>> deborah: tonight, the relationship some people say sounds like a real life silence of the lambs. >> david: missing women, a terrifying suspect and the detective who risks her life to solve the case. an all new "20/20" starts right

now. ♪ ♪ it was a baffling case. >> baffling. >> to women in this town, it was a big deal. unusual. >> very unusual. >> elizabeth was very she would trust everybody. >> the last known images of elizabeth were recorded in this walmart. >> seemed like a very short timeframe that people started to look for elizabeth and now stacy is gone. >> loved to dance and have fun with the kids. just a bundle of joy. >> she's like some nice guy stopped to help. >> she told him to go and wouldn't. >> yeah. >> now a phone call that would change everything, a third woman taken. >> there was a female and she had been held captive.

>> sounds like something out of a movie. >> absolutely was. >> a horror movie. >> you could hear her desperation for help. >> it's a chilling call. >> i woke him up. >> set the phone down. >> did you know anything about what you were able to face? >> no. >> i saw her hand, her outstretched hand through the window. >> then the line goes silent. >> yep. ♪ ♪ 9-1-1, what is the address to your emergency? >> 4th street laundromat. >> what's the problem? >> i've been abducted. >> reporter: it's 6:48 a.m. in september, 2016. emergency dispatchers receive a 9-1-1 call from a terrified woman. she's whispering that she's

being held at a house near the laundromat and that her captor is asleep at her side. >> is he in the same room with you? >> yes. >> does he have a weapon? >> he's got a taser. >> is there any way you can get out of the building? >> i don't know without waking him, and i'm scared. his bedroom is closed, and he made it so it would make noise. >> we have officers we are sending. >> okay. please send enough. >> reporter: officer rushes to the scene, leaving his siren off so that it does not alert the abductor. >> so what were you doing when the call came in? >> we responded from the police station. we were trying to be stealthy. we were told that the suspect was sleeping, so we wanted to approach and not make a bunch of noise. >> you weren't even sure the call was real, right? >> i didn't believe it was real

at first, just because of the town that we live in. just not a typical call that we would get in ashland. >> reporter: ashland, ohio, it's a small city between columbus and cleveland. home to more than 50 churches and a large amish community. >> ashland is a quiet, rural community. there's about 20,000 people who live there. it has a university, a lot of farm fields. >> so this is ashland. what can you tell me about the town? >> well, as you can see, it's rolling hills. it's scenic. ♪ >> a lot of community stuff going on. football games. the county fair. a lot of farm animals, a lot of

competitions and shows for kids to get involved with. >> typical small town where everyone knows everyone, right? >> yes, exactly. >> reporter: kim mager has had 23 years of service as a detective in ashland. >> i handled violent crime and i handled sex offenses and child abuse. i'm over a thousand of those cases. >> a thousand? >> yeah. >> at the time of that terrifying 911 call, the community is already on edge. just a week before, police discovered that a woman in town had simply vanished. there was a missing person named elizabeth griffith. >> yes. elizabeth was known in our town. i had had contact with her. i think we all had. a lot of the officers would have an eye on her. >> she was kind of a vulnerable person and we helped her quite a bit as a police division. >> she used to call them quite

frequently. she would call them about anything and everything. just, like, i heard it's going to snow today. is there any chance that the roads will be closed? she was definitely a character. >> reporter: facing mental health challenges, 29-year-old elizabeth griffith attended meetings at a peer support center called lifeworx. >> elizabeth was very bubbly and energetic. the first time i met elizabeth was at lifeworx, and she was coming down the hallway and i was coming opposite of her. and she was like, hey, you're new here. and i was like, yeah? and she was like, you want to be my friend? and i was like, sure, let's be friends. >> reporter: she was embraced not just by lifeworx, but by her church family. >> elizabeth was a really sweet girl. a simple person. she liked to make people laugh. she liked to sing.

she loved to worship. she would raise her hand the highest during worship. and even though she was tone-deaf, she'd sing louder than anyone else. she was very much with the heart of a child. it was a little harder for her to grasp some things sometimes. >> she was a very loving person and a very loyal person. certainly, financial challenges, certainly medical challenges, mental health challenges. >> she lived on her own, own apartment. she did have a case manager that kind of helped her with daily life struggles. >> she was always introducing herself to everybody. very outgoing. >> the community knew elizabeth and she was one of ours and she was taken care of. >> reporter: but then, elizabeth's support team realizes nobody has seen her in weeks.

>> we were at lifeworx, and the phone rang. and it was elizabeth's case manager. and she had asked if we had seen elizabeth lately. she was like, i can't find her. so i called her cell phone and it just went straight to voicemail, which was highly unlikely for elizabeth. i was like, something's not right. >> i was concerned because where would she have gone, what could have happened. >> she wasn't the type of person that would go missing. so we sort of knew something was wrong there. >> this is an area where i would often see elizabeth griffith walking. just days before her disappearance i stopped and chatted with her right up here. >> it was a baffling case. >> it was baffling. we didn't know if she had taken off or did she meet somebody online and leave?

we didn't know if it was suicide. we didn't know where she was. >> everybody was taking to social media, posting pictures of her. everyone was looking for her. everybody was praying for her. >> reporter: police begin to investigate. speaking to elizabeth's neighbors and friends, and tracing her last known steps. >> i began talking with some of the public transit drivers because she would often use public transportation. >> reporter: before she disappeared, records show that elizabeth had taken the bus to go shopping. the last known images of elizabeth griffith were recorded while she was shopping at this walmart. there's video of her, going through the aisles. and then waiting for the bus. she disappeared shortly thereafter, and she wouldn't be the only one. it turns out there's another missing woman in ashland. >> i said, all right, mom, i love you. i'll talk to you tomorrow. and that was the last we ever

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>> reporter: police in ashland, ohio are searching for missing woman, elizabeth griffith, and then they discover there's a second woman in town who has also mysteriously disappeared. 43-year-old stacey stanley, a divorced mom devoted to her sons, kurtis and kory.

>> one of my mom's favorite songs was lynyrd skynyrd's "free bird." it's a pretty good song. ♪ >> reporter: kory likes simple pleasures, playing music, riding his motorcycle on the highways of ohio, raising his baby daughter. for him, family is everything, and his bond with his mother stacey has always been particularly tight. >> good boy, you kissed your brother. >> how would you describe her? >> very loving and caring. do anything for anybody. give the shirt off her back if she needed to. >> always there for her kids. calling you consistently. if you didn't pick up, she'd call you a thousand times. >> my sister was a very outgoing person. >> it says perfect time to -- happy birthday, love grandma and grandpa stanley.

>> growing up, we were so close in age, and we shared the same room and stuff growing up. >> and karaoke? >> oh, yeah, she would sing some songs. ♪ now and then when i see her face ♪ >> reporter: she loved punk rock music and the look too. >> guns n' roses, "sweet child o' mine." i actually had a video of her singing it when we were kids. i was videotaping her singing that. >> so she was not afraid to get on stage and perform? >> no. ♪ oh, sweet love of mine ♪ >> even as adults, you were pretty close. >> yeah, i'd come home from work and she'd have big bunches of food made up, and i was like, oh, wow. >> i hear she was a great cook. >> yeah. we didn't get looking like this -- you know. >> she fed you well, huh? >> yes, sir. >> absolutely. >> reporter: and

grandmother to kurtis' 3-year-old daughter. >> she was a great grandmother. she spoiled the hell out of her for sure. >> just loved to dance and just have fun with the kids, just a bundle of joy. >> reporter: stacey lived in greenwich, ohio, 30 minutes from ashland. >> stacey was not from our county. she was from a county that butts up to our county, and she had visited ashland. >> reporter: it was september 8th, 2016 when she takes a fateful drive to ashland to run some errands. >> she went to walmart to get some gardening supplies because she loved doing her gardening, and she also went and got her nails done. and then after that, she was getting some gas to come back home. >> reporter: it's around 8:30 at night when stacey calls her son kory from this gas station. she's stranded here with a flat tire and needs help. >> she was freaking out. and i said, well, just calm down. we'll find somebody to help you.

>> were you worried? >> not necessarily out the rip. >> it's just a flat tire, you're thinking. >> just a flat tire, yeah. >> reporter: they are able to find a family friend to meet stacey at the gas station, but it turns out a stranger has also shown up to help. >> she's like, some nice guy stopped to help, and i had then told her to tell him, kick rocks, you know, we got somebody to come and help you. >> she wouldn't? >> well, she's like, oh, he's a nice guy, just stopped to help. and so, my mom, the person she was, she was friendly and talked to people. this guy takes over, and he changes the tire. and she offers him a ride home. and i said, all right, mom, well, i said, call me in the morning. she's like, okay, i love you. i'll talk to you tomorrow. i said, all right, i love you too, mom. >> reporter: but the next day, kory and kurtis don't receive the typical flurry of calls from their mom. >> and then i talked to my aunt, and i'm like, hey, mom's not picking up. i don't know what's going on. we ended up breaking into her house to get in. and she had two little dogs, she loved them little dogs, little chihuahuas.

>> her dogs were still in their kennel, so we knew something was going on. >> the huron county sheriffs had put out a bolo, be on the lookout, for her vehicle. >> we went driving the roads looking. >> looking for her. >> see if she might had an accident, was down in a ravine, or a ditch, or anything. we went looking, driving the routes from ashland back to greenwich. >> reporter: within hours, stacey's family spreads out across the streets of ashland, trying to find any trace of her. >> we went down to the gas station, to bp, where she was last seen. >> i had printed off almost 2 or 3,000 flyers. we're just passing them out and putting them up everywhere. >> there's probably a good 70 of us at least out there handing flyers out. >> reporter: detective brian evans is on patrol in ashland when he spots the family.

>> as i was driving around the city of ashland, i met up with different groups of her family who was actively searching for stacey at the time. they were in different groups knocking on doors. they were going down to some abandoned buildings. >> it came across the radio that somebody had reported her car on east 9th street in ashland. >> we beat the cops over to the car. >> i opened the door and i looked, and the seat was all the way back. my mom was short, so it didn't make sense why the seat was back. >> i had grabbed her cigarette container she put her cigarette butts in. and i happened to see camel filtered cigarettes in there, and i was like, these aren't my mom's. my mom don't smoke these. at this point it's alarming because somebody else was in this car. >> reporter: so now it's not just elizabeth griffith who is missing in ashland. >> so, it seemed like a very short timeframe that people

started to look for elizabeth, that now stacey is gone. the odds of two women missing at the same time just did not make sense whatsoever. >> to have two missing women in this town of ashland, it's a big deal. >> it's a huge deal. >> unusual? >> very unusual for a county this size to have anyone missing, much less two women missing. >> the community had concern. the word was starting to spread around. >> we were like, what's really going on? it's ashland. like, stuff like that doesn't happen in ashland. >> reporter: then, a heart-stopping clue in a window at the back of the house. >> sounds like something out of a movie. >> absolutely. >> a horror movie. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> go to work, sign into all the computers. we usually have six to eight screens depending on what center you're at. answer calls. you never know when "the" call will come in or what kind of call it's going to be. >> your most memorable call? >> probably this one. >> 911, what is the address of your emergency? >> september 13th, 2016, 6:48 am. >> yep. the end of my shift. >> reporter: by september 13th, 2016, elizabeth griffith had not been seen for a month. stacey stanley for five days. >> you're working the dispatch and you get that call. >> first, i couldn't hear her. it was real quiet. she was whispering. >> what's the problem? >> i've been abducted. >> she says, i've been >> yes. >> your reaction? >> my reaction was to find out where she was at first, to get

her out of there. >> the dispatcher had told us that there was a female and that she had been held captive somewhere near a laundromat. so we immediately start to drive towards the area of the call. >> where is he at now? >> asleep. >> where's he sleeping at? >> in the bedroom. >> i asked her more questions, trying to get as much as i could before he woke up. >> you have to be calm, but there's an urgency. >> yes. >> reporter: the woman says she is calling from her abductor's phone. >> he had fallen asleep at some point and she was able to secure this phone. >> you couldn't trace the call back then. >> couldn't trace the call. this was a flip phone. it was not coming back to a location. >> do you need an ambulance? are you bleeding from anywhere? >> not anymore. >> where were you bleeding from? you don't have to talk if you don't need to, okay? >> why couldn't she get out on her own? >> well, he had taken the doorknobs off, apparently.

>> reporter: as officer dorsey heads to the scene with his two partners, there's a problem -- how to find her. the caller does not know her exact address, but she tells 911 she's being held captive in a house next to this laundromat. the problem for police is that there are two very similar houses in this area. >> there were two houses right here? >> yes. two identical houses. >> and you didn't know which one? >> no. they were nearly identical -- both the same color, same shape, two story. we had no idea which one. >> they can't just gang bust into a house. what if he'd have woke up with a weapon and hurt her? so they had to find her quietly. so they were outside looking for her. >> so how do you approach the house knowing that the captor is asleep? >> so we first started to just look in windows to see if we

could see anything. we checked different doors to see if we could pinpoint which house she's in. >> reporter: as police conduct their search, there's a heart-stopping moment when the caller says she has awakened her abductor. >> oh, [ bleep ]! i woke him up. >> okay. just set the phone down. >> you can hear the sheer terror in her voice when he wakes up. >> yep. >> and then the line goes silent. >> yep. >> for what must have seemed like -- >> yes, forever. >> what's going through your mind? >> i'm just praying they find her. >> five agonizing minutes later she's back. >> yep. >> are you still there? >> how much longer?

>> do you hear any officers outside? >> no. >> okay, they're in the area. >> what was it like to hear her voice again? >> it was good. glad she was still there and not hurt. and he was still sleeping, so that's good. >> you can hear her desperation for help. >> it's a chilling call. >> it's chilling. >> i remember as i was checking the doors, panic starts to set in. i wanted to find her so bad. we're going back and forth between the two houses. so the dispatcher had told us at some point that she heard a door. >> okay, i think i hear them. >> do you hear them? >> yes, i do. >> i remembered that i had pulled on a door hard and it made a noise that i didn't intend. so i ran around the house that we were currently at and looked towards the direction of the other house. >> tell them to come back.

>> she said -- >> hurry! hurry! >> and i saw her hand. i saw her outstretched hand through the window, and i knew at that point she was in there. i would've gone through the wall to get to her. >> a hand right on the window. that's pretty eerie. >> it was. >> sounds like something out of a movie. >> absolutely. >> a horror movie. >> we went to the door. it was locked. and i asked the dispatcher to relay to her that she needed to unlock the door. >> can you unlock the door at all? >> so she's able to unlock it and we're able to open it. >> come out. come out. hurry up. get on out here. >> where is he? >> bedroom sleeping. >> still sleeping? >> okay, they have her. >> it took 19 long minutes to

get her out. what was it like when you finally hear detective dorsey? >> it was the best sound ever. i was glad because officers are safe. she was safe. >> you smile a little because you're proud of her? >> yeah, proud of her. >> what a relief. what was it like when you came face to face with the victim? >> i'll never forget the way that she looked at us. she looked shocked, like she had seen a ghost. she was fully nude. i don't think i've ever felt so much relief to find her. divine intervention and a good dispatcher led us to that house and ultimately that door. >> reporter: so now police need to find out what happened in

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>> reporter: with the terrified 911 caller safely in custody, police turned their attention to her abductor. a 40-year-old man identified as shawn grate. >> show me your hands! right now! do it! >> reporter: the dramatic moment when he is apprehended is heard on that open line from the 911 call. >> once we got mr. grate into custody, he was handcuffed. he ended up in my car. so i began interviewing mr. grate. >> and how do you know her again? >> we just spent a lot of time lately together. we go eat lunch everyday. >> reporter: the victim, a 36-year-old woman police identify as jane doe to protect her privacy, is transported to the ashland police department. police are desperate for information. no easy task as the woman was traumatized and still in shock. but ashland police have a secret weapon.

enter detective kim mager. >> kim is the best interviewer that i've ever seen. she's able to speak with anyone, whether that be small kids or a violent criminal. >> i was the only female detective for the majority of my career. >> is that good? that good? >> reporter: mager balanced the demands of detective work with the responsibilities of being a mother to three. that morning, detective kim mager is in the shower getting ready for work and misses two phone calls from her captain at the ashland police department. >> i called him back and he said -- well, he gruffed at me and said, two calls and a text. and he said, there's been a kidnapping. we've rescued the woman. and i need you to come in and interview her. >> you come to the station and what happens? >> the victim was taken into my

office at the end of this hallway, and that's where i spoke with her. >> she had been tortured emotionally and physically? >> yes, she had. so i bring her into my office. >> reporter: the effects of the woman's harrowing ordeal were immediately apparent. >> the first thing i noticed is her appearance. of course, i could see that she had been victimized. the second thing i noticed was i could smell the scent of her perpetrator. it's testosterone. >> you could smell him? >> i could. >> what did you learn about jane? >> i learned that she had met shawn grate. she eats her noon meal at what we call the kroc center. they provide free meals at noon. jane doe would eat there sometimes and that's where she met shawn grate. >> he was tall like my brother, my older brother. and he's kind of goofy, but he was -- he struck me as kind. when i would run into him at lunch and if neither one of us was doing anything, we'd just walk around ashland.

>> this is a woman so strong in her christian faith that no man's phone numbers in her phone, not one. no man crosses the threshold of her door. >> he let me know that he would be interested in more, but i told him i wasn't interested beyond friends. >> kim was speaking with jane doe, and our captain at the time, captain lay, was speaking with shawn grate in the interview room. >> david lay. and you are? >> shawn. >> shawn? >> grate. >> reporter: at the same time jane doe and shawn grate were being interviewed at the station, detective brian evans was part of a team sent back to search the house where jane had been held captive. >> we went upstairs. the mattress in the bedroom, it looked like a dirty used

mattress that was just found somewhere and used as a mattress. and then there were some restraints, as in tied clothing, tied to different areas of the mattress to where it looked like that's where jane doe was possibly tied up. >> reporter: so just how did jane doe end up a prisoner in this house of horrors? the pair had been out for one of their regular walks and ended up at the house where shawn grate had been staying. >> he told her that he had some clothes for her. she also had bagged up some food for him, and she said it was against her better judgment to walk through the door because it's unlike her, but she did. >> he just started showing me the clothes. i remember him asking if i had an extra bible, because he didn't have one, so i got him one. >> so she sat down to read the bible, and as she's reading, he

began to pace, and then he charged towards her, grabbed the bible from her hands, ripped it from her hands. >> reporter: jane doe told detective mager that at that point shawn grate attacked her. >> i tried to push him away and get up. i was just doing everything, trying to kick, punch. but everything i did, he just did it so much harder. >> and then what did he do to her? >> sexually assaulted her. her words were every way imaginable. >> he would always bind my wrists, my legs at times. >> reporter: the details were horrifying. but the interview takes a sudden turn when jane doe mentions the name of elizabeth griffith, one of two missing women police had been searching for. >> she lived in the building next to me. sweet, but like a child. shawn and i were playing

badminton in the front yard, and elizabeth saw us and came out. i think she just started, yeah, talking with us. and i don't know if i introduced, or if she introduced herself. >> reporter: police discover there's a vital link between jane doe, shawn grate, and elizabeth griffith. all three of them would frequent this community center where they'd get free meals. that connection sets off alarm bells. was it possible that this man unknown to law enforcement in ashland, shawn grate, was also involved in the disappearance of elizabeth griffith? >> when i stepped out of my office, my captain said, listen, i need you to go in and talk to him about what jane doe told you. can you go in and see if you can nail down the facts regarding that? see if it parallels what he's saying happened. >> hey, shawn. i'm kim mager. nice to meet you. >> and the last thing he said

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♪ ♪ what do you do? >> well, i walked down this hallway. i was told to go ahead and interview him and this is where the interview room is. and when i came in, he was seated right here. >> it was right here? >> yeah. >> hi, shawn. i'm kim mager. nice to meet you. >> before you came in here, did you have any idea what you were in for? >> no, i had no idea.

>> you had your own recorder? >> yes. >> and what did you do? >> i took the recorder and just dropped it down my top. >> because you wanted a record of this? >> yes, just a backup in case something happened. and in this case, it proved valuable. >> reporter: valuable indeed, because the video system stopped recording shortly after detective mager began interviewing grate. that means her backup is the only recording of the interview while the system was down. >> we're going to get these cuffs off of you. >> you decide to take off his handcuffs? >> yeah. >> why? >> i need to drop all of those things that would inhibit somebody's ability to relax or feel comfortable. >> but out of his handcuffs, he could attack you. >> he could. >> you weren't thinking about that. >> at that time, no. >> reporter: in a city where law enforcement routinely interacts with the community, shawn grate was not known to police. >> i had never heard his name.

i had never had any tips about him. we didn't know him. >> reporter: shawn grate had grown up in marion, ohio. that's about an hour from ashland. >> he was a good-looking kid, charming. >> with shawn grate, people talk about his eyes. they're piercing blue eyes, and women will talk about that. that's how they recall him, are his eyes. >> he just had one of these very likable personalities. very soft, laid back, very unassuming type of personality and it was just one of those things that you just almost couldn't hardly not like. >> shawn never told me much at all about his background. i knew he had either a sister and a brother. i had never met his dad. he told me his mom abandoned him. he absolutely hated his mother.

>> reporter: christina hildreth dated shawn grate for five years. >> i think before we moved in together, he had worked at -- it was a motel super 8 or something in marion, and he might've worked there a couple of weeks and that was about it. other than that, i've never known him to have a job. >> reporter: while unknown to police in ashland, shawn grate had become a familiar face at the kroc center. >> he would just come to our hot meal and just integrated himself into the community meal and the community that attended and started making friends. i'd see him around town walking and talking with people, and he just really kind of absorbed what we had. >> what did he say about jane? >> at first he tried to present it as if she wanted him, like they were in a relationship, that she wanted the sexual piece of this. >> one of the reasons why she

said she wanted to marry me because she was horny that day. >> eventually as we peeled that away, you realize she didn't want this. >> reporter: just as empathy had helped in speaking to jane doe, mager was using a similar approach hoping to gain grate's trust. and slowly, he begins to open up sharing details about his childhood. >> may have started when my mom left me when i was a child. i come home from school and she's gone, but i don't blame her. i don't. i used to, but -- >> why did she leave? >> she had to go find herself. >> i'm sorry. >> that's fine. >> does he admit that something happened with jane doe? >> eventually he begins to talk about what happened and admits in layers. he admits that he had held her

there captive. admits that he had tied her up. >> i mean, looking at this whole thing, you forced her to have sex. she didn't want to. >> i abducted her and i raped her. >> reporter: and there it was. detective mager had the confession, but the confession itself only raised more questions. >> as he spoke about what he did to jane doe and would use the words kill, that he strangled her, you begin to realize this may be way more than jane doe. and earlier in my career, i probably would've stopped right at jane doe. now i realize, it's a partial confession. >> reporter: detective mager brings the conversation back to elizabeth griffith, that missing woman who jane doe said also knew shawn grate. >> we can't find elizabeth. we'll find her, but we can't

right now. hey, look at me. look at me. i need your help. >> i don't know if i could help you. >> that goes on for just so long. long enough that he's acting like he has no idea what i'm talking about. >> reporter: then, suddenly, shawn grate makes a shocking revelation. >> i might not be able to take you to her. maybe someone else. >> how many are there? >> i don't know, depending on how much -- you say many. >> reporter: now, detectives knew elizabeth griffith and stacey stanley were missing, but now shawn grate seems to be talking about even more women. >> i guess i'm ready to go ahead and get my lethal injection, but i'll tell you everything first. >> reporter: then things take a bizarre and frightening turn. >> i'm thinking, this is not good. >> at what point do you realize

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♪ ♪ you're in this very room alone with a serial killer. >> the magnitude was becoming clearer to me.

>> whatever you did, i'm going to get it. >> police are investigating whether they have a serial killer on their hands. >> are there any other girls in the house right now? >> he had kind of slipped into the back of the couch and was crawling in and out of the couch. he would come out at night. >> he says, meet the other me. i just froze. >> the first thing that hit my mind was a monster. >> you don't normally have a killer show you how he did it. >> he said, i'll just do it on you and kind of grinned. i get behind him like this, he locks this arm in and pushes down and squeezes. >> wow. >> at one point he told me it was probably a good thing i had him in custody because there would be more. >> we knew she was relatively young and had perfect teeth. we have somebody that confessed to her murder. >> a fellow inmate tells you that shawn grate said he wants

to kill you. >> about that desire, i'm feeling it now. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: shawn grate has confessed to his assault on jane doe, but what about those two missing women in ashland? it's an urgent race to find out -- is he behind their disappearance, and can they be saved? >> and as you continue interrogating shawn grate, time is of the essence. >> time is always of the essence. i feel like i am against the clock to get them to say something before i say the wrong thing and cause them to stop talking at all. >> and you're thinking he might have these two missing women, and they could still be alive. >> absolutely. i start pressing him on where elizabeth griffith is. >> can you take me to where she is? >> i can't. >> why? shawn, look at me.

if i take you in my little detective truck, can you take me out? >> i don't know what you're talking about right now. >> i'm looking for elizabeth's body. can you take me to it? >> she -- she's dead? >> reporter: suddenly shawn grate reveals shocking information, that maybe he can bring detective mager to somebody else. >> i might not be able to take you to her. maybe someone else. >> how many are there? >> i don't know, depending on how much you say -- you say many. >> what? >> i don't know. there might not be none. >> he says he might not be able to take me to her, meaning elizabeth, but might take me to someone else. and that there might be some many, or there might be none. >> so he's playing with you? >> possibly he's wanting to tell me something.

>> will you take me there? >> i can take you to a place in mansfield. >> where she is? where are you going to take me in mansfield? where there's another girl? >> where there is a girl. a nut. >> what happened? is she gone? >> she's been gone. >> is she in a house? what is she in? >> the woods. >> all right. what's her name? >> candice. >> candice? >> cunningham. >> cunningham? >> he tells you there's someone else, and that that woman is candice cunningham.

>> yes. >> did you know who she was? >> i did not know candice. candice hadn't been reported missing. >> reporter: as he colleagues watching in the other room start looking for information on candice cunningham, detective mager continues to question shawn for more information. after all, the two missing women in ashland are still unaccounted for. >> as i watched the interview, i could see that shawn was warming up to kim. he was telling her more. her methods were working. >> what was it about you that he connected with, felt comfortable with? >> he told me that i had empathy, that he could see it. >> who >> the house where i came from. >> yeah. there's somebody in there?

>> yeah. >> who is it? is it elizabeth? >> yeah. >> where is she in there? >> in the closet. >> so then shawn admits to you that elizabeth's body is in the closet in that same house where he was holding jane doe? >> right in the same house. when he said that, i didn't know if she was alive or not. >> as kim's interviewing, i called detective brian evans to tell him that elizabeth was upstairs in a closet. he had been working on a search warrant at the house. >> i was surprised by the information because officers had cleared the house. we headed upstairs to see if we could locate elizabeth. this is an abandoned house that has old wooden steps. you could see bare footprints going upstairs. >> one of the guys on scene said

there is no closet upstairs. that detective went directly to a particular room and looked up and realized there was a concealed closet. >> there was a bunch of clothing just all over this closet. >> there were stuffed animals piled down below. >> as we started pulling away the clothes, you could see the fly activity. and there was electrical tape that was taped up around the sides of the door to like help from the smell to come from the door. and once the door is open, there is another large pile of clothing. you could see the fly activity again all over the clothing. >> elizabeth's body was underneath all this? >> yes, it was. >> what goes through your mind at that point? >> that it was a tragedy. and once the clothes were removed, her body, she was actually kind of like, face down

and hogtied back. >> chilling. >> yes. it was very sad. >> reporter: detective mager that the night of elizabeth's murder all began when he says she called him late at night because she couldn't sleep. >> she came over about 11:00 when she brought over yahtzee and we played yahtzee. it just happened. i choked her. i reached up and just choked her. >> we just didn't think it was possible. it couldn't have been elizabeth. i mean, it just couldn't have been. and then we found out it was. >> we just sobbed and sobbed because it had come to a conclusion that we were not going to see our friend again. >> you're in this very room alone with a serial killer. >> yes. and as it progressed, the

magnitude was becoming clearer to me. >> i guess i'm ready to go ahead and get my lethal injection. but i'll tell you everything first. >> he's bought into me, he's going to talk to me. whatever he did, i'm going to get it. to me, harlem is home. but home is also your body. i asked myself, why doesn't pilates exist in harlem? so i started my own studio. getting a brick and mortar in new york is not easy. chase ink has supported us from studio one to studio three. when you start small, you need some big help. and chase ink was that for me. earn up to 5% cash back on business essentials with the chase ink business cash card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. ♪ ♪ from chase for business. did you get it? oh yeah, i got it. thanks dad. bye dad. i needed this mom, thank you.

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>> reporter: shawn grate has confessed to the kidnapping and rape of jane doe, the murder of elizabeth griffith, and knowledge of the disappearance of candice cunningham. but stacey stanley is still missing, and detective mager has a hunch he knows more about her as well. >> as the hours tick by in this very same room -- >> yes. >> -- you got more and more out of him. >> that's right. it just kept coming out in layers, a little bit more and a little bit more. >> are there any other girls in

the house right now? >> mm-hmm. >> yeah? >> one, down in the basement. >> down in the basement? what's her name? >> stacey. >> he tells me that stacey stanley was in the basement of the home under a pile of trash. >> reporter: now, remember, stacey was that missing woman who's family had been searching for her after she was seen with a stranger changing her tire at that bp gas station. shawn says he was that stranger and tells detective mager his version of what happened that night. >> she came home with me. we kind of hit it off pretty good. and then -- and then didn't. just went sour fast. i snapped on her.

>> the mood at the police division was shock. it was just chaotic and pretty unreal. >> then you got another disturbing call. there's another body in the basement. >> yes. if you go down the basement, there's space behind the stairwell. there was multiple bags of trash stacked up, and underneath the trash is where stacey was. there was actually a picture of just her hand kind of sticking out of the trash, like, eerily saying, i'm here. >> have you ever seen anything like this in all your years of police work? >> no. i've been on other homicides and other tragic cases, but not to this magnitude, no. >> a lot of our local community was coming to the area. and you could tell the feeling in the air was that the people knew that we found bodies in that house.

>> what started as a rescue ended with a gruesome discovery that only got worse. now families wait to find out if those women are their loved ones. >> i got a phone call saying i need to get to ashland asap. >> i don't want it to be my mom. i mean, nobody wants it to be their mom. i don't get to watch her grow old. my daughter don't get to -- she don't get to watch my daughter grow up. >> honestly i think my sister's in that house and they're not going to know anything for a couple hours. >> they pulled out a couple pictures, and they're like, is that -- do you guys recognize that? i said, yeah, that's my mom's picture. >> it was very traumatic having to see that and that was my mom laying there, you know. >> it's bad enough what he did, but, for some reason, thinking that he put her in trash makes it worse.

>> it still touches you. >> it does. for me, the day that cases don't impact me would be the day that i need to pack it in. >> you want it to touch you. you want to feel it. >> i want it to touch me. i mean, i don't want to be in an interview and lose control, but these ladies mattered. >> reporter: but detective mager had to put aside her emotions. shawn grate had confessed to a third woman named candice cunningham. >> candice was a little, tiny, vibrant woman, lived in the next county over, richland county. candice had not been reported missing, and candace had dated shawn grate. >> reporter: on her facebook page, candice posts about shawn grate, including this

picture, and later writing, i am back with shawn and love him. it was just one month before her murder. in the interrogation room, shawn describes strangling her in an abandoned house after an alleged altercation. >> 3:00 in the morning, i got hit in the face with a bag of tobacco. i just snapped. >> after i was done interviewing him, which went all day, i had asked him if he would take me to where candice's body was. >> what's going through your mind? >> i was hoping that he wouldn't shut down from just having the emotions of going back to that place. so this is the scene where the home was where candice cunningham was living with shawn grate. so there was a home here. he burned it down after he murdered her in the home.

>> reporter: investigators took video of shawn that day as he led them to where he left candice's body. >> he's agreed to come out and show us where he put the body. >> he killed her in a house that was here and then dragged her body toward the ravine? >> prior to burning that down, he carried her body wrapped up in a blanket. he carried her to the ravine. >> yeah, i remember these rocks. >> how far down? >> carried her across the creek and up, straight up the hill about between 10 and 15 feet. there's a big shrub. >> while you were here, shawn got emotional. >> he did. when we rolled up, i actually had to ask him, are you okay? >> are you okay? >> uh -- >> and he said it was hard. it was hard. >> what was it like to finally find this woman and give it some closure?

>> i wanted to go down to the ravine and rescue her, but she's gone. frustrating that she hadn't been reported missing, that no one even knew at all. >> reporter: as the investigation continues, shawn performs another show and tell. >> i just lost it. i just turned her around. >> reporter: revealing more deadly secrets. >> during the interrogation, you asked shawn to show you his strangulation technique? >> he said, i'll just do it on you, and kind of grinned.

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♪ ♪ next to that desperate call for help from a woman being held captive, police are now investigating whether they have a serial killer on their hands. >> shawn michael grate is being held for kidnapping tonight, and the sheriff's department says he should be charged with murder. ♪ i told that drive slow ♪ >> the community response was one of just complete shock. people had no idea that something like this could happen here. >> even though i don't know them, we are thinking about them

and praying for them. >> all i kept saying was, oh, my god. and it was just like, this is unreal. no, we're not talking about the same guy. >> i was just like, how? i knew he had this anger, but when i first found out i couldn't comprehend that this was something he had actually done. >> reporter: those closest to grate were surprised to learn of his killing spree, despite them having their own chilling experiences with him. his former girlfriend hildreth says grate once spied on her from inside her sofa. >> he says, i've been living in the couch. he said, when you came in, you were sitting on me. he said, i seen everything you did. he had cut a slit into the back of the couch, and he was crawling in and out of the couch, and he would come out at night. that was terrifying.

>> reporter: and his friend tim denis claims he had a text exchange with shawn that made his blood run cold. >> he had just out of the clear of blue asked me if he could borrow $20, and i told him no. all of a sudden, here's this whole slew of scathing messages, he told me, bed bugs are coming to your house, roaches are coming. then he makes this statement -- he says, meet the other me. honestly, i just froze. the first thing that hit my mind is a monster. >> two days after his arrest, you go interview him again now with detective evans? >> yes, i did. i asked him if there was anything else he wanted to get off his chest. >> anything else you thought about that you haven't talked about?

>> mmm-hmm. >> what's that? >> it's a cold case. they've already found her. i'm thinking her name's dana. i totally forget her name. >> he tells me that he had killed a woman in marion county. >> 10 years earlier. >> 10 years earlier. >> dana? >> he didn't know her name for sure. >> who was she? >> she had come to his mother's house to sell >> shawn says he got upset, because the woman didn't deliver the magazines that shawn's mother had ordered. >> he said he was in town and just happened to see her. so he said he made up a story that he had money back at his house. >> so that's when i fronted her. said, oh, you gonna rip me off like you did my mom? and that's when i choked her out right here. >> he said he had placed her out by some railroad tracks. her body had been found years and years ago. she just hadn't been identified.

>> reporter: detective mager knows authorities need to figure out who this dana is. but they press on, probing shawn about key details of his other murders. >> detective evans and i decided we might try to have him show us how he strangled the victims. so brian evans says, would you do this on a doll? >> and what did he say? >> he said, i'll just do it on you, and kind of grinned. i was like, okay. and then we got up. >> so i roll the camera. >> okay. this is detective mager. we have detective evans in the room, shawn grate in the room. >> then he kinda just gets behind brian and does a hold on him. >> i had to just grab her. >> i'm looking at brian's eyes and i'm thinking, this is not good. >> so, i'm you and you're shawn. so what did he do? >> so, he just came up behind.

he said, i'd get up behind them like this. and then he comes back, he locks this in. he locks this arm in and he locks this head here, and then he just pushes down and squeezes. >> wow. wow. >> at that point, i kind of mouthed over to detective mager that i'm not [ bleep ] doing that again. >> you could have lost consciousness in seconds. he could have killed you. >> i didn't put a whole lot of thought into that. it just went to getting the evidence and i feel i have some training that i don't believe he would've killed me. >> police don't normally get this kind of demonstrative evidence. you don't normally have a killer not only confess to a crime, but then actually show you how he did it. >> how'd you know when to stop? >> well, she went like this. >> this morning, suspect shawn grate held on a $1 million bond and facing double murder and kidnaping charges. >> you understand the nature of the three offenses charged in the complaint, mr. grate? >> yes, your honor.

>> he seemed kind of unalarming. i could understand why maybe women were trusting of him or went with him willingly because he didn't look like a monster. >> reporter: law enforcement is on the hunt to figure out just who is this unidentified woman shawn grate has confessed to killing ten years prior in neighboring marion county. >> nobody knew who she was. it was a great mystery. >> reporter: investigators reached out to the ohio bureau of criminal investigation. >> my name is samantha molnar. my position at ohio bci is a forensic artist. i can do a clay facial reconstruction from the skeletal remains. we can actually 3d print an exact replica of the skull. i basically start doing the clay reconstruction from there. building the muscle structure on the face, placing the average tissue depth markers, and then

kind of finishing the sculpture. we did receive some tips, but none of those tips led to an identity. >> reporter: detective kim mager isn't just trying to crack the shawn grate case. she also has to juggle the full-time job of being a mom to three active kids. >> all right. good job. >> i'm always worried about her no matter where she is. i would stay up at night, me and my little brother would, and just wait until she gets home. >> i try to say that i'm not overprotective with my kids, but i'm sure i am. >> reporter: but could this case put kim or her family in grave danger? >> when the case was going on, our fair kicked off. i get a phone call and it's a man. and he said, i have your daughter. ♪

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♪ ♪ on friday night, my husband coaches football. i actually took my younger kids to the football game and i sat there, which was also surreal seeing all the things around me and the lights. >> people are happy. >> they're happy.

they're cracking the helmets. the band, watching my husband, hearing the whistles. hearing the whistles. >> friday night lights. >> it's friday night lights. that's -- that's small town america. i brought my kids home, put them to bed. >> reporter: that's when detective mager's oldest son corbin, who was preparing to enter the police academy, comes into the room. >> he's like, what's going on, mom? i said, shawn grate builds forts all over the place. he's like macgyver. he stays in these things. but there's one in particular he keeps talking about. >> he had a fort in the woods and she explained to me where it was, and i remember there was a body recovery within a quarter to a half mile that deemed a drug overdose right on a gas line. >> i said, what are you talking about? he said, yeah, there was a woman that died of an overdose and they dumped her body there. >> we also just learned a body

was found in ashland county. police say a gas company worker found the body behind a tree on county route 908, just south of route 30. >> and he said, hold on a second. >> i kind of marked out where she thought his fort exactly was and kind of marked the distance. it was on the same county road. i was like, there's no way this is just a coincidence. this has to be from him. there's no way it's not. >> i said, honey, it's an overdose and a dumping. he said, that's because of her lifestyle and people assume it's that. he said, he did it. you have to go talk to him. you have to do something. the next morning, went into the jail, pulled shawn grate out. >> there's a case from out in the county, meaning that we found a girl and we're trying to see if you'll be honest if that's something you had

something to do with. >> rebekah leicy? >> yes, sir. >> i had problems with her once. >> reporter: 31-year-old rebekah leicy's death had been ruled a drug overdose by the ashland county coroner. but now, shawn grate shares what he says happened to her. >> we played a game of pool and i went to the bathroom, right? i had some money in my wallet, and that's the first thing i did was just check my wallet and it was gone. >> he said she had stolen a few dollars from him and he said he had strangled her. he talks about borrowing a car and taking her body out and dumping her in my county. >> this is where rebekah leicy's body was found? >> yes, right against this tree right here.

>> when was she found here? >> march of 2015 her body was found and she had been here for a couple of months. >> hard to believe that's such a heinous crime could have happened here. >> it should be a place of solitude, but instead it's a place where a woman's body was discarded like she didn't matter. >> reporter: but rebekah leicy's case was public knowledge, and detective mager needed proof that shawn was actually involved in her death. so she asked him about details from the crime scene. >> what did shawn tell you about the placement of that memorial? >> during the interview when i had asked him to tell me some things that nobody would know, he said -- >> i can tell you the truth, because where i found the cross and stuff right now, she wasn't found there. she was found over by the tree. >> he said you put the memorial in the wrong place. >> yes.

he was right. nobody would've known that. >> reporter: with this new information, authorities re-open the rebekah leicy case, rule her death a homicide, and later charge shawn grate with her murder. detective mager had formed a unique bond with shawn grate. >> you spent 33 hours with shawn grate? >> yeah, eight interviews, 33 hours over the course of over a month. >> reporter: so much so that they've been compared to clarice starling and hannibal lector from "the silence of the lambs." >> starling. >> well, clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming? >> what kind of toll does it take on you? >> it may have made me a little more hypersensitive. when the case was going on, our

fair kicked off. i get a phone call and it's a man. and he said, i have your daughter. and i said, who is this? and he won't answer me. and then he hangs up. they contact a guy who made the phone call and it was just a coincidence. the case probably changed how i handled something like that. that was a rough one for me that night. >> a month after he's arrested, there's another chilling development. a fellow inmate tells you that shawn grate is targeting you, that he wants to kill you? >> he said that shawn grate told him he was trying to find my gun on my body, that he thought it would be the ultimate to kill me. >> reporter: this information did not lead to any additional charges against grate, but future meetings between detective mager and shawn grate took place at the jail where no

>> all along, do you think he was plotting to kill you? >> i didn't know that initially. i went into a later interview with him. i said, are you still having that hunger that you talk about? >> can i ask you something? will you be honest? do you still have thoughts? >> about that desire? >> yeah. >> i'm afraid that desire probably grew when there wasn't no desire at first, but it might've got more now. it feels like something that i had to do. i'm feeling it now. >> he told you he still had that hunger to kill. >> yes. >> reporter: shawn grate says he had a hunger to kill, but jane doe and victims' families had a hunger for justice, and now in court, they come face to face with the man they say is a monster.

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♪ ♪ >> reporter: it's april 2018 and shawn grate goes on trial at this courthouse for crimes against three of his victims -- jane doe, elizabeth griffith, and stacey stanley. >> it was the trial that everybody was waiting for. they wanted to know if this community, if these families

were going to get justice. >> this is not a whodunnit case. this is a he did it case. the defendant subsequently, over the course of multiple interviews, confessed to every element of every crime with which he's charged. >> i ask that you consider that shawn freely and voluntarily gave information during several interviews which implicated himself in several serious offenses. >> reporter: jane doe comes face-to-face with her abductor, bravely taking the stand against shawn grate, detailing her horrifying ordeal. >> it was probably the most crucial testimony in the case. >> how was he choking you? >> with both hands around my neck. >> did he let go of your neck?

>> i think when i stopped struggling and fighting, he asked me if i had enough. and i just -- i think i just remained motionless and so he released his hands. >> she testified about the terror that she went through during the time that she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted. >> at the trial, they played the audio of your interview with shawn. >> they did, >> i entered the interview room to interview shawn grate. >> you can hear my heart beating at key times during the interview. >> who was that, that you were talking to on the phone? [ heart beat ] >> it made me realize that maybe it affects me physically more than i recognize. >> prosecutors reveal gruesome details about the death of two of his alleged victims.

>> people don't understand when you were in that trial, what you see and what you hear, you can't unsee or unhear ever. and those thoughts are always in your mind. you can't forget it. >> it was too gruesome. it hurt you that much? >> yeah. >> even talking about it today, why? >> just what she went through, it wasn't fair. >> sorry. >> we the jury, being duly impaneled, find the defendant shawn m. grate guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offense of aggravated murder. >> reporter: shawn grate, guilty on two counts of aggravated murder, as well as rape and kidnap kidnapping. but justice is bittersweet. >> he devastated so many people. he changed our lives and he took away not only elizabeth's innocence, but the innocence of all of us that believed we were safe. >> reporter: the day of the sentencing shawn grate addressed

the court. >> i ask you to forgive me, find in your heart someday, i know not today, but some day. this mess, i'm sorry for all human beings to have to hear this. okay? i'm sorry. i can't change nothing, believe me i would, not for me, but for you guys. >> he asked us in court to forgive him, not for him, but for us. and obviously i haven't forgave him for what he did. >> real justice would be for you to come with me for about five minutes. burn in hell. >> the victim impact statements were extremely emotional and very powerful. we heard from stacey stanley's son and two of her brothers. >> it doesn't affect just one person when you kill them, it affects everybody. you ever had to bury your

mother? i had to go out and pick a casket out. i didn't expect that this young. >> the offender was found guilty. a sentence on death by lethal injection shall be imposed on mr. grate. [ applause ] ♪ amazing grace ♪ ♪ how sweet the sound ♪ >> at the trial you had "justice for stacey" balloons. and "stanley strong." >> yeah. >> and you released them when he got the death penalty. >> yes. there was quite a few people that showed up out there to show the support for the family, and that we were glad that he got convicted and received the death penalty. i mean, that was what we were hoping for. ♪ praise god ♪ >> reporter: in march 2019 shawn grate pleads guilty to the murders of rebekah leicy and candice cunningham in richland

county. but his first victim remained unidentified. >> you are what you eat. so the different things you're exposed to in your environment all show up in your bones. we learned that she likely was from a southern state somewhere between texas and florida. >> reporter: then finally, a match. >> now this woman, a victim of serial killer shawn grate, has a face and a name. in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time.

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♪ ♪ >> reporter: in june of 2018, the community of ashland, ohio, gathered at the site of jane doe's frantic 911 call. >> today, that house was finally demolished, bringing closure for residents and relatives of the victims. >> many people felt like they needed to be here today. >> after we found out that elizabeth was one of the people in the house, i would have nightmares about it, and i would see her in the window asking for help. i wanted them to tear it down so bad, and i was so happy the day that they did.

>> you were there when you saw the house on covert court destroyed, demolished. >> i was. >> what did that feel like? >> it was a tangible piece that was destroyed. but the weight of the situation is still here. >> 2007, remans of -- >> reporter: one year later, another step forward. a new development in the search for the identity of grate's first known victim. >> the preliminary results indicated that the victim was very likely dana nicole lowrey of minden, louisiana. >> so genetic genealogy was able to provide us a family and a potential identity of this person. and what we did next was go down and swab the daughter of dana. we were able to directly compare the dna from the daughter to the dna from the remains, to be able to confirm that that was dana lowrey. >> reporter: shawn grate pleaded

guilty to dana lowrey's murder. so now there are six known victims, and only one of them survived -- jane >> what would you say to that woman if you were able to talk to her today, to jane doe? >> about how brave she was. she saved so many people. if she hadn't have been brave and did what she did, we wouldn't have caught him. and how many more women would've suffered? >> reporter: kim mager has retired from the ashland police department. she now works as the safety services director at ashland university, and she's written a book about the shawn grate case. >> i don't want to forget this case. i don't want anyone to forget it. these women could have been anyone. >> you titled the book "a hunger to kill." >> those are his words. he has a hunger to kill. >> do you think there are other victims out there? >> i don't think this is a

closed book situation. i think more information may come out. >> we never get to say our goodbyes. >> reporter: as for the stanley family, they're still dealing with the tremendous pain of losing stacey. >> you miss her still? >> oh, yeah. it's been eight years. i haven't even opened a box of anything of hers. i just put it behind like it doesn't exist to an extent. >> what keeps you going? >> i know she would want us to go on. and the boys, it just breaks my heart to see what they go through every day. >> you ready, girlfriend? >> and he just had a new baby. >> want to see grandma? >> and he took her out and set

her on his mom's bench at the cemetery. >> hello there. hey, grandma. >> i talked myself into going out there. >> she was smiling. >> that's beautiful. >> and that's hard for me to sit and see my daughter never going to meet my mom. she was a great grandmother to her first granddaughter, and i'm sure she would've loved mine just as much. >> my mom did not deserve that. any of the women didn't deserve that. >> david: even though shawn grate's execution was scheduled for 2025, it's currently on hold until ohio picks an alternative to lethal injection. his appeals have been denied.

>> deborah: he denied "20/20" request for an interview. kim mager's book "a hunger to kill" is available now. that's our program. thanks for watching. i'm deborah roberts. >> deborah: and i'm david muir. from all of us at "20/20," thanks for watching. everywhere. the bay area gets soaked by one of the most powerful storms of the season. >> these are the first areas that start to flood. >> streets flooded looking more like rivers. >> freeways flooded. >> and up in the north bay, a windsor vineyard has turned into a mini lake. >> the water was just too much for many places to handle. >> we've seen a number of slides that have left behind muddy messes from healdsburg to san francisco. >> it is far