that's what she embodied, and i'm going to carry that with me. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." she was just so beautiful. >> they found each other and their own tropical island. >> we saw a lump in the water and said that's it! that will be our spot for the rest of our lives. >> she said it's like living in a post card. >> a picture perfect life until she disappeared. >> i imagine you were calling leaving messages? >> calling. texting. we started wondering. >> why would she just leave? >> i called her best friend did they meet somebody and a man i don't know about it. >> where did she go? >> she wasn't selling that

place. she loved it. >> reporter: why did someone new own her slice of paradise. >> he fooled us all. >> he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder. hello. welcome to "dateline." it was a tropical hide-away where a group of adventurist 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 is kate snow with "stealing paradise." >> reporter: it's a dream that seems to out of reach! quit the rat race and 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: cher hughes had the dreams and made it come true in the most unlikely place a tiny far' away island in panama. >> she would take a picture of the sunset and send it to me and say it was like living on a postcard. >> reporter: escape from the pressures of modern living. who could have known that evil could find a place in paradise too, that beneath all of 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. >> just sent chills down my spine. >> reporter: but before the nightmare came the dream. bokas del toro is people come to escape a group of eyelids off panama and things move more slel

and life is supposed to be easy. cher first visited the islands with her boyfriend keith worley in 2000. it was love at first sight when they saw the island and it was the money affordable cher had been saving up to travel. she bought a rental property and small price for a tiny round island. >> we saw that and said that is it. the spot for the rest of our ours. >> reporter: she met seven years ago when she walked into a bar a keith owned in florida. >> came in with big blue eyes and big smile and i was hooked. she was just so beautiful. >> reporter: cher grew up in st. louis where her all-american good looks got her into modeling as a teenager. >> she walk in a room and beep! everybody knew she was there. she always had a smile for

everybody. >> reporter: eventually, cher moved to st. petersburg, flr florida. she ran a neon sign company. >> she always made cher she had that 1976 and setting herself up for exactly what she wanted to do which 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 bocas del toro and cher jumped at the chance. >> took us seven days to decide where we would live the rest of our lives. hit us that hard. >> we love you! >> cher loves children and panama had lots of kids. >> reporter: keith is a carpenter so he built their dream home on this lush green island. cher planted tropical gardens and adopted lots of animals including a pet monkey and a beautiful brown doberman pinscher named jack and he

adored her and followed her wherever she went. she would celebrate with the kids and make popcorn and her trainer said the kids didn't always get the significance. >> she would do easter egg hunts for the kids. they had no idea what this crazy white woman was doing coloring eggs and hiding them around on the island. they never participated in anything like that before. ♪ >> reporter: keith and cher's relationship blossomed on the islands. in 2005, they married in front of their many friends and close community of expats. >> you go to the grocery store and see 20 people you know. >> reporter: kristen roberts moved there from norway and they became friend. >> we treated each other as family and take care of everybody. >> reporter: eithverybody went their nicknames and cher and

james were known as ken and barbie. then here is wild bill and he and his wife opened a bar on the property accessible only by boat where the expats sometimes gathered for drinks. >> bill this these saturday problems at his place at the bar and restaurant once or twice a months. everybody is there. >> it draws everybody. >> reporter: it was cher's tropical dream come true. a beautiful back drop for family reunions when her family came to visit. >> her mother and i came down and they met us at the airport with a big bouquet of floweintf and it was just wonderful. >> reporter: her sister judy was planning for the first time. >> she wanted to show you her paradise? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: the trip could be a good distraction for cher. her life recently turned upside

down. her five-year marriage to keith had hit a rough spot. he even had moved out. >> when keith had moved off the island, she was pretty devastated but then again i thought whose marriage is perfect and hopefully, they will work it out. i knew they still loved each other. >> reporter: the sisters were excited about the trip. plans were in full swing. then what happens? >> 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 has happened. >> reporter: judy was worried. and cher was gone! coming up. >> where is cher? i don't know be we are mad at her too, dog gone it. >> reporter: maybe her mysterious disappearance could be solved. a text message from cher to keith with some bad news. >> she just said i met somebody else who is better than you. >> reporter: she is running away with that person? maybe she got on a boat with a

new friend you didn't know and maybe she would be back in a week? >> yeah. >> it wouldn't surprise me, mary, i went sailing and my phone dropped off the deck when i was there. >> reporter: who is this new mystery man? and where is cher? when "dateline" continues. protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. frontline plus. aleve it. with aleve pm. pain happens. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid. and the 12-hour pain relieving strength of aleve. so...magic mornings happen. there's a better choice. aleve pm. when they bundle home and auto with progressive. wow, that's... and now the progressive commercial halftime show, featuring smash mouth. ♪ hey now, you're an all star ♪ get your game on, go play

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living out the dream of owning her own island but then she vanished. i imagine you were calling leaving messages? >> calling, texting, facebooking and then i started reading her facebook and it was like, cher, where are you? people that were in panama in bocas haven't seep you around town. where are you at? give me a call. and we started wondering. >> reporter: when cher's husband keith realized she left town he was surprised but he thought he might know why. cher had been talking about spending time in panama city, a place she could blend into the scenery more easily and wrap her head around the breakdown. >> she wanted out of bocas because it was a small community. >> reporter: she was tired of it? >> yeah, bumping into the same people and telling the same story and she was ready for a little break in boca. >> reporter: it's not usual unusual for people to come and go around here.

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 abruptly and leave her cherished island with all of her belongings still here. cher' aunt mary started calling relatives in panama. >> everyone saying cher might have gone for a week and lost her phone. well, okay. maybe? >> reporter: mary logged on to cher's facebook page and reached out to those friends. >> where is cher? i don't know but we are mad at her too. dog gone it. she calls me everyday. why would she not call me? we were aggravated with her. >> reporter: a text message she got sailing they had gone sailing. >> if she had an opportunity she would go. >> reporter: maybe she got on a boat with a new friend you

didn't know about and she would be back in a week? >> yeah. >> it wouldn't spree me, mary, i went sailing and my phone dropped off the deck which i dropped my purse. that would be cher for a 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 is better than you. >> reporter: she said she had met someone else? >> yes. >> reporter: and she was reasung away with that person. >> a mystery man? keith wanted to get to the bottom of it. i called her best friend, did she meet somebody and she has a man i don't know about? she never met a man. she is waiting for you. is there no man at the she never ran away. >> reporter: keith noticed something strange about the messages. they weren't written in cher's usual style. >> small letters would be capital and are, or the number

would be there rather than t-o and it just changed. >> reporter: cher's aunt mary called the u.s. embassy in panama and begged for phelp. >> they said if she wants to be found she will contact you. i had a hard time shouting into the embassy saying help me. >> reporter: things got worse all of the clues

gave me a weird vibe. >> i knew this was weird off the bat. hey, what's going on. >> when "dateline" continues. i'm your mother in law.

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♪ in the picturesque islands of panama, a crisis was crewing. 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 icelar. >> bo was quiet. introvert. he was a really great guy.

>> 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. get on a boat and go. they don't e-mail everybody and tell them we're leaving. that is easy to be not missed for a while. >> it made more sense when they found out that bo had 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 had to an understanding of the price and that bo had just left. >> still, as keith thought back to the days after beau moved out, an image kept returning to his mind. an image of beau's house right after he left. >> i walked in and looked around. it looked as if beau 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. some shoes by the door. his cane is next to the front door. there is dirty dishes in the front sink. it just gave me a really weird vibe. beau would just walk away. >> 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. >> did it eat at you? >> yes, i kept thinking about it. because it wasn't right that cher would leave. without the party. i knew this girl would not leave town without saying good-bye and without a party. and beau could leave, but the two of them going together, i'm just like sending their belongings after the fact doesn't sound right. >> and then kristen heard something that made the floor drop from under her, bow had abruptly stop paying his bills, something totally unlike him. >> i just woke up one morning, like one of those weird things

and i knew. i couldn't ignore it anymore. i just couldn't. somebody had to do something. >> 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. >> she 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. >> don has lived in panama for decades and acted as a consultant on this story. he had originally come here with u.s. military intelligence. the case of the two missing americans caught his attention. >> i knew right off the bat, that this was like, 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. >> he hopped on a flight from his home in panama city 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. >> 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. they come in, they leave. they come in and leave. they came in, they never left. all right. so they're still in panama somewhere. >> 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 -- >> always the loudest voice in the room. he would text everybody and say, you know, your lord commands you to come to my party. >> a pirate out to make a killing in real estate. >> she wasn't selling that place. she loved it. >> bill showed up and said, yep,

i bought everything. >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years.

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hello. the palestinian health ministry announced the first two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the gaza strip early sunday. the two individuals had recently travelled from pakistan and are currently in isolation at a hospital in raqah. >> mike pence and karen pence announce they have had tested negative for coronavirus according to their spokesperson a day after his office reported a member of their staff had tested positive for the virus. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline" i'm natalie morales. two americans living the good life in panama each seemed to have mysteriously vanished. a check of the passports confirmed neither have left the

country. their disappearances seemed oddly similar. it turned out there was something else they shared, raising even more concern. here is kate snow with "stealing paradise paradise." two americans had vanished and now after months of searching families were concerned their disappearances were link and something terrible happened to both of them. >> they both disappeared and neither of them contacted anybody. the same story, both had their personal belongings sent to them, one and one is two. >> american bo iceler was the first to leave last fall. at the time no one thought it was unusual, eessentially when they learned he told his house to someone else in the ex-pat community, wild bill. >> bill had this persona, i have buckets of cash. i can pay it for you outright.

>> don pulled documents from the public registry and found that wild bill had bought more than just beau's home. >> bill had taken over beau's company and the company owned the property. now he and his wife own it. >> bill was in a hurry to get beau's house remodelled and flipped to a new owner and place an ad. he seemed to be on a real estate buying and selling spree. he got his first property in 2007 from a reclusive family living on an estate close to cher's island. the browns. a father, mother and teenage son. now he acquired beau's house as well. but it was bill's next purchase that grabbed everyone's attention. >> bill showed up and said, yep, i bought everything. >> everything? >> everything. >> meaning your rental

properties, the house you built together, five buildings. >> yeah. >> this beautiful estate. >> exactly. >> 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. >> 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. >> to keith, the whole story just didn't add up. >> she would have never sold the island. would have never happened. >> did you have an interest in any of that property? >> we put everything in cher's name. >> she had the right to sell? >> absolutely. without telling me anything. >> 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. >> it all sounded wrong to aunt mary as well. >> she wasn't selling that place. she loved it. she loved it. >> 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. >> where did he tell you she had gone? >> he said i heard she got an apartment in panama city. >> i said so where is her stuff and everything? oh, yeah, she got there and had me send her some jewelry and money air cargo. i said, i would like to see the receipt on that because this girl is not going to have you looking through her drawers finding her jewelry. >> 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 would swim

back. >> he would swim back and stay right there. >> 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 shawn trainer who stopped by that night. >> it wasn't very well attended. >> 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. and he was doing it. >> bill even made a toast at the party to friendship. >> and bill gave a speech? >> yeah. this really was something about having good friends. >> just like a heres to good friends? >> yeah, just like that. >> wild bill lived 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. >> 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. >> 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 of wild bill was spreading and a normally rowdy party guy was suddenly lying low. >> every time i saw him, he was in a hurry. whatever he was doing he was trying to get it done and get out of there and didn't want to answer a whole lot of questions. he was definitely nervous. >> with good reason. the more don winter tapped into the 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, this guy supposedly bought their property for cash and then both people disappear. >> the flairs went off in my head, bill dealt with both these people and they're missing. >> do you remember that moment if. >> oh, yeah. dread came over me like oh my god, he really 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, get him in custody -- >> and then the police went up with shovels and came down two hours later. we need you to come up and take a look. >> when "dateline" continues. ens to feed your cells, supporting your energy so you can take care of what matters most. centrum. feed your cells. fuel your life. at walgreens, we love smart savers. like movie savers.

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welcome back. wild bill cortez ran the jolly roger social club where americans living on a group of panamanian islands like 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. in the tiny ex-pat community of bocas del toro. he snapped up the homes of two people who mysteriously vanished bo iceler and cher hughes. now keith was telling anyone who would listen the property transfers and disappearances were no coincidence. >> i right away thought bill had done something to these people. i was telling people in bocas. >> bill is still living nearby.

>> bill is still in the area. and he told people he was going to come and shut me up. >> he told people that. >> he told three, four people that. i moved out of my house and moved into a hotel that had security. >> keith wasn't the only one who was nervous. >> i just got to the point where i became convinced that this guy cortez had killed these people in order to steal their property. that's when i said, i'm going to the authorities. >> he urged keith to do the same. >> you need to come to panama city, get to the prosecutor, get to the d.i.j. and really turn up the heat. >> keith went to panama city and laid out the case against wild bill to the d.i.j., the panamanian fbi. >> from that point on, kudos to the panamanian police. they just stepped it up with. >> 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 disappearance 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. 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.

>> but the horror wasn't over as police continued searching bill's property, they discovered another mound of disturbed dirt, another shallow grave. and there buried beneath more rubble the body of bo iceler, the other missing american. >> when they found the bodies, that's when they realize that it's not just people with suspicions and making accusations, it's really happening. >> keith watched as authorities raided bill's home. he says they found evidence of the ghastly crimes, bo's id, cher's passport and her purse and cell phone used to send the text messages saying cher went for a sail. 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 corpses and people's personal effects around him. >> the ex-pats 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 he lived next to me for two and a half years and had him in my home, invited him to dinner and did the social neighbor thing, he shot my wife. it's inconceivable. >> 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 man hunt. >> right. 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 got to get out there in a big way to get him caught. >> 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 check point.

>> they got the drop bottom with machine guns and basically said halt or die and he stopped and gave himself up. >> the end of the line. >> that was the first time he ever had handcuffs on in his life. >> it was also the first time anyone on the island heard wild bill's real name. >> my name is william nathan holbert. >> fun loving bartender, wild bill cortez was, in fact, william holbert a 30-year-old been on the run from american authorities since 2006. as the islanders absorbed the headlines of a killer among them, 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 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, 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 the house, cars, boats, right down to the toothbrush and underwear and the dogs. >> he took on their entire lives? >> yeah, right down to the change in their pockets. >> four years after fleeing from the states, wild bill was finally in police custody, charged with heinous crimes the murders of bo iceler and cher hughes. >> there's dozens of people that all knew cher and bo. wow, man this guy fooled us all. he fooled everybody. >> he got away with murder. >> he got away with murder for a while, yeah. >> little did everybody 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 a cell phone and gives me death threats and threats on my wife's life. >> a jail cell interview with wild bill. >> i've never tried to paint myself as a good guy. i'm not. i'm a bad guy. i'm getting what i deserved. >> when "dateline" continues. to protect your dog from fleas and ticks for a full month. it's the #1 vet recommended protection. and it's safe for puppies. nexgard. what one little chew can do. where does your almondmilk almond breeze starts here with our almond trees in our blue diamond orchard in california. my parents' job is to look after them. and it's my job to test the product. the best almonds make the best almondmilk. blue diamond almond breeze.

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welcome back. william and his wife known to

their expat friends in baniapans wild bill and join cortez, are accused of murdering two americans in cold blood. now, bill is talking to the police. but they couldn't have been prepared for his stunning confession. here's kate snow with the stunning conclusion of "stealing paradise." >> reporter: the search for hughes and bo icelar had ended tragically. both were found dead, shot in the back of the head, and buried in shallow graves. after being caught at the nicaraguan border, wild bill and his wife emerged from the jungle 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. >> i'm happy to be in panama. i love panama. >> reporter: those first days when bill was brought back to

panama, what was he like? >> he was making jokes, and he was laughing on it and he was really -- he wanted to -- people to see him. he was really trying to show off. >> reporter: national director of police gustavo perez interrogated wild bill and says he talked openly about the killings. bill admitted to shooting bo icelar on his boat. for cher, it started with a friendly dinner at bill's place. afterwards, bill took her outside to see some 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? >> say money. he say, "i want to -- i wanted to have their things." >> reporter: 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 bill's map. there were five. five victims. not just bo and cher, but three more people who'd died at the hands of wild bill. this time, it was a father, mother and their teenaged 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 so we 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 already confessed to the murders. but he said he wanted to explain himself. >> i'm not denying criminal activity. i'm only saying that what's been portrayed in the media as this crazy serial killer thing is completely untrue. i'm telling you that i am not a serial killer. i have never taken pleasure in harming another human being.

the things i have done has caused me nightmares. and i'm left down here to die in the panamanian jail. >> reporter: you also have to understand that the victims of these crimes, their families are -- they say you had parties at their homes. how can you possibly 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. but what i'm also saying is that i didn't wake up one morning and decide to kill my neighbors. >> reporter: shortly after our call, a different-looking bill gave an interview to a local tv station from his jail cell. his wild blond hair replaced by a brown buzz care. >> i did it. i'm guilty of it. i'm going to be punished for it. >> reporter: in cold and chilling detail, he recounts how he murdered the brown family. >> i separated them. this is gruesome and i understand it's very -- but you're asking me and i'll answer your question, sir. i separated them. i asked mike brown to show me a well he dug in the back of the

property. i took him there. and without him knowing what happened, i shot him from behind and killed him. >> reporter: holbert also admits to another victim, number six. a american ex-pat jeffrey kline. holbert claims he died when the two got on a fight on a boat. too afraid to go to authorities, holbert came up with his own solution to get rid of the body. >> i took it home and buried it. and then i built a picnic area over it. it's horrible and stupid. but i never had been in that situation before. i didn't know what to do. i never tried to paint myself as a good guy. i'm a bad guy. i'm getting what i deserve. i am sorry. i can do nothing to bring the people back, especially cher hughes, who was a good person. and the prosecutor's office in panama says there is no evidence to back up any of bill's story.

>> there is nothing i can say. i am sorry. but i can do nothing to bring those people back, especially cher hughes who is an innocent person. >> reporter: he says he is sorry for what he's done and does he shed tears. but not for the victims, for his wife, laura who he says is innocent. >> if she was sitting 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 set her free, i would. that's it. >> reporter: and the man who said he killed six people, now has time to sit in a cell and think about his own death. holbert and his wife have 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. i'm a dead man. i don't even care. that is not even important. but my wife don't deserve this. >> have you talked to authorities about this? what are the options they have? >> options? what options? excuse me. give me a second. >> this is a really, really bad guy. it doesn't get worst than this guy. he's the worst of the worst. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: panama's auxiliary prosecutor says he's reaching out to other countries to see if any of their missing persons may have crossed paths with wild bill. >> translator: once they verify and confirm any persons that had contact with him and have disappeared, they'll take measures to verify where they are. >> reporter: if there are other victims out there, they may be hard to find. wild bill mostly targeted loners, people's whose disappearance may not be noticed. it wasn't until bill killed cher, the woman who had a smile for everyone that he was caught. >> his mistake of targeting cher is what was his downfall. >> he couldn't have picked a girl more loved. he picked someone that absolutely stood out everywhere she went and would be missed and loved. >> reporter: someone the family cared so much about, that they would start calling immediately. this is our girl. how dare you mess with our girl and think we're not coming for

her? >> reporter: 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 panamanian jails. but cher's family finally got the news they had long waited for. in august 2017, william dathan holbert, the man that was known as wild bill cortez, was found guilty of killing five people. he was sentenced to 47 years in prison. and the woman known as jane cortez, she was sentenced to 26 years for her role in the crimes. cher's sister, judy, there is appreciation who followed her sister's spirit to paradise.

you're not bitter that she went to pab ma? >> i'm happy she went. i know what it meant to her. the peace in her heart of being able to live there. i wouldn't want her to lose that. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thanks for watching. ♪ first up on msnbc, america on lockdown. millions in five states told to mostly stay home, as the number of coronavirus cases keeps rising. not every, single person in the united states needs to get tested. >> a testing crisis. the big question this morning who should get tested? and when do you need to know to get tested? and when it might be too late.