one. we have certain values and principles that we cannot abandon. >> and you're certain we're going to be okay? >> oh, yeah. we'll be okay. because i have confidence in the american people. ♪ ♪ hopelessness. where did she go? who did she see? i just want to know what happened to my sister. >> a young mother is missing in a case gone cold. >> that was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. >> then detectives had an ah-ha moment. to solve the case, they'd turn to something you probably use every day. facebook. >> why don't you establish a facebook account? i thought that could accomplish a great deal.

>> and that's when everything started to change. >> something happened to her. >> in court, you'll see it all come pouring out. a hidden crime and a son's he t heart-pounding moment. >> this is a horrible crime. i'm glad we know the truth. >> "secrets in the mist." hello and welcome to "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. carol lubon was a loving young mom. then, suddenly, she was gone. her heartbroken family thought carol left them to start a new life. police opened a missing person file but with no evidence of foul play, the case sat cold for decades until a sharp eye detective stumbled across the folder and noticed something suspicious. his hunch would lead investigators to an ugly truth and test the loyalty of a

devoted son. here's keith morrison. >> january 2013, point vicente, california. the wet, gray, morning cold has settled in to stay. at noon, a police boat sets off in the pea soup fog. a hail mary pass apparently. a slim chance to find the truth at last. but why out there? why after all those lost 30 years? maybe some cases are defstined o stay cold. easier that way. before they came along with their wild ideas about murder and facebook of all things. and now this. their doomed errand into the fog. her name was carol jean mayer, though she was carol lubonn when all this happened in 1981. the night of the slamming doors,

the harsh words, the car roaring away. and it's an old story anyway, pretty girl gets pregnant at 15, marries the guy. pretty soon at 20-something with two kids and a hankering to live, really live for a change. and this particular pretty girl -- >> she was fun. outgoing. had a lot of friends. >> she had these two sisters. terry was the younger one. gayle the older. >> we were very close and made each other laugh all the time. >> but carol lubon wasn't laughing at the end of march '81. she wanted to be somebody. her own somebody. >> i know that carol wanted to complete school and further her career. that's when she went back to study architecture. >> sure, her husband was a nice kid, and she loved him once with all the intensity of first love, the handsome high school football player who would hang around on her front porch. >> his friends would come over.

i thought that was kind of cool. all those football athlete friends. >> mike stepped up and married her after the baby was born. >> he was a good father. he just seemed to really enjoy his kids. >> enjoyed carol's family, too. especially her dad, milt. >> so mike became kind of like his son. >> milt brought young mike into the family house painting business. >> just took to him immediately. was always a very likable person. >> friendly. loyal, but not exactly ambitious. he didn't seem to find settling down to a modest existence. him and the two kids crammed in a house in torrence. but carol did mind it, very much. >> she may have outgrown him somewhat. >> she'd had a secret affair by then. maybe more than one. she got herself a cute little red car, an audi fox, ordered personalized plates, cj's fox.

the car is long gone now so we did this one up to look just like it. and quite often she'd get in her little car alone and go roaring off to school or to meat markets like the local red onion was back then. >> i know she was going to the red onion. i never went there with her, so i don't know what she was like. >> and then that night in march. kids off to bed. their son mike jr. was just a boy, 10 years old. >> i was in bed. i had just got a new stereo for my 10th birthday and was listening to the headphones. >> from his bed, he could see something happening out in the hallway. >> i remember them getting into an argument which was unusual. >> because they just didn't? >> not that i knew of. i remember her marching past and going out the front door and slamming the door. >> you heard the slam? >> i heard the slam of the front door. i know that. >> and the next morning -- >> we got up and she wasn't there.

>> mike sr. told carol's dad that carol demanded he sign papers to sell their house and he didn't want to and they argued and went to bed. when he got up in the morning, she was just gone. >> so we just assumed she needed to get away for a few days. as the days went owe got extremely worried. >> nearly a week after carol departed, her red audi fox showed up in the parking lot of the red onion, dusty, as if it had been there awhile. >> i remember being upset about it. she was gone, and i didn't know where she went. >> they drove around looking for her. went to bars. carol's picture in hand. and -- >> nobody had seen her. >> what feeling was that? >> hopelessness. >> the torrance police department opened a file but they couldn't answer any of the questions like, had she just finally gotten fed up with mike and this little place and gone off to start a new life somewhere else? or had she been in an accident

or something worse? more than a week after carol day peered, still absolutely no sign of her. and then something strange happened here at the house. something very strange. could it be that carol, unbeknownst to anyone, sneaked back in here when nobody else was around? imagine what it was like back then in that little house. mike thinking things over. on a hunch he said he placed tape on carol's dresser drawers. a little trap. one day he took the kids to universal studios and, sure enough, when they returned, he noticed the tape was broken. and some mail on the counters was moved as well. a few weeks later, it happened again. some of carol's clothes went missing. along with some money from a place no burglar would know to look. under the butter dish in the refrigerator where mike said they kept $100 in emergency cash. and now $60 was missing. just like carol, said her sister

gayle. >> she would have not taken all of it. that was in carol's personality to just be very fair. >> made sense then? >> uh-huh. >> and then there were those mysterious phone calls. >> we'd get the calls on special days. her birthday, my birthday. my grandmother. we'd get calls. >> and just silence on the other end? >> yeah. >> what would you do? >> we'd say, carol, we love you. we hope you come back. we felt like she was finding a happier life somewhere. >> and understood that to make that successful she might have to make a complete and total break? >> yeah. >> almost three months after carol vanished, the detective handling her case put it in the inactive file in his report he wrote, no foul play involved. >> i remember thinking about her all the time and i used to play records over and over that she liked. and just thinking, where is she? when is she coming back? >> eventually, mike started dating a 19-year-old names

kerry. brought her into the fold. >> we were happy that mike was going on with life. >> and so they did all go on with life. and many years went by. until the morning in a whole new millennium when a torrance detective happened on the case of the missing young mother. and somewhere in the back of his brain, a little light turned on. >> i just had a hunch that this just didn't sound right to me. >> decades after carol's disappearance, detectives turned to a surprising source to help solve the mystery. coming up -- >> why don't you establish a facebook account for carol. >> when "secrets in the mist" continues. eyebrows first, just tease it a little. slather it all over, don't hold back. well, the squirrels followed me all the way out to california! and there's a very strange badger staring at me... no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars

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mno kidding.rd. but moving your internet and tv? that's easy. easy?! easy? easy. because now xfinity lets you transfer your service online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. really? really. that was easy. yup. plus, with two-hour appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. now all you have to do is move...that thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. it's just another way we're working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. in march of 1981, carol lubon, a lovely young mother of

two known to be unhappy in her marriage suddenly vanished, departed for parts unknown, leaving behind not just her husband mike but her son, mike junior. then just 10 years old. >> never felt that my mother abandoned me. i was never upset with her, ever. >> really? >> i never thought she did. i don't know why. i just was upset she wasn't there. i thought she would be there to show up at a graduation or something. >> but she didn't. and at family gatherings, as the years went by, thanksgiving, christmases, that awful question, why would she leave them, remained the unmentional elephant in the room. >> when it came to my family, i think they didn't talk about it because they figured it would upset me or my sistero it was a taboo subject. they didn't really talk about her. >> my family is pretty closed to talking about heavy things. so something like that rarely

talked about. >> an ultimate heavy thing? >> yeah. >> could you see it in your mother's eyes or your father's? >> moo in my father's, for sure. >> what would you see there? >> a lot of emotion. a lot of sadness. i'm going to cry thinking about it. >> 1987, almost six years after carol vanished, the torrance police department revisited the case. and time seemed to have altered mike's memory a little. a few more details had come back to him. remember soon after carol vanished, mike said they argued. he went to sleep alone, woke up in the morning early and she was gone? but in 1987, he remembered they argued, went to bed together. she got up at 5:30 to go to the bathroom. he woke up and then drifted back asleep and woke up to the sound of a car engine starting and driving away. odd. but memories do play tricks. anyway, it didn't seem

significant so the case went back into the file and got colder. mike took over the house painting business from carol's dad and went on to marry carrie and have two more sons. gayle and terry raised their own families and it was having babies that started to change terry's way of looking at her sister's disappearance. >> as unhappy as you might be in your life, you might leave your husband. you'd take your kids with you. >> and you began to suspect that she wouldn't leave her children. >> uh-huh. >> what did that mean to you? >> that something happened to her. >> in 1996, 15 years since they'd heard from carol, the police came around again. this time they scanned the lubon's backyard with ground-penetrating radar. even dug up the ground. didn't find a thing. funny thing, though, about four

months later, the local paper did a story, interviewed mike. and this time his memory was slightly different. he remembered that on that terrible morning when carol left, he heard the garage door go up before she drove away. just one more little detail, though nothing profoundly different. and, of course, no evidence whatsoever of any crime. the case went away again. and then one day in 2002, a detective named walt was rummaging through some cabinets behind his sergeant's desk. >> i was just being nosy. what is this? it was the carol lubon case folder. at that point, more than 20 years old and cold as they come. >> i never even heard of it before. and i go, this is interesting. wonder if this lady is still missing. >> of course, she was. so again he read through the police reports. couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in mike's story. >> and i thought that was kind

of strange because i wouldn't think you would forget the last time you saw your wife. >> so he went to see carol's parents, her mom melba, her dad milt. >> and he looked up at me. he was starting to cry. i'm like, milt, are you okay? he goes, i just -- i'm so happy. i'm glad you guys are still interested in this case. >> how much did that have to do with you driving ahead on this case, that conversation? >> a lot. i'm the father of three daughters as well. and i thought, what if this is my middle daughter. >> milt died one month later, never knowing what happened to his beautiful middle daughter. but when terry went to her father's funeral and saw mike there, a private thought ate at her. mike must know something. >> i didn't say anything. i tried to keep away. he was, of course, paying his respects to my family. but i couldn't carry on a conversation with him. >> meanwhile, walt had become a

little obsessed. he had many other more pressing cases, but something kept pulling him back to carol lubon. >> i actually would shove some of my work away. i got in a little trouble for that sometimes. >> for years the detective chipped away until finally, in 2010, eight years after he found that musty old blue file, he decided to pay a surprise visit to mike lubon. his colleagues thought he was nuts. >> there were those that thought, you think he's going to admit it to you? well, i played enough sports in my time. i know you'll not get anywhere if you don't try. >> detective delsigne. we want to talk about carol. >> what story would mike tell this time? >> turns out this version would be straight out of 007. coming up -- >> think i did that james bond thing with the paper on the door? >> but one detail did ring true.

>> she said, you make my skin crawl. >> i bet you she did say that. >> when "secrets in the mist" continues. of a lifetime. it's "progressive on ice." everything you love about car insurance -- the discounts... the rate comparisons... and flo in a boat. ♪ insurance adventure awaits at "progressive on ice." tickets not available now or ever.

it's rukmini here from the new york times . hey, you see this?

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welcome back. detective walt delsigne could not let go of the carol lubon cold case. after the california mom disappeared, police found no evidence of a crime. but over the years, carol's husband mike had made a few slight changes to his story about the night his wife vanished. now the detective was determined to dig into those inconsistencies. and mike was about to share a chilling new detail. what he told investigators would send the case into overdrive. here's keith morrison. >> for eight years, torrance police detective walt delsigne worried away at the carol lubon file, drawn by an irresistible hunch, that this young mother did not day peer voluntarily. but actual evidence of a crime? just wasn't any. so finally in 2010, 29 years

after carol supposedly walked out on her family and never came back, delsigne decided it was time for a surprise visit to michael lubon. he went over with his sergeant. >> he invited us in. we did catch him unexpectedly, but that was the plan. >> but was mike upset or thrown off? not at all. >> very nice. like i anticipated he would be because i had now heard from everybody in the family how mike is a good guy. >> so together they went over again the details of that last night back in march '81. and right away, mike remembered a little more about the night carol presented him with a real estate contract and a demand they sell their tiny house. >> she came in and gave me papers. did she just turn and walk away with it, or what happened? >> she said, you make my skin crawl. >> you make my skin crawl? >> yeah. and i thought, bing. i'll bet you she did say that. so i pushed him some more, for

more details. >> and the details were, once again, a little different about when and where he last saw her, for example. it wasn't when he went to bed around 10:00 p.m. as he said on one occasion or 5:30 the next morning as he also said. no, this time mike said he last saw carol about 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. in the bathtub. >> how did you see her in the tub? >> i used the bathroom. >> then around midnight or 1:00 or 2:00, he heard the garage door go up and went to the door and actually saw carol's car driving away. >> you see taillights? >> yeah. >> you're sure it was her car? >> yeah. >> also remember that story about putting tape on the dresser drawers after carol left and later he found it broken? didn't remember that now. >> you didn't tape the thing? >> i didn't. >> as he said here in 2010, he

did remember some other traps he had set. even more elaborate. >> i would take like baby powder and put it right inside the door so if somebody stepped in it, i would see -- >> baby powder? okay. and what else. anything else? >> i think i did that james bonding thing with the paper on the door. that's about it. >> by now, detective delsigne was working with colleague jim wallace and the deputy da john lewin. he specializes in tackling the most difficult of cold cases. >> do you remember when you saw the results of that interview, what you thought? >> yeah, i thought his memory had grown in areas where it shouldn't and in areas where he should be saying the same story it was different. and that's the hallmark of deception. >> but the mind plays tricks. the mind invents things, and inserts them into your memory and you believe them as

strenuously as they happened. >> that's an interesting theory. i don't think it's supported. memories can be lost, but memories don't increase in details over the years. and they don't increase different details. and that's a sign of what we call a lie. >> his version of what happened from the start made no sense to any of us. >> this makes the case. >> then why would mike lie? to the cold case team, it seemed obvious. he killed her that night. she stopped living that night and everything else that's going that doesn't make sense, it's all because it's a lie. if you know it's a lie, then it all lines up. >> remarkably, mike lubon continued to talk to them. three times of his own free will. very friendly. without an attorney. he even let the prosecutor take a crack at him. >> if you were me in my position, what would you think? >> what were you thinking? >> which is -- >> that i did it. >> well, mike, i can tell you, you know, sometimes you know the kind of murder cases we get.

we get cases where the husband finds out that his wife is cheating on him and kills her. so -- >> i had nothing to do with that. >> did you catch what mike said? >> it had nothing to do with that. lewin did. >> when you just look at sentence structure and how people talk and communicate, it wasn't about that. what is the it? >> you gave that great significan significance, didn't you? >> absolutely. >> so they kept at mike. and at one point, it seemed to them he was on the verge of confessing. >> listen, why don't you give me a few days or something to think about it a little bit. i'll cooperate and come back. >> but when he came back, he didn't give them anything. and they were right back where they started. suspicion, sure. but no evidence of a crime. no way to prove even that carol was dead. jim wallace was the detective who finally hit on an idea.

to use a tool that didn't even exist when carol lubon fought with her husband on a march night in 1981. coming up -- the long arm of facebook. >> it's kind of a place where we say, here i am. it's also a place where you can find people. >> the result, a dramatic turn in the case. and fresh heartbreak for carol's family. >> another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. >> when "secrets in the mist" continues. ver almost anything. even a parking splat. fly-by ballooning. (man) don't...go...down...oh, no! aaaaaaahhhhhhhh! (burke) rooftop parking. (burke) and even a hit and drone. (driver) relax, it's just a bug. that's not a bug, that's not a bug! (burke) and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ [ laughter throughout ]

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issues all came to her defense. now back to "dateline." ♪ welcome back to "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. detectives investigating the disappearance of carol lubon were convinced she had been murdered. leaning hard on her husband mike, they believe he was on the verge of confessing. but then he stopped talking. with no hard evidence of a crime, the investigation ground to a halt. but time proved to be their ally. facebook, which did not exist when carol vanished, was about to play a crucial role in the case. here's keith morrison. >> the deputy da john lewin and the torrance police department cold case team believed mike lubon killed his wife carol back in 1981. but they had one big problem.

they couldn't prove carol was dead. >> the biggest assumption is going to be, how do you know she's not just out of the country or across the country or changed her identity. >> kind of an important question with no answer. and then in january 2011, jim wallace got the flu. lucky break. no, really. >> and i was laying in bed. my wife came in. when you work these cases, all you talk about is we are a dedicated cold case team is you're talking about the case you're working. i'm sure she was tired of hearing it. she mentioned, why don't you establish a facebook account for carol. i thought, that could actually accomplish a great deal. >> of course, back in 1981, when carol day pedisappeared, facebo creator mark zuckerberg wasn't even born yet. but he knew social media and its ability to connect. it could let him know whether

carol was alive or dead. >> it's kind of a place where we say, here i am. also a place to find people. surely if carol was still alive, someone on facebook or twitter would know something. of course, wallace also knew carol would look vastly different 30 years after her disappearance so he found an age progression artist to create an image of what she might look like today. and then placed that photo and others like it on facebook and other sites. >> it turned out it was a great point of contact for me to contact 350 friends and family of carol. right away we said, has anybody seen carol? and we discovered immediately that nobody had seen carol since the night she disappeared. >> if carol merry googled her own name she'd find her place at carol jeannelubahn. but that never happened. she's not looking for herself.

she's dead. >> or a farmer's wife in uruguay who doesn't go on the computer much. >> maybe. >> lots of people are not on facebook. don't check or google things. it doesn't mean that she is dead, for sure, it just means you have made a fairly good case for it. >> in this large cumulative thing we're looking at, it's another piece that points to the same conclusion. >> if carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the accusation to court would be risky. totally circumstantial, of course. no body. an unclear motive. a sympathetic defendant. but prosecutor lewin decided to roll the dice. >> 30 years after carol lubahn vanished from her family's life on april 13th, 2011, mike was arrested for carol's murder. >> when you went to the family and said we're going to charge him, what was their reaction? >> mixed, at best. >> mixed? that's a mild word. how about upset, horrified,

mystified. in fact, most of carol's family members believed the idea mike could have murdered carol was just ludicrous. >> well, he was a member of our family, you know, and nobody wanted to see him be arrested or him be the reason or any of that. it's like another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. >> this was a case where i think the family would have been more than happy to believe that carol is still out there somewhere. she's not dead. and their beloved son-in-law is not a killer. >> but of all mike sr.'s family members, perhaps no one was as torn as his namesake firstborn son mike junior who loved his father, unreservedly. followed him into the family painting business. worked side by side with him for decades. and who had confessed to detectives that, like his aunt terry, he, too, had doubts about his father. doubts that had taken route

shortly after his second wife left him. >> he talked about my stepmother constantly for years. was nonstop. >> and why was that so significant to you? >> because he never talked about my mother. >> at all? >> never. >> but mike never confronted his father. >> i just knew in the back of my mind that this could be a possibility. and i really, honestly, at that time, i never wanted my father to go to jail. i just wanted to know. it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. >> to get the truth, and avoid a trial, prosecutor john lewin was willing to make a deal. >> we had offered him voluntary manslaughter if he gave us carol's body. >> and he turned you down flat? >> he did. repeatedly. >> mike pleaded not guilty. the case was going to trial. and if members of carol's own family didn't believe mike did it, what would a jury think?

coming up -- the accused on the stand. >> isn't it true, mr. lubahn that carol lived her last breath in that bathtub when you murdered her? >> when "secrets in the mist" continues. drive safely.. . with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

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man, he murdered his wife. >> of course, lewin knew to prove a murder had occurred, he had to show the victim was no longer alive. for that, he turned to detective wallace who explained to the jury the facebook and social media presence he created for carol had turned up a whole lot of nothing. >> have you been contacted by anybody, either by phone, email, in writing who says, you know what, i have seen carol lubahn after the day she disappeared? >> no. >> though as lewin and his team also let the jury hear, family members like carol's sister gayle believe what mike told them. that carol had run off. >> has it been hard for you to accept the possibility that she may be dead? >> well, yes. >> is it maybe even more difficult by the fact that you care deeply for the defendant?

>> yes. >> and younger sister terry, even though she had suspected mike for years -- >> do you still think of mike lubahn sr. as a part of your family? >> yes. >> but most anguished of all, mike and carol's son, mike junior. >> is there anything about the way you remember your mom that would make you think or made you feel that she would leave you and never come back and never say good-bye? >> no. >> he loved his dad. but also secretly doubted him. something he'd never revealed n until now. >> i was sweating so profusely during that whole trial. he never knew i had these feelings so on the stand publicly, i had to basically say, yeah, i am thinking maybe there's some weird things about your story and it was the first time that my father really would have known i felt that way.

so i was really, really stressed out about that. >> how hard is it for you to be here today? >> very. >> do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mother's disappearance? >> do i want to believe it? >> yes. >> no. >> let's assume that your dad, in fact, did kill your mom. would you want to see him punished for it? >> no, not particularly. >> prosecutor lewin knew the ambivalence of these family members did not help his case. but -- >> in the end, my job isn't to make sure that the family members get what they want. my job is to make sure that, you know, carol's killer is held responsible. >> but, was mike a killer? his attorney kevin donahue. >> i think the police are just wrong. >> no forensics. no witnesses. not even a body. the defense might have stopped right there. instead, they decided to gamble.

mike was a nice guy. jury should see that. >> do you solemnly state -- >> if the details had been a little different each time, here was his chance to straighten it all out for the jury. how odd then that mike, under oath now, amended his story just a little. again. like when he added the detail that carol was in the bathtub when she said something mean to him. >> she said you make my skin crawl. >> also slightly different? the way he discovered she was gone. >> i opened the front door and went out and the garage door was open and the car was gone. >> in earlier versions, didn't mike say he heard the garage door go up? but then saw taillights as carol drove away? why had his story changed again? >> what's the deal with that? did you hear the garage door? >> i don't think so. >> why do you think that now? what has jogged your memory? >> because i think over the

years, i thought about this night so many times. and i just, you know, i've seen that car back out of the driveway many, many times, you know, when she was leaving. so i think i just thought it repeatedly in my mind that that's what i thought happened. i can see the car. i can see it right now. >> he never thought for a moment, he said, it would be the last time he saw his wife. i thought maybe she had gone out that night and went dancing and stayed the night with a friend. >> what did happen to her? mike insisted he simply didn't know. >> did you have anything to do with killing her? >> no. >> did you have anything to do with her disappearance? no. other than i didn't sign the papers and made her upset, but that's it. >> successful testimony? maybe. but now the down side. he'd have to answer questions from john lewin. >> do you lie sometimes? >> no. >> you never lie? >> i wouldn't say never.

i mean, a white lie or, who knows. >> i'm asking, have you ever lied about something serious that wasn't a white lie in your life? >> no. >> in your entire life, you've never lied once about anything that wasn't a white lie? >> i'll just say not that i can remember. >> in fact, mike had a hard time remembering a lot of things prosecutor lewin asked about. >> i don't remember. i don't remember going to bed. i don't remember saying that. i don't know. >> but how on earth could he not remember the last time he saw his wife? >> would you agree that that would be one of the most significant events, details of your entire life? >> yes, i -- doesn't mean i had to remember it. >> lewin wasn't buying it. >> isn't it true, mr. lubahn, that the last place that carol lived her last breath was taken in that bathtub when you murdered her?

what are you looking at the judge? >> because i'm waiting for him to correct you. no, i didn't murder her. i'm sorry. in the bathtub? >> and mr. lubahn if you had murdered her, you would tell us today that -- >> i would have admitted it. >> you would have admitted it on the stand today? >> yes. >> do you think that statement is believable. >> i think so. >> i'm done. >> of course, believability was a question for the jury to decide. and decide they did. though, as you'll see, that wasn't the end of the story. not by a mile. coming up -- a final push for the truth. >> please, for your family, for your kids, tell us what happened. >> when "secrets in the mist" continues. continues.

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welcome back. mike's murder trial tested the love and loyalty of his family. his son, mike, jr. told jurors he didn't want to believe his dad killed his mom, but he had doubts about his innocence. then mike, sr. took the stand and once again shifted his story about his wife's disappearance. now he was about to learn his fate in this decades old case, there were still more surprises ahead. here with the conclusion of our story is keith morrison. >> there are few things as dramatic as weighted with consequence as a moment of jury, verdict in hand, files into a courtroom. had they been persuaded that mike killed carol, or even that he was dead. they held their breath. >> you don't know what to

expect. >> and now, here was mike's fate. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant guilty. >> mike was going to prison. jim wallace felt surrounded by a very unfamiliar reaction. >> i had cases before where you get done and you walk out of the courtroom and the family throws their arms around you and they are so grateful. that's not this case. >> i was very surprised that the jury would convict him on such little evidence. i don't think any of us are happy to see mike go to jail. >> you still believe mike is a nice guy, believable guy? >> yes. >> what gale and the rest of the family wanted most were answers. >> not so much that i want mike to pay for what he did, i just want to know what happened to my

sister. >> at the sentencing hearing in december of 2012, mike's own son echoed the sentiments. >> i only ask if he knows anything to please let me know. >> then mike junior made a heart breaking plea to the court. >> he has been a good father and a good person. i'm going to miss our time together. it's going to be hard to see the world change without him. i humbly stand before the court to request leniency for my father when giving his sentence. thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> after that? then the strange tale of the much-loved convicted killer took a remarkable turn. it happened that very day in court. prosecutor lieu in. >> i'm asking him, he is going to have a chance, please, for your family and for your kids,

just let it go. tell us what happened. >> the judge granted a recess so mike could speak with his attorney privately. did he actually have something to confess? he returned a few minutes later. >> we are asking to continue the sentencing. >> the judge pushed back sentencing by a month. >> my hope was that he would tell us what happened, that he would tell us what he did with carol and be honest about both. >> for almost four weeks they waited until january 7th, 2013. all ice were on mike as he entered the courtroom and shi shifted to prosecutor lieu in who said mike finally revealed to him the secret he had been keeping almost 32 years and lieu in did the talking and mike for once said not a word.

>> all of the information about them fighting about the selling of the house was truthful. that occurred. >> then carol stormed out and it might have blown over as arguments do, but she came back at 1:30 a.m. and said the one thing that would not blow over. not ever. >> she told him that she was going to be taking somebody else, another man, to her sister terry's upcoming wedding. he said he was very upset. >> she tried to comfort him. >> she was telling him don't worry, you will find somebody else, etc. >> that was the last thing carol ever said. >> he didn't want to hear it and he pushed her. she fell and hit her head on a heavy end table in the living room. she didn't bleed, but he knew

instantly she was dead. >> they're hooked him up to a polygraph machine. how much was true? >> after the polygraph test was done, he said you didn't pass. now the defendant changes his story. he said okay, i punched her in the head. i punched her hard. he said only one time. then he said what he did with carol's body. >> after he killed her, he put her in the garage behind carpet. he took her car the next morning to the red onion parking lot and dumped it there. at some point she was placed in the trunk of the vehicle. >> then he took her to the ocean, put her on a raft, paddled out to sea dropped her down, a cinder block tied to her body. it was a shock. a big shock. for so long, the family, or most of it, believed mike.

now in this very public way, they knew that carol was double digit and he there, sweet mike, killed her. the whole truth? was it actually out there somewhere? and so on the cold and foggy january day, mike surrounded by cops and lawyers floated out into the mist to find carol. find whatever was left. >> if they find the cinder block in the ocean, if they find that, that will give me half of the closure i need. >> she didn't get it because after the boat ride, he admitted the ocean tale was one more lie. perhaps it was find finally for the sake of his son who never abandoned him that he finally passed a polygraph and led investigators to the place he said mike's mother had been all these years. police searched the area, but once again were unable to locate

carol's remains and give the family what they hoped for most -- the chance to say goodbye. >> i don't really know why getting her back is the ultimate book end for me. i want to know she is properly buried or cremated or whatever we choose to do. >> why is that so important? >> i think it's the ultimate answer. no more wondering. >> no, not about that, but his father in prison, 15 to life. it was clear he had a good deal of wondering left to do about that man and what he took away. >> do you still love him? >> yeah, i do. i always will, i have to figure out how i'm going to process these facts i know. i don't know yet. i kind of thought a perfect punishment for my father was to ask him to write one sentence about my mother every week he's

in prison so he has to think about her and i can remember her again. >> that's all for this edition of dateline extra. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. i was around my sister. i had to grow up without one. in an instant she was gone. it changed everything. >> she dreamed of a career solving crimes, but crime cleaned her first. >> the gut wrenching pain. my daughter, please, please don't let this be true. >> home alone on a sunny afternoo