courage on her part to see this through. >> reporter: meghan knows, in a way, she was lucky. >> every day, there are women that are in -- in situations like this that don't have the means to get out. i've had so many people help me. and i just wanna make a difference for those who don't have a voice. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. morales. thanks i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> they found each other and their own tropical island. >> we found a lump in the water. we said, that's it. that will be the spot for the rest of our lives. >> she said it was like living in a postcard. >> a picture-perfect life, until she disappeared. you were calling? >> calling.

texting. >> i called her best friend and said, did she meet somebody? is there something going on? >> where would she go? >> she wasn't selling that place. she loved it. >> and why did someone new now own her slice of paradise? >> this guy, he fooled us all. he fooled everybody. >> he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder. hello and welcome to "dateline." it was a tropical hideaway where a group of adventurous americans thought they had found paradise. good times, sunshine, a relaxed lifestyle, a place where people didn't ask a lot of questions about their neighbors, until some of those neighbors started to disappear. here's kate snow with "stealing paradise."

>> reporter: it's a dream that seemed so out of reach, quit the rat race, move to an exotic land and buy your very own private island. >> even when she was young, she wanted to travel. she wanted to see the world. >> reporter: sarah hughes had the dream and she made it come true in the most unlikely place, the tiny far away island of bocas del toro, panama. >> she would take a picture of the sunset and mail it to me. she said, it was like living in a postcard. >> reporter: life was beautiful and simple. and an escape from the pressures of modern living. who could have known that evil could find a place in paradise, too? that beneath all that beauty was a dark secret. >> it still seems very unreal. i don't want to believe it. >> this is a really, really bad guy. >> it just sent chills down my spine. >> reporter: but before the nightmare came the dream. this is the kind of place where people come to escape.

a group of islands off of the coast of panama and way off the beaten path. it's the kind of place where things move more slowly and life is supposed to be easy. cher first visited the islands with her boyfriend, keith worley in 2000. for the outdoorsy cher, it was love at first sight. what's more, it was affordable. for the same money cher had been saving up to sail around world, she bought her little piece of paradise, a rental property, a small house and that tiny round island. >> we saw that lump in the water and we said that's our it. that will be our spot for the rest of our lives. >> reporter: cher and keith met seven years before that when the vivacious blonde walked into a little bar keith owned in florida. >> came in and those big blue eyes and big smile. i was hooked. she was just so beautiful. >> reporter: cher grew up in st.

louis, where her all-american good looks got her into modelling as a teenager. >> she would walk in a room and, beep, everybody knew she was there. she was always happy. she always had a smile for everybody. >> reporter: eventually, cher moved to st. petersburg, florida, where her sister judy says she became a savvy businesswoman, running her own neon sign company. >> she would always make sure she had that income. she made sure she was setting herself up for what exactly what she wanted to do was retire and travel around the world. >> reporter: cher did travel but mostly in the u.s. then a friend invited her to visit exotic boca del toro. and cher jumped at the chance. >> it took us seven days to decide where we were going to live the rest of our lives. it hit us that hard. the people here were phenomenal. and cher loves children. and panama has lots of kids. >> reporter: keith is a carpenter. he built their dream home, a collection of shiny building on top of their lush green island.

cher planted a tropical garden and adopted lots of animals including a pet monkey and a beautiful brown doberman pincher named jack. he adored cher and followed her wherever she went. she loved the local school kids, planned movie nights with popcorn and celebrated the holidays with enthusiasm even though her friend, sean trainer, says kids didn't always get the significance. >> she would do the easter egg hunt for all the kids. they had no idea what this crazy white woman was doing. coloring eggs. and then hiding them around on the island. they never participated in anything like that before. >> reporter: keith and cher's relationship blossomed on the island. in 2005, they married in front of their many friends in the close community of expats. >> it's a small place. you go to the grocery store and, you know, you run into people you know. >> reporter: christen roberts who moved to boca from norway became part of cher's group of friends.

>> we would stick together. we treated each other like family. we take care of each other. >> reporter: everyone went by their first names or nicknames. keith and cher were known as ken and barbie. the man who owned one of the local watering holes, another american, was known as wild bill, viking hat and all. bill and his wife, jane, opened a bar on their secluded property pro, accessible only by boat where the ex-pats sometimes gathered for drinks. >> bill had these saturday parties at his place at the bar and restaurant once or twice a month. >> reporter: draws everybody. >> there is everybody there. >> reporter: it was cher's tropical dream come true. a beautiful backdrop for family reunions, like the time her aunt mary came to visit. >> her grandmother, my mother, and i came down and visited and got the whirlwind tour. and they met us at the airport with a big bouquet of flowers. and it was just wonderful. >> reporter: there was another trip in the works.

cher's sister, judy, was planning to visit for the very first time. >> she wanted to show you her paradise? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: the trip would be a good distraction for cher. her life had recently turned up side down. her five-year marriage to keith hit a rough spot. he even moved out. >> when keith had moved off the island, she was pretty devastated. but then again, i also thought who's marriage is perfect? and hopefully they'll work it out. i know they still loved each other. >> reporter: the sisters were excited about the trip. plans were in full swing. and then what happened? >> then i don't hear from her. >> reporter: one day passed, then another, and still nothing. >> too much time has gone by. and now i know something's happened. >> reporter: judy was worried and cher was gone. coming up -- >> where's cher? i don't know. but we're mad at her, too.

a text message from cher to keith with some bad news. >> she just said i met somebody else who is better than you. >> and she was running away with that person? >> yes. >> so, maybe she got on a boat with a new friend that you didn't know about and she would be back in a week? >> yeah. right. >> it wouldn't surprise me, i went sailing and my phone fell off the deck when i dropped my purse. that would be cher. >> who was this new mystery man? and where was cher? when "dateline" continues. er when "dateline" continues. "most likely to help people save $668 when they switch." -at this school? -didn't you get caught in the laminating machine? -ha. [ sighs ] -"box, have a great summer. danielle." ooh. danielle, control yourself. i'd like to slow it down here with a special discount for a special girl. danielle, this one's for you. with a special discount for a special girl. with uncontrolled modor atopic dermatitis,a, you never know how your skin will look.

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living out the dream of owning her own island. but then, she vanished. i imagine you were calling? >> calling. >> reporter: leaving messages? >> texting, facebooking. and then i started reading her facebook. and it's, like, "cher, where are you?" people who were in panama, in bocas, "haven't seen you around town. where you at? gimme a call." and we started wondering. >> reporter: when cher's husband keith realized she'd left town, he was surprised. but he thought he might know why. cher had been talking about spending time in panama city. a place where she could blend into the scenery more easily, and wrap her head around their breakup. >> she told me she wanted to have an apartment in panama city and just spend some time in the city and get out of bocas. 'cause it was such a small community and -- >> reporter: she was getting a little tired of it? >> yeah, you just keep bumping into the same people, having to tell the same story. and she was just ready for a little break of bocas.

>> reporter: it's not unusual for people to come and go around here. after all, the easy-going lifestyle is part of the island's charm. but cher's friends and family said it wouldn't be like her to leave so abruptly. leave her cherished island with all of her belongings still here. cher's aunt mary started phoning cher's friends in panama. >> we immediately started calling her friends and everyone going, "what's going on?" and everyone was saying "you know cher. she might've just gone for a week. and you know, lost her phone." and we're like, "well, ok, maybe." >> reporter: mary logged on to cher's facebook page and reached out to those friends. and they're going, "i don't know. but we're mad at her, too. doggone it, she always calls me. she calls me every day. what -- where did she go? why would she not call me?" and we got a little aggravated with her.

like, dang it cher, what are you doing? >> reporter: and then some good news. cher's friends received a text message from her -- saying she'd gone sailing. >> she's a free spirit, right? she's-- >> oh. >> adventurous. >> she had an opportunity, she'd-- she'd go. you know. >> so, maybe -- >> but -- >> reporter: she just got on a boat with some new friend that you didn't know about and she'd be back in a week. >> right, yeah. >> it wouldn't have surprised me that, "oh mary, i went sailing and then my phone fell off the deck when i dropped my purse." that would be cher for three to four days. >> reporter: the messages were reassuring, but not for long. a few days passed, and cher didn't return. then another text message -- this one from cher to keith. >> she just said i met somebody else who's better than you, yeah. >> reporter: she said she had met someone else? >> yes. >> reporter: and she was running away with that person? >> yeah. >> reporter: a mystery man? keith wanted to get to the bottom of it. >> i called her best friend, and said "did cher meet somebody? does she have a man that i don't know about? is there something going on?" she said "she's never mentioned any guy to me ever. she's waiting for you. there's no man in her life. she didn't run away."' >> reporter: but keith noticed something strange about the messages. they weren't written in cher's usual style.

>> instead of small letters, it'd be all capitals. and she'd always write a-r-e, and this would be an "r" for "are" or "2," the number, would be there rather than t-o. so, it was just -- i said it was just -- it just changed. >> reporter: and then, the text messages simply stopped. cher's aunt mary called the us embassy in panama, and begged for help. >> the embassy made a big point of saying people disappear all the time. and if she wants to be found, she will contact you. and so, i had a hard time shouting into the darkness of the embassy saying "help me, help me." >> reporter: things got worse. cher didn't call her father on his birthday. it was a huge alarm bell. >> i knew how she felt about her dad. and she would never, ever miss his birthday. so something had happened to cher, for sure. in my heart, i knew then. >> reporter: after two months, it was staring everyone in the face -- the unanswered phone calls, the strange messages, the missed birthday -- all the clues pointing to a horrible conclusion. did you start to panic? >> yeah. i knew something was wrong. the whole family started to panic. >> reporter: the terrible realization sank in -- cher

hadn't gone off sailing or run away with a mystery man. she wasn't hiding out in apartment in panama city. something had happened to her. friends in bocas wracked their brains for answers, and they started thinking about another american from their group who'd also left abruptly. had anyone heard from him? what if cher wasn't the only person missing? what if there were two? >> i just woke up one morning. just like one of those weird things. and i just knew. coming up, another american who apparently just walked away, leaving his home and a lot of questions behind. >> shoes by the door. his cane is next to the front door. there's dirty dishes in the sink. it gave me a weird vibe. >> i knew off the bat, what's going on here? >> i couldn't ignore it anymore. somebody had to do something. >> when "dateline" continues.

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in the picturesque islands, a crisis was brewing. cher hughes was missing for two months. now, her family and friends wondered if her disappearance had anything to do with another american who left the island abruptly, four months before cher. a man named bo islar. >> bo was quiet.

introvert. he was a really great guy. >> reporter: bo kept a low profile since moving to bocas from santa fe, new mexico, in 2004. the former antique dealer was so quiet that no one even noticed when he took off. >> a lot of people say, let's go to argentina for six weeks. they don't e-mail everybody and tell them we're leaving. that is easy to be not missed for a while. >> reporter: it made more sense when they found out that bo sold his home to wild bill, another american in their group famous for throwing lively parties many of the people attended including cher's friend, kristen. >> i knew that they wanted to sell and move somewhere different. and so i assumed they sold and that bo had left.

>> reporter: still, as keith thought back to the days after bo moved out, an image kept returning to his mind. an image of bo's house right after he left. >> i walked in and looked around. it looked as if bo had gone to the store, not moved out. i went back and told my friends, i can't believe that house. it is really weird. towels on the back of the chair. his cane is next to the front door. there is dirty dishes in the sink. it's just weird. bo would just walk away. >> reporter: two americans missing. rumors began to swirl. could their disappearances be linked? >> the more you think about something like that, you know, it didn't add up. >> reporter: did it eat at you? >> yes, i kept thinking about it. because it wasn't right that cher would leave. i knew this girl would not leave town without saying good-bye and without a party. and bo could leave, but the two of them going together, i'm just like sending their belongings after the fact doesn't sound right. >> reporter: and then kristen continue heard something that made the floor drop from under

her, bo had abruptly stopped paying his bills, something totally unlike him. >> i just woke up one morning. it's a weird thing. i just knew. i couldn't ignore it anymore. i just couldn't. somebody had to do something. >> reporter: kristen went to the police. did they immediately investigate? >> no. they just put it in a file. and they go just yeah, yeah, yeah. people get lost in panama all the time. >> reporter: kristen reached out to someone she thought could help, another ex-pat, don winner, a man that runs a website for foreigners living in panama. >> i was contacted by one of her friends that was concerned that she was missing. and they asked for my help. >> reporter: don had lived in panama for decades and was a consultant on this story. he came here with u.s. military intelligence and never left. now he turns his attention to the two missing americans. >> i knew right off the bat, whoa, hey. what's going on here? and i knew that i had to apply a lot of time to it and a lot of attention to it. and i also knew that i had to get it right.

>> reporter: he hopped on a flight to bocas and tapped into the coconut telegraph. what is the coconut telegraph? >> that's just the rumor mill. they call it the coconut telegraph. when something happens, word spreads quickly. >> reporter: and from what don was hearing, things just weren't adding up. he checked to see if bo and cher might have left the country. >> i knew that bo and cher, both of them, their passports had not gone through the airport. if you look at immigration movements, both of them you can track. could they come in and they leave. they come in and leave. they came in, they never left. all right. so they're still in panama somewhere. >> reporter: but where? there was one more piece of the puzzle falling into place and that would point a finger of suspicion at someone living right among them. coming up -- >> he was the loudest voice in the room. he would text everybody and say the lord commands you to come to my party. >> a pirate out to make a killing in real estate. >> he wasn't selling that place. she loved it. >> bill showed up and said, yep,

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here's your top stories. cardinal theodore mccarrick has been expelled by the pope after the church found him guilty of sexually abusing children and adults. the 88-year-old is the highest-ranking official to be defrocked. he is likely to face charges. heather nauert is out of the running for the ambassador of the united nations. she withdrew her name from consideration, saying the past few months were grueling for her family. now, back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm natalie morales. cher hughes and bo icelar, two americans living in panama, each seeming to have vanished.

but their passports confirmed that neither had left the country. their disappearances seemed oddly something. it turned out, there was something else they shared, raising even more concern. here's kate snow with "stealing paradise." >> reporter: two americans vanished and their disappearances were thought to be linked and something terrible happened to both of them. >> they both disappeared. and neither of them contacted anybody. and the same story, both of them had personal belongings that were going to be sent to them. one-and-one is two. >> reporter: american bo icelar was the first to leave last fall. at the time, no one thought it was unusual, especially when they learned he sold his house to someone else in the ex-pat community, wild bill. >> bill had this persona of i've got buckets of cash, i can pay for it outright.

>> reporter: blogger don winner did some digging. he pulled documents from the public registry and found out that wild bill had actually bought more than just beau's home. >> bill cortez had taken over beau icelar's company. and the company owned the property. so shortly after bo goes missing, bill cortez and his wife are now the president and secretary of this company. they own it. >> reporter: bill was in a hurry to get bo's house remodelled and flipped to a new owner. he even placed an ad in the local paper trying to sell it. in fact, wild bill seemed to be on a real estate buying and selling spree. he got his first property in 2007 from a family living on an estate close to cher's island, the browns, father, mother, and teenage son. now, he acquired bo's house as well it was bill's next purchase that grabbed everyone's attention. >> bill showed up and said, yep, i bought everything. >> reporter: everything? >> everything. >> reporter: meaning your rental

properties, the house you built together, five buildings. >> yeah. >> reporter: this beautiful estate. >> exactly. >> reporter: bill said he bought cher's entire estate, even her beautiful island and that cher had simply taken off. >> my dogs were there. my tools were there. belongings were still on the island. where is cher? where is all that stuff? when she gets back, you can deal with that. that's between you and her. >> reporter: keith asked bill to bring his dogs and his stuff back. >> he placated he brought me one of my dogs. here's one dog. here is a table and two chairs. and here's a toolbox. i said that's a lot more missing here, bill. >> reporter: to keith, the whole story just didn't add up. >> she would have never sold the island. it would never happen. >> reporter: did you have an interest in any of that property? >> we put everything in cher's name. >> reporter: she had the right to sell? >> absolutely. she had the right to sell it. >> reporter: but you don't think she would have done that? >> i don't think so. it was never about the stuff or money. it was our home. we set it up to live there forever.

>> reporter: it all sounded wrong to aunt mary, as well. >> she wasn't selling that place. she loved it. she loved it. >> reporter: mary wanted answers. she picked you up the phone and called wild bill. and he told me, yeah, i got a great deal on cher's property. i bought everything at 50 cents on the dollar. i said i'd like to see that receipt. well, i signed a confidentiality statement. i said well i'll take a look at that. >> reporter: where did he tell you she had gone? >> he said i heard she got an apartment in panama city. >> reporter: i said so where is her stuff and everything? he goes, oh, yeah, she got there and had me send her some jewelry and money air cargo. i said i'd like to see the receipt on that. this girl is not going to have you looking through her drawers finding her jewelry. >> reporter: and another curious thing was happening over at bill's place. no one could figure out why cher's devoted dog, jack, kept leaping off cher's island and swimming to bill's house over and over again. they kept putting him back at your old home and he'd swim

over. >> he would swim right back and stay right there. >> reporter: but for bill, it was business as usual. he even threw one of his famous parties at cher's place with all her things still there. it all seemed a little odd to her friend, sean trainer, who stopped by that night. >> it wasn't very well attended. >> reporter: why didn't people go? >> i just think that everybody had the same thing. it was kind of like really weird it was at cher's house. >> reporter: bill even made a toast at the party to friendship. and bill gave a speech? >> yeah. this really was something about having good friends. >> reporter: just like a heres to good friends? >> yeah, just like that. >> reporter: wild bill was about an hour's boat ride from the main island. a big guy with a big personality. he was known for throwing parties at his place. and even in a place that is full of colorful characters, wild bill stood out. >> he was always the loudest voice in the room. he would text everybody and say, you know, your lord commands you to come to my party.

>> reporter: your lord commands you? >> yeah. he always talked to himself in the third party and a royal sense of some sort. you know, everyone took it as one of bill's quirks. >> reporter: another quirk? a pirate club bill created called the jolly roger social club. bill joked that only 90% of the members survive. by now, an uneasy feeling about wild bill was spreading and the rowdy party guy was suddenly lying low. >> every time i saw him, he was in a hurry. he was trying to get it done and get out of. there he didn't want to answer a lot of questions. he was nervous. >> reporter: and with good reason. the more don winner tapped into the island's coconut telegraph, the more he became convinced that wild bill was the key to finding beau and cher. >> this was the common denominator between the two of them that this guy had apparent -- supposedly bought their property for cash and then both people disappear. >> flares went off in my head. bill's dealt with both these team a people and they're missing.

>> reporter: you remember that moment? >> it came over me like oh, my god, he could have done something to these people. could the brash real estate-buying bartender be hiding a deadly secret? coming up, the dark side of paradise. execute a search warrant on his house. find the ak-47 and get him in custo custody. >> police went up with shovels and then they came down about two hours later and said we need you to come up and take a look. >> when "dateline" continues. lok >> when "dateline" continues ♪

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welcome back. wild bill cortez ron the jolly roger social club, where americans living on a group of panamanian islands liked to gather. but he seemed just as interested in acquiring some of the local real estate. just how far did bill go to get his hands on these properties? local police were about to find out. continuing with "stealing paradise," here is kate snow. >> reporter: in the tiny ex-pat community of bocas del toro, all eyes were on one of their own -- wild bill cortez. in four months' time, he'd snapped up the homes of two people who'd mysteriously vanished -- bo icelar and cher hughes. now cher's husband, keith, was telling anyone who'd listen that the disappearances and property transfers were no coincidence. >> i right away thought that bill has done something to these people. i was telling people in bocas, obviously, of the suspicions. and, in a small community, we're all saying the same thing. >> reporter: and bill's still living nearby.

>> and bill's still in the area. and he told people he was going to come and shut me up. >> reporter: he told people that? >> he told three or four people that. i moved out of my house and moved into a hotel that had security. >> reporter: keith wasn't the only one who was nervous. >> i got to the point where i became convinced that this guy cortez killed these people in order to steal their property. that's when i said i'm going to the authorities. >> reporter: he urged keith to do the same. >> he said you need to get to panama city and get to the prosecutor and really turn up the heat. >> reporter: keith went to panama city and laid out the case against wild bill to the dij, the panamanian fbi. >> from that point on, kudos to the panamanian police, they just stepped it up. >> reporter: but for all the suspicion, there was still no hard evidence of a crime. that's when don winner got an idea. he'd heard a lot of stories about wild bill and his ak-47. how he'd even fire it off sometimes to impress his friends. but in panama, it's illegal for a civilian to own that type of weapon.

so, don made a suggestion to police. >> execute a search warrant on his house, find the ak-47, get him in custody. >> reporter: get him on possession of firearms? >> find the gun, lock him down. >> reporter: and then, figure out what role, if any, he might have had in the disappearances of two people. police drew up the warrant. on a steamy day in july, authorities descended on wild bill's home. bill and jane were nowhere to be found. police began the search. so police are looking around. they're here. they have a search warrant on this property looking for a gun. >> yeah. they're executing a search warrant for an ak-47. and when they got here, they encountered cher's dog. >> reporter: jack, the doberman who adored cher, was already at bill's place. no one knew exactly how he got there, but the dog was anxious, pacing nervously. >> jackie was really animated and agitated, and just kept circling and running up into the jungle. >> and the dog would come down

and like bark at the people that were doing the search, and run up the hill -- "follow me, guys." and the dog led them up there -- >> reporter: this hill right here?" >> right here. and went up into the back of the property. >> reporter: jack bounded up and down the hill, until police followed him. and there, they found something shocking. a mound of disturbed dirt. they began to dig. cher's husband, keith, waited at the bottom of the hill. >> the police went up with shovels, and then they came down, about two hours later, and said, we need you to come up and take a look. >> reporter: in a shallow grave, hidden under a mound of garbage, the police made a horrible discovery -- the body of cher hughes. she had been shot once in the back of the head. i imagine that was one of the hardest days of your life. >> yeah. it sure is. i mean, no -- no one should ever see someone they cared about look like that. >> reporter: now, keith finally understood why jack kept swimming to bill's place. >> he'd swim that mile back and just stay right there.

he was staying true to mommy. >> reporter: but the horror wasn't over. as police continued searching bill's property, they found another mound of disturbed dirt, another shallow grave. and there, beneath another mound of rubble, the body of bo icelar. the other missing american. >> when they found the bodies, that's when//they realized that it's not just people with suspicions and making accusations. it's all -- it's really happening. >> reporter: keith watched as authorities raided bill's home. he says they found evidence of the ghastly crimes -- bo's i.d., cher's passport, her purse, and her cell phone, from which she'd allegedly sent those text messages, saying she'd simply gone for a sail. and there was more -- nazi memorabilia, strange satanic signs, jewelry that may have belonged to the victims. and the most gruesome discovery -- about a dozen gold teeth. >> he lived with these things. he lived with the corpses and people's personal effects around him. >> reporter: the ex-pats in bocas were in turmoil. two of their friends were

dead, their bodies found in the backyard of a man they once trusted, wild bill cortez. >> to know that he lived next to me for 2 1/2 years and i had him in my home. i invited him to dinner. we did the social neighbor thing with him. he shot my wife. it's just inconceivable. >> reporter: authorities launched a search for bill and his wife, who they also suspected was involved. but it was too late. they had already fled. this is now a major manhunt. >> i knew he was probably out of the country already. that he was on the fly. so, the most important thing at that point was to get his picture out there on every television screen. on every newspaper cover. on every computer monitor. it's gotta get out there in a big way to get him caught. >> reporter: by then, wild bill and his wife, jane, were in costa rica. someone recognized them there, and contacted the police. as the search intensified, bill and jane made a desperate attempt to cross into nicaragua by boat. but they were stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint.

>> they got the drop on him with machine guns and basically said, "halt or die." and he stopped. he gave himself up. >> reporter: the end of the line. >> that was the first time he had ever had handcuffs on in his life. >> reporter: it was also the first time anyone on the island heard wild bill's real name -- >> my name is william dathan holbert. >> reporter: fun-loving bocas del toro bartender wild bill cortez was in fact, william dathan holbert, a 30-year-old who'd been on the run from american authorities since 2006. as the islanders absorbed the headlines of a killer among them, they discovered that wild bill had a long and notorious past that stretched nearly 2,000 miles, from the white sand beaches of bocas del toro all the way to the blue ridge mountains of north carolina. that's where he grew up, going by his middle name, dathan. he played high school football. married his sweetheart, had three kids, and worked as a landscaper. his old boss at a gym, kevin

hoover, liked dathan, until dathan had an affair with one of his employees -- and hoover says, embezzled $25,000 from the gym's accounts. >> he had told me he had thought that was part of his -- his pay, his package. and i said, "no, dathan. it's not part of your package." >> reporter: and that was just the beginning. dathan left the job and his wife. he ran off with laura michele reese, who'd later be known as jane cortez in bocas. in 2005, police say dathan started in on his real estate scams. he sold a home that wasn't his for $200,000. police charged him with obtaining property under false pretenses. by the time the owner realized what had happened, dathan was on the run. that landed him on the television program "america's most wanted." somewhere along the line, police say dathan sold a stolen car in montana. and when cops pulled him over for speeding in wyoming, he took off. >> stop, right now.

>> reporter: leading them on a high-speed chase before escaping. it seems it was only after he moved to panama that dathan's scams took a sinister turn. >> the change was he killed people to get the documentation in order to take over the property. and not only did he steal the property, he would steal everything in their house. cars, boats. and not only was he stealing their property, he would steal everything in the house. right down to the toothbrush and the underwear and their dogs. he took on their entire lives? >> yeah, right down to the change in their pocket. >> reporter: four years after fleeing from the states, wild bill was finally in police custody, charged with heinous crimes, the murders of bo icelar and cher hughes. >> there are dozens, if not a hundred people in this town, in bocas, that all knew cher, that all knew bo, and they're all thinking, "wow, man, this guy fooled us all. he fooled everybody." >> reporter: he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder. for a while, yeah. >> reporter: little did everyone know that wild bill had actually gotten away with a lot more. after authorities nabbed wild bill in costa rica, what

else would they discover when he was brought back to panama? coming up -- >> there's a guard in this jail that brings me cell phones and gives me death threats from these people. >> a jail cell interview with wild bill. >> i never tried to paint myself as a good guy. >> when "dateline" continues. els at walgreens, we want you, to keep doing you... and we'll take care of medicare part d. by helping you save up to $5 on each prescription... so you can get back to doing the things you love. stop in and start saving on your medicare part d prescriptions today... walgreens. trusted since 1901. walking a dog can add thousands walking this many?day. that can be rough on pam's feet, knees, and lower back. that's why she wears dr. scholl's orthotics. they relieve pain and give her the comfort to move more so she can keep up with all of her best friends. dr. scholl's. born to move.

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panama as wild bill and jane cortez, were arrested for not only stealing the island properties of two americans but allegedly murdering them in cold blood. now bill was talking to the police. but they couldn't have been prepared for his stunning confession. here is kate snow with the conclusion of "stealing paradise." >> the search ended with them in shallow graves. after being found at the border, wild bill and his wife emerged in shackles charged with the murders. bill's wife was subdued and denied any involvement. bill, however, appeared surprisingly cheerful saying he was happy to be back in panama. >> those first days when bill was brought back to panama, what was he like? >> he was making jokes, he was

laughing. and he was really -- he wanted people to see him, he was really trying to show off. >> national director of police, gustavo perez interrogated wild bill and says he talked openly about the killings. bill admitted to shooting b bo islar on his boat. for cher, it started with a friendly dinner at bill's place. afterward bill took her to see animals behind his house. when she turned to look at them, he shot her. did bill tell you why he murdered the people that he confessed to murdering? >> money. >> he said money? >> he said, i wanted to -- i wanted to have their things. >> but even the most hardened cops were shocked to hear what else bill had done. wild bill drew a map of his home with xs marking where the bodies were buried, only there were more than two xs on the map, there were five. five victims, not just bo and

cher, but three more people who died at the hands of wild bill. this time, it was a father, mother, and their teenage son. the brown family. they were the original owners of bill's property, cher's neighbors. after the bodies were discovered, wild bill was seen as a monster in panama, a serial killer who kept his victims' personal things right in his own house. we wanted to speak with bill holbert, so he reached out to his attorney. we did get a return call. it was the lawyer with wild bill himself on the phone, calling from his jail cell in panama. he had already confessed to the murders but said he wanted to explain himself. >> i am not denying criminal activity. i'm only saying that what's been portrayed in the media as this crazy serial killer thing is -- is completely untrue. i'm telling you that i have not -- i am not a serial killer. i have never taken pleasure in harming another human being.

and the things i've done in my life haunt my nightmares like you wouldn't believe, and i'm left here to die in a panamanian jail. >> you have to understand that the victims of these crimes, their families are incensed. their families say that you had parties at their homes. how can you defend that action? >> defend it? i'm not trying to defend my actions. i'm a criminal. i'm a bad guy. i'm your worst nightmare. what i'm also saying is i didn't wake up one morning and decide to kill my neighbors. >> shortly after our call, a very different looking bill holbert gave a tv interview from his jail cell. his wild hair replaced by a buzz cut. >> i did it, i'm guilty of it, i'm going to be punished for it. >> reporter: he in cold detail he explains how he murdered the brown family. >> this is gruesome, and i continued's very -- you're asking me, and i'll answer your question, sir. i separated them -- i asked mike brown to show me a well he just

just dug in the back of the property. without him knowing what was happening, i shot him from behind and killed him. >> holbert also admits to another victim, number six, american ex-pat jeffrey cline. he claims he died when they got into a fight on the bowl. too afraid to go to authorities, he came one his own solution. >> i panicked and buried it. the next couple of days i built a picnic area over it. i know it's horrible and stupid. it was the wrong thing to do. but i never had been in that situation before, didn't know what to do. i'm not a good guy. i'm a bad guy. i'm getting what i deserve. there's nothing i can say -- i'm sorry, but i can do nothing to bring those people back especially cheryl who was an minute person. >> he says he's sorry for what he's done and does shed tears but not for the victims -- who his wife laura, who says she is innocent. >> if she was here i would tell her i'm sorry she ever met me. because she didn't deserve this.

if i could give my life to make her free, i would. that's it. >> and the man he said he killed six people had time to sit in a cell and think about his own death. william and his wife laura apparently received threats in prison. >> there's a guard in this jail that brings me a cell phone and gives me death threats from these people and threats on my life. i'm a dead man. i don't even care. that's not important. but my wife don't deserve this. >> you talked to your wife about this? what are the option that's they have? >> options? what options? excuse me. just give me a second to compose myself. >> this is a really, really bad guy. i mean, doesn't get any worse than this kind of guy. he's the worst of the worst. >> do you think the trail of bodies is longer than we know? >> i have no doubt. exactly how many people did this guy kill? nobody knows.

>> panama's auxiliary prosecutor reached out to other countries to see if any of their missing persons may have crossed paths with wild bill. >> translatranslator: once they and confirm any persons who have had contact with him and disappeared, they will take measures to verify where they are. >> if there are other victims out there, they may be hard to find. wild bill mostly targeted loners, people whose disappearance might not be noticed. ♪ it wasn't until bill killed cher, the woman who had a smile for everyone, that he was caught. >> his mistakes of targeting cher is what was his downfall. >> he couldn't have picked a girl more loved. she stood out everywhere she went and would be missed and loved. >> someone the family cared so much about that they would start calling immediately. >> yeah. >> this is our girl. how dare you mess with our girl and think we're not coming for her. >> it would take seven long

years for the wheels of justice to turn in panama. during that time, holbert's wife divorced him while they sat in separate panamanian jails. cher's family finally got the news they had long waited for. in august, 2017, william dathan holbert, the man the people knew as "wild bill cortez," was found guilty of the robbery and rom honorable -- and homicide of five people according to a tweet from the panama department of justice. he was sentenced to 47 years in prison. the woman once known as jane cortez, she was sentenced to 26 years for her role in the crimes. for cher's sister, judy, there are only good memories and appreciation for the big sister who followed her adventu vevent spirit all the way to paradise. you're not bitter that she ever went to panama?

>> i'm happy that she went because i know what it meant to her. the peace in her heart of being able to live there. i wouldn't have wanted her to miss that. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. good morning. i'm phillip mena at msnbc world headquarters in new york. it is 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. here's what's happening -- follow the money. for the first time we're hearing from one of the key figures who holds the purse strings in paying for the president's border wall. withdrawn. heather nauert drops her bid to be u.s. amtd to the u.n. -- ambassador to the u.n. the controversy. making the rounds. the jam-packed field of candidates out in full force as another high-profile name reportedly gets ready to enter the race. new questions this morning about the alleged attack on