i believe looking in the eyes of that jury, seeing, you know, tears from some of them how quickly that they came back that i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> this is "dateline." >> i don't go undercover every day. that's what made me nervous. >> they had a secret plan. were you armed? >> yes. >> you were wearing a wire? >> yes. >> to solve a baffling case. a college student on a friday night out who vanished. >> she's 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 they 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 open 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 was hoping. i wasn't quite sure. >> hello. welcome to "dateline." 20-year-old lynsie ekelund and her mother told each other everything. when the college student vanished out after a night out clubbing, nancy thought she was at sleepover with friends and

that wasn't the only secret lynsie was hiding. it would take years for detectives to uncover the truth, buried in a pile of lies. but could they find lynsie? here's josh mankiewicz with the night lynsie disappeared. sometimes the facts are as clear as the southern california sky. but other times you have to know where to look. to see the truth. this man has made a career of noticing what others do not. what's his reputation? >> meticulous investigator. just pours over the volumes of evidence and finds things that others do not find. >> the evidence whisper per. >> right. >> 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 was like, where's lynsie? >> what about this man?

can you believe the story he's telling? >> i was supposed to pick her up twice. she didn't show up on either day. >> the evidence whisperer wasn't present at either of the interviews watching them helped him solve the mystery of what happened to a vivacious young woman and bring answers to the mother. >> she was a real fighter. >> lynsie ekelund was the youngest of three. maybe that fighting spirit isn't visible in her photos but her mother nancy says it was always there. lynsie 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 remembered young lynsie also had a sense of compassion. >> i was freezing cold and i didn't bring a jacket that day. and i felt these little hands up on my shoulder and a sweater come up around me and i turned

around and it was lynsie and she said i can't stand to watch you shiver. >> lynsie 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, left leg impaired. did she ever talk about how she became disabled? >> she had brought it up to me, she said she was in a car accident and that she was thrown and when she was a little girl but very, very just like matter of fact. >> but growing up, lynsie needed so much care. her mother nancy was with lynsie like her shadow. >> she was my only purpose. in my life it was to make her as normal as she could be. >> by the time kim met lynsie, the dad and brothers had moved away and kim remembers a tight family unit of just two. how close were lynsie and nancy? >> unbelievably extremely. >> but as lynsie reached

adolescence, that started to change. 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 about why she'd lie about what was she with was doing that night? >> i never knew her to lie to me by you don't know what you know. >> it was a friday night, lynsie was in college but still living at home. instead of the 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. she introduces you to this guy, chris. did chris say hello to you? >> yeah. >> was he polite, have good manners? uh-huh. >> she said something felt wrong. >> i had a feeling about him. >> what feeling? >> i don't know. >> but you put it aside? >> mm-hmm. >> of course, nancy was used to things feeling wrong. she had spent so many years worrying about lynsie. it was a struggle to let go. but she did. >> last thing i said to her was, remember your seat belt and she looks over her shoulder around she says, back at you, mom, love you. that's the last thing she said to me. >> 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. but when the call never came over, she drove over and found out that lynsie never how issed up. >> she had taught the little

girls for four mounts. >> you have no way of reaching her? >> i had no way. >> nancy ekelund was frantic. >> i started calling hospitals. i called the morgue. that's how desperate i was to see if there was a jane doe in the morgue. >> there was no jane doe. and there was no lynsie ekelund. most people who disappear like that, they come back within a couple of days. >> if not 24 hours. >> is that what you thought would happen? >> we all did. >> corinne loomis was a detective. >> we had no unidentified bodies. >> you checked the er? >> we checked everything, everybody. there was no sign, it was as if she vanished. >> coming up -- >> when is the last time you saw lynsie? >> a week ago now. >> when "dateline" continues. el, steven could only imagine enjoying a spicy taco. now, his world explodes with flavor. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day all-night protection.

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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. she also went to talk with detective corinne loomis of the placentia police detective. nancy wanted corinne to know about her lynsie, how nancy always knew where she was. how they were best friends. it was a speech corinne loomis had heard before. >> it's typical with a lot of parents or family members when

they report a missing person. sometimes they give you the idea that this is an idyllic family life because i think there's a fear if that they don't paint a very rosy picture we won't be sympathetic we won't look for them. >> you won't work hard. >> we won't work hard. >> they brought in the usual suspects like the boyfriend. >> when you were dating, she hasn't been dating anyone else to your knowledge? >> no. >> matthew ramirez, they had been on and off a bit, but then -- >> when i went to her house thursday, you know, she was like -- i want to break up. >> as can happen with young romance, what was offer was soon back on. lynsie and matt were back together in time for the weekend. but not in time to make plans for that friday night. >> you know, she was like yeah, i'm going to san diego with chris and everybody. you know, i told her to be

careful, okay. she went okay. >> then in came the last person known to have seen her. chris mcam us, 21 years old. lynsie had met her through friends 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. >> please don't tell my mom we're going to san diego because my mom won't let us go, or won't let me go or something like that. and don't tell her that we're clubbing. >> chris told police when their night of clubbing went bust, they headed home earlier than expected. he dropped off the other girls he said and then 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 that 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 at the corner about 50 yards away. that sounded strange to police. until they heard from lynsie's friends 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. >> all anybody knows him by? >> as her friend. >> yeah. >> 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. >> you're pretty much at your wit's end at this point. >> yes. >> and the phone rings, did you know marty? >> no. >> did lynsie know a marty? >> no. >> marty told nancy he had gone to pick up lynsie at school but she wasn't there. he had money of lynsie that 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. >> what does he say to her? >> marty says that he's befriended lynsie. he's a friend of lynsie's and he's concerned because he hadn't heard from her. >> what did you learn about marty? >> marty rossler was not marty. >> he did not have a criminal record. what he did have with a relationship with lynsie that he

hadn't told his wife about. he told police he'd often pick lynsie up and give her rides but that wasn't it. marty was 58. she was 20? >> she was 20. >> and they were boyfriend and girlfriend? >> don't think so. >> there you go. >> so police brought in marty. over two days, they recorded those interviews. at times on video and sometimes just on audiotape. >> when's the last time you saw lynsie? >> a week ago now. i don't think so. >> absolutely. >> absolutely not. >> marty said that he had last seen lynsie the day that she went to san diego on that friday. >> did you believe him? >> we really didn't believe him. >> 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 meant missing. >> i had been in that store, okay, i'm like you. i'm easily -- you know, identified, you know? tell me every place, they would know i was in there with her. okay? >> it was a very long interview. >> friendly? >> no. no. i remember drilling down on him because i really thought that he might know where lynsie was. >> your parents -- >> yes. >> how many kids do you have? >> two. >> if you had a child gone for eight days, they vaporized in thin air, would your heart not be broken? >> oh, absolutely. >> do you not feel some compassion for nancy? >> unbelievable. i think this is a nice girl and this family had its share of hardships. i feel so helpless.

>> i don't think you're helpless. i think you can help us. >> marty insisted he couldn't. that he didn't know what had happened to lynsie. detectives weren't buying. >> did you harm -- >> no. no. never. >> never by accident? accidents happen. >> never touched her. okay? you know, never touched her. >> okay. >> this girl -- >> did you put her some place where she's left? >> no. no. >> police searched marty's home and found nothing. no proof that marty had anything to do with lynsie's disappearance. so they moved on to a new suspect. someone closer to lynsie than anyone else on earth. >> "dateline" returns after the break. >> "dateline" returns after the break. ♪ you make my heart sing ♪ but i wanna know for ♪ sure yeah we all wanna know, honey... so...

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nancy and lynsie had been together all lynsie's life. now, alone, nancy waited ticking off 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 were looking at the boyfriend matthew, marty the older guy, the relationship nobody knew about. he denies it. >> right. >> you look at chris. he says i dropped her of and never saw her again. >> right. >> 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 -- >> coffee, right? >> yeah. >> 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. >> the house nancy and lynsie had once shared was torn apart. how big of a suspect was nancy? >> i don't know that nancy was on the radar for a long time. she was on long enough to be able to set her aside. >> 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. >> 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. >> go in here -- do you remember -- >> yeah. >> 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 really would like to think that lynsie has been like abducted or -- >> like what? >> i'd really rather think -- >> police turned up the heat. >> this bull about being positive, let's get down to the nitty-gritty and i like to think in my pollyanna mind -- >> okay. >> it's a possibility.

>> right. >> police thought chris seemed oddly calm talking about a friend who may have been murdered. >> it turns out somebody killed her, what do you think should happen? >> i want to find them. go to jail. >> how long should they go to jail? >> as long as it takes. >> like what? >> i don't know. for a while. >> that's as strong as you can get out of him? >> as strong as we could get out of him. >> not go to the gas chamber. >> not my friend, she didn't

deserve that. >> it was not evidence, and after the interview chris mcamis was free to leave and detectives weren't any closer to learning what happened to lynsie ekelund. and neither was nancy. who remained convinced her daughter would one day just come home. you thought that one day she would walk back through the door. >> yes. >> 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. >> it was torture for nancy. no matter what version of events you believed and police still weren't telling her anything. nancy during all this time feels like she's been sort of cut out of the loop. >> yes. nancy was pretty angry. we worked this case diligently for a long time. at some point, you hit the wall.

>> at the time there were nine detectives working on everything, gangs, rapes, murder and cold cases. by 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's phenomenal. >> phenomenal because what? he sees things other cops don't seen? >> phenomenal because he sees cops don't see. i don't know anybody who could have done a better job than larry. >> the evidence whisperer were about to listen to what the facts of this case were really saying. was there something that police had missed? you bet. coming up -- that picture of the truck spotted on the night of the crime. something about it just doesn't seem right. but the evidence whisperer is all over it. when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues.

hello. i'm dara brown. georgia and oklahoma took the first steps toward reopening their economies allowing salons an barbershops to open up. despite a death toll of nearly 50,000 from the virus. meanwhile, lawmakers pushed through a fourth relief bill aimed at helping employees and hospitals. nearly $500 billion package includes funds for testing which governors say is a key factor toward restarting the economy. now back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. where was lynsie ekelund? the investigation was at a stand still. detectives had two possible suspects but no evidence linking

either of them to her disappearance. enter cold case detective larry montgomery, also known as the evidence whisperer. could he uncover some crucial clues so many others had missed? here again is josh mankiewicz with the night lynsie disappeared. >> 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 das office to larry montgomery. he's 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. >> everything that had led placentia police into that wall. trying to decide between two suspects. >> no, i'm concerned about this girl, you know? she's missing. >> marty, lynsie's older friend who kept their relationship a secret and lied about his name. and chris. and lied about his ne and chris. >> the last person to have seen lynsie when he dropped her at that corner. at that point, which of the two was the more likely suspect? >> no, i don't know until i see the details. >> you're no doubt aware you have a reputation for believing -- i don't know if god's in the details but guilt's in the details. >> and innocence. >> 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 have a bad guy just waiting, hoping that a girl drops out of a car at 4:25 in the morning. >> it happens. >> yep. and you can consider that and then you weigh it and you go, is that a good possibility? probably not. but still, keep an open mind. >> so larry sat down and read through the entire case file. all the witness statements, all the interviews. he did that for two years. >> okay, we're going down this road again. >> 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 and talk to lynsie's mother and give a phony name? >> if you don't know the background of marty, then absolutely. >> when i talked to the mother on the phone, i just gave her an

identifier, you know? marty rossler, is what i said. >> which is a lie. >> which is a lie. >> 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. >> larry also took a closer look at the idea that marty and lynsie were together at that clothing store after she went missing. >> i wasn't there on that day. >> no one ever found any security video of that and larry's 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. >> marty's behavior matched up with that of an innocent person, not with a guilty one? >> that's correct. he is actually doing exactly what you would do you were if looking for lynsie. he was searching. >> 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 ironclad proof that chris was telling the truth, but suggestive what he said he actually did. >> correct. >> 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? >> truck in the photo had a dark spot which means whatever mirrors if there were mirrors

there were black. >> so it's not the same truck? >> that's right. it's not. >> suddenly chris' alibi had a big hole on it. he moved on to chris' history with women. two ex-girlfriends talked about how chris would become unhinged with the disrespect. he learned about how he had 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 some significant anger issues. >> certainly appears that way. >> larry listened to chris' interviews and caught him talking some of the time about lynsie in the past tense. >> it was pretty much like this. >> then larry found something in the paperwork from placentia p d. 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 said he stayed close to home, but larry checked chris' credit card statement. >> there was one entry on february 17th and it turns out it was santa clarita which is 50 miles north of where chris lived. >> why would chris be in santa clarita? >> well, that's what i wanted to know. >> digging through the reports, larry found information about chris' dad. that he was in construction. and that in 2000 and 2001 and he had a job site in santa clarita. back in 2001 this was a major construction site and chris had told police he did not work for his dad that winter, he was on unemployment. but larry saw some big cash deposits going into chris' bank

account in addition to the unemployment checks and he thought he was working off the books. >> chris' father did some of the tractor work there. >> country worked there? >> he was one of the workers there. >> is this where you thought to yourself, that's where lynsie ekelund is? >> i thought chances are excellent that if i killed lynsie, and i was in chris mcamis' situation and i had use of a tractor out in the middle of nowhere, i might use that tractor to dig a hole to put her in. >> 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. >> when "dateline" continues. . >> when "dateline" continues ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection.

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it was october of 2010, nine years after her daughter had disappeared and nancy ekelund was 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 recruited a motorcycle cop from a nearby town to go undercover. >> they needed a police officer who looked like a college student and didn't have the mannerisms of a police officer. >> spring was that officer. how are you dressed? >> jeans on. a little shirt. something that a college student would wear. >> were you armed? >> yes. >> were you wearing a wire?

>> yeah. >> hi, are you chris? >> yes. >> i'm nicole from the magazine. >> she was posing as a student reporter, complete with a phony press pass. she knocked on chris' front door. chris had talked to a student reporter in the past about the case. you used your real name? >> no. a fake name. i told him who i was. >> well, we just received word at torch magazine that remains have been found that they believe belong to lynsie. i guess they're doing dna testing right now and in the meantime i'm supposed to contact friends and family and get their initial reaction for a story. >> okay. >> when i told him that the police believe they found lynsie's remains his demeanor changed. >> how? >> quite drastically, actually. i could see the color in his face went white. >> the police had not found lynsie's remains. that was a lie. police do it all the time and it's legal.

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

>> chris, have a seat. >> larry had read all about chris mcamis. and he had looked at tape of every time he had been in. he and chris were going to meet for the first time. >> i have been investigating this case for about two years now. i'm a cold case celebrity. >> 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. >> he wanted to fill him in on the details thinking that the cops had the goods. >> since you're under arrest i'll advise you of your rights and then i want to explain everything. >> larry read chris' rights andp this before chris could really respond, larry laid out his case. 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, but for years we thought it was your truck but it's not. as a matter of fact, your truck did not go by that night. it wasn't there. >> 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. about you. you are working, you are up there when you said you were not. but he said you don't work on saturday. lynsie disappeared on a saturday morning. none of your credit card usage up there is on any weekend, all weekdays except for the day that lynsie disappeared. >> he told chris the lie about lynsie being found. >> we went and recently got dna from mother and dad of lynsie and had that checked against the body. and it's 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. >> and knowing about chris' anger issues with previous girlfriends, larry summoned up a little empathy to draw chris in. >> i know that you have that ability to be angry. but i don't know what would cause her to get you that angry. what she could have done. >> 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? >> 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. >> well, it's up to you. >> the supreme court had 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 up as wondering if you need one. corinne loomis was watching from another room. that's as close as you can get i want a lawyer line without crossing it. >> saying i want it, right. >> were you holding your breath? >> yeah. this was a make or break interview. if he didn't confess he was going to walk again. >> "dateline" returns after the break. >> "dateline" returns after the break. you know, new customers save over $1,000 on average

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i need to know what occurred so i do the right thing because something happened there. >> larry montgomery spoke for 45 minutes. he'd given chris mcamos everything he had. >> take a look. credit card usage. >> the photo, the job site. >> how will did you know lynsie? >> this is not a convenient time right now. >> and then the interview had suddenly stopped dead. >> i think i need a lawyer to talk to you about this with me. >> well, it's up to you. >> and 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. >> so i knew that was the moment of truth and i had to interject something very quickly. >> chris quarterback nobody likes to be labeled a monster and in this case, that's the way it's pointing. only you have the other side of the story. nobody is going to be able to speak for you. that's why we're here now. >> that's it. >> there's 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 a story. >> all right. what happened was -- >> and suddenly you realize -- >> 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 is going to confess. >> it was sad and it was ugly. >> she -- i was going to take her home. she was telling me, why don't i just sleep over at your place because i don't want to upset my mom. >> makes sense, yeah. >> 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. can and i drank a lot of vodka. and then i went back and i tried to do the same thing. pe t 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 in the face. >> did she -- >> yeah, she -- like this to my face. and being drunk, it enraged me. it set me on fire. and i grabbed her, flow e throw 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 couldn't believe it. i thought she was just going to pass out and i ended up killing her. >> that was it.

lynsie ekelund had been killed before anyone even realized she was missing. chris says he drove up to the work site and used a skip loader to dig a hole. he held on to her body for a few days and when no one was around, he buried her. >> did it feel any better to finally no? >> no. it was a relief, but i wasn't any happier because of it. >> after the interview, detectives left another detective in the interview room and chris couldn't stop talking. >> unbelievable. >> what's that? >> it's been so long. it finally feels better when you just say what you were supposed to say, you know? i know my life is ruined now.

do you know if i'm going to get the death penalty for this? >> you're going to have to ask them those questions. >> then larry came back. all was meticulous. he wasn't done. he wanted that final de25i8. where approximately was it that you dug the hole to put her? >> where exactly chris had left lindsay. he explained to chris that even though they had found her remains, which wasn't true, the grave site shifted over the years from flooding. >> show us where the tractor was park and exactly where you dug the hole. >> with the 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? >> yeah. wherever this tree is, didn't used to exist there when we had construction. >> okay.

>> he wasn't sure of the exact spot. >> it's over in this vicinity. >> all the way to that brush. >> that brush over there? >> yeah. >> it took more than a day of digging to find what was left of lindsay. first they found a shoe, then a jacket and a bracelet. that's how nancy knew they had found her. the coroner confirmed it using dental records. >> the back of my truck was here. >> two years later, chris pleaded guilty to murder. his sentence, 15 years to live. >> you told me that you thought you let this consume your life too much. >> oh, it did. it does do this day. >> now it's over. what are you going to do? >> i don't know. i know 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's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc, risky business. at least three states this morning are trying to restart their economies, but why some fear it's too soon. >> when he gets new information, he likes to talk that throughout loud. >> a key white house doctor try toes explain the president's remark owes disinfectants. new symptoms, another list is out with coronavirus effects and one report is what is emerging as a surprise killer. overseas, one