>> he's encouraging us to do a lot of things. and i think he's still pushing us. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i'm freaking out. i walk in, and my sister's not there. her door is open, her lights are on, her bed's undone. everything was horrible. and i felt it. she'd been fearless on the front lines of iraq. >> she was amazing. >> something had her terrified at home. >> scared. i don't feel safe.

>> a desperate call to police, and then she vanished. somebody made her scared. >> yes. >> no one could say what that was? >> right. >> what had happened to this beautiful army sergeant? that question would launch a spellbinding mystery. >> there were a number of potential suspects. absolutely. >> was a killer out there? >> she was in danger. >> could police catch him? they'd hatch a plan of virtual genius. >> one of the detectives said, "you're not going to believe this." welcome to "datelane." mirabelle ramos was a fighter. joining the army and doing two tours of duty before returning to civilian life. even her military experience would not be enough to prepare her for the battle she'd face back home. withmystery in orange

county." >> reporter: orange county, california. a place of sun, fun, and privilege. it's where "the real housewives" aired their dirty laundry, what a sense of cool really was. you got the sense that everyone was rich and white and lives with in a mansion with a view of the pacific. step back from the orange coast, and you'll see the county that's not on to have. not as wealthy, not as white, full of those who came here chasing a better life and finding it in places like santa a ana, a mostly working class immigrant community in the shadow of disneyland. it's the part of the o. c. that to survive, people know they'll have to work hard to succeed.

marabelle ramos arrived from new york city. she would not only survive here but would thrive. this should be a story of a woman who worked hard to change her life and in doing so, carved a path for others to follow. >> hello? >> orange county police. >> this story is going to end differently. >> why are you crying? >> because i was raped. >> there are some parts of life that hard work just can't fix. >> i'm scared. i'm just like calling to let you guys know that if something happens, i did it because i was trying to defend myself. >> some things that are beyond our control. >> all i'm trying to say is that i'm warning -- honestly, i will fight for my life. i swear i will kill him. >> all of this should have never reached that point of no return, so maybe it's a story of simple bad luck. of two lives that should never have come together.

tell me about growing up with marabelle. what was she like? >> troublemaker. mom wanted her to stay at home, and she wanted to go play baseball and -- >> tomboy? >> yes, yes. >> her sister, lucy, says tomboy marabelle ramos also had a spark. she would come in and immediately introduce herself and -- >> make friends. people were drawn to her. easy to talk to. >> you saw boys interested in her? >> definitely. >> from an early age? >> from an early age. >> that never ended, did it? >> no, no. >> little sister lucy remembers how marabelle was also in charge of watching out for her while their single mother often worked two jobs to make ends meet. you were how much younger? >> seven years younger. >> a lot of girls wouldn't want their little sister tagging along. >> no, she didn't want to. >> even as a child, marabelle found out that a different world

existed, and she wanted to live there. >> she knew at a young thaj there was a lot more to life than what what he had around us. things you can do, go to school, have opportunities, live in a nicer house. >> she saw all of that? >> yeah, definitely. >> marabelle ramos knew she'd have to work hard to get what and where she wanted. after high school she worked security at kmart and hatched a long-term plan to become a cop. she'd need a college degree, and that meant money. >> so marabelle ramos became private first class ramos. she joined the army hoping to use the g.i. bill. her first day was august 8th, 2001. just 34 days later, the whole world changed. [ sirens ] >> we all sort of recoiled in horror, but you probably also thought that's going to affect my sister. >> yes. i turn on the tv, and the towers

are crumbling. first thing i thought was, my gosh, my sister's going to war. >> lucy worried. their mother worried. but marabelle was like a rock. what did she did about going overseas? >> she didn't express her feelings about it. she just said, well, this is what's happening, sister. we need to talk to mom. >> narrator: marabelle went to war in iraq. what was it like to see her in uniform? >> it was -- it was pretty amazing. >> reporter: giselle is lucy's daughter, marabelle's niece. >> sometimes i was like, whoa, you're going out there like to save everybody. >> reporter: you were proud of her? >> yeah. >> reporter: marabelle learned how to jump out of airplanes and manned the guns for armed convoys. she saw more than her share of combat. she also made sergeant, and when her tour in iraq ended, she re-enlisted for another. she seemed fearless.

she could very easily have become a casualty? >> yes, and other people did die. other friends of hers. >> narrator: in 2009, after two tours in iraq, marad business bel auto -- marabelle left the army and enrolled in college. adjusting back to civilian life wasn't as easy as she expected. like a lot of war veterans, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder or ptsd. she'd seen some terrible things. she ever talk about that? >> not with me. >> reporter: instead, she focused on school, work, and family, especially her niece, giselle. she kind of adopted you as this project. >> yeah. >> reporter: why did she do that? >> i think it was because she wanted me to have the best. >> narrato >> reporter: as giselle grew

older, the self-improvement mission came with pushups. she was all army. >> as i was getting early, she would make me do exercise to work off the punishment. >> reporter: all this time marabelle was hammering away at giselle, you're going to finish school, study hard, you're going to have a career. >> yes. this is what you're going to do, and she would tell her. okay, guessliselle? >> yes. >> reporter: marabelle got a dog and rented a two-bedroom apartment in orange which she shared with a roommate, a quiet chemist named casey joy, who also had a dog. >> i thought it was a perfect match. she has a dog, he has a dog. he's quiet. she's -- he's not going to have all these people coming over. >> reporter: by may, 2013, everything seemed great. marabelle was leading by example, finishing up her degree in criminal justice at cal state

fullert fullerton. giselle was following in her footsteps. >> she was dropping off money at my house because i had gotten good grades. she had gotten her hair done, dyed and styled for her graduation. >> reporter: she looked great? >> yeah. >> reporter: she was happy? >> yeah, she was. >> reporter: that's why it made no sense when just days later, marabelle ramos, soldier, student, loving aunt, simply disappeared. coming up, what had happened to marabelle ramos? nobody's heard from her? >> nobody. to emerge your best every day, you need to power your wellness. new emergen-c probiotics plus. purposeful probiotics to help boost your microbiome, plus vitamin c to support your natural immune defenses. new emergen-c probiotics plus. emerge and see. new emergen-c probiotics plus. ♪ happiness is powerful flea and ptick protection from nexgard. a delicious chew that protects for an entire month.

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>> reporter: may 3rd, 2013, was a friday, a day that should have been an easy day for maribel ramos. school was nearly over. graduation was so close, but that morning, things weren't right. >> i got a text from k.c. at 10:00 a.m. and he said, your sister didn't come home. >> they'd been roommates for more than a year now. k.c. felt protective of maribel. he told lucy he had already called police to report her missing. >> this is not an emergency. i have a roommate. she's 36 years old, and she didn't come home last night. >> so what i did, i texted her at 11:00.

i said, happy friday. because we usually text each other anyways. that was my way of connecting. and she didn't text me back. >> unusual? >> yes. >> lucy still wasn't worried. she knew her combat-hardened sister could take care of herself. but then evening came and for maribel, friday night was softball night. she loved to play and never missed a game. but this friday night she didn't show. now, lucy's phone was ringing, maribel's teammates on the line. they told me, go to the house, police are there. do not take gisele. i'm freaking out, and i walk in, and my sister is not there. her door is open, her lights are on, her bed's undone. my head started spinning. everything was horrible and i felt it. >> detective joey ramirez with the orange police department got the call that evening.

and he also had a bad feeling about everything. >> it sounds like you were taking this pretty seriously from the get-go. >> absolutely. >> why couldn't she be off by herself, or with some other friends, or maybe she lost her phone or forgot to call? >> that was our hope, that she was just missing, that she would come walking through the door. but her family and friends expressed that she was very responsible. >> and nobody's heard from her? >> nobody. >> so ramirez and his team went into action. they quickly figured out that if she left on her own accord, it didn't look like maribel had planned to be out long. she left her car at home? >> her car was there. her keys were gone. her phone was gone. >> but her toothbrush was there, so was her big purse she used when she had a lot to carry. k.c. returned home hours after police first got there. he again told the cops what he told them that morning, that

maribel was missing. lucy and the softball team went to the police station hoping for answers, but morning came and there weren't any. so channeling her big sister, lucy decided to stop waiting and make her own luck. >> i woke up on saturday, and i thought, wow, this is seriously happening. i posted a picture of her on facebook. it was immediate. people went into action. >> friends from the university got together, family members, her roommate. lots of people who maribel had touched wanted to help. they hung fliers in english and spanish. they reached out to reporters. >> it's very not like her after eight years of service in the army to just disappear. >> unusual thing was next day, friday morning, she was not here. >> i helped my mom pass out flyers around school, pretty much anything i could do. >> did you think they'd find her?

>> yes, i did. >> gisele was 14 at the time. but detective ramirez, who's been a cop for more years than gisele has been alive, was not as hopeful. she's not using her cell phone, she's not taking any money out. no one's heard from her. when you've picked up no trace of her after a couple of days, you still think you're looking for a living person? >> the percentages are starting to drop, not in our favor. >> because by then you've called all the hospitals. >> all hospitals, jails. >> there's an alert out that any police officer, what, in southern california sees her. >> correct. and the media was also helping. >> and nothing? >> nothing. >> no maribel on security tape from any nearby store. police checked all of them. they found only this image from the security camera outside the manager's office for her apartment complex. it's maribel paying the rent. it's may 2nd, 8:18 p.m., the night before anyone realized she had disappeared. maribel seems to be alone. so what the cops needed to do was talk to everyone who was

anyone in maribel's life. turns out there were a lot of people they suddenly needed to get to know, including a current boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend, and someone maribel had just met, a guy she'd made a date with online, a guy whose name maribel had apparently kept completely to herself. coming up, the men in maribel's life suddenly under scrutiny. that haunting phone call. h there's no way to hide from potentially deadly heartworm disease. the threat is everywhere. and it only takes one mosquito bite to transmit it. that's why you need to protect your dog with heartgard plus. just one real beef chew given once a month, every month, helps keep your dog safe all year long. test dogs for infection prior to use.

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>> this is the city of orange, california, in the county of orange, california. much of it is a small town stuck in time. there's a university, a zoo, cute local businesses. and a police department that doesn't have to deal with a lot of violent crime. after all, the happiest place on earth is just down the street. but in may 2013, detective joey ramirez was far from happy. he had a lot of ground to cover and a strong sense that time was

against him as he tried to figure out what had happened to maribel ramos. she just vanished? >> yes. >> how often does that kind of thing happen? >> it doesn't happen often. >> ramires started by investigating the men in maribel's life. it turned out there were a few of them. >> did you know she was doing online dating? did she talk about that? >> yeah, she did. >> maribel sometimes met guys through a website called plenty of fish. that's how she found paul lopez. they had been dating for a few months, and paul had even joined her weekly softball game. lopez was the last person maribel talked to on the phone. now police wanted to talk to him. >> you know you're not under arrest or anything like that. >> i wouldn't think so. >> ramirez sat across from paul and asked about his relationship with maribel. >> nothing's been exclusive. it's just been dating. >> okay. you date other people too? >> me, yeah. >> you don't know if she dates other people or not? >> i don't ask, don't tell.

>> and he asked lopez where he was on the night maribel disappeared. >> did you come into orange at all on thursday? >> no. >> police also had to consider this. maribel had told lucy that things weren't working out with paul lopez. >> she wasn't a match with paul. so she was online talking to people. >> it wasn't clear if paul knew, even as they kept dating, that maribel was back on plenty of fish and had met a new man. he was a photographer who'd worked a lot with the military. it was a connection for both of them. how did she describe that guy? >> she said, oh, i met someone. he's very interesting. we have lot in common. >> and you thought what? good? >> i thought, great. >> they planned a date for cinco de mayo. but two days before that date was to happen, maribel vanished. so police talked to that photographer. and made a recording of the conversation. >> you're saying you never actually met her in person. >> no. >> so he said, anyway. there was also an ex-boyfriend

who had been calling. police needed to check him out. and there was this lead. >> there was a person at cal state fullerton that was in the veterans association with her that had given her a bad feeling. he may have wanted to pursue some sort of dating relationship. >> but gave her a bad feeling how? >> she wasn't interested and she didn't give him any attention, yet he didn't go away. >> so he made her feel uncomfortable. >> correct. >> and by now, detective ramirez had learned something else. just a little over a week before she vanished, maribel ramos had called 911. >> hi, it's not an emergency but i just -- is there a recording? >> is there a what? >> is this conversation recording? >> yes. every conversation is recorded. >> maribel wanted it on the record. she wanted police to know she was very afraid of someone.

>> i'm just calling to let you guys know that if something happens, i did it because i was trying to defend myself. >> she might have been afraid, but this army-strong woman who had always taken care of herself feared she might be the one putting the hurt on her attacker. >> all i'm trying to say is that, i'm warning -- honestly, i will fight for my life. and i swear, i will kill him. >> something had happened to make her pretty scared. >> yes. >> there was nothing on the call to say what that was. >> right. >> what was she afraid of? not clear. who was she afraid of? that was another story entirely. coming up, another man in maribel's life sits down with police, and he seems eager to help with the case. >> so you were doing your own surveillance? >> yes. >> did her roommate know something that police didn't? when "dateline extra" returns. -♪ he's got legs of lumber and arms of steel ♪ ♪ he eats a bowl of hammers at every meal ♪ ♪ he holds your house in the palm of his hand ♪

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president trump will announce his pick for the supreme court on july 9th. trump may meet with candidates on his short list while vacationing at his new jersey estate this weekend. in maryland, more than 1,000 attended a candlelight vigil for those five "capital gazette" shooting victims. and record high temperatures expect expect expected across the midwest and northeast ahead of 4th of july. welcome back, i'm craig melvin. maribel ramos had joined the army to put herself through college, but just days away from her graduation ceremony, she vanished. earlier maribel had called police to say she was in danger, and afraid for her life. what was it, or who was it, that had her so concerned? here again is josh mientkiewicz with "mystery in orange county."

>> by now, posters blanket the city of orange. maribel ramos was missing and her family was frantic. >> as soon as i got the call she didn't show up for her baseball game, i got the worst feeling in the world. >> putting himself out there with all the rest was maribel's roommate, k.c. joy. >> she's the only family i have. she's my best friend. i want her to come back. that's all. >> k.c. had moved from tennessee to southern california for a job. he had no family and few friends here. so he turned to maribel, and she was happy to include him. she even arranged for k.c. to tutor her niece in math. >> he seemed nice, respectful. he liked to be involved with the family and my aunt. >> he didn't have family of his own so he kind of attached himself to yours? >> yeah. >> but they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend? >> no. >> even so, in photos, maribel and k.c. seemed to be having a great time.

they even went on a cruise together. soon, police would be talking with k.c. joy. >> do you have a business card, sir? >> yeah. >> so i keep track of names straight. >> yeah, that's a good idea. >> formalities over, detective ramirez started asking about maribel. >> as you know, right now, there's some people, some family and friends that are worried about maribel, your roommate. >> i was her friend and i care about her very much. >> but he said he had no idea what happened to her. >> so when was the last time you saw her? >> about 9:00 p.m. about 9:00. then i went out. >> that was thursday night, may 2nd. the next night when the cops were called to maribel's house, k.c. wasn't there. he explained he had been so worried that he did his own investigation, watching his own front door from his car parked out front. >> i saw in movies, detective movies of a crime scene, whatever. i want to see who's going to knock on my door.

i just parked my car in front with a notebook. had binoculars -- >> you were doing your own surveillance? >> yes. >> it sounded a little odd. maybe k.c. had just seen too many crime movies. but if he had, then he'd probably know cops don't miss little details like -- well, like this. >> he was sitting across the table from me wearing short-sleeved shirt, jeans on and sandals. instantly i can see he has scratches on both his arms. he's got a scratch across his forehead from his hairline to his eye. >> how did you get all these scratches on you? >> we go to the park all the time. you go exactly -- we pick up, by the pond, we pick up fishing line all the time. you go there. -- >> can i see? >> fishing lines. >> those are from fishing lines?

>> no, no. i will explain. >> k.c. explained he was walking the dogs when he saw a fishing line in a bush. worrying about the ducks in the park getting caught in the line, he reached in to remove it and got all those scratches. you've been around long enough, you can tell the difference between scratches that a person might get, you know, reaching into a bush, or from an animal, and scratches that somebody would get during a, you know, an actual fight with another person? >> right. some of the scratches on his arms did look like scratches that would be from something other than fingernails. but there was one particular set of scratches on his right bicep that to me clearly looked like scratches from a hand. >> and that says to you he was in a fight? >> it does. >> when was the last time you guys had any sort of an argument? >> actually that thursday. >> this thursday? >> that was the last night

anyone saw maribel, the night she was caught on camera paying the rent, which k.c. said was what they were arguing about. >> well, what happened? tell me about that. >> because i was -- i'm supposed to move out. >> it turned out k.c. had recently lost his job and could no longer pay his share of the rent. maribel had asked him to move out. that was reason for concern, of course. and so was this. detective ramirez had learned about the 911 call maribel had made 11 days before she disappeared. and he knew that in that call the man maribel said that she might have to kill was k.c. joy. >> his full name is kwang choi joy. >> weren't the police out to

your house recently because you guys had an argument? >> we'd been drinking that night. she started yelling at me. >> k.c. said it was all just a drunken misunderstanding. >> i don't like you, i'm not attracted to you. i said, maribel, we had a great time tonight. what's the problem? >> what was the problem? detective ramirez heard from maribel's family something very interesting. k.c. joy had wanted to be more than just roommates with maribel ramos. lucy told us the same thing. when did it become apparent to you that k.c. sort of had a crush on your sister? >> he called me, and then he just said, i'm like in love with your sister. so i was like, oh, this is great. >> because you knew your sister wasn't in love with him. >> yes. and that's a bad situation. so at that point i'm like, okay, k.c., you know, you're a good man and i'm sure you'll find somebody out there for you, but -- >> but it's not going to be her.

>> yeah. >> now the woman k.c. told lucy he wanted had told him that not only did she not love him, but he had to basically get out of her life. despite that, k.c. continued talking with police. mr. joy was being cooperative. >> he was. >> talking to officers, let you guys take stuff out of the house? >> he did. >> and never showed up with a lawyer? >> he did not. >> doesn't sound like that did a lot to set aside your suspicions? >> no, it didn't. >> suspicions, sure. but no proof a crime had even occurred. maribel ramos was missing. that's all anyone knew. >> ready, sir? >> and so k.c. joy walked out of that police station, like all the other men in maribel's life, a free man. >> finally, the clue they'd been waiting for. you won't believe how they got

it. >> no one had searched there? >> no. >> but he's looking at it? >> yes. >> he knew more than he was telling us. ♪ ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. find thenah.ote yet? honey look, your old portable cd player. my high school rethainer. oh don't... it's early 90s sitcom star dave coulier... cut...it...out! [laughing] what year is it? as long as stuff gets lost in the couch,

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the days were ticking by, and still no maribel. forensic results were coming in, dna, fingerprints, cell phone data, none of it adding up to anything that told the cops what

had happened to her. so police were looking at the usual suspects, like her boyfriend, paul lopez. lopez works for the gas company and goes from call to call in a company truck. the gps on that truck puts him nowhere near the city of orange on the night maribel was seen on that security video, that is, until about midnight. lopez told police that's when he went home. he said he was alone and could prove it. >> my parking spot is actually right by a surveillance camera. >> so the surveillance camera would show you parking? >> yeah. >> that was enough to get lopez off the list. there was that ex-boyfriend who had been calling. maribel had never mentioned he'd been a problem, and police didn't think he was involved. there was the photographer from the website, plenty of fish. his cell phone data placed him in san diego, out of the area at

the time in question. and the veteran from cal state who had come on too strong? he was in japan. none of them could be connected to maribel's disappearance. so in the end there was just one person the cops couldn't stop looking at, the first person to report maribel missing, her roommate, k.c. joy. >> orange police dispatcher. >> this is not an emergency. i have a roommate. she's 36 years old and she didn't come home last night. >> he was also the last to see her alive. >> i felt she most likely was dead. i felt there was a high probability mr. joy was responsible for it and he knew a lot more than he was telling us. >> so detective ramirez became k.c. joy's shadow, appearing in the morning, and then later by moonlight. hours after k.c.'s first police interview, a cheerful joey ramirez showed up at his house. >> hey, k.c., how are you? can we come in? >> he brought a voice recorder and a few more questions. >> how are you this morning?

>> all right. >> good, good. >> detective ramirez already knew the answers to some of them. >> when you say work, she works at? >> fullerton. >> cal state fullerton? >> yeah. >> and to some he didn't. >> did you have any marks on your legs or anything? >> no. >> well, let me just ask you, do you have any injuries on your legs? >> no. >> you have no injuries on your legs whatsoever? >> no, i don't have any. >> okay. >> then ramirez showed up again that night. >> k.c. joy, just a couple of quick questions for you, and i'll get out of here. how are you doing? are you okay? >> i've been crying. >> how many times did you talk to him? >> i believe i talked to him at least nine times. >> ramirez tried scaring k.c. about potential evidence found in his car. >> why would there be blood in a red versa? >> blood? you tell me there was blood?

i don't know anything about it. what blood? you tell me. >> he tried backing k.c. into a corner about what might be found on k.c.'s hard drive. >> the good thing is if there's anything that you ever deleted that you wish you hadn't, we should be able to help you out with that. >> you're hoping he's going to think to himself, okay, everything i've deleted they're going to see. >> right. >> didn't work. >> didn't work. we were swinging and missing regularly on a daily basis. >> k.c. joy was willing to talk repeatedly without an attorney. >> k.c., you've been very cooperative with us. >> i've seen movies. the detective takes my fingerprints. >> he says to you, i've seen movies, and now you're going to take my fingerprints. he's like a pro. he's seen it all. >> he's being very relaxed.

i felt that he was very confident that we weren't going to figure it out. >> what mr. joy apparently didn't know was that other officers were watching him 24/7. the surveillance teams noticed he was spending a lot of time at the public library, and he was using the computers there. probably because police had taken away his phone and maribel's computer, which was the one k.c. normally used. >> initially we would have undercover policemen go into the library and walk around and see what he's doing. at one point he's seen googling can a cell phone be tracked if it's turned off. >> well, that's certainly suspicious. >> it is. >> detective ramirez was consulting daily with orange county deputy district attorney scott simmons. there are things that can be called into question, but they're not immediately proof of anything. >> exactly.

that's why we didn't arrest him right away. >> police needed to see exactly what k.c. joy was doing on those library computers. that would require a very unusual plan. they obtained a search warrant allowing them to watch in realtime every move made on the computer. this is a recording of k.c.'s actual computer keystrokes and mouse clicks. that's k.c. checking his e-mail. that's k.c. applying for a job. that's k.c. typing in how long does it take a body to decay. suspicious maybe, but not enough. and then he did this. >> he pulled up a facebook page that showed there was going to be an awareness walk in the near future. >> a walk to help find maribel? >> it was. he google mapped that park and zoomed in onto it.

he then panned out, navigated over about eight to ten miles. >> this area he was zeroing in on, was it an area that had crossed your field of vision at all? >> no. >> here, k.c. is google mapping a place that no one had searched. watch as he zooms in to that area with that tree. that tree didn't figure in the investigation in any way? >> not in any stretch of the imagination. >> no one had searched there? >> no. >> no reason for that to be in the paper or anywhere else? >> no. it's out in a remote canyon location. >> but he's looking at it. >> yes, yes. >> by the time k.c. was walking out of the library that afternoon, police were already headed to that tree. coming up, another startling discovery. >> this is way off the beaten path. we didn't know what to think.

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♪ dance party boom. ♪ simple. easy. awesome. come see how you can save $400 or more a year with xfinity mobile. plus, ask how to keep your current phone. visit your local xfinity store today. welcome back. police were growing confident they knew who was involved in the disappearance. there had not been an arrest, but that was about to change. here's josh with the conclusion of mystery in orange county. >> as he dug deeper into casey joy's background. he found more and more evidence that casey was infatuated with

maribel ramos. the time she told him he was too old for her, he got plastic surgery. he says the reason he got it because of the woman who was missing. >> correct. >> now here was casey at the public library, google mapping a remote wilderness area. since the dawn of detective novels killers have returned to the scene of the crime but these days there's no need for the bad guy to get in his car. now it can be done with the click of a mouse. the good guys still have to do it the old fashioned way. detective got the call on the radio. drive out to majestic canyon. >> we didn't know what to think t. no one would be out here

biking. this is way off the beaten path. >> detective bryan stanley was rewatching casey's google search trying to give the detective better directions. casey focused on an intersection and then moved over to the tree. >> in the center of the shot there's one tree that looks like a bush. and i'm looking for that tree. >> he and his partner found the tree, then moved off the road and past the barbed wire fence. they knew they were close. >> if first and foremost thing we found was an overwhelming smell of a decaying body or something dead. we turned our head and we saw this kind of shallow grave site. >> at long last, there she was. >> one of the detectives called and said joey, you're not going to believe this. we found her. >> she had been left alone in that dusty canyon since before

anyone knew she was missing. now ramirez knew it was time for one last meeting with casey joy. >> well, thanks for coming down here voluntarily. i appreciate it. >> you're going to give me a ride back to library or i'll have to walk. >> ramirez didn't tell casey that maribel had been found. he just tried for the final time to get key say to say what happened. >> i think you have the answers in your heart. >> i have to go. >> so once again, he walked out of the interview room. he didn't get far. this time he was arrested and charged with the murder of maribel ramos, the woman he had loved that did not love him. when he was taken into custody casey joy was wearing her dog tags. he pleaded not guilty and in july 2014, a year after she

vanished he went on trial for her murder. >> maribel is no longer with us. >> prosecution laid out the evidence against casey. the scratches, the 911 call and finally the computer searches. >> he's wondering how close is maribel's body to where they're doing that awareness search. that's why he goes to google maps. >> the defense pointed out there was no dna, fingerprints or standard forensic evidence that tied casey joy to maribel or to the crime scene. >> we don't know what happened. what kind of force was used? nobody knows. who used it first? nobody knows. was there a weapon used? was it used by casey joy? nobody knows. >> but the computer searches were enough for the search. >> we the jury find the

defendant glts of the crime of felony, to wit. >> casey joy was convicted of second degree murder. after which he told me the jury got it wrong. >> are you dangerous? >> me? i'm the perfect most honest guy there is. most trustworthy. i'm a gentleman. >> you had a crush on her. >> no, we are absolutely not. we maintain that we are plutonic friends. >> you never told lucy you had a crash on her. >> nope, never said that. >> you weren't obsessed with her. >> no i was not obsessed with her. >> the plastic surgery, his choigs, he says, not done for maribel and the computer search of the air where where her body was found casey says he didn't do it. someone else did by remotely accessing the same computer right after he had used it. >> you don't think that's quite a coincidence? >> it may be coincidence but i didn't do it.

>> you're being framed here? >> i say yes. if i had a paid attorney, somebody like o.j. simpson had i wouldn't be here. >> the problem is not that you're guilty. it's that you don't have money. >> exactly. if you had money i would not be here. >> joy was sentenced to 15 years to life for killing maribel ra mass. >> what do you think happened? >> i think what he did is he got a pillow and smothered her and as he's got this pillow over her face she struggles a little bit and that's where he got the scratches on think right tricep. >> if he hasn't done that goog p maps leading you to the body, would he be a free man? >> if no other evidence came up, yes. >> he'd be a person of interest in a cold case. >> correct.

>> ramos graduated from college r. her niece she hoped would walk in ore footsteps. >> i received her diploma and i got to sit in here seat and walk up stage and receive everything. >> it was difficult to see my daughter in such pain walking for her aunt. >> ramos, we lost her a couple years ago. she was an army veteran. >> wen in the city of orange they lower the flag for the fallen who served. bu but maribel has a leg say, giselle. >> your mom says you're the rock. that they wouldn't have made it

through without you. >> yes. >> where did you get that toughness? >> from her. >> from maribel. >> yeah. >> that's all for the edition of date line. thanks for watching. i'm craig melvin and this is "dateline." >> she was a particularried mother -- mar r --ried mother of two. >> there was nothing about her life that would raise any red flags. >> she amazed them all. her whole group of girlfriends at the gym. >> she was totally dedicated. >> heather, turn around. you've gotten smaller. >> a stunning 200-pound weight loss. and a whole new life came with