout, the young woman who wielded a radar. >> every time, my heart goes, boom, genuinely, i have to move my mic, because my heart is pounding. still being nervous every time is helpful as well. it gives a bit of adrenaline. inju injure, just as her co-actor. >> having daisy on a day-to-day basis. you're able to interact with people who you actually have a close relationship with in real life. >> it was a draw for me in the beginning, to have you guys all together. >> all together. >> my dearest oscar.

>> reporter: he thrilled franchise fans with this instagram video, celebrating his on and offer again bromance. >> you're the recipient of a very tender video that john did on your behalf. >> way too much time on his hands. >> i long to be reunited with you on a final press tour. >> very strange. i had a dirty diaper in my hands when someone was showing me, what is this? that form of speaking, we put on this voice and talk to each other throughout the day in that way. >> yes, my friend. so lovely. >> and then he, you know, so he just kind of was sharing that energy with everyone. >> t biggest take away is just the deep love that i've acquired for these people that i got to work with over these many years and how rare and special that is. >> reporter: rare and special, too, is the devotion of "star wars" fans to the late carrie fisher, their eternally-beloved

leia. they needed to find a way to feature here one final time. >> we looked at the footage we had not used from "the force awakens." what we realized is that chris and i could use that footage and write scenes around carrie. what's incredible is, you know, she's wonderful in this movie. the heartbreaking reality that she was no longer with us, you know, is so surreal, because literally, she's been alive in the editing room every day for nearly a year. and the idea that we're sitting here talking about her in the past tense is still crushing and impossible to imagine. >> reporter: even now, her wit and compassionate insights continue to inspire. >> and the thing she said, this really matters to people. like this is an important thing. it's not ever taking itself too seriously or anything like that. but in viewing this whole experience with that level of importance is important in itself, because this matters.

you know, to millions of people. >> reporter: and they will see the final episode. what do i think their emotions will be? are there going to be grief counselors outside the theater as they have this? >> well, i grew up in a family of very, very diehard "star wars" nerds. and and i did, you know, share what happens. and it was just great to, oh, this is just, it, it brings everything together. >> reporter: six years of your life, daisy. >> hmm. >> reporter: what did you say to yourself you had learned at the end of it? >> i think it's a strange time. because i would say early 20s is a big changing time anyway. and finishing it up i feel much more confident. when people are like, you can do it, you're eventually like, maybe i can do it. i always felt so safe in the environment. that, yeah, six happy years. >> there's something about "star

wars" as a whole that i think has enormous heart. the dream is to give people that sense of, you know, that sort of sublime transcendence, that feeling of getting to go somewhere that no other kind of movie will take you. >> reporter: for "nightline," chris connelly in anaheim, california. >> hmm, the "rise of skywalker" comes out on december 20th. up next, the man with the plan. how he made 10,000 pals. something great from mr. clean. stop struggling to clean tough messes with sprays. try clean freak! it has three times the cleaning power of the leading spray to dissolve kitchen grease on contact. and it's great for bathrooms! just keep pumping the power nozzle to release a continuous burst of mist and make quick work of big jobs. it even works on stainless steel. it cuts through 100% of dirt, grease and grime. available with easy-to-swap refills. to get three times the cleaning power,

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the ones that make a truebeen difference in people's lives. and mike's won them, which is important right this minute, because if he could beat america's biggest gun lobby, helping pass background check laws and defeat nra backed politicians across this country, beat big coal, helping shut down hundreds of polluting plants and beat big tobacco, helping pass laws to save the next generation from addiction. all against big odds you can beat him. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. [ dramatic music ]ing ] ahhhh! -ahhhh! elliott. you came back!

and finally tonight, one man with a big mission. here's abc's will ganss. >> hi. >> reporter: rob lawless has a lot of friends. pizza makers in canada, musicians in l.a., acro yogis in philly and everyone in between, that's because rob's on a mission, which he calls rob's 10k friends. >> i would say rob's 10k friends is my mission to spend one hour, one on one with 10,000 people to

see what comes from opening doors for no particular reason. >> reporter: he doesn't write anything down or take any physical notes, but afterwards he manages to write a quote and a brief bio about each of his new friends. a san diego pilot offering to have his meeting with rob in an airplane. >> we drove the plane, and he joked with me. he said it's amateur built, so you don't have to fly in it if you don't want. that's what i learned he had literally built the plane himself. >> reporter: and you went? >> we went. our hour together was spent flying over the coast of san diego. >> reporter: setting up meetings with rob via instagram or the old-fashioned way, being referred by a friend. what is the best thing about the project? >> i'm starting to see people take on their own initiatives of meeting new people. and i like that the project has this air of good to it. if ten people are trying to meet ten new people this year as a result of it, and they have a

good experience be maybe 20 will do that next year. there's a lot of talk of loneliness driven by social media and technology, if i request have a small footprint in changing that, that is something i'd be really proud of. >> that's the human connection. and that's "nightline" for tonight. can you always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.