>> that's all for this edition of "dateline extra." i'm tamron hall. thanks for watching. it would've been impossible. >> text her, she always got right back. >> i have seen her step out of the shower to answer her phone. >> one day she didn't. >> immediately my senses were

hot. >> where was she? >> i send her an e-mail, all caps, are you alive? >> and even is calls to 911 were silent. >> no voice. no struggles could be heard. >> in my heart i knew, she is not coming back. >> one of the suspects had an alibi until a camera caught him in a lie. the strangest clue of all, there in an empty parking lot. >> six perfectly stacked card board boxes. >> why were they there? what was in them? >> it is probably not a good sign. >> welcome to dateline extra. a beautiful young woman vanished and her close knit family was frantic to find her. she had a thriving career, hand

som new boy fren and suddenly there was silence, which was quite unlike her. it lead clues to one of chicago's most exclusive neighborhoods. here is smoke and mirrors. >> it wasn't like this. it wasn't gray. it wasn't snow. no snow to catch the bitter breeze. no. it was hot and it was late after midnight, september 27th, 2007. >> pretty secluded area next to a forest preserve. >> so it was clear and dark and still and vacant. here where it fought back against the decaying suburban

sprawl. nothing was clear at all. >> i never cracked this violent crime. >> you're experiencing everything but it's not true. >> it feels like you're literally in a nightmare. >> yes. still does. the name you'll want to remember is niela. this is niela's mother. >> i wanted her to be successful and she was. she lived her name. >> quite true as frankly have the rest of them in this big family. this is leah, the first born. >> we might need a graph or a chart. it is kind of involved. >> full siblings, half siblings, quarter siblings, very blend. . >> that word is kind of offensive to me because to me it is something less.

i have never used that word. we are just siblings. >> one big happy family. >> it is simple for us because we grew up together from the time we were young. for us we are one big family. >> she is ashlee with an e and the other is ashley with a y. >> it is unusual that everybody gets along. >> it's a good thing. >> when we were kids it was a lot more crazy to other people. >> and in the middle of this big family was niela, little moot they used to call her because once she decided something all arguments against her were moot. >> she was very sure of herself from an early time. >> she was like my hero.

i looked up to her. >> she always accepted you for who you were. it is almost like she glowed. >> after college she began building a career in pharmaceutical sales. she owned a condo in the heart of the seem. >> because it seemed fabulous was the aspiration. >> but always number one really, she stayed in touch, never failed. call her, she would call bachlkt text her, she would reply instantly. >> she seemed to water all of her relationships. >> it is a pretty special skill. >> yeah, to manage that and your career. >> there were men, of course there were though she was, shall we say, discerning. >> the young men were of a

caliber that we expected of her. >> what sort of guys did she like? >> successful, nice, professional men. >> she was dating a plastic surgeon guy and this guy and that guy. >> she took up briefly with a dashing investor that drove a white bentley then attended an art gallery and he came, this lawyer from milwaukee, andre white. >> a beautiful woman, warm personality and we walked around looking at pieces, talking about what i was looking at in art. the art work became of little interest at that point. >> and just like that it was over for both of them. >> i don't want to go all

hallmark card on you but it was a moment or something. >> absolutely. definitely. >> her family loved andre. >> she brought him to my child's first birthday party. i was like who does that? she a nice, quality person. >> they liked you. >> you started planning on moving in together, on being together. >> we did. >> it was happening pretty fast. >> it felt good though. >> it was long distance. they stayed connected by phone and e-mail and text all day long. >> i would call her every morning. >> and no one seemed to notice any dark force, any unseen thing festering in the heat of that hot, late warning, didn't feel a warning, didn't know who said what to whom.

it was september 18th, a tuesday. >> i thought i called her on my way to work i got interrupted. she said what happened to my call? i said i thought i had. we exchanged e-mails. >> he called again in the flush of love. no answer. >> i left her a message saying i was heading home. i got a message from her phone and said she was at a dinner. >> you had been calling her every day talking call of the time and she said i'm at dinner i'll call you later? but she didn't. then 9:00 p.m. one of the ashley's called niela. ing ing

ingly. >> i got a message that said i'm at a dinner. i'll call you in a few. it's not like her to answer the phone. i have seen her step out of the shower to answer the phone. >> i sent her an e-mail, all caps, are you alive? >> one of the half ingest, half worried things without knowing what a good question it was. >> coming up, not only was she increasingly hard to reach, even worse, she didn't show up for work that day. >> immediately my senses were high. seeing her eggs and coffee she had just left there just out. >> something is wrong! it's like this isn't right. . >> and three calls to 911 from her cell fophone. >> no voice, no struggles, light

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here is more of our story, smoke in mirrors. >> in chicago like any other late summer day, hot, humid, windy, the usual except for one thing. niela franklin was suddenly raid you silent, even with her new love, andre. >> i called her, e-mailed her, called her again call afternoon. that's when he sent her the all caps e-mail, are you alive? and. >> it's like to say to someone, are you there? >> at the end of the workday her big sister did get a call fr from niela. >> he said she missed a meeting.

of course i try today call her, didn't get her. >> leah called her friends and her other siblings. >> i didn't speak with her that day or the day before. >> i said i actually haven't. i have been really busy. >> she called and filed a missing persons report. she drove onto her condo. no answer. she got a key. she went in. >> you see her eggs and coffee she had just left there just out. >> something is wrong. >> it's like you know what? this isn't right. >> and then leah got professional. she knew how. she called every media contact she had. >> your pr impulse can i bed in. >> quite frankly, i don't know

of a lot of women of color or people or color who get that kantd kind of attention. >> there's that old saw. the good looking young blond wants to go talking about it. a black woman is not quite the same deal. >> there is reality to that. it troubles the mind when people of color -- or if it doesn't miss the narrative of gun violence or gang violence then some how it's not real. >> so leah new but leah was not going to be denied. >> you decided they were going to turn it. >> they were. >> and maybe it is because of leah's savvy.

>> fliers are handed out to people passing by. >> we were in the streets putting them any place we could, downtown, suburbs. >> they phoned and texted and e-mailed their friends. no one reported seeing niela. her sister kept replaying their last conversation. >> she called me and she said i've got something to tell you and before she could tell me she got a call on the other line. she clicked over and she said she'll call me back. >> she didn't call you? >> she didn't call me back. >> day one became day two and day three. >> i kept thinking she is going to answer. she is going to answer. >> there's no handbook. you wake up and it's still real. >> the case of missing

pharmaceutical representative landed on the desk of greg jacobson who scanned niela's phone records. just after 10:00 p.m. the night niela vanished her cell phone made three calls to 911. >> no voice. no struggles could be heard. no background noise with the exception of light music in the background. >> it could be kind of eerie. >> yes, it is. >> a person just able to dial a 911. >> the investigator started to talking to just about everybody she knew. >> a lot of you were talking. >> of course, anyone we knew had a relationship with her. >> maybe her pr campaign helped

because -- >> we had some anonymous tips, people saying they saw her at this location. >> but not a single one lead to niela. now they believed she was dealing with a serious crime. >> she is missing. technically there hasn't been a crime committed. >> i knew the boyfriend she was in wisconsin with, they were all interviewed. >> that boyfriend from wisconsin had come to chicago, was helping with the search and soon was perhaps the sub jek ject of it. >> they came to you. >> yes. >> and now to police, a perfectly obvious person of interest. >> coming up, a discovery in a parking lot. >> it was adjacent to a lagoon.

i watch enough daylight to know that's not a good sign. >> what if anything did it have to do with niela, when dateline extra continues. nd the discount. oh, it's like my father always told me -- "put that down. that's expensive." of course i save people an average of nearly $600, but who's gonna save me? [ voice breaking ] and that's when i realized... i'm allergic to wasabi. well, i feel better. it's been five minutes. talk about progress. [ chuckles ] okay. talk about progress. [ chuckles ] hei don't want one that's hadch a bunch of ownersd car? just say, show me cars with only one owner find the cars you want, avoid the ones you don't plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing it's perfect. start your used car search at carfax.com will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job,

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welcome back. 911 operators received several calls. detectives suspected their missing person may have been the person of a serious crime and it was time to turn their attention to the men in her life. here is keith with smoke and mir mirrors. >> it was overwhelming. >> the world seep to big when you're looking for someone. >> imagine all of chicago and she could be any where, in a basement, in the trunk of a car or worse.

then middle of the night a local cop was on ree teoutine patrol. >> i got to this area right here i noticed right in front of me six perfectly stacked card board boxes, you know, shipping boxes. >> sitting right there in the parking lot. >> yeah, it stood out. i'm looking like something is not right here. >> inside the boxes, pills, hundreds of them. >> i was thinking this might be something big as some type of narcotics case. >> except it looked more like samples, something a pharmaceutical rep might be handing out to doctors. >> what were they? >> different type of medicines. >> what were they doing? the address to a storage locker and a name, niela.

>> and pretty soon the fbi and chicago police were out here looking. >> including greg jacob son. >> right adjacent to a lagoon. i watch enough dateline to know it is probably not a good sign. >> was she down there in that murky water. >> they drug the lagoon. >> skoured every inch and found one weird thing. >> there was some jewelry on some of the bushes. >> pearls and such just hanging there. the cops checked with her friends. looked like niela's. they said she wasn't here. remember her sister's pr campaign? the next town over. >> a person saw a newscast and was like that car has been on my

block for a couple of days. thank god they saw that and cared enough to call it in. >> it came from here, hammond, indiana not three days of niela vanished, a black chevy impala. >> it was hers. >> the last thing you want to think is there was something in the trunk. fortunately there wasn't. >> did you do any evidence or anything? >> i think they described it as it was wiped clean. >> including in the trunk? >> yes. >> the younger ashley drove out there. >> it was parked in front of an abandoned house. i went and i banged on the doors. i screamed her name. i didn't want to leave. i had to be taken from the area.

>> of course the cops canvassed the neighbors. what do you know? >> they had seen a male mulling around the vehicle and then enter another vehicle and leave. that was a few days prior. >> did they give you a good description? >> a male african american, thin build. >> it might have fit a lot of people in niela's life, like for example her new boyfriend. police questioned about their relationship and where he was when she disaid peppeared. >> they asked the last time we spoke. >> or could it have been someone else like the previous boyfriend? his name was reginald pots. he stepped up and called them. >> he wanted to know why chicago police waned to talk with him. >> he agreed to stop

headquarters. >> he met her a year earlier on the street. they dated briefly and realized it wasn't for life. with his white bentley and duplex overlooking the lake. >> he lives in a high-rise. >> a nice place. >> in an upscale area in the city. >> wow. >> he told them everything he did, everywhere he went, very detailed. day's events, early evening, bar hopping with not one but two girlfriends, separately of course. after that an intimate plan with a third girlfriend. >> they made arrangements to meet at his apartments to meet around midnight on the 18th. >> this guy gets around. >> if you drive a bentley your

options are open. >> i guess so. >> he was again cruising vacant parking lots, around a mile or so when a partner noticed something. >> he saw a pair of ear buds hanging from the tree. >> bright little bobbles showed up in the dark. what else was in that abandoned place at the edge of the midnight woods? it is now a different type of investigation and detectives take a closer look at a man from niela's past. >> it was extremely damaged, like it had been forced open. >> there was something off about him. that's probably where she a ided to, you know, look little deeper. 22 pages long. did you read every word? no, only lawyers do that. so when you got rear-ended and needed a tow, your insurance company told you to look at page five on your policy.

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trump called clinton short circuited and not all there. >> and the yankees announcing a news conference with alex rodriguez. it is expected she will announce his retirement. now back to dateline extra. welcome back. what happened to niela franklin as her family continued their desperate search. with a little digging one of their stories started to unravel. here is more of our story, smoke and mirrors. >> and a grassroots effort by family and friends.

>> it because rare quiet time, nine days in when her sister felt it. >> we had a prayer service at our church. in my heart i knew, she is not coming back. >> and that very night in the 3:00 a.m. hush night patrol officer felt his way past the glittering ear buds his partner found hanging from a tree to a forrest at the back of a large abandoned parking lot. >> i probably got around in this area and just looked over and the body was there. >> what was that moment like? >> shocked. you don't know if it's her or not but you an idea because sit a female body. >> they had to resort to dental records to confirm. >> i doesn't just kill that person, it kills a lot in the

family. it's the absence of a piece of you because that person is not here. >> i can't describe it. it's like you know it's happening but it doesn't feel reel. it feels like you're literally in a nightmare. >> an autopsy confirmed the death was by asphyxiation so now it was homicide, but who was the killer? not andre, confirmed he was in milwauk milwaukee. >> everything with him checked out. >> as for being questioned -- >> are you upset? >> no. it was part of doing their job. >> what about that investor, reginald pots, the one who had been so helpful? this was curious. when they went to visit his apartment they couldn't help but notice -- >> the exterior was extremely damaged, like it had been forced open. >> that's weird. >> maybe not so weird.

there was antics pl explanation. >> he was visited by the sheriffs department in an attempt to we vekt reginald pots. >> lots of people were falling behind but reginald's problems ran deeper than that. >> he was constantly in default, 15 pairs of guccie shoes, not a pot or pan in the kitchen but what he believed were important items to surround himself with, cars, clothing, high-end restaurants. they are for show. >> the bentley it turned out belonged to someone else. he juggled hook ups and an exgirlfriend had one of his children. didn't take long for niela to

figure it out. >> she sensed something was off about him and she decided to look a little deeper. >> so she ended it and as she did she warned whomever she could about reginald, even one of his other girlfriends. >> watch out. he is bad news and he is cheating on you. >> yeah. they were in communication. zb when reginald found out he wasn't happy. >> he got wind of that and reached out to niela in a threatening manner. >> sent her nasty e-mails and voice mails. >> did she worry about that a lot? >> she didn't exhibit any worries to me about it. >> but she must have been worried. detectives found a report she called a nonemergency police order and filed to file an order

of protection against mr. pots. so yes, he was a murder suspect but he wasn't exactly hiding from the police. remember, he had given a very detailed alibi the check out. >> he was pretty specific on where he is at. >> as the weeks went by he seemed quite eager to help. >> he continuously called me on my cell phone. >> really? >> yeah. >> try to direct, why haven't you talked to the echols. >> they were at a target store shopping. >> and sure enough mr. echols confirmed his account. there they are at the target store which would seem to exclude pots. he wasn't kidnapping and killing niela. for some reason reginald did not

show up on camera. >> if you're going to commit a crime don't do it on target. they will have your sign very clear. >> meaning either he managed some how to avoid every camera in the store or his friend lied for him. they hauled his buddy down to the station and after a few go arounds he admitted he not only was he at the target. >> he resoofed a call and traveled to pick him up because he needed a ride. >> hammond, indiana, the car where niela's car was found. regional pots was arrested for the murder of niela franklin. but he denied murdering her. >> fabrication?

yes said reginald. he was being framed. coming up a suspect bears all. but would he reveal the truth? dateline extra continues. you don't let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

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[announcer] is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the summer of audi sales event is here. get up to a $5,000 bonus on select audi models. zb >> welcome back. reginald pots was arrested for the murder of his former girlfriend. with no physical evidence this case was far from closed. keith morrison continues our story, smoke and mirrors. >> here we are in a little room

at the chicago police station. reginald pots is under arrest. detectives are certain they have their man. >> mr. pots. >> i denied i was ever there. >> he appeared to be insulted they even asked. >> niela, he was nowhere near her. >> i was not in her apartment or apartment building. >> they told him they have evidence. >> we found your distinctive bentley in her parking lot. >> the detectives said --

>> yes. and there is reginald plain as day arriving and leaving with her on that very day she disappeared. >> so you knew he was there? >> yes. >> but reginald doubled down on his denial. accused the police of fabricating evidence. >> he talked and talked and denied and denied, all without any apparent desire for an attorney. when they asked him to stand in a line up so witnesses can have a look.

>> so they waited for his attorney to arrive and then it got odd. >> reginald removed all of his clothing and refused to stand in a line up. >> that's an interesting tactic. have you ever seen that before? >> no. >> they charged him with capital murder. niela had been dead three months. >> i was relieved. i was surprised it took so long. >> relieved too that reginald

potts demanded a speedy trial. >> reginald potts used every resource at his disposal to delay the process. >> watched in something like amazement as reginald turned speedy justy. >> he hired lawyers, fired lawyers, tried to act as his own attorney. at each step the trial had to be reset. >> one, two, three years passed that way. in the fourth year illinois abolished capital punished and still reginald's actions forced delays. >> just as her family reached out to the media reginald tried to launch a pr campaign from behind bars. >> his family tried to convince me there might be some way he is

not associated with this crime. it might be someone else. >> he talk today a newspaper columnist who wrote about his treatment in jail. every delay, every manipulation was slow torture. >> i very much believe everyone should have a fair and just trial and that too often or most often they don't get a fair shake in our court system. this was not that. >> and then finally on october 28th, 2015 on a crisp fall day in chicago the states versus reginald potts began. it had taken eight years to get here. >> when it was finally happening we were infuse about how things would go down. what type of experience is this going to be? >> they had no idea.

how could they? maria mccarthy brought the case against pot ts. >> no confession, no evidence linking him to the kroim and it was based on primarily exclusion. you don't try many cases like that. >> and not many cases with a defendant quite like reginald p potts. >> coming up, an accused killer's defense. >> he is smarter than the average cariminal but not as smart as he thinks he is. what really tormented me is the big possibility that justice won't be done. >> when dateline extra continues. oh, sure! we give it to everyone for free. oh, well that's nice. (to dog) go get it!

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niela franklin deserved justice. her family was ready for the trial of reginald potts. but would they finally get what they wanted most, the truth? we continue now with the conclusion of smoke and mirrors. >> for eight years her family struggled but their incomplete grief. >> what really tormented me is there's a possibility that justice won't be done. >> there was no real forensic evidence, only circumstantial things. according to the prosecutors there was a whole lot of truth, the vote at the target store that did not show up him and blew up his alibi. her friends testified she showed them e-mails and played a voice

mail. >> she played an e-mail because she was so terrified. in that voice mail, i'm going to have you erased. i'm going to make you disappear. >> in fact to the prosecutors, that's exactly what he did. he snuck into her building, lead her terrified to the garage, stuffed her body in the trunk of her own car? how do they know he took her to the suburbs to dump her? cell towers linked their phones together from like a trail of bread crumbs. >> she is not seen by anybody. she is not calling anybody. she is not answering calls. her texts are all odd. her phone and his phone are together, locked step the rest of the day. >> right to the abandoned video

store. no coincidence he chose that particular spot said the prosecutors. >> we find out the video store is owned by pott's brother-in-law. >> he lied for him but didn't know it was to cover up a murder. remember the three hang up calls to 911 and the odd texts? it was reginald pots using her phone hours after he murdered her, a clever attempt to throw off. >> he is smarter than the average criminal but not as smart as he thinks he is. >> it was to discredit the prosecution. >> defense attorneys need to create reasonable doubt. it was difficult to determine cause of death. the defense is going to rush and

say you can't really say how they died. it's little things like that in the hopes that one or two jurors will latch onto that and say i can't convict. >> they disputed the cell phone evidence the prosecution believed sinched the case. >> you can triang late based on the ping is some how flawed. >> the jury had the case. did his arguments persuade them? two hours and 15 minutes the jury answered, no. they pronounced reginald potts guilty of first-degree murder. >> i was so relieved. it's like okay. that's passed. so now it's the next thing. >> the next thing is sentencing nearly four months later. >> still waiting and hoping he doesn't get something stupid

like four years or something like that. >> they had no idea. what was it all about? there was a hearing to help the judge maek a decision about sentence. normally just arguments, recommendations of both times. the prosecution called 35 witnesses to tell the judge a hair raising story about potts. he wasn't quite the gold plated success story. >> he lived the life of a lot of smoke and mirrors. when the con man was challenged everybody, even law enforcement was a target. >> he would kill me, kill my family. my family would never be safe. >> he was struck three times by mr. potts. >> he spent much of his adult life in prison. >> i was struck in the right eye by detaining potts. >> and he took her in the back

by tell vat he elevator i heard. >> when a woman stood up to him, witness after witness testified he betrayed them, bullied them and much worse. >> he choked her out and threw her on the bed. >> he had a violence against women and had propriety to stroke and strangle. >> he lies as easily as he breathes about anything, no matter how stupid. if he tells you what time it is, look at your watch. >> that bad, huh? >> yes. >> that guy is a monster. >> a monster who however briefly fooled even the sophisticat sophisticated niela. >> you don't know who you're letting into your life. they don't always come looking like a monster. >> that's kind of ceremony about these things. everyone gets to talk.

>> niela's. >> nightmares taungt me with her screaming and begging for her life. >> reginald cried, denied everything. >> the juries came back with a verdict i believe is false. i believe it is invalid and i believe a court of appeals will overturn it. for now the court has to impose a sentence. i tell you. i am not the person miss mccartney tried to paint in this courtroom. i am not a monster. i am not a monster. >> we waited and here it was. >> you are a cold calculating, ka nooifing coward of a con man

who must be punished. >> and in deed he was, life without parole. >> take him away. >> so that was justice, the most her family could hope for, terribly important and strangely, empty. >> it's still not done. she is still not back. you still can't talk with her. >> they tried to remember niela, the vibrant center of her family but grief, real and painful comes to visit every day. >> you know, people say oh, well, she is your spirit and your angel and all this other stuff. i'm like yeah, i want her here. i don't want my 28-year-old sister to be my angel. i want her to be right here in the thick of it with me. >> that's all for this edition of dateline extra.

thanks for watching. hillary clinton was endorsed by a veteran official. it was the language that is most shocking. the former acting cia director praised clinton as highly qualified for the presidency. his other backing is the alarm of a donald trump presid