parents. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." i'm greg melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is date line. >> she's dead, she's dead! and i was so confused. i was like what's going on? what happened? >> a small texas town, two super close friends and a summer night in the park. >> they have this lookout and you could see the bridge lit up.

it's really pretty when the stars are out. >> it was the next morning they found them. >> i could see two girls laying there. it was horrifying. duck tape on their mouths, on their hands. >> a mystifying scene. >> the only thing we have are cigarette butts and decision. >> dna went one way. >> he was like you have to take a look at this. >> a bombshell message would point another. >> i read the letter and knew this was something very important. >> a twisted trail leading to a sinister suspect. >> it takes a special kind of mind that wants to do something like that. >> to crack a case this convoluted it might just take a miracle. >> it was extraordinary. >> i just couldn't believe it. >> welcome to date liline. two young women found and gagged.

both were sexually assaulted and shot in the head. one of them died but the other my ra was still alive. i wondered could a secret relationship have been the motive for murder. >> named for the body of christ, corpus christi sits on the texas gulf coast and just east of the bay. a park known for bird watching. that's what he was doing there when he came across something very unnatural. >> to me it just looked like a pile of debris to be honest and then he looked and he said oh my god, it's two bodies. >> a crime so shocking years later they're still talking about it. >> i can't even imagine what was in that person's mind that evoked his violence, his rage. >> two young women.

one of them dead and why. >> it was a true who done it type murder. >> and along with who and why, was the question of why here? >> this was definitely something that we weren't used to or accustomed to in our town. >> this part of texas isn't exactly ground zero for murder. it known more for roping, riding, and friday night lights. >> here life is pretty simple as are the values it's people hold dear, friendship, community. this is where 19-year-old molly o'neal grew up. >> tell me a little bit about what she was like. >> she was really funny. she had a weird sense of humor. always smiling, laughing. she was just a really good person. >> megan was her older sister.

just two years apart. they were, says, megan, fiercely competitive. >> she was really smart which i was always kind of jealous because math came so easy to her. all the subjects came easy to her. she didn't have to study or try, nothing. >> molly also played drums in the high school band but her friends brooke and stephanie say what molly really loved was cruising down the highway singing along to bands like the spice girls. that's molly behind the wheel. >> she loved her car, a lot. i remember one night she decided i'm going to name my car jabar and after that she called her car jabar my car. it was funny for no reason. >> smart funny and a car owner, all of which made for one very popular teen. >> she had a lot of friends. >> oh, yeah. >> yeah. she never let anybody leave from

hanging out with her without giving them a hug. >> and saying i love you. >> ever. >> which was certainly true when it came to the newest member of molly's unusually large passe of friends, 18-year-old christine. >> talked about her a lot. >> christine lived in a neighboring town where she was earning a reputation as a softball super star. >> christine was a softball icon for the town. >> britney was her close friend. >> she was like the comedy relief in our group of friends. >> christine's sense of humor was a perfect match for mollys. >> molly brought out christine's crazy side. it was never a dull moment with those two. >> but for this group of girls, crazy and dull were relevant terms. >> we were not the party kids. we never drank or anything.

we would go to taco bell and coffee shops and parks. >> did that place seem safe to you? >> yeah. it did. >> all the parks. >> we would go at night all the time. >> called britney asking if she wanted to join them. >> i had a volleyball game the next morning so i wasn't able to. >> it was a decision that still haunts her. >> i just know because they called me that night. i was like if i was there. >> the next morning, they were strolling through the park. >> we started looking around for birds and didn't see a thing. this place was as quite as we had ever seen it. >> and that's when just below one of the overlooks they made

their terrible discovery. in the tall beach grass, lay the bodies of two young women. >> it just looked like they had both been molested or mauled. >> we didn't know if they were alive or dead. we had no idea. >> they ran for help. >> 911, location of your emergency. >> we got two dead bodies out here. >> are they emamale or female. >> two females. >> he had never seen anything like it. >> it was horrifying. there was blood. the clothes were off the girls. there was duck tape on their mouths and their hands. they were clearly bound. >> duck tape also covered their eyes and each girl had been shot in the back of the head. >> i went and checked the pulse on the first girl. i could feel her body was cold and didn't feel a pulse. >> and then something no one expected. >> i went to reach for the second girl and that's when she

started to sit up and moan. >> it looked so hopeless and to think that one was alive was just a miracle. >> which girl was alive? could doctors keep her alive and what story could she tell? the questions were just beginning. >> one victim surviving. the first surprise in a case teaming with twists. investigators focused on one particular clue. >> coming up. >> sometimes it suggests somebody knows the victim. >> yes. >> when dateline continues. take the olay 28 day challenge. millions of real women see results starting day 1. "there is not a friend i have, that will not own this product"" visible results or your money back olay. ageless.

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josh mankiewicz (voiceover): as dawn gave way to morning on that june day in 2012, news of a double shooting in one of the parks began to slowly spread throughout the texas gulf coast. stephanie chassick and brooke ostrum learned about it on facebook. didn't say who it was, didn't say male or female stephanie and brooke learned about it on facebook. >> didn't say who it was. didn't say male or female or anything along those lines. >> you didn't think it would be anybody you knew. >> i didn't think it would be anybody i knew. >> she tried to call christine and molly. >> neither one of them was picking up. so i started to get worried. >> christine's parents were worried too. grace had been pacing the floor ever since she discovered christine hadn't come home the

night before. >> that's unusual. >> that was very unusual. >> by now, how many times have you called your daughter? >> about four our five times. i even told her i'm going to call the police if you don't call me right now. >> which is just what grace did. that's when she learned christine had been hurt but the officer wouldn't say much else. only that grace needed to get to memorial hospital. >> he didn't tell you what happened. >> no. >> it was only after arriving at the hospital that they learned christine had been shot. she still didn't know if christine was alive or dead. >> the nurse walks in and tells us one girl died and one girl is on the second floor and we need to identify her. >> they don't know who died and who lived? >> no. >> it was up to them to identify the survivor. >> you couldn't go? >> i couldn't go. i couldn't do it. >> so grace assigned her eldest

daughter that grim task. >> so the best you're going to hope for here is that it's your daughter but she's pretty seriously hurt. >> yeah. >> the wait was excruciating and then their daughter returned with the news they had been praying for. >> she comes back down and she says mom, it's chris. >> fall and friends took turns at christine's bedside wondering if she would ever regain consciousne consciousness. >> we told her we were there and we loved her. >> how did she look? >> it was bad. it was so bad that you couldn't even -- you didn't know it was her. >> the bullet had entered the right side of her head and shattered destroying some of her brain tissue. during a lengthy surgery doctors decided not to try to retrieve the bullet fragments but at least christine was still alive. by now the other victim had been

identified as molly and news of her death had reached her family. >> i was in shock. i remember crying really hard and i was throwing stuff in my room because it didn't seem real to me. >> how were your parents? >> really emotional. i had never seen my dad cry. they took it really hard. >> so did molly's friends stephanie and brooke. >> i just remember like she's dead, she's dead and everyone was like who is dead? and i said molly. >> over the next few days, neighbors here began asking the same question, who had pulled the trigger? and why? finding those answers fell to portland texas police detective roland chaves. >> molly can't give us information and christine can't give us any information. >> at that point it's not clear

if she's going to survive. >> tips were coming in. someone said they saw a white car speeding from the park the night of the shootings. that lead nowhere so they focused on the crime scene. they did find two spen spent ..45-caliber casings and near an observation deck just 30 feet away from where molly and christine were discovered police found an empty monster energy drink can and five cigarette butts. >> the girls didn't smoke? >> the girls didn't smoke. >> as for the duct tape used to cover the girls eyes, chavez thought that itself was a clue. >> sometimes that can suggest somebody that knows the victim. >> as far as you know did either of them have any enemies? >> no. that's what was so confusing. >> everyone loved them. >> that's probably why they were also discreet when it came to

christine and molly. now as a murder investigation began friends revealed something that not many knew. >> they began to tell us they were in a relationship. >> these weren't just two friends. they were dating. >> yes. >> that had many here wondering if a romance that was hidden from many might have in some way been a motive for the attack. >> conceivable that this was a hate crime? >> i would be lying if i said that thought didn't cross through my mind. >> three days later came news from the hospital. christine had regained consciousness. >> we're hoping now we'll be able to get it. >> the story christine eventually shared with police provided intriguing clues about the identity of her attacker and it's a story christine will also share with you. >> coming up, christine's harrowing account. >> the first thing we asked her is did you know the person that

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josh mankiewicz (voiceover): larry and grace chapa kept a sleepless vigil over their daughter kristine as she lay in the icu, hovering somewhere between life and death. the 18-year-old had been shot in the head and left outside for more than eight hours. somehow, she'd survived. she had been shot in the head and left outside for more

than 8 hours. somehow she survived. then just days after her brain surgery christine again defied the odds and began to stir. >> it's an incredible little girl here. i'm telling you. she is something else. >> we asked her questions she would squeeze our hand. >> for police, the pressure to find the shooter was intense. detective roland chavez hoped christine, now conscious would be playing a big part in that but christine still could not speak. >> it was a squeeze of the hand and then blinking of the eyes. >> so he kept his questions simple. >> the first thing we asked you is did you know the person that did this and she said no. >> how tall was he? >> she described him as about 5'8", 5'9". >> within the first two weeks of recovery christine helped police draw this sketch of the man that shot her. she said he smelled of cigarette

which is made chavez think of the cigarette butts found at the crime scene. he asked that the dna tests on those be put on the fast track. >> one of the things was that the assailant was wearing gloves, underarmor fwlgloves specifically. >> she saw the logo. >> she is a softball player and if she's saying under armour gloves then that's probably exactly what we're looking for. >> and during that session he wasn't the only one asking questions. christine struggled to ask a few of her own. tough ones. >> was christine asking you about molly? >> she did. we did not initially give her any of that information. >> both chavez and christine's parents were afraid the truth about molly would upset christine and maybe jeopardize her recovery. >> i would just tell her, molly got sent to another hospital.

>> of course christine persisted and eventually everyone decided she deserved to know molly's fate. family and doctors assembled in christine's room when detective chavez revealed the truth. >> she was distraught and crying and you told her we need you to stay strong so you can help us and we're going to catch him. so she did. >> as the days past christine's communications skills steadily improved enabling her to share with police more details of that horrible night. >> it was supposed to be peaceful and safe. >> we wanted to hear her story too. >> you look great. it's great to see you. >> thank you. >> christine began by describing her relationship with molly. >> i met molly at the mall. >> was there some chemistry right from the beginning? >> there was. we were both very sarcastic and just amused each other and made each other laugh a lot. >> six months later the two had

become a serious couple. then came that june night in the park. >> why did you good to the park that night? >> we had missed our movie so we were driving around trying to figure out what to do. >> when they got there christine said she and molly walked to one of the overlooks. >> we weren't even there for five minutes and we ended up seeing this guy walk by. i got this weird feeling. we wanted to hurry up and get out of there and the next thing you know he's right there on molly's side with a gun. >> she said the man then forced the two girls down a steep embankment and into the tall beach grass below and she recalled the odd way he referred to them both. >> he called molly girl number one and i was girl number 2. >> he referred to you that way, by numbers all the way through it. >> he did. >> what did you say to him? >> i asked him if he was going to take us anywhere. he just told me no this will be

quick and easy. i can feel my heart beating so fast and i'm like man, i want my mom. that's when i was just like praying please god don't let me die. please. >> molly say anything? >> we both asked each other if we were okay? and that was the last thing we both asked each other. >> that's when christine says she was raped. but the ordeal one over. >> he had the gun pointed at us still and he made me put duct tape over molly's mouth and her eyes and i had to do the same to myself. i was already at that stage i'm going to die. this is it and i hear the gun go off and then i went black. everything went black. >> christine's remarkable physical recovery turned out to be the easier par. >> i come out here for anniversary of the shooting, for

molly's birthday, and like for the day we met. >> this is not a painful place to return to. >> it's not painful. i guess i just feel closer to her because it's the last place i saw her. >> it helped distract christine from her sadness. so did working with police to find the killer. >> christine was our inspiration. seeing how hard she was working made us continue to work that much harder for her. >> it wasn't for lack of hard work but police had to face the truth, the investigation had stalled. >> at this point, sounds like you're nowhere. >> yeah. then the dna test of the cigarette butts and the drink can came back from the lab. >> that changes everything. >> yes. the letter is written from the perspective of a hitman who >> coming up, a mysterious message rocks the case. >> the letter is written from the perspective of a hit man that's been hired to kill the surviving victim in this case.

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the trump administration is getting heat for its response to the disaster. an juan's mayor is frustrated with getting relief. meanwhile, health and human services secretary tom price re-signed over his use of private jets for travel. more news in one hour. >> welcome back. i'm craig melvin. christine told a harrowing tail of being raped at gun point by a man she never met. she remembered her assailant was wearing underarmour gloves.

was this a detail that could help investigators unlock the mystery? >> day by day, inch by inch, christine walked a steady if uneven road to recovery. >> i couldn't move my left side. i couldn't move my hand, my arm, my leg. hi to relearn to swallow. >> you don't give up do you? >> i don't. i try to stay motivated. >> so did detective chavez. he too was making progress. the cigarette butts and drink can collected from the crime scene had just given him his first major break in the case. >> what did the dna show? >> dylan spellman. he lived just three blocks from the crime scene and chaves also noticed a striking resemblance

to the sketch christine helped draw of the gunman. >> we started trying to get background on him. >> quick computer searches revealed he had a criminal past. >> he had just been convicted of a violent crime. armed robbery in nevada. >> yeah. >> that nevada armed robbery occurred in 2010. a year and a half before the shootings. spellman and some accomplices broke into a home and held a family hostage before robbing them and taking off. >> anybody get killed? >> no. >> and at the time of the shootings in 2012, dylan spellman was in the coarea awaiting stensing fawai awaiting sentencing for the robbery. >> what intrigued chaves were unusual similarities between the nevada crime and the shootings in texas. >> we start going through the case file we started seeing more

and more things lining up with what we're looking for. >> for example. >> the use of numbers. >> remember christine had said the shooter referred to her and molly as girl one and girl two. >> he used numbers in that other crime. >> yes. they referred to each other by number in that particular crime. >> similarities between the two crimes didn't end there. >> in the nevada home invasion, was the victims bound. >> they were. >> he definitely jumped to the top. >> by that time dylan spellman had already returned to nevada to begin serving his three year sentence to chavez hopped a plane to las vegas hoping to see what he might reveal about his brief stay in texas. >> he admitted he was in the park the night of the shootings but denied being near the area where the girls were found. he said he was never on the

deck. we have dna that proves otherwise. >> why lie about that unless you're involved in the crime? >> sure. that definitely raises suspicion. >> he then told spell man police found his dna 30 feet from where the girls were shot. that's when he said spellman's demeanor changed. >> he asked me what are the consequences. >> i said in texas this is a death penalty case. >> and then dylan spellman asked about a deal. >> normally any person that's innocent isn't going to ask for a deal. you're going to profess your innocence and he wasn't. now i'm thinking this is my guy. >> so chavez asked him to take a polygraphy and he agreed. >> how does he do? >> he fails. >> time for handcuffs you're thinking? >> not quite yet, chavez could put spellman at the crime scene but still had no way of tying

him directly to the shootings. >> we had no gun. no usable prints. the only thing we have are cigarette butts, monster can and suspicion. >> it didn't help that his one eyewitness to the shootings could not identify spellman from a photo line-up. >> it was very hard because the suspects all looked the same. >> and then there was the matter of mr. spellman's height. >> he's big. >> he's what, 6'8". >> 6'8". >> remember christine said the shooter was quite a bit shorter than that, 5'8", maybe 5'9". >> for me it was always the difficulty of getting over the size. >> anything off the duct tape, anything that would be able to attach spellman to them. >> does any of that lead anywhere? >> no, unfortunately it didn't. >> two years pass.

the case grew so cold that chavez chief decided to give it to a new detective hoping he might have better luck finding the missing pieces. he had been working the case and now he took the lead. >> what we first wanted was expand the crime scene scope. there was something we didn't have which was a murder weapon. >> he hoped the murder weapon might link spellman to the shootings. >> what did that turn up? >> we didn't find anything. nothing of value. >> so you're back to nowhere. >> i tried. >> and then. >> we received a phone call from the investigators. >> those investigators in the neighboring town had just been given a letter addressed to christine's father. >> what does the letter say? >> the letter is written from the perspective of a hitman that's been hired to kill the surviving victim in this case.

>> in the letter he even named the person that hired him. if you're wondering, the lesson does not mention dylan spellman. it was a twist as big as texas. >> coming up, the mysterious letter. could this be the smoke gun police had been looking for. >> immediately i knew this was something very big and very important. >> when dateline continues. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. was you had to pay to be on there, and i felt like the people who were on there really value a relationship. - for my family, we are three for three in our siblings for getting married. i thank eharmony for that. - [narrator] stop waiting, start communicating for free today.

josh mankiewicz (voiceover): while detective aaron veuleman continued trying to strengthen his case against dylan spellman, investigators in neighboring sinton, texas received a mysterious letter addressed he continued trying to strengthen his case against dylan spellman, investigators received a mysterious letter addressed to christine's dad. >> immediately we knew this was something very very big. >> the letter writer described himself as a hitman hired by the person that shot molly and christine. he wrote the gunman had sought his services to finish the job and make the only witness to molly's murder disappear. >> what he's saying is i was hired to kill christine but i'm not going to do it. instead i'm warning you. >> he's saying i'm going to tell you who the murderer is and then you can go do something about it. >> the letter contained details the police had never mentioned in public.

>> that he forced the girls to duct tape themselves. the fact that he called them by numbers, girl would be none, girl number two. >> then the biggest revelation of all. >> who does he say the murderer is. >> he identifies him. he gives an address in utah. >> just outside salt lake city. he worked in the area as an army reservist. >> had the name crossed your desk in anyway during this investigation? >> in the two years prior we had never heard that name tnchts hitman even included a photograph of the man he said hired him. >> this guy is being landed to you on a plate. >> yeah. >> could bit real? should police take this at face value. >> is it possible this letter is some sort of thinly vailed threat to christine, you have survived but we know where you live. >> yes. the letter definitely contained

a threat to her safety and so we moved very quickly to make sure that she was safe, that she was protected. >> like you need to leave town. no one could know where i was at. only my family knew where i was at. >> with christine in a safe place he went straight to utah and with the help of the local pd he was soon sitting across from his new person of interest. >> he said he was on a training conversation in california at the time of the murder. >> not only was he not in texas. he was on the other side of country. >> he was. >> was there anything to suggest he had a vendetta against the family. >> we were not able to find any connection between the families. >> he then showed him the letter and he was stunned. >> but he was even more surprised when he saw his picture on the last page of the

letter. >> that's because he immediately recognized the photo. he knew when and where it was taken. plus he said the original photograph was of two people. the missing man he said was hi former roommate, david strickland. if the nap shot was a surprise to him, the name david strickland was an even bigger one. turns out he crossed paths with him before. >> i interviewed david strickland in 2012 just days after the murder. >> remember that tip about a white car seen speeding from the park the night of the murder? the tipster was david strickland. >> he came in as a good samaratan wanting to provide information. >> now he is in connection with

a guy mysteriously fingered for the murder. >> just like that he was no longer the focus of this. it's now david. >> that's right. he went on to explain that they were no longer on good terms. he believed he had stolen several of his guns. so he had him arrested. >> he the gun robbery put a damper on their relationship. he pleaded not guilty but was released soon after but the charges were still pending and he wondered could he have written that letter as some kind of elaborate pay back. >> i know there was bad blood between them but to accuse someone of murder. >> if you think that letter was written by david tristrickland includes things only the killer would know. >> the logical inference was

that he had something to do with the murder. >> strickland left utah and returned to texas so the detective did the same hoping this man would turn out to be the investigations third and final person of interest. >> coming up, a suspect, not acting at all like you might expect. >> he was enjoying this interview. >> maybe police have the wrong guy again. >> that's the guy that did him. >> when date line continues. i love you, couch.

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welcome back. a mysterious letter had identified cristobal melchor welcome back. a mysterious letter had identified chris as the man who shot christine and her girlfriend, molly. after police spoke with him, they turned attention to former roommate. david strickland. police wanted to hear what he had to say that they were not the only ones. first game dylan. cleared by police and by his height. then chris melcher. cleared biographyby. his dad is a successful man.

three years in the military and then remarried. saw photographs of his possessions. which had been seized at the time of arrest on the gun theft charge. >> i'll never forget the first photograph that popped up. it was a glok 45 caliber pistol and under armour glove and you could see clearly the white under armour logo. >> i know that because i played softball and that stuck out to me right away. >> immediately sent strickland's gun to be tested. to see if it had been fired at

the crime scene. >> what that report said the two shell casings found at the scene and two shell casings from the test fire were linked to the same weapon. >> for detective, that report was the missing piece of the puzzle, which he he believed now directly linked david strickland to the shootings. >> the day i looked at that ballistics report is the day we arrested david strickland. >> the charges, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, and capital murder. sam smith watched the interview through a one way mirror. >> you're saying that you did this. >> sure. >> and then in the next sentence with a smile on his face say, but that's what you wanted me to

say, isn't it. >> whatever you want to hear, boss. >> very much a game. he was enjoying this interview. >> four years after mchristine was raped and shot. four years after molly was murdered right next to her. david strickland faced a jury of 12. >> were you confident, were you worried. >> of course i was worried. i felt horrible. i didn't know how it was going to end upcoming out. >> when you saw mr. strickland for the first time, what did you think? >> i didn't know what to think. i was just thinking he did this. >> he wasn't the monster you imagined. >> no, he wasn't. sometimes those are the scariest people. >> prosecutor smith laid out evidence from gunshot to snapshot to mug shot. the gun, the shell casings, and the gloves, as for the letter, smith told the jury, police had

found remnants of it on david strickland's compute. >> you can delete the letter off your compete, but if you use the spell check grammar check function, that information is still stored in the computer. >> that's what you found. >> that's what we found. >> why do you think mr. strickland wrote that letter. he had to know suspicion would eventually boom raerang on him. >> that's what most people would think. >> a foolish thing to do. >> before prosecutors rested, he called christine to the stand, putting her face-to-face with david strickland. >> i wanted him to see me and see what he had done. he would not look at me. >> defense attorneys john gill mother and gimjimmy grand berry don't dispute she was a sympathetic witness. in court they argued she was

unreliable sgll s unreliable. >> she didn't know who shot her. she wasn't able to pick out of a photo lineup. >> what's more, christine initially told police the shooters gun was silver. >> david's gun was a glock, which is black. >> defense also went after the investigators, arguing they had fumbled the lengthy case. >> we have evidence it was mishandled by the chief of police. >> that lead detective admits mistakes were made. he's now retired. the second lead detective was let go for sharing sensitive details of the case with someone outside the department. stickland's attorneys concede their client may have written that letter, but it would have

only been out of revenge for having his arrested as for those confidential details in the letter. >> this is small town texas, any number of places this kind of information could have come from. >> what about the lab report showing strickland's gun matching the shell casings found at the scene. >> we had our expert said it's inconclusive. there's no way you can say for sure. >> police they said should never have taken their sights off the real shooter. >> they had the right guy. >> dylan spellman, you think that's the killer. >> he's a better match than my boy. >> just failed a polygraph exam and started trying to plea bargain. >> this is a guy who kicked in a door with a mask went in and held a family hostage. tri terrorized a family. takes a special kind of mind to do something like that. >> strickland's attorney points out he had no history of

violence. >> it was sam smith who had the last word. dylan spellman might have been under suspicion, but ultimately had nothing to do with this crime. david strickland was the man holding the gun. >> shooting both of these girls for no identifiable reason at all. he certainly decided that. >> prosecutor smith neverle offered the jury a plausible motive. christine says she's sure it was about her sexual orientation. >> what's the reason you're thinking it was a hate crime. >> the letters he tried to send so my dad said something in the letter like those [ bleep ]less bee yans. >> this his interrogation, he made a point of saying he had no issues with the gay community, whether or not that was the truth, prosecutors decided not to charge him with a hate crime.

strickland was sentenced to life in prison. for molly's family and friends, that guilty verdict, as it often does, provided hallow satisfaction. >> they're waiting for justice and then now it's here, but we don't get her back. >> we have had so many huge major life moments and she hasn't been there. >> what would have been our anniversary and her birthday, the anniversary of us being shot, those days are the hardest. >> christine still wonders how she escaped death and sometimes why. >> i do have survivors guilt. i mean, hopefully it will go away in time.

>> christine would tell me why was it me, why didn't she survive. there's a reason she's still living and to be happy and live on for molly because molly didn't get that chance. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie more or leales. this is date line. we were like sisters. we had shared so much. >> they told me they found her body. i just collapsed. >> she's dead because she's my friend. first, melissa disappeared. >> where's melissa. you knew right then, she never made it into her house. >>