poor baby. how could this happen to her? >> he came upon her suddenly in the dead of night. >> maybe 20 yards away i realized that it was actually somebody laying in the road. >> a young woman unconscious covered in blood. >> what possibly happened to this girl and why she was out there in such a strange place all alone. >> we don't know if it's attempted murder or if it's just a bad accident. >> soon they found a name, a loving family. >> i remember praying like i've never prayed before in my life. >> but still no answers. >> somebody did that to her and is not coming forward.

>> there was a boyfriend. >> my first impressions were that he knew exactly what happened. >> but he said he didn't know. only she could tell her, but her memory of that night was gone. >> she started asking questions, well, why am i here? >> with the truth buried deep in her mind, could they solve "the mystery on albian road"? also tonight -- she was 4 when she left for a sleep-over. she would never come home again. >> we got in the car and we never went back. >> kidnapped. she lost her family, her name, herself. >> i've lost a whole entire life. >> then one astonishing day she got a chance to get it back. this is a cold call to the people you believe are your parents. >> yes. >> "the girl who didn't exist." good evening and welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. tonight the story of a young

woman found nearly dead in the middle of the road. with little evidence to go on, investigators needed to find out what happened from the victim herself. the problem was she couldn't remember. here's josh mankiewicz. >> how would it feel to have ut, brlife-altering injuries but to have the memories of how you got those injuries wiped out the instant you received them? how would it feel to have a gulf in your mind that stands between you and justice? nobody 11, 2009, 1:30 a.m., a moonless night over the wheat fields outside pullman, washington. as bob katy dove home from the bar he owns, albian road was pitch black and dead quiet. >> as i came off the road, initially what i thought i saw in the road was somebody's mcdonald's bag and their drink

that they had thrown out the window. >> just trash in the road. >> i thought it was trash in the road. i wasn't going to pull across the side of the road to see garbage. i was just going to drive over it. >> but as he got closer he noticed it wasn't garbage at all. >> as i got 20 yards away, i realized it was actually somebody laying in the road. >> a young woman. she couldn't have been more than 20 or 25 years old. bleeding, barefoot, and unconscious. bob katy parked his truck sideways in the road to shield the woman from oncoming cars. then he ran down the hill a few hundred yards until he could get a cell phone signal. >> there's a lady laying in the middle of the street. i can hear her breathing. >> is she awake? >> no. you've got to get a car out here quick. i had a pretty strong feeling that she wasn't going to be able to lay if the road for very long. actually, your car is coming right now. i see them coming up the hill.

>> speeding up the hill were three emergency medical technicians. >> you look at the situation and it almost seems unreal. she was pretty much covered from head to toe in dirt, blood. >> she had a very, very irregular pulse. it was there, but it was very weak. >> and, as they loaded her into an ambulance, they were full of questions. >> what possibly happened to this girl, and why she was out there in such a strange place at such a strange time, all alone. >> she was only wearing a shirt, a t-shirt, jeans, and no shoes. >> sheriff brent myers and his deputies arrived on the scene to find a mystery. what was the temperature that night? >> temperature was probably about 35, maybe 40 degrees. >> so anybody walking around out there without shoes or a coat, i mean, that doesn't make sense. >> doesn't make sense, no. but we don't know if it's an attempted murder or if it's just a bad accident. all we know is we have an injured female in the middle of

the road and we have very little evidence. >> but soon they had her name, courtesy of a bank card they found in her pocket. it was issued to kristen grindley and investigators soon learned there was a recent graduate of nearby washington state university by that name. they got a phone number for her parents, rick and pat grindley across the state in woodenville, washington. >> he said, i'm calling about your daughter that was in the accident. >> pat grindley bolted awake. what had happened to kristen? how badly was she hurt? >> and i just remember screaming, is she alive? >> haned the phone to me and it was a chap lain with the police department, saying, your daughter has been left in spokane. i remember praying like i've never prayed before, kristen, hang on, we're coming. >> when the terrified parents finally arrived at sacred heart hospital they were ushered into intensive care. >> it's just shocking.

i mean, you just -- i mean, kristen is a very beautiful girl. to see her -- her hair all cut and matted with blood, just seeing your own child go through what that