good-byes. farewell to hannah hill. never forgotten by her family and friends or the criminal justice system. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> we were really close. people kept asking where my mom was and i couldn't give an answer. just seemed wrong. that was the real, kind of, stake in the heart. >> it was one of the most baffling cases that brothers had ever seen. >> nobody can believe it happened. >> a single mom and computer whiz who seemed to disappear. >> i started to get text messaging say she quitted her job.

>> she had something down in kansas. >> left behind a puzzling computer trail. >> e-mails and text message, active on social media. >> she didn't want to be found. >> exactly. >> a mom turned ghost. was she missing or hiding? >> i wanted to know. >> taunts, threats, violence. a deadly mystery that would leave three moms and one man. >> you were the last one to see her? >> it is like i already done something and he knew it. he was drilling mooey with the policemen eyes. >> this was almost an obsession to get this solved. >> you are on the edge. what is going to happen next?

>> it was dark when they started searching. dark and cold. the 5th of december, 2015. just across the night black missouri from omaha. back and forth went the chopper, as squad cars prowled the park. big lake park, iowa, looking for a shooter. >> i have been shot in the leg. >> looking for whoever shot her. the woman that came out here alone to clear her mind and get the nemesis out of her head and instead was bleeding through a holeshot clean through her thigh. >> she knew who did it as they patched up her wounded leg. she knew all too well how deadly that crazy woman could be. >> she gets to shoot somebody

and gets to kill another person and move in with dave and she gets to be free and you guys aren't arresting her. >> she, who was she? that furious woman scorned and what horrors was she capable of to eliminate her rivals and win or punish the one man she so desperately wanted. the man that didn't want her. ded the man that didn't want her it began as these things often do on an innocent and ordinary day in omaha, nebraska three years earlier. the fall of 2012. >> i am working behind the counter and doing ten things. >> she walks in. we meet eyes and i kind of stop. i say well, hello. >> he was working. she wanted her suv repaired.

>> back of my mind i am thinking she is gorgeous. but i am at work representing the company i work for. that is off the table, not a possibility. >> did you detect a little signal coming back your way? >> i thought i did. >> a few weeks later, it seemed like fate. dave went on a dating website and there she was. her profile, picture and name. he started typing. >> i said hey, i know you. ha-ha. she replied, same thing. >> before long carrie went into the shop. >> we are looking at each other like we are wanting to say something and key did and exchanged phone numbers. >> they had dinner. the food did not matter. >> we were very, you know, i would say enthralled with each other. >> he invited her back to his place and she agreed.

didn't seem so important. awkward. but carrie just laughed, bowed out. >> she said i get it. not a big deal. i am go to go home. call me when you are done dealing with the mess. >> dave escorted her to the door. later dave called carrie. >> she invited me to her place, an hour outside of town. when i got to her place, 20 minutes making coffee, bsing and pretty soon we are on the couch and getting closer. at this point we have not even

kissed. she turns to me and said look, if we are going to have sex. that is all it is. there is nothing more to it. asked me are you good with that. is that going to be a problem. my eyes lit up like i hit the powerball. >> dave felt exactly the same way. as a man i want companionship. i am always looking for a girlfriend but never a committed happy. but with her he did haven't to bring it up. >> it was all her. we hit it off from there. her office was close to his apartment. they met there, often. they made love and talked.

different than the women you dated before? compared to her i didn't know what a computer was. >> dave reconsidered his no commitment rule, a rule he had broken before with a woman named amy. they had two kids together. but it did not last. >> after 12 years you would think that there would be some type of a proposal or something. but like i said he is kind of emotionless. >> he really didn't want to get married? >> no. >> amy and dave stayed friendly for the sake of their kids and amy knew about dave's other women and heard about carrie. >> you expected you would meet her if it continued? >> if it continued i would have

liked to have met her. early november 2012 carrie told dave she had a big project at work. so they began their work week together. tuesday, november 13th. >> i gave her a kiss out the door. i didn't say honey. but that is how it was. >> you went off to work that day you were in a good mood? >> dave was at his shop by 6:30,

entirely unprepared. >> by 10:00 i receive a text saying do you want to move in with me or we need to move in together or something along those lines. immediately i texted her back. no. we have known each other two weeks. not going to happen. soon as i do that i get a text back saying fine. i am dating somebody else. i hate you. on and on and on and on. >> weird. >> very weird. >> what is going on here. but i was at work. it was very busy. i didn't have time for that nonsense. i am thinking i dodged a bullet there. >> but he didn't. no. it was just beginning. coming up. who was this woman named carrie? she was about to vanish in a very mysterious way.

>> i did not know what to think at that point. >> when dateline continues. at that point. >> when dateline continues [ traffic passing by ] [ birds chirping ] mondays, right? what? i said mondays, right? [ chuckles ] what about 'em? just trying to make conversation. switch to progressive and you can save hundreds.

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>> dave, the man who liked his sex life uncommitted was confused. the woman that seemed to share his philosophy turned on him, behaving like a woman scorned. certainly she wanted to move in. when he refused she responded with angry often misspelled texts. now that named sounded like his personal horror show. >> this is the woman from hell now all of a sudden? >> yeah. >> or in the course of a couple of hours. >> wow. >> maybe to dave in omaha, that is how it seemed. but an hour drive away there was a different story.

here in this tiny sweet farming town of macedonia, iowa. >> only around 250 people live there now. it is just home. >> home to carrie. where she was raised by her stepfather, mark and mother nancy who would stick with carrie through it all. but of course they had had always known there was something different about her. >> she felt like she wanted to do her own thing. and sometimes that -- >> doesn't always go well. >> yeah. >> the thing is she was smart, super smart. school was easy. but then so were boys. >> guys were just drawn to her. >> she liked it. >> there was something else about carrie, said her friend holly. brainy, yes. but she sometimes made dubious choices like when she was away

at college and there was this guy, one of a parade of guys. >> she would constantly talk about this night where they were all dressed up and it was midnight and walking in the streets of a bottle of champagne and she made it sound like a romantic movie. >> did it come as a surprise? >> yeah. yeah. i knew what she was going to have to go through. because i had been divorced with young children. it is hard. >> it is not easy. >> she moved home and took computer courses and she named the baby maxwell. everyone called him max. >> she was such a good mother. but i know that she had so much on her plate too at that time when she was going to school and everything else. but she did very well. she held up very well. >> expect for the mood swings, the dreadful depressions.

>> she would just go under the covers and sleep, you know. she would hibernate and close herself off for everything. >> hard to watch your daughter go through that. >> it is. trying to get it out of her, you know twhampt can i do. you know, there is really nothing that i can do or so. >> but it got better once carrie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, medication evened things out and carrie and max settled into an apparently happy and successful life. then the inexplicable turn. carrie had just started the high-tech job of hers in omaha. >> she really liked that job. >> what was she doing? >> computer programming. >> november 2012, she took on the big project. max was a teenager then. he understood about her long hours and how she decided to stay in the city for a few days and did not ask about the man she would be staying with. >> i didn't know dave at the

time. i heard of a dave. that was about it. >> she didn't talk about him? >> no. usually things like that, she did not talk to me about. >> dave. that is all her family knew. >> she was in a very good place and had been for a long time. i did not think too much about it. >> that weekend nancy picked up max and later carrie drove off to omaha to spend the week with dave. >> she did not text me or anything that monday. and i started to get text messages saying she had quit her job and she was going to kansas to live and. >> what that was like? >> totally off the wall. >> the same time dave got the angry texts though nancy had no ideas about that. the news came as a big surprise to nancy. though to max, maybe not so much. >> because she had something down in kansas that she was

going to be going and interviewing for after the few days at work. >> his mom mentioned a possible job change and even discussed staying with grandma to finish high school and early that weird week. >> i got a text saying hey, i got a second interview. >> she would be back for kansas for a family wedding at which max was an usher. as the bride walked down the aisle, so sign of carrie. >> she will be there at the reception and at the party. at the party i remember every 5 to 10 minutes i was glancing back at the door. >> where is she? >> i kept saying she will be here in any minute. midnight got around and she wasn't there.

>> unsettling doubts about carrie's story. was she moving or missing? >> i could feel it in my bones something was not right here. >> what was going on. >> i have to do something. >> when dateline continues. to d. >> when dateline continues ♪ ♪i've got the brains you've got the looks♪ ♪let's make lots of money♪ ♪you've got the brawn♪ ♪i've got the brains♪ ♪let's make lots of♪ ♪uh uh uh♪ ♪oohhh there's a lot of opportunities♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700. saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate click or call to switch today.

>> max believed that he knew his

mom, carrie, as well as anybody possibly could. >> we were definitely really close. i was her second opinion on most things. >> so, when carrie was a no-show at the wedding, max knew that something was way off. >> i wasn't sure what was going on, but i just knew that something was wrong. >> i could feel it in my bones something wasn't right. >> nancy did not talk about the truly disturbing text she received from carrie. this did not say anything about a new job. she texted she broke up her boyfriend and was thinking of checking into a mental hospital. >> that scared me. >> scared me tremendously. >> by boyfriend, did she mean the mysterious dave? >> did you know how to reach this guy? >> no, i did not. i did not know how to start looking for her. >> what is that like?

>> hell. frustration. helplessness. >> before dropping off max at the wedding she called the county's sheriff office to file a missing persons report. >> they took down the information and they could not -- they didn't really offer too much. >> i guess they thought she is a grown woman and can leave when she wants to leave. >> she talked about carrie's struggles with bipolar disorders and here is what they told her. >> well, she is probably off of her medicine. these things happen. >> nancy tried calling and carrie would not pick up. she did respond to texts but sent mixed messages. >> i am moving down with this dave. i have no idea who the dave was. >> it was confusing. did she have some sort of a

mental breakdown? carrie quit her job in omaha and texted her mom she was taking the job in kansas, and moving away. and has sold her furniture and attached a photo of the check from the buyer. carrie wanted nancy to let the buyer pick her up and take it away. >> i said absolutely not. i said either you call or come to see me. i am not doing anything until i hear you and that is when the nasty texts started to come in. i am a bad mother. i am go to take max and we will leave. >> carrie texted max and let him know. >> you are coming with me. i am the adult here. what i say goes. >> trying to imagine what it was like to be you in the middle of the situation. >> it was a little bit scary. we all thought that someone might come at school to try to get me.

because the school would legally have to let them go with them. >> yeah. >> like if my mom showed up. >> max was scared and he had no idea what was going on with his mom. he wanted to stay with his grandparents. >> i heard all of these horror stories about people having these personality changes. >> yeah. >> and going off of the deep ends. i thought that i have to do something about max and keep him safe. >> nancy applied for temporary guardianship of max. >> that must be so weird. >> oh. >> fraught. >> yes. and just wondering what am i doing to my daughter if we were doing this. the lawyer said now this is just temporary. if she comes back you can always undo this. i said okay. >> surely the sheriff could find her daughter and get help. she showed them carrie's texts about the furniture, the phone company said that they were coming from a location in omaha.

officers went there, no carrie. the sheriffs office who joined the investigation said the next step is to find the woman who paid for the furniture. >> i called and left a voicemail which she returned the next day. >> shanna went by her middle name, liz. that was the same liz dave once dated. she lived in omaha with her two kids and told the cops somebody stole her checkbook and she suspected that person was the woman she ran in to at dave's places and liz gave the detectives her contact information. >> she is with him and all of a sudden goes off of the rails. he must know something. >> definitely a person you want to talk to. >> and by then, the story dave could tell the police, scary.

coming up -- >> he was drilling me with the policemen eyes. >> the police have questions for dave. >> she was at your house. >> yes. >> you were the last one to see her. >> it is as if i had already done something and he had already knew it. >> when dateline continues. d already knew it. >> when dateline continues [music plays] ♪i swear♪ ♪ it was like that towel and jaycee were the only two left on earth. but... they weren't. you can always spot a first timer. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. [frank sings] ♪ “i swear!...”♪ you're going to love them too. gain. seriously good scent.

americans are bracing against early signs of a fourth wave as states are seeing a rise in cases. to% increase from two weeks ago. and nasa's helicopter touched down on the red planet. the helicopter's first flight is a week away and nows it job is to survive cold nights that drop to below zero. >> dave was upset, maybe as

upset as he ever had been. ever since telling cari she couldn't move in she had been texting and e-mailing and making his life miserable. he tried to call her but she did not answer and more than a week later the cops showed up at his auto repair shop. >> how did you find out they were coming? >> there was no warning. >> detectives took him outside for a talk. >> they said do you know cari. i am like that crazy one. when did you see her last the morning of. okay. where is she now. no idea. >> the detective did not seem to buy that. >> he was drilling me with them policemen eyes like, you know. you feel like you are in the principal's office. >> where were you at 6:30 on that morning. >> yeah. i totally had that. >> she was at your house. >> yes. >> you were the last one to see her. >> that is how he approached me

like i had already done something and he knew it and it is time to deal with it. i am like whoa. whoa. slow down. >> dave, tried to explain, he said. >> hey, man. i do not know where she is at but i have got nothing to do with it. i am backpedaling as fast as i can. i don't know where she is at. i just want her to go away. >> dave said that cari would not stop messaging him and was adament he hadn't seen her since the morning he left her at his place. >> do you think they believed you? >> think 100% they believed me. >> the strangest thing, cari started to text the detective too. i would really appreciate if you leave dave kroupa out of this. >> we can't stop looking into it. we need to locate you and the

missing person entry will not be taken out until someone talks to you in person where we know you are okay. >> did she respond to that? >> he said it was pointless. >> she didn't want to be found. >> exactly. >> but the detective got another text and this seemed ominous. i want one person to go away for destroying everything for me. who might that person be? the detective had a pretty good idea. dave showed them texts in which cari blamed liz for the break up, even though as he explained he and liz were not even together when he met cari. made sense that cari must have stolen liz's checkbook and maybe forged that check for five grand. the detectives called liz and told her she had file a report with the omaha p.d. it was their jurisdiction. before she got the chance, liz went to her garage and there, scrawled on the wall she found

the word who are from dave. had to have been cari. all of it was so strange. >> very out of the ordinary. >> like maybe she had a breakdown or psychotic episode. >> that would be the only answer. >> cari was now a suspected stalker. back home in iowa, she was still a missing person with a very worried family. cari's mother heard about the threatening texts, harassment, the police reports filed against her daughter. to her it did not seem like cari at all. it made her wonder how serious were the police about finding her daughter. >> i got a little kalas, thinking they were not doing as much. >> do you get the feeling you want to get in there and storm the barricades and make something happen? >> yeah. i did not know how much that i

could do. i did not know where to start. >> cari had been gone for almost two weeks. thanksgiving, a day away. nancy sent cari a message on facebook. i have a roast in the crock pot and we will eat at about 6:00. we are go to dad's for thanksgiving and eating about noon or 1:00. we love you cari. >> cari did not respond and did not show up for thanksgiving dinner. less than a month later nancy's ex-husband, cari's father died of cancer. cari did not come to the funeral and instead sent a message on facebook, i am sorry i missed the funeral. just a few days before that she posted on facebook, david kroupa proposed to me. i said yes. what in heavens name was going on. nancy called the detectives who called dave who swore no way he was engaged to cari and said he

hasn't seen her but still heard from her constantly, a hail from texts and e-mails that was only getting thicker. >> 50, 60 a day. >> a day? >> yeah. yeah. all day long. at one point it rendered my phone completely useless. it would be dinging so much i couldn't answer a phone or send a text. >> you would want to change your phone number. >> i did. they still kept coming. >> they did. >> occasionally the texts seemed almost normal. i know i ruin it. i tell myself don't know crazy this guy was nice to you but something takes over. mostly the e-mails and texts were angry rants about proceeded rivals. she is a whore, you shouldn't be with someone like that. dave realized that cari did see him and was watching every move.

>> it was common for me to get messages saying i see you through your windy. you are doing this. i going, i am doing this. i would go look for somebody. someone knows what i am doing. >> even more disturbing, cari messaged dave she had taken his extra apartment key and was coming and going when he wasn't there. liz got unsettling e-mails too. i am out in the garage. i see my handy work is still on the wall. attached to the e-mail a photo to prove that cari was there. eventually cari wrote dave a note claiming she kidnapped liz. you will do as i say. do it or say good-bye to her. attached was the photo, a woman bound. couldn't see her face. was that liz? >> i told her, yes.

that is a crock of crap. i don't believe you. go away. >> through it all cari remained invisible. yes, couple of buildings away. why does that bother you? i am only doing month to month until i find something else. dave told the cops and went looking for cari. >> building was correct. >> nowhere to be found. near the complex dave found something that belonged to cari. >> coming up. a crucial discovery almost buried in the snow. and the danger escalates. >> it was like what in the hell. >> into something deadly. >> it is like you are on edge as to what is going to happen next. >> when dateline continues. o ha. >> when dateline continues ou pry month with heartgard plus,

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the shop. >> i am coming through the parking lot and i notice the truck because it had all of the snow on it. i got up close it is an explorer and the right color. i am said i am pretty sure i found her truck. >> he was right. still half buried in the snow. >> they impounded it. crime scene tech processed it and it was really clean. they dusted it for prints and found a fingerprint inside and recovered that. >> the fingerprint was found on a mint container in the cup holder of the suv and ran the print through the national database, no hits. if cari wasn't using her suv daily, her presence was unavoidable as ever with the texts and e-mails and graffiti and threatening photos sent both

to dave and liz. detectives did a phone dump to preserve the evidence and perhaps figure out where cari was. there was even a link to a fake -- then minutes later i am trying to hire someone to get rid of that whore liz for us. do we want to pay just for the whore or her two kids soon. i hope to see you soon. >> trying to enlist her to kill liz and the kids. >> yeah. this was a very interesting read. what in the hell. >> cari did not seem to realize her ongoing harrassment was

pushing dave and liz back together. >> compared notes on the harassment. >> we would spend hours, showing each other texts in the e-mails we got. >> comforting each other. >> yes. >> who else would understand. >> nobody else did understand. >> now they were regulars at the omaha p.d. the time they reported cari had broken dave's apartment window. that is when the detective stepped in to investigate. >> yeah. she has done it to me before. identifies a photo of her. shows me text messages. she made a text referencing the fact she broke out the window. >> the attacks were escalating from angry texts to theft, vand -- vandalism and threats of physical harm. he knew cari was probably using

software to disguise the phones or computers where the messages came from. >> i thought it could be a app she is utilizing. just nothing is there. can't find her. >> weeks passed. each time that dave and liz were hit with an even more outrageous barrage, the girl would look good and again and again not find car irveths. it all was leading somewhere bad. >> were dave and liz afraid? >> yes. you are on edge as to what is going to happen next. >> and sure enough, what happened next was terrifying. early saturday morning, august 17th, liz called dave frantic. >> my house burned down. my god. the crazy person stalking me again. >> wow. >> liz had been in the middle of moving out. she and her kids were sleeping at the new place and she went back to the old place to pick up

more of their things. instead, she had to call the omaha fire department. they responded right away and later so did the detective. >> the inside of the house was charred and burned and smoke damage. sufficient. really could have ended up burning down the house. >> liz had two dogs, one cat and a pet snake and all were still in the house and all were found dead. neighbors across the street said they saw a woman in a car parked outside of liz's house a few weeks before the fire. the detective showed them a photo of cari and the neighbors said they couldn't be sure but had the same general appearance. but an e-mail of dave made no secret. i am not lying and i set that nasty whore's house on fire.

>> hope you and your kids burn to death. >> once you get into threats to individuals lives and children, certainly you are going to take that much more seriously. >> suddenly the case against cari looked very serious indeed. but still, like smoke from the fire, she vanished. >> what i did is try to see if somebody saw her. and nothing. over and over again, nothing. >> by this time said dave he was afraid she would try to attack his kids too. >> what did she is a when she threatened the kids. >> slit your childrens' throats. >> wow. >> pretty hard to read. >> it took a toll, said dave. >> for a while i was drinking heavily, which is not me. never been a time in my life i was a real drinker. i was drinking until the bar was

closed and going to work at 6:00 in the morning. >> and you bought a gun. >> sure. yeah. yeah. >> why? >> for my safety and my childrens' safety and for just protection in general because i did not know. >> so, dave and liz kept watch in the city, wary, fearful. cari's family was coping with emptiness, grief and a terrible gnawing uncertainty. nancy had sent several pleading messages, come home. cari, you're my daughter, and i will always love you no matter what. we just need to see you, hear your voice and know where you are. i love you so much. you are my little girl. come home. for a parent and a mother, i don't know how do you characterize this episode in your life? how do you talk about those feelings and make sense of them?

>> there was no making sense of it. total loss. >> what happened to cari favrer, and why? favrer, and why? >> coming up, news like a lightning bolt for a family in i thinkish. someone claimed to have seen cari. >> my heart was racing like crazy. >> could it be? after all of this time. >> did you rehearse what would you say? >> where have you been. >> when dateline continues. e yon >> when dateline continues

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where was cari favrer? everyone wanted to know and especially her family. what it was like at christmas time without her? >> that was hard. that was hard. >> christmas was once magic for

max here in macedonia, a celebration of had his amazing bond with his mother. of little things, like their family's gift opening traditions. >> at our house we go by age and we do rounds at christmas and just going from me to grandma. >> well, it was wrong. you kind of had to bottle it up, didn't you. >> kind of. >> he didn't show his emotion too much to me. because he knew that i was -- >> you were worried. >> i was really worried. but i found out from his girlfriend's mother that he would go over to her house after school and her mother told me he did a lot of crying at their house.

that bothered me, of course. >> there had been a sudden bit of hope after the first christmas without cari in april of 2013. the phone rang, on the line was a man. >> saying that cari was at this homeless shelter in omaha and that we were to go pick her up. >> what was happening in here? >> flutters. my heart was just racing like crazy. >> the shelter was about an hour away. nancy, who had neither seen her daughter or heard her voice was months was not able to drive and had her brother take her. >> i was so tense. just trying to catch your breath. >> did you rehearse what you would say? >> where have you been. yeah. you know, i don't care where you have been. >> an investigator met nancy at

the shelter. >> the investigator went into the shelter and showed the picture and wanted to know if there was anybody there like her and they said she hasn't been here. >> what is that like? >> you know, then your hopes are dashed again. you are like where can she be. >> there is a feeling that comes with you are on a wild goose chase. >> yes. i went home and thought i can't live with this anymore. this is just too much. >> again, nancy messaged cari. cari, we were at sienna house, where were you. and then a facebook post, i am a grown woman and if i feel like leaving home i have the right. i asked my son max to come with me. i love you all very much, but i need time still to sort things out. and then there were posts like

this one. liz is the hoe that took my boyfriend away from me and now i have met a really nice guy. nancy had to wonder, maybe self delusion but these messages did not sound like cari. >> because my daughter was so meticulous about grammar and spelling and the way that it sounded. >> this is like what? >> garbage. >> chaotic. >> yes. it was chaotic. the language that was used. cari would not have used that language. >> unless she became a different person. >> yeah. that too. i am thinking is this the case. >> had her daughter had a total break down or what if cari's disappearance wasn't what it seemed to be? coming up, max reaches on out to his mother with a test.

things only she would know. >> yeah. and dave buys another gun that soon goes missing. could cari be behind it. >> she is still active and sending text messages and pictures. >> maybe it wasn't cari at all. soon police will be investigating a whole new suspect when dateline continues. suspect when dateline continues. i'll be observing your safe-driving abilities. play your cards right, and you could be in for a tasty discount. [ clicks pen] let's roll. hey, check it out. one time i tripped on the sidewalk over here. [ heavy-metal music playing ] -[ snoring ] -and a high of 89 degrees.

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with real-time notifications and a week of uninterrupted recording. all powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. gotta respect his determination. it's easy and affordable to get started. get self protection for $10 a month. cari's family was desperate, there are texts but didn't sound like cari, not to her mother, beginning to suspect her daughter might have been the victim to some kind of crime. what if cari was kidnapped?

>> nothing came of it, but after husband died, had a weird dream. >> he came to me very vividly in the dream and said, he said, don't worry, nancy. she's with me. that sounds silly, but that's when i knew, but -- cause i knew she wouldn't just vanish. >> reporter: but, of course nancy didn't know for sure. >> and every time something would pop up online, or we'd get a text or something, there was this hope that maybe she's still out there. >> reporter: max was looking for answers his own way. about a month after nancy went to the shelter in omaha max sent his mom a message on facebook.

>> hi. that was it, and then the next day cari responded. >> hey little man how are you? >> reporter: max messaged back. >> i have three questions. >> reporter: things only she would know. >> yeah. yeah. things only she would know. >> reporter: max asked, one, what is my middle name? two, what was our first boxer's name? the dog. three, who was my best friend as a little kid? >> reporter: and what was the response? >> nothing. i -- i never got a response to that one. >> reporter: which meant -- what? was that his not-in-her-right-mind mom, or could his grandma be right that someone had kidnapped cari? no way of knowing really, and the messages kept coming, like this one for cari's mom. >> i'm not hurt mom! i miss everyone too. i just had a break down, and think i am getting over it. i should have came to my senses sooner, and realized the guy wasn't worth it. >> reporter: and then the

following year for mother's day. >> happy mother day mom! how has max been?" >> reporter: nancy frustrated - replied. >> call me, and i'll gladly tell you about him. this is not talking. i need to hear your voice. >> reporter: cari never called. for nancy and max, the anguish of missing cari never stopped, and meanwhile, all dave kroupa wanted was to escape her. in february 2015 dave moved from omaha to council bluffs, iowa across the river. his kids lived there with amy flora, and he wanted to spend more time with them, and he hoped cari wouldn't find him there. he bought another gun just in case, and after about three years of relentless harassment things finally seemed to be quieting down for liz and dave. there weren't as many messages from cari. she seemed to be fading away, and as that happened, liz and

dave saw each other less and less too. there was just one rather scary thing. that gun dave bought for protection, the one he'd kept hidden, high in a closet disappeared. >> reporter: and you're the only guy in that apartment. >> right. i'm the only one living there. now my mind's racing. there's no forced entry. the doors are all shut and locked. the windows are shut. >> reporter: well, what did you think? >> i didn't know what the hell to think. >> reporter: meanwhile in the county where cari farber lived before she became a dangerous digital persona, her experience was more office chatter than open case. that's when they got hooked on it. >> we had heard stuff, water cooler stuff i guess about the case. >> reporter: this strange, crazy woman. >> it was interesting. >> piqued our interest, so we requested to take a look at it. >> reporter: that was april 2015, more than two years after

cari's reign of terror began. file was huge by then, a bizarre, digital house of mirrors. so decided to sort things out with a simple question police had never really considered before, though her family certainly had. was cari farber really the vengeful woman she seemed to be? or did she even exist? >> i thought the smart idea was not have tunnel vision any direction. he worked it as if she was alive, until dead end, and i would work it if she was not alive. things to lead us to both conclusions. active and sending text messages and pictures. >> reporter: seems alive. >> but also missed so many events and not physically seen by anybody. >> started from scratch.

>> reporter: rereading all the materials. >> looking at all the interviews recorded, just diving in. >> reporter: spoke to dave kroupa, in his mind cari was alive and crazy. >> he give us his email account. >> 11,000 emails through the years, could be more. >> reporter: wasn't all, there was wholesale dump of material from liz's cell phone, learning a lot about dave and liz. been immersed in that for months but hadn't interviewed liz when in the office, pure coincidence. >> i was in the hallway talking with county attorney and another investigator was walking down the hall with liz to his office. to me it was like i saw a famous

person, she was there to file a harassment report. >> reporter: but her complaint wasn't against cari but someone else. >> amy flora, the mother of dave's children. >> reporter: wait, amy, not cari? first detective avis did a psychic double take, then asked if he could interview liz. >> who is your ex-boyfriend? >> dave kroupa? >> k-r-o-u-p-a. >> reporter: told detective her on again/off again relationship was off again but since most recent split dave's ex amy was stalking her on facebook and she was worried because. >> apartment was broken into and his gun was stolen, i told the police officer i was worried

since she had the key to his apartment -- >> reporter: liz suddenly realized she and david had been played for fools. for three years believed cari was the woman behind all of it, but suddenly like a light went on, said liz. wasn't cari at all. that scary, awful online villainess, woman responsible for all the trouble, had to be amy flora, dave's ex, the mother of his children. diabolical. think about it said liz. amy was the one who desperately wanted dave, had the motive. but cari, not really. >> like i said, they only dated for two weeks, and i don't understand why a person would still be stalking him almost three years later. >> cari and dave dated for two weeks? >> mm-hmm. >> and she -- >> supposedly is the one stalking for three -- three years.

i would find it more reasonable to believe that his kids' mom is the one that's -- >> reporter: head spinning. detective avis made some notes. told liz he'd do what he could to help her out. and no surprise -- the very next evening, december 5th, liz felt like she needed some time alone to think. she drove out to big lake park, took a walk along the trail there, sat down on a bench. quiet. alone. in the gathering cold and dark. and that's when it happened. the deafening bark of a gun, and the pain tearing through her thigh. >> i've been shot in the leg. >> reporter: : coming up. >> somebody in the park, what, armed and dangerous? >> yes. >> reporter: a shooter on the loose, and the prime suspect? >> all i heard was "open up, police!" they had two officers with guns drawn. >> pointing at you? >> yeah. >> reporter: when "dateline"

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>> is the assailant still nearby? >> i don't think so. he took off running. >> do you know if it was a male or a female? >> uh, female. >> reporter: it was dark when the council bluffs p-d roared out to big lake park. found a wounded and bleeding liz golyar, packed her off to the hospital. while the chopper trained down a search light and ground based cops scoured the paths and bushes. >> reporter: so somebody in the park on foot and, what, armed and dangerous? >> yes. >> reporter: while other cops searched for the shooter, detective matthew kuhlmann checked on liz at the hospital. >> you could tell that she -- you know, she was in pain. >> reporter: i imagine. >> obvious wound to her leg. >> reporter: but liz was lucky. the bullet went clean through her leg, missed bones and arteries. it could have been much worse. she told the detective what happened. >> she said she -- came out here to clear her mind. and she walked out to a bench, and sat down.

and then a female who she believed to be amy flora came up behind her, stuck a gun to her back, told her to get on the ground, and then shot her in the leg, and then ran off. >> reporter: a few minutes later, a city police task force surrounded amy's apartment. >> and i kinda seen somebody leaning against my -- building. and i said, "who's there?" and all i heard was, "open up, police." so i opened the door and they had two officers with guns drawn. >> reporter: pointing at you? >> yes, yeah. >> reporter: what did they say to you? >> they had said that i was accused of shooting -- liz. >> reporter: they searched her home, and later sat her down in an interview room and hooked her up to a polygraph machine. asked her questions like this one, among others. >> reporter: did you go to big lakes park that day? >> um, no. >> reporter: amy also denied that she shot liz. again and again. but she failed the polygraph.

still, something didn't add up. when that local detective arrived at amy's place right after the shooting, he felt the hood of her car. ice cold, hadn't been driven for a while. and the neighbor said amy was home all afternoon. so was amy so nervous she blew the polygraph? or was something else going on? detective avis went to see liz at the hospital, his recorder rolling. >> i feel like it's just written on the wall -- what it is. it's -- amy shot you with dave's gun, isn't it? >> pretty much, that's what i'm thinking. dave still doesn't think so. >> reporter: you seemed like the friendly cop. >> or the dumb one, i'll be whatever she wanted, as long as she kept telling us information. >> reporter: wait, what? avis was playing dumb, he said, to pump liz for information. because he and his partner had a strong suspicion about who really shot her. a truly shocking idea.

something beyond devious. >> she shot herself, is what i thought. >> reporter: liz shot herself? that sounded crazy. or maybe, a certain kind of crazy. remember to help catch cari farver, liz had given the police her cell phone. and here's what detectives doty and avis found on that phone. a photo of cari farver's s.u.v., which didn't make any sense at all because -- >> we looked at the date that was taken. and it was taken on christmas eve of 2012. >> reporter: wasn't that when her car was actually missing? >> yeah, it hadn't been recovered till january of 2013. >> uh-huh. >> so, we thought that's -- that's weird that the police couldn't find it. dave didn't know where it was, but somehow liz was able to [ bleep ] take a picture of it. >> reporter: but that wasn't all. remember that threatening photo cari emailed to dave, of a woman

bound and duct taped in the trunk? that photo was linked back to liz. which made them wonder, was it possible those wild and scary electronic messages all sent in cari's name were really sent by liz? tricky even for a computer whiz to nail that bit of jello to the wall. >> it's beyond our expertise and that's -- >> reporter: well, i was gonna say, how -- how well do you know computers and social media and all of that nonsense? >> we know how to pick up a phone and call tony kava and tell him that he's got a lot of information to look at. >> reporter: tony kava, who's he? >> your cave! >> by day i do i.t. work, and i've done that for about 15 years, and then by night i fight crime, so. [ laughter ] >> reporter: you sound like a superhero. anthony kava's day job is i.t. supervisor for pottawattamie county. but at night, for a dollar a year, he's a reserve sheriff deputy. >> reporter: i mean, how much stuff did you have to go through?

>> it was um, it was terabytes worth of information. maybe about three dozen email accounts, a dozen facebook accounts and a number of different apps. >> reporter: and in his tiny office kava sat, hour after hour, late into the night, deciphering enormous amounts of digital data. >> it might take her five minutes to create a fake email account. it might take me you know 15 hours to prove that it's actually her. >> reporter: among those many accounts was a youtube account with this video. >> the title of the video is "husband's cheating place." >> reporter: and that video -- showed the apartment of dave kroupa. but the ip address where that video was uploaded? was where liz lived. >> so again it was another arrow pointing at liz. >> reporter: painstakingly, arrow by arrow, anthony kava compiled the evidence. his conclusion -- every one of those threatening emails, and texts, and facebook posts and youtube videos, linked right back to liz golyar. meanwhile, detectives doty and

avis busied themselves with good old fashioned earth-bound evidence. remember that one unidentified fingerprint found in a mint container in cari's otherwise spotless s.u.v.? >> we asked our -- crime scene tech, "hey, can you compare that fingerprint to the known prints of liz. see what you come up with." >> reporter: it was a match. >> this lady who should have had very little interaction with cari should -- had no reason to ever be in her vehicle. it -- >> only met her in passing one time. >> reporter: yeah? >> but now, her fingerprint is in her car. >> reporter: liz in cari's s.u.v. liz impersonating cari online. there was no logical explanation for it, unless -- >> we think liz may have been involved with making cari disappear. >> reporter: a case about to dive right through the looking glass. and on the other side? hard to believe. >> reporter: coming up -- >> why else would you disguise

yourself as cari if you weren't responsible for it? >> reporter: what had really happened to cari? police hatch a bold new plan to finally get to the bottom of it all. >> i'm investigator doty, i work here for the sheriff's office. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. ter: when "dateline" continues. ination of two immunotherapies that works differently. it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and that tests positive for pd-l1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy is the first and only fda-approved combination of two immunotherapies opdivo plus yervoy equals... a chance for more starry nights. more sparkly days. more big notes. more small treasures. more family dinners. more private desserts. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during and after treatment. these problems can be severe and lead to death.

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capitol police union is urging congress to step up hiring. current work force is short by over 200 officers. union says they're reeling. trial of derek chauvin resumes, he's former minneapolis police officer accused of killing george floyd. police chief expected to testify against his former colleague monday. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: by the time these two county detectives started looking into the strange case of cari farver, and all those jealousy-fueled texts, and

emails, and threats and arson, cari's son max was getting ready for high school graduation. he hadn't seen his mom in three years. but, always the optimist, he decided to try one more time to reach her on facebook. >> i was at that point. it was just a last-ditch effort. just hoping something would happen. "if this is really you, please come back. i want you to be at my graduation..." >> reporter: when she didn't respond, how did that feel? >> it-- i-- i wasn't really surprised. 'cause, like i said, i knew it wasn't her. >> reporter: max and nancy had suspected for months that all those digital rants were not actually from cari. and they didn't know it yet, but detectives jim doty and ryan avis agreed with them. the detectives already had proof liz was impersonating cari online. but they also suspected something much darker. remember, another part of their

investigation involved this basic question. was cari farver alive or dead? >> her father died. >> reporter: yeah. >> and she didn't go to the funeral. missed her son's birthday. all these things. >> i mean, it didn't take ryan very long at all to come to a dead end where he-- he couldn't find anything to show that-- >> no. >> she was alive. suddenly cari farver looked not like a villain but like the real victim. and the woman who claimed she was the victim -- liz golyar -- looked like the prime suspect in cari's disappearance. >> because why else would you disguise yourself as cari if you weren't responsible for it? why would you be in cari's vehicle if you weren't responsible for it? >> reporter: all of that is so counter intuitive and so bizarre that, you know, you wouldn't be expected to believe such a thing. >> no. >> reporter: it was stunning. really.

liz apparently impersonating cari for years sending thousands of texts and emails in her name. but now they had a bigger question and a much bigger problem. >> i guess part of the worry was that if-- even if we could prove that it's liz sending all this stuff out as cari, well, that doesn't prove murder. >> reporter: murder? yes. sgt. doty and cpl. avis believed that liz killed cari out of jealousy, impersonated cari in order to win dave back, then tried to frame his ex-partner amy for everything. even going so far as to set her own house on fire, kill the family pets and shoot herself in the leg. pretty wild stuff. but, could they prove it? >> we did s-- need something more. so, we still weren't quite sure how to get to that point. and then liz herself, by accusing amy of shooting her gave them their big idea. >> and that's when we introduced jim to liz. >> well, i'm investigator doty.

i work here for the sheriff's office. >> reporter: a little over a week after the shooting in the park, liz arrived at the sheriff's station wearing her work uniform. >> i told you i was looking into a missing person's case briefly on the phone. >> reporter: he told her there was a break in the case. >> there are some -- been some remains that have been located. >> ok. >> reporter: it was a ruse of course. >> we're waiting on the lab results to make a positive id but the initial indications that these remains are cari. >> ok. >> reporter: "meanwhile", said detective doty. he was hoping liz could help establish a time line. like, when was the last time liz saw cari? "well that was easy", said liz. one brief encounter when liz went unannounced to dave's apartment back in 2012. >> i didn't know he was dating anybody else at the time. so she came out and i was going in. and she made a smart comment to me.

>> what'd she say to you? >> called me a bitch. >> ok. >> and it wasn't a big deal. i didn't really care at the time. i just wanted to get my stuff. and then i left and went home. >> ok. that's the only time you've ever seen her in person? >> yup. >> reporter: she told detective doty that it was dave who blamed cari for all those harassing messages over the years. but just as she had told detective avis, she now thought perhaps amy was really the one behind it all. >> she was with him for 12 years. and she still goes in and out of his life all the time so. >> yeah. so you think she could've been the person that did some of that stuff to you? >> i'm just saying, as another person who would be possessive of dave, it would be her. so i mean i wouldn't put it past her. >> reporter: detective doty pretended to agree. >> i'm thinking if she was bold enough to go in and shoot you, okay? she could easily be bold enough to have done something to cari. >> reporter: "of course", he said. he'd need to prove it. >> if we had messages from her

saying, "hey i did this or i did that" you know, i could easily start building that case. >> right. >> we want to build a case against amy. and we want to get amy thrown in prison, which we were hoping was music to her ears. and apparently it was. >> reporter: liz agreed to help with the investigation and she limped away. and she became a little deputy for you? >> yeah. no telling what liz might come up with next. >> reporter: coming up. liz forwards emails and propels the investigation. >> when they first started coming in, pretty vague. >> you want me to try and email her back? >> i'm leaving that in your court, liz, if that's something you would feel okay doing, that would be really helpful for us. >> reporter: and detectives give dave a dire warning. >> since liz did come tell you

this, i would avoid her like the plague right now. >> okay. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. y. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues.

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>> reporter: when cari farver never returned to little macedonia, iowa back in 2012, cops and neighbors alike seemed all too willing to believe she simply lost her mind, left her son with her mom and split. >> and the small community where's she from, they all kinda believed that, too, and nancy never could stand up and argue. >> reporter: nancy felt lonely indeed, until one day detective doty knocked on her door. >> i was a little bit standoffish because -- >> reporter: been down -- >> hadn't -- >> reporter: that road before? >> right, yeah. finally he said to me, he said, "well, i want you to know that i

don't think she left on her own." and i tell 'ya -- my attitude just changed. >> reporter: the very thing she'd suspected -- they saw what you had seen all along? >> right. so then they -- then the investigation really got going. >> reporter: an investigation as unusual, and convoluted, as the apparent crime. in which an eager liz golyar would try to help prove that her rival amy, killed cari. of course, all the while the detectives knew amy was innocent, but they let liz think they believed otherwise. >> if she made anything, real threatening statements or inferred that she ever did anything to cari, because that's like gold to me if we had something like that. >> okay. >> reporter: and what do you know, within days, liz began forwarding them emails. from amy, she said. although the misspellings looked awfully familiar. "i shot you liz to make sue dave stayed away from you." "i made a couple of those fake emails and numbers you and dave thought were cari to get rid of

you liz but ddnt wrk to well" >> when they first started coming in they were pretty vague. >> reporter: so detective doty spoke to liz again.coming in they were pretty vague. >> reporter: so detective doty spoke to liz again. they needed more, he told her. >> so you guys want me to try and email her back? >> and that's -- i'm leaving that in your court, liz. i mean, if that's something you would feel okay doing, uh, that'd be really helpful for us. >> reporter: liz said she'd try. >> cari's family -- some closure would be nice, probably. >> yeah, that -- that -- true. get, uh, her family some closure. >> reporter: so liz said she sent this email to amy. "so if you really shot me, then what kind of gun was it? so did you ever get to meet up with dave's ex cari?" >> reporter: and according to liz, amy responded. "the gun was daves that i used. don't worry you didn't get it as bad as crazy cari." and then she wrote this -- "so when i met crazy cari she

would wold not stop taling about dave and him bing her husband. she tried to attack me but i attaked her with a knofe i stabbed her three to four times in chest and stomach area. i ten took her out and burned her. i stuffed her body in a garage bag with crap." sort of detail a killer would know. >> reporter: to see that it was working must have been enormously -- exciting? >> it felt good. >> reporter: a couple of days later, dave kroupa called detective avis to say he'd just had a disturbing conversation with liz. >> she told me that the sheriffs had found remains, like somebody's dead. and that, uh, and that they thought that it was this cari. and, uh, and that supposedly they had all this evidence against amy. you know, that she's complicit, or knows something, or whatever. i don't know. >> reporter: dave was understandably shaken up. avis couldn't tell him much, but he did drop a big hint.

>> i'd be damn near moved in with -- with amy if i were you. and -- >> okay. >> uh, since liz did come and tell you this, i would avoid her like the plague right now. >> okay. >> reporter: dave took his advice, moved in with amy so they could protect each other and their kids. but that outraged liz. she called the police to say so. >> looks like the only person that benefitted was her. so she gets to shoot somebody, and then she gets to kill another person. and then she gets to move in with dave, and she gets to be free. and you guys aren't arresting her. [ crying ] >> reporter: detective doty told her he still needed more evidence. so liz gave them access to her email account. and over the next month emails came pouring in, allegedly from amy, of course. "i got a hold of cari and we drive in her car. i reachrd over and stabbrd her in the stimach. "when i killed carrie you know she begged me to call dave at

work. then she begged to talk to her famoly before she died." "i remember when i killed carrie that she had a yig yag sign on left thigh." >> reporter: all that read like a detailed confession. but -- >> we had to find evidence that would match what she's telling us to confirm that what she's telling us is true. >> reporter: coming up, the chilling clue that might finally unlock this mystery. >> got the passenger seat, pulled off the fabric of that, there's a dark red stain right on that seat. >> reporter: that's huge. >> reporter: it was. when "dateline" continues. t was. when "dateline" continues. less painful, more comfortable. invisalign.

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>> reporter: detectives were

convinced that liz had killed cari. needed to look at cari's car, again. but the car had long since been sold to somebody else. but they found it, much used, in a whole other county. >> took out the passenger seat, pulled off the fabric of that, and there's a dark, red stain right on that seat, large stain. >> reporter: they tested it, human blood. and dna confirmed it was cari's blood. >> reporter: that's huge. >> it was. >> we high-fived. [ laughter ] but we didn't really know what to do next for sure. >> reporter: but they were sure they had to move fast, because it appeared liz was scouting a new target. >> we would see her circle amy's apartment multiple times a day. >> reporter: because doty and

avis believed cari was murdered in omaha, they asked the city police for help. and the omaha p-d picked up liz on an unrelated misdemeanor warrant. but in the interview, their questions were about cari. liz stuck to her story, that she was the victim in this tragic tale. >> what do you think happened to cari farver? >> i don't know. i don't even know -- i don't know if what amy's saying is true. i don't know. >> okay. >> i'm more scared that something's going to happen to me and then my kids aren't going to have anybody. >> reporter: the omaha detective added some pressure. why, he asked, was her fingerprint in cari's car? >> i don't know, but i've never been in her car. i don't even know what car she drives. >> reporter: she denied everything. >> the finger is pointing right at you. >> then i'm done talking and i'm going to have my attorney,

because i didn't do anything. >> reporter: by the end of the night she bonded out and the county attorney wanted more time to review the evidence. >> reporter: what was it like there waiting for that, was it frustrating? >> it -- it was. >> reporter: months went by. max, who hadn't hear about any of that recent investigation graduated from high school without his mom. >> that was the real kinda stake in the heart but -- 'cause -- >> reporter: well, god knows if there was any occasion she was going to attend, it certainly would've been your graduation. >> yeah. >> reporter: summer came and went, another winter set in. and then december 22, 2016, four years after cari farver vanished, after reviewing all of the evidence the county attorney finally felt there was enough. liz golyar was arrested for murder. >> the best part of it was being

able to go to nancy and tell her, "we've arrested somebody for the murder of your daughter." >> reporter: that was a big day for her. >> that was what made workin' this whole case worth it. >> reporter: what did it feel like driving out there to see them? >> couldn't drive fast enough. >> reporter: it was big news for dave, too. >> that was the first time i could go outside and take a breath of fresh air and say, "i don't have to look over my shoulder today." >> reporter: liz sat in jail while the prosecutors prepared for a trial they knew would not be easy. >> reporter: well, yeah, no body cases are tough, right? >> yeah, and circumstantial. it was very circumstantial. >> reporter: but then as the trial date was bearing down a teeny tiny memory card yielded an amazing discovery. >> reporter: which was just basically, just bs luck you ever -- got that, right, last minute? >> i don't think it's luck. i think it was -- divine intervention. >> reporter: coming up -- a signature tattoo, the ultimate computer clue! >> reporter: it turns up on a

picture? of a dead body? >> yeah. >> reporter: holy cow! would cari farver get justice at last? >> it was nerve-wracking! >> reporter: when dateline continues.

>> we've had -- our fair share of homicides, and bizarre cases. but this certainly in all my experience tops the charts for most bizarre. >> reporter: not just bizarre, challenging. even for seasoned prosecutors brenda beadle and james masteller. >> your typical murder case you know exactly when the murder happened. you know exactly where it happened. when you don't have a body you don't really have a good date, time, or location. >> this is a bizarre and twisted case of a fatal attraction. >> reporter: nevertheless, on may 10, 2017 they put liz golyar on trial for the murder of cari farver. >> it's about an obsessive woman

that would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. >> reporter: liz waived her right to a jury trial. a judge would hear the evidence. the prosecutors laid it out methodically; cari's blood in the car, liz's fingerprint on the mint container in the car, the emails that read like confessions, the vast trove of digital forensics. they even tracked down a purchase on cari's bank card made after she vanished, a walmart receipt. >> one of the items was a shower curtain. and that shower curtain looked familiar to us, because in one of her -- that phone dump that we did in 2013 of liz's phone, there's a picture of that shower curtain. >> reporter: and they found the shower curtain itself at liz's apartment. there was also a photo of cari's driver's license with a large knife next to it that was emailed to dave. he thought it was a threat from cari. in fact, it was sent from an email account created by liz. >> all these pieces together

made a big difference. >> reporter: all of it put together, said the prosecutors, told the story of how liz golyar murdered cari farver. they told the judge it happened the morning of november 13, 2012 after dave kroupa left for work. cari was on her laptop. >> we know by examination of cari farver's known facebook that she logged into her facebook at 6:39 a.m. that morning. about two minutes later she logged off. she was supposed to leave for work, but never made it. >> she was intercepted. something happened. that something was the defendant. >> reporter: hard to know exactly what liz did to cari, but -- it didn't take her too long because at 9:54 a.m. cari farver's cell phone is being used to access facebook. >> reporter: and at that moment it appeared, cari unfriended dave. >> the fact that they had the temerity to actually be facebook friends. this is one of the very

first acts the defendant takes to actually eliminate that facebook friendship. >> reporter: and from then on in cyberspace, liz became cari. >> all for the purpose -- for the reason of convincing people, her friends, her family relatives, everyone, that she was still alive. >> reporter: nancy went to court every day for the trial, heard the details for the very first time. >> when i heard all of those -- what this person was doing in her name, it just made me so angry cause it -- cari, she didn't deserve that at all. >> reporter: so, strong case? the prosecutors hoped so, though no body cases are tough to prove, but was it luck? divine intervention? before the trial began, detective avis and tech-guru

tony kava went back to dave kroupa again, and asked if he had anything that might help them, and that's when it hit him. he'd put a tablet into storage, had forgotten all about it. so he fished it out and kava examined it. >> tony removed the external sd card, the memory. >> reporter: ah, yeah? >> and had been deleted and reformatted. >> reporter: blank, or so it seemed, until kava took a closer look, pay dirt. >> there were, i want to say thousands of pictures that he was able to locate. >> reporter: thousands of photos that liz thought she had deleted. >> one of the pictures we found, it was a chinese symbol, that we were able to determine meant mother, and there were dark lines in the picture. >> reporter: dark lines? they looked more closely. those lines were veins on what looked like someone's foot, someone's deceased foot.

avis called cari's mom nancy. >> nancy was able to email a few pictures, and sure enough, cari has that same tattoo on her left foot. >> reporter: wow. >> identical. >> reporter: and remember the yin yang tattoo mentioned in one of those possibly confessional emails? lo and behold, it turns up on a picture? >> yeah. >> reporter: of a dead body? >> yeah. >> reporter: holy cow. >> that was cari's too. the tattoo parlor kept a record. >> my first thought when i saw those photographs was that this defendant had taken a trophy, or trophies of the person she had killed. >> reporter: the motive, a very old one, jealousy. >> it was really all about dave kroupa. >> she did it, because she wanted this man. >> reporter: jealousy makes people do strange things, but that's just -- why so much? what -- why? >> i think it snowballed. i think once she did it she couldn't stop.

she had to make cari look like she was still alive to keep the heat off of her, and it just went on, and on, and on for years. dave kroupa heard it all, and finally understood. >> i mean, it makes sense now, at the end. you know? but the tarantino movie always makes sense at the end. you know, it doesn't make any sense getting there. >> reporter: and liz's defense attorney james martin davis agreed. it was like a movie. a fictional one. >> i know they've got all this bizarre behavior, and they've got all this circumstantial evidence, but it doesn't show my client on that day in this jurisdiction took a knife, and stabbed cari farver to death. >> reporter: without that? no murder case. >> defense attorney, you may have camcorders, and you may have smart cards, and you may have phones, but you don't have a body, and you don't have a cause of death from a medical

examiner. what we have is their belief, their speculation, their notion that this is what happens, but that's -- that can't convict. >> reporter: and then the judge retired to think about it, and returned to an anxious courtroom. max, inside the courtroom, waited for the words. >> it -- it was nerve-racking. >> reporter: and then finally, an answer. >> the court finds, and it judges the defendant guilty, >> reporter: guilty of 1st degree murder for killing cari farver, and 2nd degree arson, for setting fire to her own house, and killing her pets. she was sentenced to life in prison. just a few rows behind liz, cari's mother nancy finally heard the longed-for words from the judge. >> saying that cari did not vanish off the face of the earth, and she just didn't vanish into thin air. it was just total relief to me, and i just started crying. >> reporter: you can't grieve,

really, until you know, and now they did. >> it'll never go away, but at least we can deal with it now, have to deal with it. >> reporter: so important, said nancy, to finally set the record straight about a loving mother, and a good woman, who never abandoned anyone. >> and i think it would've been important to cari, too cause she would've wanted people to say, this was not me. >> reporter: max followed his mother's footsteps, pursuing a career in software engineering. >> yeah. she was the one that really got me to understand computers. i'll never type as well as she could, but she -- she's definitely a big influence there. >> reporter: and inspired your love of them. >> uh-huh. she -- she definitely did, but -- so i -- i have her

to thank for what i'm going down now. >> reporter: i think she'd be pretty proud of you. >> i hope so. this sunday, a fourth covid-19 wave. cases are climbing. >> we need to hold down just a bit longer and give vaccines a chance to really get the upper hand. >> even as vaccinations hit 4 million a day. >> too many americans are acting like this fight is over. it is not. >> states are dropping restriction, air travel is up as the cdc relaxes guidance for people. but is the u.s. getting back to normal too soon? my guest this morning, an epidemiologist, michael