what a week. we are out of time. i'll be back next week. monday, 6:00 p.m. eastern. we're going to cover the hearings for paul manafort and roger stone and a whole lot >> i don't go under cover every day. that's what made me nervous. >> they had a secret plan. >> were you armed? >> yes. >> and you were wearing a wire? >> yes, to solve a baffling case, a college student on a friday night out who vanished. >> she was a very shy girl, but she was something special. >> the possible suspects, just about everyone. the friend, the boyfriend, the mysterious older man, even her mom. >> i was shocked that he even suspected me. >> so why were police at a dead end? enter this guy. >> he sees things other cops

don't see? >> phenomenal. >> they call him the evidence whisperer. he's about to crack this case before your eyes. >> the answer was in the details. >> it was right there. >> and you won't believe how. >> you walk out of there thinking, i spooked him, it worked. >> i hoped. i wasn't quite sure. >> the night lynsie disappeared. thanks for joining us. i'm lester holt. here is josh mankiewicz. >> reporter: sometimes the tracks are as clear as the sky, but other times you need to know where to look to see the truth.

this man has made a career of noticing what others do not. what is his reputation? >> meticulous investigator. just pours over the volumes of evidence and finds things that other investigators do not find. >> reporter: the evidence whisperer. >> correct. >> that night i went out dancing. >> reporter: does this man act guilty? does he know more than he's saying? >> i didn't know anything was going on. all right. i just heard lynsie. >> reporter: what about this man? can you believe the story he's telling? >> i was supposed to pick her up twice, she was so out of character, she didn't show up on either day. >> reporter: the evidence whisperer wasn't at either of those interviews. but watching them helped him solve the mystery of what happened to a vivacious young woman, and bring answers to the mother who loved her. >> i was always proud of her. she was a real fighter.

>> reporter: lynsie arrived on july 2nd, 1980, the youngest of three. maybe that fighting spirit isn't visible in her photos, but her mother nancy says it was always there. she had a passion for animals. she helped out in her spare time at a local shelter. kim davidson, who worked at lynsie's middle school remembers she also had a sense of compassion. >> it was freezing cold and i didn't bring a jacket that day. and i held little hands up on my shoulder and a sweater come up around me and i turn around and it was lynsie. and she said, i can't stand watching you shiver and she wrapped me up in her sweater. she just melted me. >> reporter: she gave back in other ways. her mother says she would lie about her age so she could give blood. remarkable in itself because lynsie struggled with her own disabilities. her left arm was paralyzed, her left leg impaired. did she talk about how she became disabled? >> she brought it up to me and said she was in a car accident

and was thrown when she was a little girl. but very matter of fact, not poor me or not anything like that. >> reporter: but growing up, she needed so much care. her mother nancy was with lynsie like her shadow. >> somebody had to be with her 24 hours a day. >> reporter: that was you? >> yes. it was her and i alone. she was my only purpose. in my life, it was to make her as normal as she could be. >> reporter: by the time kim met lynsie, her dad and brothers moved away. kim remembers a tight family unit of just two. how close were they? >> unbelievably, extremely. >> reporter: but as lynsie reached adolescence, that started changing. like a lot of teens, she wanted her own identity. she changed the spelling of her name from this to this. by high school, there were girlfriends, even some boyfriends.

and by the time she was 20, after so many years of mom and daughter being each other's best friends and confidants, lynsie began to keep some things in her life to herself, like where she was really headed. one night in february, 2001. does it make any sense she would lie to you about what she was going to do to you that night? >> i have never known her to lie to me. but you don't know what you don't know. >> reporter: it was a friday night, lynsie was in college part time and working, but still living at home. she told her mom that instead of their usual friday night dinner, she was staying the night with a girlfriend named andrea, someone nancy had never met. and then a young man named chris came to the door to pick lynsie up. >> the last thing i said to her was remember your seat belt and she looked over her shoulder and

said, back at you, mom, love you. that's the last thing she said to me. >> reporter: nancy locked up the house and went to bed. the next day lynsie was supposed to call after she was done tutoring two girls from the neighborhood. when the call never came, nancy drove over and found out lynsie never showed up at her job. >> all of a sudden my daughter is not where she's supposed to be. she taught these little girls for four months about. >> reporter: and you have no way of reaching her. >> i have no way. >> reporter: nancy was frantic. >> i started calling hospitals. i called the morgue. that's how you desperate i was, to see if there was a jane doe in the morgue. >> reporter: there was no jane doe. and there was no lynsie ekelund. most people that disappear like that, they come back within a couple of days.

>> if not 24 hours, yes. >> reporter: is that what you thought was going to happen? >> i think we did. >> reporter: colleen lomis is a detective with the police department. you had no unidentified bodies. >> we had no unidentified bodies. >> reporter: you checked the er. >> we checked everybody. we checked everything. there was no sign. it was just as if she had vanished. >> when we come back, lynsie had a secret she kept from just about everyone. >> when is the last time you saw lynsie. >> a week ago. >> no. i don't think so. >> when the night lynsie disappeared continues.

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her daughter was missing.

nancy ekelund began handing out flyers and counting the days without lynsie. ticking them off on little post-it notes. the pd brought in the usual suspects, like the boyfriend. >> when you guys were dating,

the pd brought in the usual suspects, like the boyfriend. >> when you guys were dating, she hasn't been dating anyone else to your knowledge. >> no. >> reporter: his name is matthew ramirez. he was at college with lynsie. then in came the last person known to have seen her, chris mcamis, 21 years old, out of school. he told the cops he was unemployed. lynsie met him through friends about four months prior and it turned out he never drove lynsie to andrea's house for a sleepover. chris said that was a lie lynsie made up for her mother. the real plan was to go clubbing all night in san diego. >> don't tell my mom we're going to san diego because my mom won't let us go.

she won't let me go. something like that. and definitely don't tell her that we're clubbing. >> reporter: chris told police when their night of clubbing went bust, they went home earlier than expected. he dropped off the other girls, he said, and headed to lynsie's house. chris said it was after 4:00 a.m. when he finally got back here to lynsie's neighborhood. and he said that lynsie was worried her mom might hear his truck pull up at that hour. so chris said lynsie asked to be dropped off not at her house, but here at the corner, 50 yards away. that sounded strange to police, until they heard from lynsie's friend, that at other times she had asked to be dropped off right here. chris said he then drove home and police even found a photo from a bank atm of what looked like chris' truck heading north on the right street, at the right time. to the cops, chris' story added up. and that was when police learned

matthew and chris were not the only men in lynsie's life. there was someone else who both matthew and chris had mentioned to investigators, an older man who drove lynsie around. no one knew his name. they had heard lynsie refer to him as her friend. >> everybody knows him by her friend. >> reporter: nancy had no idea lynsie was friends with any older man. she was about to find out. two days after lynsie vanishes, you get a phone call. >> yes. >> reporter: you're pretty much at your wit's end at this point. >> yes. >> reporter: the phone rings and it is a guy named marty. did you know marty? >> no. >> reporter: as far as you know, did lynsie know marty? >> no. >> reporter: marty told nancy he had gone to pick up lynsie at school but she wasn't there. he said he had money of lynsie's she needed for tuition. none of that made any sense to nancy. after lynsie goes missing, nancy, her mother gets a phone

call, from a guy named marty. >> marty rossler. >> reporter: and what does marty say to her? >> marty says he befriended lynsie, he's a friend of lynsie's and he's concerned because he hadn't heard from her. >> reporter: what did you learn about marty rossler? >> marty rossler was not marty rossler. >> reporter: marty rossler was really marty pregenzer. he did not have a criminal record. what he did have was a relationship with lynsie he hadn't told his wife about. he told police he often picked lynsie up and give her rides, but that was about it. marty was 58. and she was 20? >> she was 20. >> reporter: they were boyfriend and girlfriend? >> don't think so. >> reporter: so police brought in marty. over two days they recorded those interviews. at times on video and sometimes just on audiotape. >> when is the last time you saw lynsie? >> a week ago. >> no. i don't think so.

>> absolutely. >> no. absolutely not. >> marty said he had last seen lynsie the day that she went to san diego on that friday. >> reporter: did you believe him? >> we really didn't believe him. >> reporter: they didn't believe him because of a tip they received, a clerk at a local clothing store had called to say she had seen lynsie and a much older man who matched marty's description, together, at her store, after the day lynsie went missing. >> i had been in that store, all right. and i said, i'm like you, i'm easily identified, okay. probably every place i been would know i was in there with her. okay. >> it was a very long, very long interview. >> reporter: friendly? >> no, no. >> either by accident? >> never touched her. never touched her.

>> either by accident? >> never touched her. never touched her. >> okay. >> did you put her some place where she's left? >> no, no. >> reporter: police searched marty's home and found nothing. no proof that marty had anything to do with lynsie's

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nancy and lynsie had been together all lynsie's life. now alone, nancy waited, ticking off the days. in the dark, about where her daughter was and about the pace of the investigation. police were not keeping her in the loop. so nancy was delighted when they called to say they were coming to visit. you look at the boyfriend, matthew, you look at marty, the older guy, the relationship nobody knew about, he denies it. >> right. >> reporter: you look at chris. he says i dropped her off, never saw her again. >> right. >> reporter: and you look at lynsie's mother. >> we did look at lynsie's mother. you have to. >> so i made my cookies and all this kind of silly stuff, i thought -- >> reporter: coffee. >> yeah. >> reporter: the cops weren't

coming for coffee. they arrived with a search warrant, shovels, and cadaver dogs. >> i was shocked that they even suspected me. i didn't know what even a search warrant was. >> reporter: the house nancy and lynsie once shared was torn apart. >> i don't know that nancy was on the radar for a long time. she was on the radar long enough to be able to set her aside. >> reporter: after that search, they did just that. they believed this anguished mother had nothing to do with the disappearance of her daughter. so they took nancy off the list. they also took off the boyfriend, matthew. he had an alibi that held up, putting him somewhere else at the time lynsie went missing. so that left just two. >> i haven't seen her since that day. >> reporter: marty who police didn't trust because of his secret relationship with lynsie, and because he had lied about his identity. and the man who dropped lynsie off at that corner, the last

person to see her before she vanished. chris mcamis. >> grab a seat at the end. >> reporter: april 2002, more than a year after lynsie went missing, detectives decided to start over. they brought chris mcamis back to see if his story still held up. >> i would like to think lynsie has been, like, either abducted or something happened to her. >> like what? >> i would really rather think that she was somewhere else. >> reporter: police turned up the heat. >> i'd like to think, and all things in a perfect world, she would be some place. >> it is a possibility she's dead. >> what? >> reporter: his lack of emotion was suggestive that perhaps

chris should move to the top of the list. but it was not evidence. after the interview, chris mcamis was free to leave. and detectives weren't any closer to learning what happened to lynsie ekelund. >> you thought that one day she would walk back through the

door. >> yes. >> reporter: she believed it because she wanted to. and because over the years, several people had told her they had seen lynsie. >> they never saw the front of her face. they always saw the back of her. and i held on to every word they said. >> we worked this case diligently for a long time. at some point, you hit the wall. >> reporter: there are nine detectives in placentia, working everything, drugs, gangs, rapes,

murder, and cold cases. >> we worked this case diligently for a long time. at some point, you hit the wall. >> reporter: there are nine detectives in placentia, working everything, drugs, gangs, rapes, murder, and cold cases. but 2008 it was clear placentia pd had hit that wall. they would need help on this one. and who they needed was a guy named larry. tell me about larry. >> larry is -- larry is phenomenal. >> reporter: phenomenal because, what, he sees things other cops don't see? >> phenomenal because he sees things cops don't see. i don't know anybody who could have done a better job than larry. >> reporter: the evidence whisperer was about to listen to the facts of this case were really saying.

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to a guy named larry montgomery. >> reporter: by 2008, lynsie ekelund had been missing for seven years. the case had gone from cold to frozen in time. so placentia pd decided to outsource the investigation to the cold case unit at the orange county d.a.'s office. to a guy named larry montgomery. with more than 30 years working homicide, larry put away his

share of bad guys. not usually by knocking on doors. instead, larry works by looking very closely at the evidence. he doesn't work fast. in fact, larry is meticulously slow. and that was just what this cold case needed. was there anything in the original investigation that struck you as something that you needed to re-examine? >> everything. >> reporter: everything that had led placentia police into that wall, trying to decide between two suspects. >> i mean, i'm concerned about this girl, okay. you know. and she's missing. >> reporter: marty, lynsie's older friend who kept their relationship a secret, and lied about his name. and chris. >> in my heart, it seems like she -- >> reporter: the last person known to have seen lynsie when he dropped her off at that corner. at this point any idea on your part which of those two was the more likely suspect? >> no, i don't know until i get into it and see the details. >> reporter: you're no doubt aware you have a reputation for

believing that, i don't know, god is in the detail, but guilt is in the details. >> and innocence. >> reporter: guilty or innocent. was it marty or chris? larry even considered another possibility. could it have been random? someone who had seen lynsie at just the wrong time. >> so you got a bad guy just waiting, hoping that the girl drops out of a car at 4:25 in the morning. >> reporter: it happened. >> yeah. and you consider that but then weigh it and go, it doesn't -- is this a good possibility? probably not but keep an open mind. >> reporter: so larry sat down and read through the entire case file, all the witness statements, all the interviews. he did that for two years. >> we're down this road again. >> reporter: he watched the february 2001 interview that police did with a very unhappy marty. doesn't it strike you as

tremendously suspicious that marty would call after lynsie disappears, talk to lynsie's mother, and give a phony name? >> if you didn't know the background of marty, absolutely. >> when i talked to the mother on the phone, i just gave her an identifier. okay. i mean, marty rossler, that's what i said. >> which is a lie. >> which is a lie. >> reporter: watching that interview, larry chalked up marty's dishonesty as an attempt to save his marriage. >> i don't want my wife to be brought into this thing. >> reporter: larry also took a closer look at the idea that marty and lynsie were together at that clothing store after she went missing. no one ever found any security video of that and larry learned over the years that well meaning people often get dates wrong. and larry learned a key fact. marty had actually participated in those early searches for lynsie.

you eliminated marty fairly quickly then? >> yes. >> reporter: marty's behavior matched up with that of an innocent person not a guilty one. >> he's doing what you would do if you were looking for lynsie. he was searching. >> reporter: so larry montgomery turned his attention to chris mcamis. guilty or innocent? chris was the last person known to be with lynsie. he told police he drove straight home after dropping lynsie off. and police found that photo of what looked like his truck heading north away from lynsie's neighborhood, which took him past this atm camera. the video from the atm camera, police at the time saw that as not iron clad proof that chris was telling the truth, but suggestive that what he said he actually did. >> correct. >> reporter: but when larry compared photos of chris' truck with the photos from the bank, he saw something no one else had noticed.

the paint on the back of the side view mirror on chris' truck was white. what about the truck in the photo? >> the truck in the photo had a dark spot in that area, which means whatever mirrors were there, if mirrors were there, they were black. >> reporter: not the same truck? >> that's right, it is not. >> reporter: suddenly chris' alibi had a big hole in it. larry moved on to chris' history with women. two ex-girlfriends talked to police about how chris would become unhinged by rejection, or what he called disrespect. larry heard about how chris had once crushed a pet crab with a hammer right in front of one of his girlfriends because he thought the crab had killed one of his fish. this is a guy with significant anger issues. >> certainly appears that way. >> reporter: larry listened to chris' interviews and caught him talking some of the time talking about lynsie in the past tense. then larry found something in the paperwork from placentia pd

that proved chris mcamis had lied to the police early on about his whereabouts on saturday, february 17th. the day lynsie didn't come home. chris had told the cops he stayed close to home. but larry checked chris' credit card statements. >> there was one entry on february 17th, and it turns out it was santa clarita, 50 miles north of where chris lived. >> reporter: why would chris be in santa clarita? >> well, that's what i wanted to know. >> reporter: digging through the reports, larry found information about chris' dad, that he was in construction, and that in 2000 and 2001, he had a job site in santa clarita. you can't tell now, but back in 2001, this was a major construction site.

now, chris had told police he did not work for his dad that winter, but he was on unemployment. but larry saw some big cash deposits going into chris' bank account in addition to his unemployment checks. so he thought that chris might have been working for his dad off the books. and larry came up here to ask around. they told you it was chris' father's construction company. >> chris' father did some of the tractor work at that site. >> reporter: and chris worked there. >> and chris was one of the tractor drivers that the superintendent said was there every day. >> reporter: is this where you thought to yourself, that's where lynsie ekelund is? >> i thought chances are excellent that if i killed lynsie, i was in chris mcamis' situation and had use of a tractor out in the middle of nowhere, i might use that tractor to dig a hole to put her in. >> reporter: now all the evidence whisperer had to do was prove it.

>> coming up, an undercover operation. >> were you armed? >> yes. >> and you were wearing a wire? >> yes. >> could she help them get the proof they would need? >> the color in his face went white. we all make excuses for the things we don't want to do. but when it comes to colon cancer screening... i'm not doin' that. i eat plenty of kale. ahem, as i was saying... ...with cologuard, you don't need an excuse... all that prep? no thanks. that drink tastes horrible! but...there's no prep with cologuard... i can't take the time off work. who has two days? and i feel fine - no symptoms! everybody, listen! all you need is a trip to the bathroom. if you're 50 or older and at average risk, cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92% of colon cancers. you just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab! this is your year! own it! cologuard is not right for everyone.

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it was october of 2010, nine years after her daughter disappeared, nancy ekelund was

it was october of 2010, nine years after her daughter disappeared, nancy ekelund was still waiting and doing what she could. she was now at 3,535 days without lynsie. she didn't know it, but a few miles away, larry montgomery was tightening the noose around chris mcamis. larry had proceeded a motorcycle cop from a nearby town to go undercover. >> they needed a police officer that looked like a college student and didn't have the mannerisms of a police officer. >> reporter: officer spring sandele fit the bill. how you were you dressed? >> something a college student would wear and something that would appeal to a guy. >> reporter: were you armed? >> yes. >> reporter: and you were wearing a wire? >> yes. hi. are you chris? >> yes. >> hi, my name is nicole anderson. i'm from the magazine.

>> reporter: officer was sandele was posing a student reporter, complete with a press pass. she knocked on chris' front door. chris talked to a student reporter from lynsie's college in the past about the case. you use your real name? >> i used a fake name. told him who i was. >> we received word at torch magazine that remains had been found that they believe belonged to lynsie. so i guess they're doing dna testing right now. and in the meantime, i'm supposed to contact friends, family, to get their initial reaction for a story. >> okay. >> when i told him the police believe they found lynsie's remains, his demeanor changed. >> reporter: how you? >> quite drastically. i could see his color in his face went white. >> reporter: the police had not found lynsie's remains. that was a lie. police do it all the time and it is legal. in fact, larry hadn't tried to find lynsie at the construction location where chris had worked. and he had gotten some interest from cadaver dogs. but nothing more. just down the street from chris' house, detective bryce angel of

placentia pd who had been assigned to work with larry was listening and keeping an eye on the action. so you're watching him while this interview happens on the front doorstep. >> i was sitting, you know, ten houses down, watching the reporter, the undercover police officer. once she left the area, we were in business. >> reporter: what happened? >> later that night, he was seen coming out of his house and going into the garage, lights go on. we're talking like 3:00 in the morning. it was clearly a sign of somebody who couldn't sleep. >> reporter: detectives were sure they had rattled their suspect. the next day they trailed chris when he left his house. >> at some point it became apparent he knew we were following him. >> reporter: they broke off surveillance. and brought chris in. >> chris, have a seat. >> reporter: larry had read all

about chris mcamis. he looked at tape of every time chris had been in for an interview. >> here is what the situation is -- >> reporter: today, he and chris were going to meet for the first time. >> i have been investigating the case for about two years now and -- >> reporter: larry had a plan to get chris to talk, without asking for a lawyer. >> you probably want to know what's going on, what's happening, why you're sitting here. >> reporter: larry promised to fill him in on the case in detail, thinking chris would want to know if the cops had the goods and then maybe he would have something to say. >> i do have to advise you of your rights which i will do in a moment. after that, i would like to do, i would like to explain to you everything. >> reporter: larry read chris' rights and before chris could really respond, larry laid out his case. he said he knew chris had never dropped lynsie off that night. because the atm photo that at first fooled investigators actually proved chris wasn't there. >> it wasn't your truck. for years it was thought that it

was your truck. it is not. matter of fact, your truck did not go by that night. it wasn't there. >> reporter: he told chris about the credit card statement and how he found someone who remembered chris working on the job site. >> all of a sudden, big red flags. you are working. you are up there when you said you were not. and he said you don't work on saturday. and you disappeared on a saturday morning. none of your credit card usage up there is on any weekends, all on week days except for the day lynsie disappeared. so you're not there working that day. >> reporter: he told chris about the lie about lynsie being found. >> we had the dna checked against the body and it is lynsie. so now we have got lynsie up there, right in the area where you were, right at the time when you did not drop her off, and we have enough to prove the crime. >> reporter: and knowing about

chris' anger issues with previous girlfriends, larry summoned up a little empathy to draw chris in. >> i know you have the ability to be angry, but i don't know what would cause her to get you that angry, or what she could have done. >> reporter: chris didn't say much until a little body language revealed that larry was on the right track. >> was it a premeditated thing? i didn't think it was. so what did she do? >> reporter: larry finished talking. he was hoping chris would give it up. >> i think i need a lawyer to talk to you about this with me. >> it's up to you. >> reporter: the supreme court made it pretty clear, if someone declares that they want an attorney, the interview is supposed to stop until one can be hired or provided. but in this case, larry was walking a line.

believing that asking for a lawyer isn't the same as wondering if you need one. karen lomis was watching from the other room. >> reporter: that's as close as you can get to the i want a lawyer line without crossing it. were you holding your breath when he said that? >> yes, this is a make or break interview. if he didn't confess, he was going to walk again. >> coming up -- i switched to chevy. i switched to chevy. we switched to chevy. i switched from a ram to a chevy. see why people are switching to chevy. we love our chevy. why did we switch? just look at it. switch into a new chevy today. current competitive owners get 21% below msrp on most equinox models when financing with gm financial. that's over $8,300 on this equinox.

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i need to know what occurred so i do the right thing. because something happened to her. >> reporter: larry montgomery spoke for 45 minutes. he had given chris mcamis everything he had. >> take a look at your credit card usage. >> reporter: the photo, the job site. >> how long did you know lynsie? >> this is not a convenient time right now. >> oh, okay. >> reporter: the phony story about finding the body. and then the interview had suddenly stopped dead. >> i think i need a lawyer to talk to you about this with me. >> well, it is up to you. >> reporter: because chris said i think i need a lawyer and not i want a lawyer, larry thought whatever came next would be admissible in court. detective angel who had been letting larry do the talking, then spoke up. >> i knew that was a moment of truth and had to interject something very quickly.

>> nobody likes to be labeled a monster and in this case, that's the way it is pointing. only you have the other side of the story. nobody is going to be able to speak for you. that's what i want to let you know. there is a reason everything happens. i'm sure there was some circumstances that happened that night or that morning. >> he kind of sighed and he laid out his story. >> all right, what happened was -- >> reporter: and suddenly you realized -- >> this is it. he's going to give it up. i was sitting next to the detective from the other agency and i reached over and grabbed his arm and i said he's going to confess. >> reporter: it was sad and it was ugly. >> she -- i was going to take her home. >> okay.

>> she was telling me, why don't i sleep over at your place because i don't want to upset my mom. >> reporter: as larry had suspected, chris never dropped off lynsie at that corner. >> i was trying to kiss her and she elbowed me in the chest. and then i went to my -- i went to my kitchen in my apartment and i drank a lot of vodka. and then i went back and i tried to do the same thing. she pretended to be asleep. and i pulled her pants down and i was totally drunk. >> okay. >> she got up, said, oh, my god, what are you doing? i'm calling the police. when i got up and walked to her,

she tried to knock me out with my phone, with my own phone on my face. like this to my face. >> okay. >> and being drunk, it enraged me. it set me on fire. and i grabbed her, threw her on to my bed, and i got her into a headlock. >> okay. >> and she died. >> and then what did you do? >> then i tried to figure out what i should do because i couldn't believe how it just happened that way. >> quickly, huh? >> i just couldn't believe it. i thought she was just going to pass out and i ended up killing her. >> reporter: that was it. lynsie ekelund had been killed before anyone realized she was even missing. chris says he then drove up to

the work site and used a skip loader to dig a hole. he held on to lynsie's body for a few days and then when no one was around, he buried her. did it feel any better to finally know? >> no, because i was really devastated. there was a relief, but i wasn't any happier because of it. >> reporter: with detectives, chris returned to the site that had become lynsie's final resting place. >> right where this tree is i

>> reporter: with detectives, chris returned to the site that had become lynsie's final resting place. >> right where this tree is i pulled my truck over and parked it. >> this tree to our left here? >> uh-huh. right where this tree is. didn't used to exist there when we had construction. >> okay. >> reporter: he wasn't sure of the exact spot. >> it is over in this vicinity. >> it could be way out there or way over here? >> from the tree all the way to that brush. >> that brush over there?

>> yeah. >> reporter: it took more than a day of digging to find what was left of lynsie. first they found a shoe. then a jacket. and a bracelet. that's how nancy knew they had found her. a coroner confirmed it using dental records. >> the back of my truck was over here. >> reporter: two years after he confessed, chris mcamis pleaded guilty to second degree murder. his sentence is 15 years to life. you told me that you thought you had let this consume your life too much. >> oh, it did. it does to this day. >> reporter: now it is over. what are you going to do? >> i don't know. i knew life is opening up to you and i don't know. i don't have any answers. i just have to get over this.

>> and that was josh mankiewicz reporting tonight. what goes on behind the closed doors of a marriage is not always apparent to the outside. >> my wife fell asleep in the bathtub. i just came up here, and she was laying face down in the bathtub. >> something wasn't right. she was just unconscious. >> a beaming bride. a haunting death. >> he was just telling me he could never ever love another woman as much as he loved her. >> what had happened? >> did she have an aneurism? did she have a seizure? >> police were baffled. >> i expected something to be wet. i expected there to be water on the floor. >> things were not adding up. >> something was screaming to me, "something's bad, wrong." >> could this death have been deliberate? >> she was murdered. >> i love sarah. i would never have hurt her. >> i started crying because i just felt so bad for him.

>> there's just no chance he had anythingo