a hopeless ness, where did she go? who did she see? i want to know what happened to my sister. >> a young mother is missing in a case gone cold. >> it was so important to he to know the truth behind that evening. >> then, detectives had an ah-ha moment. to solve the case, they would turn to something you probably use every day, facebook. >> why don't you establish a facebook page? i thought, that could actually accomplish a great deal. >> and that's when everything started to change. >> something happened to her. >> in court, you'll see it all come pouring out. a hidden crime and a son's

heart-pounding moment. >> this is a horrible crime. i'm glad we know the truth. >> what were the secrets in the mist? january 2013, california, the west gray morning cold settled in to stay. at noon a police boat sets off into the fog. the hail marry pass, a slim chance but why out there? why after all those lost 30 years? maybe some cases are destined to stay cold, easier that way. before they came along, with their wild ideas about murder and facebook of all things. and now this, their doomed air

into the fog. her name carol jean myer. this happened back in march 1981. the slammed doors, the cars roaring away. it's an old story anyway, pretty girl gets pregnant at 15. marries the guy, pretty soon she's 20 something with two kids and hankering to live, really live for a change and this particular pretty girl. >> she was fun. out going. had a lot of friends. >> she had these two sisters. dary the younger one, gill the older. >> we were very close and made each other laugh all the time. >> but carol wasn't laughing at the end of march '81. for one thing, she wanted to be somebody, her own somebody. >> i know that carol wanted to complete school and further her career, and that's when she went

back to study architecture. >> sure, her husband was a nice kid and she loved him once with all the intensity of first love. the high school football player that would hang around on her front porch. >> his friends would come over. i thought that was cool. football, athlete friends. >> mike stepped up and married her after the baby was born. >> he was a good father. he seemed to really enjoy his kids. >> enjoyed carol's family, too, especially her dad. >> so mike became kind of like his son. >> milt brought young man into the family house painting business. >> he took to him immediately. everybody felt that way about mike, his friends, everybody, he was always a very likable person. >> friendly, loyal, but not exactly am wish shobish wish sh. he didn't mind settling down in a two bedroom one bathhouse but

carol did mind it, very much. >> i think she may have out grown him somewhat. >> she had a secret affair by then, maybe more than one. she got herself a cute car, audi. the car is long gone now so we did this one up to look just like it and right often she would get in her car alone and go roaring off to school or to meat markets like the red onion back then. >> i know she was going to the red onion. i never went there with her, so i don't know what she was like. >> she had another corner of her life that you weren't part of? >> yeah. >> and then that day in march, kids off to bed, her son mike jr. was just a boy, ten years old. >> i was in bed. i just got a new stereo for my tenth birthday, listening to the headphones. >> from his bed, he could see something happening out in the

hallway. >> i remember them getting into an argument, which was unusual. >> they just didn't. >> not that i knew of. i remember her marching past and going out the front door and slamming the door. >> you heard the slam? >> i heard the slam of the front door. i know that. >> and the next morning. >> we got up and she wasn't there. >> mike senior told carol's dad that carol demanded he sign papers to sell the house and he didn't want to and she got mad and they argued and he went to bed and when he got him she was gone. >> we assumed she needed to get away for a few days. as the days went on, we got worried. >> nearly a week after she departed, her red audi fox showed up in the parking lot of the red onion, dusty as if it had been there awhile. >> i remember being upset about it. she was gone, i don't know where she went. >> they drove around, looking for her. went to bars. carol's picture in hand. >> and?

>> nobody had seen her. >> what feeling was that? >> hopeless neness. where did she go? who did she see. >> the police department opened a file but couldn't answer questions like had she finally gotten fed up with mike and gotten up to start a life somewhere else or had she been in an accident or something worse? more than a week after carol disappeared, there was still absolutely no sign of her, and then something strange happened here at the house, something very strange. could it be that carol unknown to anyone sneaked back in? imagine what it was like in that house, mike thinking things over. on a hunch he placed tape on carol's dress sore drawers, a little trap. one day he took them to universal studios and sure

enough, when they returned he notice the tape was broken and mail on the counter was moved, as well. a few weeks later something happened, some of carol's clothes were missing and money gone under the butter dish in the refrigerator where they kept $100 in emergency cash, $60 was missing. >> she would have not taken all of that. that was her personality, to be fair. >> made sense then? >> uh-huh. >> then the mysterious phone calls. >> we would get the call on special days, her birthday, my birthday, my grandmother, we could get calls. >> and just silence on the other end? >> yeah. >> what do you do? >> carol, we love you. we hope you come back. we felt like she was finding a happier life somewhere. >> and understood to make that successful, she might have to make it complete until the

break? >> yeah. >> almost three months after carol vanished, the detective who had her case put it in the inactive file. in his report he put no foul play involved. >> i used to play records over and over that she liked. i'm thinking when did she come back? >> mike started dating a 19-year-old named carry. brought her into the fold. >> we were happy that mike was going on with life. >> and so they did all go on with life and many years went by. until the morning in a whole new millinium. >> i had a hunch, it didn't sound right to me. coming up, doubts about carol's disappearance grow and

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...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. in march of 1981 carol a lovely young mother of two known to be unhappy in her marriage, vanished, departed for parts unknown leaving behind not just

her husband mike, but her son mike jr., just ten years old. >> i never felt that my mother abandoned me. i was never upset with her ever. >> really? >> i never thought she did. i was just upset she wasn't there. i thought she would show up at a graduation or something. i always thought well, she could show up. she could show up. >> but she didn't. and at family gatherings as the years went by, thanksgiving, christma christmass, that awful question why would she leave them? remained the unmentionable elephant in the room. >> when it came to my family, i think they didn't talk about it because they figure it would upset me or my sister, so it was a taboo subject. we didn't talk about her. >> my family is pretty closed to talking about heavy things, so something like that, rarely talked about. >> it was a heavy thing? >> yeah. >> could you see it in your mother's eyes? or your father's?

>> in my father's for sure. >> what would you see there? >> a lot of emotion. a lot of sadness. i'm going to cry thinking about it. >> 1987 almost six years after carol vanished, the police department revisited the case and time seemed to have altered mike's memory. a few more details had come back to him. remember soon after carol vanished mike said, they argued. he went to sleep alone, woke up early in the morning and she was gone? but in 1987 he remembered they argued, went to bed together, she got up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the bathroom, he woke up and drifted back to sleep and woke up to the sound of a car engine starting and driving away. odd. but memories do play tricks. anyway, it didn't seem terribly significant so the case went back into the file and got

colder. mike took over the house painting business from carol's dad and went on to marry carry and have two more sons, gail and carry raised their families and having babies started to change terry's way of looking at her sister's disappearance. >> as unhappy as you might be in your life, you might leave your husband, you would take your kids with you. >> so when you began to suspect that she wouldn't leave her children, what did that mean to you? >> that something happened to her. >> in 1996, 15 years since they heard from carol, the police came around again. this time they scanned the backyard with ground pen straiting radar, even dug up the ground. didn't find a thing. funny thing, though, about four months later, the local paper the "daily breeze" did a story and interviewed mike and this

time his memory was slightly different. he remembered on that terrible morning when carol left, he heard the garage door go up before she drove away, just one more little detail, though nothing profoundly different. and of course, no evidence whatsoever of any crime. the case went away again. and then one day in 2002, a detective named wallet dale was going through cabinets behind his sergeant's desk. >> i was being nose si, what is this? >> at that point more than 20 years old and cold as they come. >> i never even heard of it before. i go, this is interesting. i wonder if this lady is still missing. >> of course, she was. so again, he read through the police reports, couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in mike's story. >> i thought that's kind of strange because i wouldn't think he would forget the last time you saw your wife. >> so he went to see carol's

parents, her mom melba and her dad milt. >> he looked up at me starting to cry. i was like milt, are you okay? he goes, i'm so happy, i can't believe you guys are still interested in this case. >> how much did that have to do with you driving a hit on this case, that conversation? >> a lot. i'm the father of three daughters, as well, and i thought what if this is my middle daughter? >> milt died one month later never knowing what happened to his beautiful middle daughter but when terry went to the funeral and saw mike there, a private thought played out, mike must know something. >> i didn't say anything. i tried to keep away. he was of course, paying his respects to my family, but i couldn't carrien a cy on a convn with him. >> wallet was obsessed. he had many more cases but something kept pulling him back

to carol. >> i actually would shove some of my work away, i got in a little trouble for that sometimes. >> for years he chipped away until finally, in 2010 eight years after he found that musty old blue file, he decided to pay a surprise visit to mike, his colleagues thought he was nuts. >> those thought well, what do you think he's going to admit it to you? i said well, i played enough sports in my time. i know you don't get anywhere if you don't try. you never know. >> what story would mike tell this time? coming up, this version was straight out of 007. >> i think i did that james bond thing . >> but one detail did ring true. >> she said you make m

for eight years, tore rent police detective worried away at the carol lubon file drawn by an irresistible hunch this young mother did not disappear voluntary. any evidence of a crime, wasn't any. in 2010, 29 years after carol

supposedly walked out on her family and never came back, he decided it was time for a surprise visit to michael lubon. he went over with his sergeant. >> he invited us in. we did catch him unexpectedly but that wasn't the plan. >> but was mike upset or thrown off? not at all. >> very nice like i anticipated he would be because i had now heard from everybody in the family how mike is a good guy. >> so together, they went over again the details of that last night back in march '81. right away, mike remembered a little more about the night carol presented him with a real estate contract and a demand they sell their tiny house. >> you make my skin crawl? >> yeah. >> ah. >> yeah, i thought being -- i'll

bet you she did say that. so i pushed him some more for more details. >> and the details were once again very different, about when and where he last saw her for example, it wasn't when we went to bed around 10:00 as he said on one occasion or 5:30 the next morning, no, this time mike said he last saw carol about 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. in the bathtub. >> and then he said, later on in the night around 1:00 or 2:00 he heard the garage door go up and looked and saw carol's car driving away. >> also, remember that story about putting tape on the dre dresser drawers after carol left and later found it broken. but as he sat here in 2010, he did remember some other traps he

set, more elaborate. >> by now, detectives were working with his colleague wallace and deputy da. he specializes in cracking the most difficult of cold cases. >> do you remember when you saw the results of that interview, what you thought? >> yeah, i thought his memory had grown in areas where it shouldn't and areas where he should be saying the same tory is different and that's the hallmark of deception. >> the mind plays tricks. the mind invents them and you believe them like they happened.

>> that's an interesting theory. i don't think it's really supported. memories can be lost, but memories don't increase in details over the years and they don't increase in different details, and that's a sign of what we call a lie. his version of what happen from the start made no sense to any of us. >> and why would mike lie? the cold case team, it seemed obvious. >> she stopped living that night and everything else that doesn't make sense, it's a lie. if you know it's a lie, then it all lines up. >> remarkably mike continued to talk to them, three more times of his own free will, friendly, without an attorney. he even let the prosecutor take a crack at him. >> if you were me in my position, tell me what you would think. >> what you're thinking? >> which is? >> that i did it. >> mike, i can tell you, you know, sometimes you know the kind of murder cases we get, we

get cases where the husband finds out that his wife is cheating on him and kills her. so -- >> i have nothing to do with that. >> did you catch what mike said, it had nothing to do with that? he did. >> when you just look at sentence structure, you look how people talk and communicate. it wasn't about that. >> you gave that great significance, didn't you. >> absolutely. >> so they kept at mike and at one point, it seemed to them he was on the verge of confessing. >> listen, . >> but when he came back, he didn't give them anything, and they were right back where they started suspicion, sure but no evidence of a crime, no way to even prove carol was dead until detective

jim wallace hit on an idea, to use a tool that didn't exist when carol lubon fought with her husband on the march night in 1981. coming up, the long arm of facebook. >> it's kind of a place where we say here i am. it's also a place to find people. >> the result, a dramatic turn in the case and fresh heart break for carol's family. >> another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. [ male announcer ] a year after hurricane sandy, moonachie, new jersey, firefighters were still rebuilding their own house with limited funds for the most important necessities. ugh...this toilet paper's like sandpaper. [ male announcer ] that's when the charmin relief project came to the rescue. holy charmin. [ male announcer ] delivering over 10,000 rolls of bath tissue. charmin not only saved the day. charmin saved our butts. [ male announcer ] making a firehouse feel like home again. one more way the charmin relief project is helping people enjoy the go.

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deputy d.a. john and the torrance police department believe mike killed his wife back in 1981 but they have one big problem, they couldn't prove carol was dead.

>> the biggest assumption, how do you know she's not out of the country or across the country or changed her identity? >> kind of an important question with no answer, and then in january of 2011 jim wallace got the flu. lucky break. no, really. >> and i was laying in bed and my wife came in and when you work these cases, all you talk about, you're a dedicated cold case team. i'm sure he was tired of hearing it. she mentioned to me, why don't you establish a facebook account for carol? i thought, that could actually accomplish a great deal. >> of course, back in 1981 when carol disappeared, mark zuckerberg wasn't even born yet but 30 years later, detective wallace knew social media and it's potential to connect to millions of people around the globe instantly. it could determine once and for all he thought whether carol was alive or dead. >> all of us know from facebook,

it's where we say here i am and also a place to find people. >> if carol was alive surely he thought someone on facebook or twitter would know something. of course, he also know carol would look vastly different so he found an age progression artist to create an image of what she might look today and he placed that photo and others like it on facebook and other sites. >> then it turned out, it was a great point of contact for me to contact 350 friends and family of carol. right away, we said has anybody seen carol? we discovered immediately that nobody had seen carol since the night she disappeared. >> and if carol googled her own name, she would find it at his website but that never happened, which meant something very significant said the detective. >> she's not looking for herself. she's dead. >> or a farmer's wife who doesn't go on the computer much.

>> maybe. >> lots of people are not on facebook. >> right. >> don't check or google things. it doesn't mean she is dead for sure. >> absolutely. >> in this case cumulative thing that we're looking at, it's yet another piece that points to the same conclusion. >> if carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the acquisition to court would be risky, totally circumstashl, no body 3067 body. 30 years after she vanished. in 2011 mike was arrested for carol's murder. >> when you went to the family and said, we're going to charge him, what was their reaction? >> mixed at best. >> mixed. that's a mild word. how about upset, horrified, mist fied. in fact, most of the family members believe the idea mike

could have murdered carol was just ludicrous. >> well, he was a member of our family and nobody wanted to see him be arrested or him be the reason or any of that. it's like another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. >> this was a case where i think the family would have been more than happy to believe that carol is still out there somewhere. she's not dead. and their beloved son-in-law is not a killer. >> but of all mike senior's family members, perhaps no one was as torn as his named first born son mike jr. who loved his father. followed him into the family painting business. worked side by side with him for decades and who had confessed to detectives, like his aunt terry he, too, had doubts about his father. doubts that took root shortly after his second wife left him. >> he talked about my step hmotr

constantly for years, nonstop. >> why was that so significant to you? >> because he never talked about my mother. >> at all? >> never. >> but mike never confronted his father. >> i just knew in the back of my mind that this could be a possibility, and i really honestly at that time, i never wanted my father to go to jail. i just wanted to know. it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. >> to get the truth and avoid a trial, prosecutor john was willing to make a deal. >> we had offered him voluntary manslaughter if he gave us carol's body. >> and he turned you down flat? >> he did. repeatedly. >> mike pleaded not guilty. the case was going to trial. and if members of carol's own family didn't believe mike did it, what would a jury think? >> coming up, a father in court

and a son on the stand. >> i was really, really stressed out about that. >> and he watches his dad answer this. >> isn't it true mr. lubaun carol lived her last breath in that bathtub when you murdered her? >> when "dateline" continues. [ animals shouting ] aaaahhhh. [ animals shouting ] why can't everyone just be more tea? [ tires screech ] excuse us. [ bicycle bell rings ] watch it! nice. whoa! one step at a time. ♪ ahhh lipton. [ wailing ] [ wailing ] ahh! [ female announcer ] lipton. be more tea. [ male announcer ] disney's muppets most wanted now playing.

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it was september 11th of all days, september 11th, 2012, 31 years, five months, 12 days after the last known sighting of carol and to begin the prosecution of a popular man, could be. but deputy da john went ahead anyway. >> what i'm going to be able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt ladies and gentlemen, is that despite the fact that mike leubon is a descent man, he murdered his wife. >> of course, he knew that to prove a murder occurred, he had to show the victim was in fact, no longer alive. for that he turned to detective wallace who explained the facebook and social media presence had turned up a whole lot of nothing. >> have you been contacted by anybody either by phone, e-mail,

in writing who says you know what? i've seen carol leubon after the day she disappeared? >> no. >> though, as he and his team let the jury hear, family members like carol's sister gail believe what mike told them. that carol had run off. >> has it been hard for you to accept the possibility that she may be dead? >> well, yes. >> is it maybe even more difficult by the fact that you care deeply for the defendant? >> yes. >> and younger sister terry, even though she had suspected mike for years. >> do you still think of mike leubon senior as a part of your family? >> yes. >> but most anguished of all, mike and carol's son, mike junior. >> is there anything about the way you remember your mom that would make you think or made you

feel that she would leave you and never come back and never say good-bye? >> no. >> he loved his dad, but also secretly doubted him. something he had never revealed until now. >> i was sweating so profusely during that whole trial. he never knew i had these feelings, so on the stand publicly i had to basically say, yeah, i'm thinking maybe there is some weird things about your story and it was the first time that my father really would have known i felt that way. so i was really, really stressed out about that. >> how hard is it for you to be here today? >> very. >> do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mother's disappearance? >> do i want to believe it? >> yes. >> no. >> let's assume that your dad in fact did kill your mom, would you want to see him punished for it? >> no, not particularly.

>> the prosecutor knew these families members did not help his case but. >> in the end, my job isn't to make sure that the family members get what they want. my job is to make sure that, you know, carol's killer is held responsible. >> but, was mike a killer? attorney kevin donohue. >> i think the police are just wrong. >> no forensics, no witnesses, not even a body. the defense might have stopped right there. instead, they decided to gamble. mike was a nice guy, the jury should see that. and if the details had been a little different each time he was asked to tell the story, here was his chance to straighten it all out to the jury. how odd mike now under oath amended his story just a little again. like when he added the detail that carol was in the bathtub when she said something mean to

him. >> she said you make my skin crawl. >> also, slightly different, the way he discovered she was gone. >> i opened the front door and went out and the garage door was open and the car was gone. >> in earlier versions, didn't mike say he herd the garage door go up and saw taillights? why had his story changed again? >> what's the deal with that? did you hear the garage door? >> i don't think so. >> why do you think that now? jogged your memory? >> because i think over the years, i thought about this night so many times, and i just, you know, i seen that car back out of that driveway many, many times, you know, when she was leaving. so i think i just thought it repeatedly in my mind that's what i thought happened. i saw the car. i can see it right now. >> he never thought for a moment he said it would be the last time he would see his wife. >> i thought maybe she had gone out that night and went dancing

and stayed the night with a friend. >> what did happen to her? mike insisted he simply didn't know. >> did you have anything to do with killing her? >> no. >> did you have anything to do with her disappearance? >> no, other than i didn't sign the papers and made her upset, but that's it. >> successful testimony? maybe. but now the downside. he would have to answer questions from john. >> do you lie sometimes? >> no. >> you never lie. >> i would say never, i mean, a white lie, who knows. >> well, let me ask, have you ever lied about something serious that wasn't a white lie in your life? >> no. >> in your entire life you never lied once about anything that wasn't a white lie. >> i'll just say, not that i can remember. >> in fact, mike had a hard time remembering a lot of things. >> i don't remember. >> i don't remember going to bed. >> i don't remember saying that. >> i don't know. >> but how on earth he asked

could he not remember the last time he saw his wife. >> would you agree that would be one of the most significant events details of your entire life? >> yes, but i -- doesn't mean i had to remember it. >> he wasn't buying it. >> isn't it true mr. lubon that the last place that carol lived her last breath was taken in that bathtub when you murdered her? >> no. >> why are you looking at the judge? >> because i'm waiting for him to correct you, no. i didn't murder her, no. in the bathtub? >> mr. lubon if you had murdered her, you would tell us today. >> i would admit it. >> you would admit it on the stand today? >> yes. >> do you think that statements believable? >> i think so. >> i'm done.

>> of course, believability was a question for the jury to decide. and decide they did. though, as you'll see, that wasn't the end of the story. not by a mile. coming up, a son overcome with emotion. a final push for the truth. >> please, for your family, for your kids, tell us what happened. >> and then a final fateful twist. >> it's just the ultimate answer. this is it.

your kids, tell us what

let's get the jurors out. >> there are few things in american life as dramatic is waiting with consequence as the moment a jury verdict with hand files into a courtroom. had they been persuade that mike killed carol or even that she was dead? mike's family held its collective breath, so did the prosecutor and the police. >> you know, you don't know what to expect. >> and now, here was mike's fate. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant michael clark lubahn senior guilty of the crime -- >> guilty of second-degree

murder. mike lubahn was going to prison and long-time detective jim wallace found surrounded by a very unfamiliar reaction. >> i had cases before where you get done, you know, and walk out of the courtroom and the family throws their arms around you, so grateful. right? that's not this case. >> i was just very surprised that the jury could convict him on such little evidence, and i don't think any of us are happy to see mike go to jail. >> and you still believe mike is a nice guy? believable guy? >> yes. >> what gail and the rest of the family wanted most, were some answers. >> not so much that i want mike to pay for what he did, i just want to know what happened to my sister. >> and at the sentencing hearing in december of 2012, mike's own son echoed those sentiments. >> guilt or innocence aside, i never wanted my father to go to

prison. i only ask that if he knows anything, to please let me know. >> and then mike jr. made a heart breaking plea to the court. >> he's been a good father and a good person, if he's sent to prison today, i want him to know i'm going to miss our time together. it's going to be hard to see the world change without him. i'm okay. i humbly stand before the court today to request leniency when giving his sentence. thank you for the opportunity. >> after that, well, then the strange tale of the much-loved convicted killer took quite a remarkable turn. it happened that very day in court. >> i'm asking right now as we sit here, mr. lubahn is going to have a chance, please, for your family, for your kids, just let it go. tell us what happened. >> can i just have a moment? >> the judge granted a recess so mike could speak with his attorney privately.

did he actually have something to confess? he returned a few minutes later. >> and we're asking to continue the sentencing. >> time to think? the judge pushed back sentencing by a month. >> my hope was that he would tell us what happened, that he would tell us what he did with carol, and that he would be honest about both. >> for almost four weeks they waited until january 7th, 2013. all eyes were on mike lubahn as he entered the courtroom and shifted to the prosecutor who told the court that that very morning mike finally revealed to him the secret he had been keeping almost 3 two years and so, now luin did the talking and mike for once said not a word. >> all of the information about them fighting about the sell of the house. he says that was truthful. that occurred. then carol stormed out and it might have blown over as

arguments do, but she came back at 1:30 a.m. and said the one thing that would not blow over. not ever. >> she told him that she was going to be taking somebody else, another man, to her sister terry's upcoming wedding. he said he was very upset. >> she tried to comfort him then he said. >> she was telling him, don't worry, you'll find somebody else, et cetera. >> and that was the last thing carol lubahn ever said. >> he didn't want to hear it and he pushed her. she fell and hit her head on a heavy end table in the living room. he said she didn't bleed but he know instantly that she was dead. >> detectives hooked lubahn up to a polygraph machine. how much was true? >> after the polygraph he doesn't pass. now the defendant changes his

story and he says okay, i punched her on the head and i punched her hard but he said only one time. >> then he said what he did with carol's body. >> after he killed her, he put her in the garage behind some carpet. he took her car the next morning to the red onion parking lot, dumped it there. at some point she was placed in the trunk of mr. lubahn's vehicle. >> and then he said he took her to the ocean, put her on a raft. paddled out to sea and dropped her down, a sundblock tied to h body. it was a shock, of course u a big shock. for so long the family or most of it believed mike and now in this very public way, they finally knew that carol was dead and he, their sweet mike killed her. but the whole truth, was it

actually out there somewhere? and so on that cold and foggy january day, mike surrounded by cops and lawyers floated out into the mist to find carol and whatever was left. >> if they find the block in the ocean after the search, if they find that, that will give me half of the closure i need. >> she didn't get it because after the boat ride mike admitted his ocean tale was one more lie and perhaps it was finally for the sake of his son, the son who never abandoned him that he finally massed a polygraph and led investigators to the place he now says mike's mother has been all these many years. the police searched but couldn't find her remains and now after so much time, no one knows if they ever will. >> i don't know why getting her back is the ultimate book end for me. i want to know that she's

properly buried or cream mated or whatever we would choose to do with her. >> why is that so important? >> i think it's just the ultimate answer. this is it. there is no more wondering. >> no, not about that but his father in prison 15 to life? good deal of wondering left to do about that man and what he took away. >> do you still love him? >> yeah, i do. i mean, i always will. i just got to figure out how i'm going to process these facts i know. i don't know yet. i kind of thought a perfect punishment for my father was i was going to ask him to write one sentence about my mother to me every week he was in prison so he has to think about her and i have to -- i can remember her again. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us.

>> good morning. i'm chuck todd. david is on vacation. obama, putin showdown. thousands of russian troops are massed on the border of ukraine. can president obama and the west stop putin with new diplomatic efforts? the latest from eastern ukraine. new jersey governor chris christieiz+:s on the offensive after an investigation that he commissioned that concludes he didn't know about the bridge scandal. can he get his white house ambitions back on track? we'll be joined by his most prominent defender form are new york city mayor rudy giuliani and a democratic critic from new jersey. and less than 48 hours before the health care deadline. the obama white house heralded the big 6 million number. will it still be a losing issue for democrats this election year? plus meeting america. kevin tibbles travels to the