by acting out what to do. it just might save a life. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> our hearts break for this mother. people don't randomly disappear. >> she was a design original, kristina, the fashionista. >> the most fantastic wardrobe. >> it was news nationwide when she vanished. >> she went out for drinks with friends and never came home. >> i said, something's wrong. >> we realized this was real. >> who was last to see her? and where was her ex model

boyfriend? >> he doesn't call when she's missing and he won't say where he was. >> someone had something to hide. >> he thought he was getting ail way with it. >> she was fighting for her life. >> all i can do is pray with all that i have. tell me what happened that night. ♪ >> welcome to "dateline." 23-year-old kristina morris vanished without a trace. with no clues and only blurry individual yog to go on, could the clue investigators needed have been scribbled on a trash post-it note. >> kristina was afraid of the dark. >> through grade school she woke up in the middle of the night. we knew about it because she was in our bed. >> you could hear the feet

coming down the hallway. >> she was scared of the boogie man. you know, the boogie man was going to get her one day. >> it was something she never really got over. >> 23 years old, was sleeping with a night light. >> always a bathroom light on. >> yeah. >> and it wasn't just the dark that scared kristina. it was what might happen in the dark. >> kristina had a fear her whole life she would be taken. >> taken, abducted? >> yes. >> where did this come from? >> i don't know, but her absolute worst fierce is exactly what happened to her. how many people actually live their worst nightmare? ♪ >> from early childhood kristina morris's fierce didn't slow her down. >> she's not one to sit in front of the tv and watch tv. she always has to be taking pictures or working on the computer. she always had to be going. >> kristina's parents divorced when she was a baby.

she grew up in suburban dallas with her dad mark, her stepmom anna and a brother and sister, but she remained close to her mom, johnnie mcelroy. >> she was the love of my life, the apple of my eye, my heartbeat. she's my everything. >> it was almost like kristina had two moms, and later when johnnie married ronnie two dads and lots of friends. sydney robertson has known kristina since they were three years old. >> her personality was definitely ten times bigger than she was. she so small but she gives the biggest hugs and will not let you go. >> kellie lang met kristina just after high school. >> she was animated, smart, beautiful fashionista. she was quirky and it drew people in, no matter who you were. >> and all of her life kristina

was drawn to two boys. >> she knew these two guys, logan and hunter, since third grade. >> hunter foster, logan prendegast and kristina. >> the three musketeers and they knew everything about her. >> logan and kristina went from buddies to high school sweet hearts. >> moving day. >> the relationship continued through college. kristina earned a degree in marketing and later moved in with logan. when they broke up in 2013, kristina rebounded into the waiting arms of hunter foster, the third musketeer. >> almost as if there were no other guys in the world? >> right. >> hunter's always been in love with kristina, always. >> it was easy and comfortable for her to be with hunter since she knew him and his family growing up. >> hunter was a skateboarder and had pursued a modelling career in new york.

successful as first, it had worked out and he was back in town without a job but with plenty of free time. >> he was a great skater and a dirt bike rider and good-looking in her eyes, and he lived life on the edge and took chances. that was her excitement too. >> by the summer of 2014, 23-year-old kristina was living with hunter about an hour away from family and friends. she was working in marketing at a dating service and had just earned a promotion. kristina was moving up. >> she was very driven. she liked designing things. she loved photography. she was making a business for her boyfriend at the time. >> hunter had an idea to start his own clothing line. >> he had a dream of, you know, starting a business with skater gear and stuff like that. >> he may have had the dream, but hunter didn't have the ambition or the money, relying

on kristina to help him with his business and with the bills. >> she worked a full-time job and was manager. her boyfriend didn't do anything. she supported him. >> so she had a mom and a dad who worked, right? >> right. >> where did she get this idea that it is like okay to be with a guy who doesn't do anything? >> because that's our world, not her world. >> okay. >> i know. i'm the same way, trust me. >> makes sense. >> bugged the heck out of me. >> on the friday of labor day weekend hunter decided to drive to dallas and hang out with his friends and not with kristina. she went back to her old neighborhood to see some high school pals, steven nickerson, another of her childhood buddies was surprised to see her. >> it was good because i hadn't seen her in probably six to eight months and we caught up. >> the group met up at an apartment. >> and then around 11:00 or 11:30 we went down to the bars.

>> the bars were in an up scale shopping mall in the town of plano. it was hopping. the group headed to a ball called henry's tavern, then closed down another called scuffy duffy's. about 2:00 a.m. kristina, steven and a few others went back to the apartment where they had started. >> how drunk was everybody? >> i mean we were all pretty drunk. myself, i probably had 10 to 12 shots and a couple of beers when i was out. >> too drunk to drive, steven wanted to crash on the couch and sober up, but kristina hadn't had much to drink at all and she just wanted to get home. it was now about 3:30 saturday morning. >> she wanted me to take her home. >> she wants you to take her home? >> yeah. >> and you say, i can't, i've had too much to drink, why don't you stick around? >> yeah. >> and she says, i want to go, i'm going to go. >> yeah, she's stubborn, i'm not going to force her to stay there. >> steven says kristina decided to drive herself home. >> i told her if she felt like when she got to her car she

couldn't drive to call me and i would walk back and get her and we would sleep it off for a few hours and then i would take her to her place in ft. worth. >> she left the party and just like that kristina morris vanished. >> after she vanished without a trace, it was a race against the clock to find kristina morris. >> coming up -- >> i immediately got a feeling in my stomach i have never had before. i said something's wrong. >> the first clue to the mystery. >> they found kristina's car. she never got in it. >> when "dateline" continues. you not only want a clean feeling every day, you want your denture to be stain free. did you know there's a specialty cleanser that's gentle enough for everyday use and cleans better than regular toothpaste? try polident cleanser. it has a four in one cleaning system that kills ten times more odor causing bacteria than regular toothpaste, deep cleans where brushing may miss, helps remove tough stains, and maintains the original color of your dentures when used daily. for a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture, use polident every day.

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♪ >> it was about 3:30 in the morning on the saturday of labor day weekend 2014. the party was over. kristina morris, who didn't like the dark, was walking to her car. another guy at the party had offered to walk with her. her buddy steven nickerson called her to be sure she was okay. >> i said, hey, have you made it to your car yet? she said, no, almost there. >> a few minutes later steven texted christina, but the messages were coming up green on his screen. >> reporter: which means her phone is not on? >> or out of service, yes. >> steven slept it off and drove home late saturday morning will. >> i shot her a text and said, let me know when you get home, whenever your phone charges or whatever it is. >> three days later onuesday afternoon,christina's mom johnnie, now living up in tulsa,

oklahoma, got a text from one of christina's friends. >> asking me have i heard from christina and i said no, why. and she sent me back a message, she goes, her boss called me and said she never showed up for wo work. >> she hadn't shown for her shifts on saturday or tuesday. >> i got feeling in my stomach, i knew something was wrong. i sent christina a message on her phone and i sent hunter a message. >> hunter, christina's live-in boyfriend. >> and he never called me back. >> johnnie called christina's dad. >> i asked her father if he had heard from her and anna had not heard from her, i said something is wrong. >> mark and his wife anna and sister sarah started calling friends including hunter. >> reporter: your older daughter

gets hold of hunter and says, have you seen christina and he said, no, i haven't since friday. >> right, he figured she was with us or with her mom. >> reporter: hunter who is living with her doesn't say anything, doesn't call you, doesn't sound the alarm, doesn't call anybody? >> don't get me started. >> mark and anna continued to work the phones, eventually reaching christina's pal, steven nickerson. >> her dad asked me if i had seen christina or heard from christina, and i said no, and the last time i talked to her, you know, was saturday morning. he asked me like who did she leave with. i told him it was enrique. >> i'm like, who sen re-kay. >> because we didn't hknow enrique. >> enrique offered the party at the same time and offered to walk with him. >> reporter: how well did you know enrique? >> i graduated high school with him but i was acquaintances with him. i didn't talk with him. >> that was pretty much christina's relationship with him too, right?

>> yeah. >> anna chased down the number. >> he told me we left together but we went separate ways. im said you're telling me you did not see her get into her car? and he said no. i said, no one has heard from her, i cannot find her, we're about to call the police. >> mark couldn't dial fast enough. >> communications. how may i help you? >> i'm trying to report a missing person, my daughter. she hasn't shown up for work. i'm just finding out about this but it is freaking out. >> does she own a vehicle? >> yes, a 2001 toyota selling awe. >> about 30 minutes later mark got a call back. >> an officer called me and said they found christina's car, it was still parked in the parking garage, it never left. >> just after midnight mark and anna raced to the garage with a spare set of keys.

>> i opened the door. i looked inside, you know. the car was locked. >> just a mess. >> just a mess like she keeps it. >> reporter: it was always a mess? >> it was always a mess. >> but no bag, no wallet, no cellphone. >> the car was locked and she never got in it. >> now police had to play catch-up. >> the plano police department had a disadvantage with a four-day delay start. >> zeke fortenberry was a prosecutor in the district attorney's office. >> the plano police department knew it was four days she had been missing already, so that raises a red flag something serious might be going on. >> there's no sign of a missing ft. worth woman who vanished from a plano parking garage. >> by this time a lot of people in north texas were hearing about christina morris. lauren caceres covered the story. >> people don't randomly disappear from shopping centers in plano, that just doesn't happen. the fact that maybe, just maybe

this could be a random act. if it is a random act -- >> reporter: then it is really scary. >> it is really scary. am i the next victim? and the unanswered question, where is she. >> coming up, questions for the friend who left the party with christina. >> do you mind if i look in your car. >> no, it is no problem. >> police were adamant this guy is not a suspect. >> if he wasn't a suspect, who was when "dateline" continues. you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia,

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♪ >> reporter: the stars at night were big and bright, but by dawn, deep in the heart of texas, there was no trace of christina morris. >> i didn't sleep for 24 hours. i stayed up all night >> reporter: by wednesday morning, four days after christina vanished from the fancy shopping center, her mom jonni was growing frantic. >> i called every police department. i called every hospital because you never know. >> reporter: the calls led nowhere, and jonni felt helpless in oklahoma, so she and her husband packed their bags and drove the four hours down to plano. straight to the parking garage where christina's car had been found. >> you came straight here. >> yes. >> even though this was the one place in dallas where you can pretty much guarantee police had searched pretty thoroughly. >> yes. >> but you're searching. you're walking all over the place. >> yes.

as a mom, i just couldn't believe that there's no way that -- there's no evidence that she didn't come out of this parking garage, that she had to still be here. >> reporter: jonni didn't find anything but she hoped maybe someone in the neighboring apartments heard or saw something. >> how many doors you knock on total do you think? >> oh gosh. 50, 100. >> reporter: christina's friends were searching the shopping center too. we walked the path that she possibly could've walked that night. >> reporter: and plano police were also hitting the streets. >> they began to contact all of the -- the friends who were at the party that night, who had been at the bars and drinking with christina. >> reporter: including enrique arochi -- the guy who left the party with christina. the detective reached him at this sprint store, where he worked as a manger. >> hello? >> hi, enrique, this is detective cathy stamm of plano police department. >> repte enrique was more than willing to help. >> you said that you were

leaving at the same time -- same time as christina, and you guys walked over to where your vehicles were parked, is that right? >> yeah. yeah, we walked separate ways. we walked until the end of the apartment complex, and after that we just split up because i went to a different parking lot than she was. >> reporter: that afternoon enrique arochi drove down to plano pd for an interview. >> if you don't mind, i'm just going to -- >> reporter: he never asked for an attorney and answered all their questions. >> and if you don't mind if i look in your car, that's great. and then i can say i did. >> yup. >> and i hope you understand. and thank you for being cooperative. >> no, it's no problem. whatever i can do to help. >> reporter: police took photos of enrique's black camaro and sent him on his way. lorraine caceres says reporters got wind of enrique's visit to plano pd. >> the police were very adamant about the fact that this guy was not a suspect, that he was not involved. he was very cooperative, very helpful with the investigation. >> reporter: police also wanted to learn more about christina's

boyfriend, hunter foster. her parents told police that relationship was rocky. >> she was planning on leaving him. i do know that for sure. >> she was home alone a lot by herself because he'd go out partying with his friends. and she was lonely. she was sad. >> reporter: and when police talked with christina's friend steven, he told them she'd been texting hunter that night asking him to pick her up from the shopping center. >> she had texted him a few times and then he stopped texting her back, and then she tried calling him and he didn't answer. >> reporter: as a result, steven said, christina became more and more upset as the night wore on. >> i mean, yeah, they were in a fight. >> they were definitely fighting that last night? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: police asked hunter to come down to the station. former prosecutor zeke fortenberry. >> what's he say about that fight that he and christina were having? >> hunter says he wasn't really aware of the fight. he said that he was out drinking, partying. he wasn't paying attention to

his phone. >> and yet it's the opinion of all her friends who heard her side of that conversation that they were? >> oh, yeah. the friends said she was upset to the point of even crying sometimes. she was so upset with hunter that she was tearful and upset. >> reporter: hunter told police he was out with friends in downtown dallas the night christina disappeared and 20 miles away from that mall in plano. but when cops pressed him for details, he was vague. and there was one more thing. hunter would not give up his cell phone. >> that's like wearing a sandwich board saying, "be suspicious of me." >> so it's friday night, but they're not going out together. and he doesn't call when she's missing. and he won't let you download his phone. is that about right? >> that's all true. >> reporter: christina's mom also found hunter's behavior very odd. and she confronted him about it. >> i need to know why you didn't call, why you didn't check on her? yeah. i flipped out. >> i got little anxiety right now. >> reporter: jonni kept pressing

hunter for details about that night. >> you kept in touch with him. you stayed in contact. >>yes. if he was responsible, i'm going to keep that enemy closer, so i wasn't going to let him out of my sight. >> reporter: jonni wasn't giving up. neither was christina's stepmom anna. >> somebody's seen her. something is somewhere. we just need that little bit of information so we can bring her home. >> reporter: there were no witnesses and few leads but attention grew. plano police were leading larger and larger search parties, scouring the countryside. >> there was a lot of people from the community that didn't know the family, that had no connection to christina, and they were coming to support. and dozens and dozens of people in these searches just trying to find this girl. >> reporter: days went by with no sign of christina or her belongings. more resources arrived like a mounted search team and drones.

christina's family and friends were a constant presence. >> we were told to look for her items, for a phone, for a ring, for a hat, for a bando, for anything at all because anything could be something. >> reporter: however, one person very close to christina never showed, hunter foster. >> the only person missing in this entire process was her boyfriend, her live-in boyfriend that she shared a roof with. >> not searching? >> no. >> not out there? >> no. so that was our next question. who is this guy? coming up -- >> wasn't mentally stable at all. hunter foster goes public. >> so nervous. >> if i would have been there, none of this would have happened. >> he gets up, takes off his mike, i can't do this anymore. >> when "dateline" continues.

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. top stories. trump will not allow the release of a house intelligence committee memo drafted by democrats as a response to the nunes memo, tweeting sources and methods would have to be heavily redact. told them to redo and send back in proper form. at the start of the winter olympics in korea, tensions between the north and south apparently beginning to thaw. kim jong un's sister inviting moon jae-in to visit the north korean capital of pyongyang. now back to "dateline." ♪ >> reporter: reporters can smell a story, and soon they were all over this one. christina morris' face was everywhere, including on dateline's own missing in america series. tips were pouring in. >> everybody thinks they saw something. i seen this girl at walmart. you start getting these calls all the time. then you have psychics that call you.

>> reporter: and some of these people are people who genuinely want to help. >> there are. >> right. >> reporter: and some of them are just crazy. >> right. >> reporter: but no matter how crazy plano police checked out every tip every sighting. and they didn't find anything? >> no. >> reporter: reporters wanted to hear from christina's boyfriend hunter, who hadn't shown up for any of the searches. >> why can't we ask him just a routine sound byte? how do you feel? what is your hope? and to much insistence, he decides to come down and be interviewed. >> reporter: but when he sat down with nbc 5 dallas, he was a wreck. >> pretty clear that i'm not emotionally or mentally stable at all. barely enough to do this right now. i just want her to come home and be alive and safe. >> his body is trembling in a way i've never seen anybody shake before. his voice breaking up. so nervous.

>> if i would have been there, none of this would have happened. and this -- this is -- this is why i didn't want -- this is -- i can't do this. i just -- i'm done. i don't -- >> and maybe two questions into the interview, he gets up and takes off his mike. i can't do this anymore. >> reporter: was he traumatized because his girlfriend was missing? or could it be something else? so hunter walks out of there basically having done himself probably no good. >> no favor at all. >> reporter: at the same time, investigators were pulling security footage to document christina's movements that night. >> plano police department were able to piece together videos and kind of create a timeline. >> reporter: cameras captured the group of friends heading to henry's tavern. that's christina walking in front of the group. then early saturday morning an atm camera caught christina and enrique heading toward their cars. remember they'd left the party together.

the videos are blurry, but then police found this one. a clear shot of christina and enrique. >> neither of them appear to be intoxicated. they're walking normally. and it appears to be friendly. >> reporter: but that video was a big red flag for police. it shows christina and enrique walking into the same parking garage where her car was found. that contradicted what enrique had told police previously that they had parted ways long before that. he had also said he'd parked in a different garage. so they invited him back down to the plano pd and showed him a frame of that video. >> possibly, i could have gone that way and then to the other parking garage. >> so you're thinking it -- it might be a possibility that y'all could have walked through this garage? >> possibly. but, i mean, i'm -- i was -- i wasn't sober at the time. >> okay. >> he says he must have walked through that parking garage, and he just was mistaken. but he continues to insist he didn't park in the same parking

garage as christina. >> reporter: plausible. except police had another video. just three minutes after christina and enrique are seen entering that garage, this black car leaves. >> is that your car? >> yeah. >> something's wrong, enrique. >> what do you mean? >> this picture is in that garage. that picture was taken of you walking in that garage with christina. and that's your car coming out of that same garage. >> i'm -- i guess i parked there. i went to my car and she went her way. i mean, that's all i can tell you. i don't really pay attention to where people go usually. >> did you stand there and watch where she went? >> yeah, i should have done that. >> reporter: poor manners maybe, but not criminal. detectives kept pressing. >> was she in your car at all that night? did you --

>> uh-huh. >> give her a ride like when you guys moved the car to park? has she ever been in your car? >> uh-huh. >> not at all? >> never. >> reporter: later police enhanced the video of enrique's car. can you tell if anybody's in it? >> no. the windows are tinted. there's reflection on them. you can't tell who's driving the car. and you can't tell if anyone's in the passenger seat. >> reporter: police searched his car again. they used a special forensic light on the inside of the camaro, looking for bodily fluids. but they found nothing and no blood, no hair, fibers or fingerprints. >> it was very clean. the detectives note they could see vacuum marks in the floorboard. >> reporter: sometimes a spotless car can seem suspicious. but if the driver is enrique, maybe not. mr. arochi's one of these guys who spends a lot of time with his car. >> he was a car guy. everyone said that he loved his car. he washed his car, cleaned his car. his car was his prized possession.

>> reporter: investigators turned their sights back to christina's boyfriend, hunter. a week after she disappeared, hunter finally brought his phone into plano pd. but when forensic experts went through it, the questions for hunter did not fade away. >> some things had been erased. text messages, conversations, things like that have been erased. >> reporter: could you tell what he'd erased? >> we know he erased part of the conversation with him and christina, that that conversation was gone. >> reporter: police knew little for sure, but they strongly believed one or maybe both of these men was lying. the question was about what? coming up, a new piece of and a new crime miles away that just might help police crack this case. >> we didn't know there was something there that might be connected to christina. >> when "dateline" continues. let's talk about haribo goldbears.

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♪ >> reporter: 23-year-old christina morris had somehow stepped out of this life and maybe into history. two weeks in, her family wasn't giving up, hoping to find her alive. her mother was forbidding herself to think the worst. >> i don't want -- you know, i don't want her to be out in those fields so this will let us know. i believe that she's not outside. >> what are those searches like?

>> they're -- they're rough. you never know what you're going to come across. i now can understand the difference between human bones and animal bones. still scares the hell out of you. >> reporter: christina's boyfriend hunter told police he was in dallas with friends the night she disappeared but he'd been stingy with the details. he had erased conversations on his phone between himself and christina. investigators were also trying to check enrique's story -- that he was alone when he drove out of the garage early that saturday morning. >> so you -- you know what we're working on, right? what we're trying to is a -- and you're being very helpful with -- >> yeah. >> is being able to figure out, you know, the last place she's seen. because that way we can focus our efforts -- >> right. >> -- searching in this area. >> reporter: though his memory seemed fuzzy, enrique had been cooperative, speaking with detectives down at headquarters without an attorney. and police found no trace of christina inside his car.

but since enrique was the last person seen with christina, police kept digging, even digging through the trash outside of enrique's home. >> what'd they get out of that? >> they saw several cleaning bottles that were empty, odor removing chemicals, bottles of that were empty. >> which could've been used by him on his car or somebody in the house. >> yeah. they're normal household cleaners, but the timing might be a bit suspicious. >> reporter: the trash runs continued. then in late september more than three weeks after christina disappeared, they found this. >> a post-it note written in spanish that's in the trash can. >> what's on the post-it note? >> the post-it note is a list of three or four things. it says in spanish, "a black shirt, text messages from august 29th, and bank and cellphone bills." >> reporter: august 29th was the night christina went missing. police thought this might be a list of things to get rid of. >> enrique was wearing a black

shirt that night? >> the video clearly shows him wearing a black shirt the whole night. >> and bank and cellphone records might explain where he was, what he was doing? >> right. >> reporter: plano detectives were already looking at enrique's cell phone records. now they took a close look at his bank records. and they found this transaction at saturday morning, about six hours after christina was last seen on the garage camera. >> what'd he buy the morning that she went missing? >> he got gas at a local grocery store with a gas station attached to it. >> reporter: this video from the gas pumps shows enrique filling up his camaro. >> reporter: and while he was getting gas, he washes the back of his car where the trunk is at. >> okay, he's washing the back of his car. he's a car guy. >> it's a bit odd. it's the -- the squeegee you would use on your windshield. and he's washing the trunk area where the license plate's at. >> reporter: remember, police had already searched the interior of enrique's camaro. now, they thought he might inadvertently be pointing them

in a new direction. police obtained a search warrant, and brought the car down to the crime lab garage. and they showed that gas station video to the csi techs. >> and one of the c.s.i. investigators thought to herself -- >> where is a likely place that would have d.n.a., that's hard to clean, and she said that her gut told her to swab the weather stripping, the rubber portion of the trunk at the seal. >> reporter: it's that black rubber gasket that lines the opening of the trunk. >> they swab it, and send it off to the laboratory for confirmatory tests. >> reporter: as you can imagine, detectives weren't saying much about the case, not even to christina's parents. >> they're not giving you a play by play? >> no, no. >> right. and we understand they can't. but you know, we -- we had to ask questions. we couldn't just sit and wait. >> reporter: they also had questions for enrique. maybe he knew more than he was telling. from the beginning, they'd been suspicious of his story. and given christina's fear of being taken, anna and mark

thought their daughter would never have let him leave her alone on the walk to the car. >> she would have because she -- >> grabbed ahold of his leg and screamed bloody murder or she would have run back into that apartment. >> right back upstairs. >> and got steven. >> she would not have walked to her car alone. >> never. >> at 3:00 in the morning? >> never, never. >> reporter: now, christina's family wanted to speak with enrique. he refused, so they began protesting in front of his house. >> you wanted to be sure the neighbors saw this. >> absolutely. >> i needed his neighbors to know what they were living next to. >> and it worked. he didn't like it. >> reporter: enrique started talking, make the interview rounds. this one with telemundo dallas. >> what do you think about the actions of the family against you and your family? >> i feel like they're very wrong. they're accusing me of something. they're pressuring me to say something i don't know personally. they've put my name out there so

much that people are starting to see me as a monster when i'm really one of the nicest per -- people you can ever meet. >> are you afraid for your life? >> i am afraid for my life because of all the threats. >> enrique, do you have anything to do with christina's disappearance? >> no, i do not. i have nothing to do with her disappearance. >> did you harm her in any way? >> no, i didn't. i wouldn't harm anything. not even an animal, a fly. nothing. >> what happened? >> i have no idea. i wish i knew. >> reporter: denials from enrique. and no concrete evidence that he, hunter foster -- or anyone else -- was responsible for christina's disappearance. her family was losing hope. but in early december, about three months after christina disappeared -- >> breaking news, late tonight, we learned that christina morris' boyfriend is charged as part of a massive drug bust. >> reporter: officially, dallas police said hunter foster's arrest was not

related to christina's disappearance. >> anything concerning the missing person case is obviously a plano case and so we are certainly here to help them in any way we possibly can. >> reporter: still, reporters wondered if police were telling the whole story. >> we didn't know if he was being maybe arrested for that federal drug charge and there was something there that might be connected to christina. >> just to get him into custody. >> just to get him into custody? we had no clue. >> coming un. show me the carfax. now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem...

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welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. while enrique's story continued to unravel, another twist in the case. christina morris' boyfriend hunter was arrest in a drug bust. investigators wanted the truth, but would that lead them to her body? hear what the conclusion of "frantic" is. >> by early september 2014, christina morris had been missing for three months. police had arrested her boyfriend hunter foster on drug charges. investigators had thought he might have something to do with christina's disappearance. but when they looked at cell tower and tollway records, they

realized hunter's alibi was rock solid. >> his cell phone is down in dallas. his toll tag shows he came back to dallas that evening. everything indicates he's in dallas. >> which is not anywhere near where she was getting into her car. >> 25 miles away. >> and the reason hunter was so reluctant to give up his phone? it had nothing to do with christina. hunter was dealing drugs that night. and the proof, one of his customers was a narc. >> he dealt to an undercover agent. >> on the night christina vanishes, hunter is selling drugs to an undercover officer. >> yes, sir. >> then less than a week after hunter's arrest, police had something else to announce. entrrique aroach was under arre for the murder of christina morris. police believed he had murdered her. >> i cannot explain the emotions and the pain.

my whole world was turned upside down. >> you knew she was gone then. >> yeah. >> in september of 2016, almost two years to the day since kree t christina had vanished, enrique went on trial charged with aggravated kidnapping. zeke was the prosecutor. >> why not prosecute for murder? >> we thought about that. and i do believe he murdered her. the problem was he didn't have a body to show that and a crime scene to show. it's the most difficult case i have ever tried. >> i'm here to give you the facts and to tell you on august 30th this defendant kidnapped christina morris and that's what the facts say. >> the prosecutors showed the jury the interviews enrique gave police and pointed out his changing stories. >> why did he lie again and again and again? >> he told the jury even though she can't be seen here, christina was probably in the passenger seat of enrique's car.

>> so why did she get in the car? my guess is he lied to her. maybe he told her, i'll take you home before work. >> fortenberry pointed to cell phone towers that proved she was in the car. he said christina's phone battery was almost drained, that she and enrique approached the garage that night, not surprisingly, their phones were pinging near each other. then it gets a bet murky. the prosecutor explained that after the can macamaro left the garage, it passed through a toll station north of the highway. but ten minutes later, christina's phone pinged near the shopping mall. and then so did enrique's. almost as if they made a u-turn. >> i think something changed. i think maybe he put the moves on her and started making sexual advances on her and she was not okay with that. then maybe is when the altercation began. >> the defendants testified they

had seen injuries on enrique's fingers and hands. >> the detective said there was a fight between enrique and christina, and she was fighting for her life. >> then he told the jury christina's cell phone went completely dead. enrique's phone continued to ping, eventually near his house about 35 minutes later. finally, the state presented its strongest evidence. csi techs testified they did find christina's dna, a lot of it, in that rubber gasket lining the trunk of enrique's camaro. what they found was probably blood, said experts, but they weren't 100% sure. they were sure that it belonged to christina. and that's not all. >> we also found two other places on the trunk mat that also came back with christina's dna. >> where is christina morris? i told you at the beginning of this case i wouldn't be able to

answer that question, where was christina morris? in the defendant's trunk. >> you think she was alive when she was in the trunk? >> i think she was dying or dead. >> tell the defendant, you got your day in court and you're guilty. >> reporter: but enrique aroache said he was innocent throughout the investigation. and now the defendant was going to pick apart the case against him. >> the only thing that matters in a criminal case is can the prosecution prove the words in the indictment. >> lorain casarez covered the trial. >> they concentrated that there was no video of christina getting into the suspect's car. >> moore told the jury he was cooperative. as for the injuries on his hands, he told democrats he was working on his car. >> when the fire landed on me. cause i took it off.

and it was too heavy, so it just landed on my arm. >> okay, makes sense, okay. that makes sense. all right. >> then the defense went after the cell phone data. >> what do you have? cell data. >> they brought in their own expert saying that these cell phone towers and these pings are not reliable. >> and christina's dna in the trunk? gore pointed out enrique's camara and christina's toyota were processed at the same police garage. >> this is a one bay one garage and you have all the cars coming in and out. nobody needs to tell you this, this is how cross-contamination occurs. the evidence is not there beyond a reasonable doubt. and i would ask for your verdict of not guilty. >> enrique did not testify. and the jury got the case. deliberations dragged on for two days. and then a verdict. >> we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of aggravated kidnapping as charged in the

indictment. >> they saw that ethics, the right thing was done. >> the judge gave enrique the maximum, life in prison. >> she put her trust in you to walk her to her car. >> reporter: christina's family finally got to confront enrique in court. >> how can you sit there and not tell us what happened to our girl? i will make sure until i take my last dying breath that she is remembered with dignity, respect integrity, everything you are not, enrique. >> christina's family and friends are not giving up. >> i just want christina to know that she's so loved. that she has an incredible group of people, an army behind her. and he won't stop until she's found. >> we still don't have her.

we're still looking every weekend. we're still missing her every day. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning, i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it is 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening, the president taking sides and doubling-down after two white house aides resign after allegations. and whether the chief of staff can keep his job after the scandal. one reporter saying the end is near. plus, what is in the dem memo? a conspiracy theory it was written to make the president look bad. and