us a message or comment on instagram or tiktok. yeah, see you back here next time. i'm anna garcia. right now, on true crime news. an aspiring fashion designer weeks away from her wedding, found dead in the mud, her car still running her phone pinging with text messages. >> i think that amber knew her killer. >> amber birbiglia's final hours caught on surveillance cameras. >> there was a dark figure in

her passenger side, but nobody knows who it is. >> and her family wants help catching her killer. plus, sarah boone, the infamous suitcase killer back on the stand and sentenced to life behind bars for the first time. we hear from the victim's family. >> such a simple thing as using a suitcase is so triggering. >> then a stunning update on hannah kobayashi, the beautiful hawaiian woman who disappeared after missing her flight from los angeles to new york. she's been spotted alive in mexico. but does she want to be found? first up today, a crime story that shocked everyone. the tragic murder of a young bride to be in south carolina that has baffled investigators. amber birbiglia had her whole life ahead of her until it was violently cut short. now, her family and police are hoping

someone will come forward with information to help catch her killer. it's late afternoon and south carolina police are responding to a distress call beneath the edge parkway bridge, just north of nearby myrtle beach. local teens have found a running suv they believe to be stuck in the mud on this country road. but when cops inspect the vehicle, weapons drawn. it's clear they quickly realize they're standing in a crime scene. yes. shot in the face. >> it's still warm, so the perpetrator might be here. >> she was hit in the face with something so hard that the injury looked like a gunshot wound. >> amanda birbiglia has spent 11 years grappling with the strange circumstances of her younger sister amber's death. >> she wasn't sexually

assaulted. she wasn't robbed. >> a homicide with no motive and few clues. but friends and family are still desperate to know who killed amber birbiglia. >> i don't think that the investigation ever really took off. >> 23 year old amber was a social butterfly who loved to sing and dance. amanda says as teenagers, they were little devils who gave their parents constant headaches. >> she would get caught sneaking out. she'd get grounded and she would have to sneak out again. she was grounded for the entire summer, but she probably had the best summer that year. >> amber dreamed of one day becoming a costume designer and worked to achieve her goal in london at design school. >> she was studying fashion. she loved anything having to do with art, and she had her own style. >> after completing her studies abroad, amber returned to her home in small town little river, south carolina, and on the last

day of her sister's life, amanda was working the late shift waitressing when she noticed her phone blowing up family members were desperate to reach her. >> my aunt's husband told me that there had been an accident that amber had been shot. didn't register yet what he was telling me, and i said, well, is she okay? where is she? what do you mean? she was shot? and he said, i'm sorry, honey, she's gone. she had a great soul and she would never do anything to hurt anybody. >> okay, i'll go first. >> then she would give her last dollar if it meant, you know, helping somebody else. >> unlike most homicides in south carolina, detectives quickly realized there wouldn't be any ballistics evidence for amber. she wasn't shot.

>> they said she was bludgeoned with a rock stone boulder. there was no murder weapon found on the scene. >> angie baker is an advocate who works with the birbiglia family. in a new interview with true crime news, she says she believes amber's killer is likely someone from their small town community because of the location where amber was found. >> there was not a lot of traffic on that road. it was a very isolated place that locals and the residents in that area would know about, and there was no reason for amber to go that way. >> and what's more, angie says amber likely had some kind of relationship with whoever killed her. >> i do not think it was just a crime of opportunity where she just happened to pick someone up on the road. >> horry county police agreed,

and they began their investigation looking at those closest to amber. >> she was going to be married in a couple of weeks. had her whole future ahead of her, and it was in broad daylight. >> but as detectives rush to question amber's fiance, her sister amanda warns they might be wasting precious time. >> i know my sister and she may have been involved with somebody else. there's cameras all over the city in myrtle beach, so they have her in her car that day, running her errands, and there was a dark figure in her passenger side. it was a jealous guy or a drug deal gone bad. >> when we come back, cops have questions for those closest to amber and surveillance footage of her final hours only adds to the mystery.

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>> on the next true crime news. a mom boards across country train and is dead n

when your clothes come out looking newer, longer... you get to take them for a spin. again... ...and again... ...and again. persil cleans and helps keep clothes looking newer, longer. get that new clothes feeling. wash with pers. we're back with the unsolved murder of 23 year old amber birbiglia. she was found dead just feet from her running suv, her wallet and phone near her body. but with few clues found at the crime scene, investigators worked to piece together her final hours in order to figure out who killed

her. to ease their broken hearts, amber birbiglia's family has erected a memorial in her memory. >> i get here and all i do is just fall apart. >> momentos arranged under the freeway overpass where she died. >> so many, so much. i'm trying to be your voice. >> these are some of the last images of amber birbiglia alive, apparently on her way to work. >> this young woman is going to be married in a couple of weeks. she had her whole future ahead of her, and it was in broad daylight. >> but instead of arriving at her hostessing job for a high end restaurant in myrtle beach, amber is discovered on a remote country road literally moments after being violently bludgeone.

she's still warm. >> he's still warm. >> it's just such a confusing situation for her to be found dead in the middle of the day on a friday afternoon on the side of the street, police begin their investigation by looking at the people closest to amber, starting with her fiance, josé celtics. it was like one of those movie romances. >> so there was a handsome college student from spain who swept amber off her feet while studying abroad in london. >> he just loved every bit of her and you can tell when he looked at her that he. saw everything good. >> after two years of dating, the couple got engaged. her mom shares the early morning phone message she received from abroad with the happy news. >> hey mom, it's amber. i just wanted to tell you that i'm

getting married. >> no worries. >> hahahahaha and k's, i just wanted to call you and tell you. >> but at the time of amber's murder, jose's alibi is airtight. he is thousands of miles away in europe. soon, police can only scour amber's suv for clues. >> years ago, they were told there was plenty of dna. the car was released back to the family a couple of days later. the family hadn't been told if there were any fingerprints, how the car was processed. >> investigators quickly begin to play their investigation close to the vest. >> i don't think that the investigation ever really took off. they immediately started coming up against walls that they couldn't figure out, and gave up too quickly. >> the only remaining clues are surveillance videos of amber

paying her cable bill at about 130 that afternoon, and detectives pick up amber's trail to a gas station, where surveillance cameras capture images of amber just hours before her death. that's amber wearing black pants, a leopard top and glasses. the investigation soon hits a standstill as no one in the video can be connected to amber's violent death. but amanda says investigators did show other videos to the family not released to the public. >> there may have been two african american men that she may have had some sort of association with. >> cops find security camera footage of amber's suv traveling the highway 30 minutes before her death. they say she was not driving alone, so they have her in her car that day running her errands. >> she went off on a side street

where there weren't any cameras for like a half hour while they lost her for or something like that. and when she came back into camera view, there was a dark figure in her passenger side. they were never able to identify noé identity. >> worse yet, no explanations. now, over a decade later, family friend angie baker says someone in the small town of little river needs to show the courage to help close this cold case. >> after 11.5 years, somebody knows something or know someone that said something that can help bring this person to judgment, and we're just hoping that someone will say, you know what? i've been carrying this and i know exactly who did this to help angie and the birbiglia family are putting up billboards to remind the community they

need answers for this violent murder. a lot of people in this area have never heard of amber's case until most recently, but until there is a break in the case, amanda holds on to faded pictures of her beloved sister, taken much too soon. >> i was about seven and she was about five here and we were getting ready to go to the pool with our colored sunscreen on our faces. >> if you have any information regarding amber birbiglia's murder, her family asks that you contact crime stoppers south carolina at one 888 crime sc or you can call the true crime news tip line at (888) 845-7555. when we come back, she zipped up her boyfriend in a suitcase and recorded him as he died. sarah boone, the convicted suitcase killer, will be lked up for life. we have the latest next.

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their website and try it for yourself. >> now we've got an important update on a story that we've covered extensively here on true crime news. the case of sarah boone, the infamous suitcase killer who went viral for zipping her boyfriend up in a piece of luggage and leaving him there to die. >> for everyone who knew what george was doing to me, sometimes how and when, but allowed and enabled, i forgive them for caring too late. i hope they all ask themselves, while quiet and comfortable in bed at night, the uneasy question, what could i have done to stop this from happening? >> deny attack, reverse victim and offender. it was all on full display in an orlando courtroom yesterday when convicted killer sarah boone used her sentencing hearing to blame boyfriend george torres junior for putting her behind bars. >> sarah? >> yeah, you should probably shut up. >> george's grieving family

members were present for the sentencing, offering powerful, devastating victim impact statements. >> such a simple thing as using a suitcase is so triggering. i try not to close it all the way in on my son. i love him. >> and i miss him. i love my family. i miss him a lot too. >> despite witnessing that, sarah continued to play the victim. >> i forgive myself for falling in love with a monster and no matter how grotesque he may become, i still loved him. i can't iván. >> seriously. >> yeah, that's when you do and you choke me. >> boone used her battered woman defense that failed at trial, dragging torres's ghost in a tone deaf bid for some of her own mercy from the court. >> my goal begins with george

torres, and every time he slapped me, kicked, punched, spit on, raped, stabbed, choked, laughed at, pushed, pulled, dragged, whipped, tripped. stole from. lied. terrorized. threatened. humiliated. forced. degraded. made me cry. >> but she didn't stop there. >> i also forgive the torres family. also, his two ex-wives and daughters. all for knowing who george was. then to keep turning a blind eye when i would ask for help. >> but judge michael kranitz had the final word. >> court pronounces sentence as follows. miss boone. court sentences you to life in the department of corrections. >> a life sentence instead of the 15 year plea deal she was offered in the days before her trial. prosecutors asked the judge to consider boone's lack of remorse in his sentence. >> he didn't show remorse for that. here today, it's all about sarah boone. everything's about

sarah boone, about how she is the victim. >> yet sarah's defense attorney, james owens, hoped to mitigate the damage. >> i think it's fair to say here that we know that sarah suffers from some mental health issues. >> judge kranitz swiftly denied boone's request for a retrial and moved the case on to appeals. >> you will have 30 days from today to appeal the judgment and sentence in writing. if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you. >> boone was taken back to prison, but not before grandstanding one last time. >> i've become so much more closer to the lord, and it's made me such a better person. >> we turn now to a story we've been tracking very closely in our newsroom the search for hannah kobayashi, the hawaiian woman who disappeared after landing in los angeles on her way to new york. now, in a bombshell development, the lapd says hannah has been located and is very much alive. >> the entire world is looking

for you. if you can and you have access, please reach out to us. >> for almost a month, a desperate family searched. >> how do we love you so much? you know, i'm just trying. try and get to get back to us. >> and tragically, just days after her father's pleas to true crime news, this heartbroken father died by suicide. now, in a stunning development, police say hannah kobayashi was never missing at all. >> kobayashi expressed the desire to step away from modern connectivity. >> the 31 year old woman left maui in early november, traveling to new york, but she left lax and disappeared onto the warm streets of los angeles. police say new surveillance footage captured her leaving. >> she traveled through the mta. she then made it to union station at union station, she used her passport and cash to purchase a ticket to get to the border. >> we reviewed video surveillance from u.s. customs and border protection, which clearly shows kobayashi crossing

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>> on the next true crime news, the 28 year old mom boards a cross country train. >> marino was on her way to start a new life, but when it arrives at her destination, she's dead in her seat. it wasn't the conductor that killed her, and it sure wasn't her kids. >> what happened to this vibrant young woman? did her dangerous past catch up with her?

>> marino was safe because there was no way he could find her. >> it's murder on the cross country express on the next true crime news for the latest breaking crime news, go to true crime news.com. watch more exclusive content on our youtube channel, listen to our podcast and follow us at my true crime news. that's it for today's true crime news. i'm anna garci see you next t e, eve on (dramatic music) - why were you concerned that something had happened to your mother? - i really felt like something was very wrong because she had never been a no call, no show. - she got this text that the tone didn't sound like her mother, but also the content was just completely out of the blue. - it said, "i'm leaving town for a while. look after the house. i'm going to have a good time for once. - [nancy] police searching for answers, - we could almost pinpoint to the minute when her routine got interrupted.