and she went, it smells like my mommy. >> and i'm natalie moralis. >> and 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. >> and you were wearing a wire? >> yes. >> to solve a baffling case. a college student on a friday night out who vanished. >> she was a very shy girl but she was something special. >> the possible suspects just about everyone. the friend, her 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 spoofed him. it worked. >> i hoped. i wasn't quite sure. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline." 20-year-old lynsie ecland told her mother everything, or so she believed. after a night out of clubbing, she was hiding a secret from her mother. it would take years buried in a pile of lies but could they find

lynsie? here's josh mankowicz 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 other investigators did not find. >> the evidence whisperer? >> correct. >> that night i went out -- >> does this man act guilty? does he know more than he's saying? >> well, i didn't know anything was going on, all right? i was just like, where's lynsie? >> what about this man? can you believe the story he's telling? >> i was supposed to pick her up twice and she was so out of character. she didn't show up on either day. >> the evidence whisperer wasn't present at either of those

interviews, but watching them helped him solve the mystery of what happened to a vivacious young woman and bring answers to the mother who loved her. >> i was always proud of her. she was a real fighter. >> lynsie ekelund arrived on july 27th, 1980. she was the youngest of three. maybe that fighting spirit isn't visible in her photos, but her mother nancy said it was always there. lynsie had a passion for animals. she helped out in her spare times at the local shelter. kim davidson who worked at lynsie's middle school remembers that she had a sense of compassion. >> i was freezing cold and i didn't bring a jacket that day. i felt these little hands up on my shoulder and a sweater come up around me and i turned. >> and she said, i just can't stand watching you shiver. >> lynsie gave back in other ways. she would lie about her age to give blood.

her left lung was paralyzed. left leg impaired. >> did she ever talk about how she was impaired? >> she had brought it up to me. she said she was in a car accident and she was thrown when she was a little girl but very, very just like matter of fact. >> but growing up lynsie needed so much care, her mother was with lynsie like a shadow. >> she was my only purpose in my life is to make her as normal as she could be. >> by the time kim met lynsie, lynsie's dad and brothers had moved away. kim remembers a very tight family unit of just two. >> how close were lynsie and nancy? >> unbelievably. >> when she reached adolescence, 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 confidantes, lynsie began to keep some things to herself like where she was headed one night in february 2001. >> does it make any sense that she would lie to you about what she was doing that night? >> i've never known her to lie to me, but you don't know what you don't know. >> it was a friday night. lynsie was in college part time and working but still living at home. she told her mom that instead of their usual friday night dinner she was staying the night with a girlfriend named andrea, someone nancy had never met. and then a young man named chris came to the door to pick lynsie up. >> she introduces you to this guy chris? did chris say hello to you? was he polite, good manners? >> uh-huh. >> but nancy said something felt wrong. >> i had a feeling about him. >> what feeling?

>> i don't know. >> but you put it aside? >> uh-huh. >> 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. >> the last thing i said to her was remember your seat belt and she looks over her shoulder and she said, 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, nancy drove over and found out lynsie never showed up at her job. >> all of a sudden my daughter is not where she's supposed to be. she had taught these little girls like for four months about. >> and you have no way of reaching her? >> i had no way. >> nancy ekelund was frantic. >> i started calling hospitals. i called the morgue. to see if there was a jane doe in the morgue. >> there was no jane doe.

and there was no lynsie ekeland. most people who disappear, they come back in a couple of days. >> if not, 24 hours, yes. >> is that what you thought was going to happen? >> i think we did. >> korea was a detective. >> we had no unidentified bodies? >> you checked the e.r.? >> we checked everybody, everything. there was no sign. it was as if she had vanished. >> coming up -- >> when was the last time you saw lynsie. >> a week ago now. >> when "dateline" continues. ro. with frontline, you and your pet can go anywhere... ♪♪ no matter how you define it. frontline®. here. there. everywhere. try our new scented oils for freshness that lasts. crafted to give you amazingly natural smelling no matter how you define it. fragrances, day after day...

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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 corrine lewis from the police department. nancy wanted corrine to know about her lynsie, about where she was, they were best friends. it was a speech corrine had heard before. >> it's typical with 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 that if they don't paint a very rosie picture of this person that we're not going to be

sympathetic and look for them. >> that you're not going to work hard? >> that we're not going to work hard. >> i think there was a little bit of that with nancy. . >> the pd was working the case. they brought in unusual suspects, like the boyfriend. >> they were working the case. they brought in the usual suspects, like the boyfriend. >> when you were dating she wasn't dating anyone else to your knowledge? >> no. >> his name is matthew ramirez. he was at college with lynsie. they had been off and on a bit but then -- >> when i went to her house thursday she was like, i want to break up. >> as can happen with young romance, what was off 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. >> with chris and everybody. i'm like, have fun. be careful. she's like, okay. >> then in came the last person known to have seen her, chris mcamis, 21 years old, out of school.

he told the cops he was unemployed. lynsie had met him 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 she made to tell her mother. the real story was to go clubbing in san diego. >> don't tell my mom we're going clubbing in san diego. because my mom won't let us go. definitely don't tell her that we're clubbing. >> chris told police that 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. he said lynsie was worried about her mom hearing the truck. chris said she asked to be dropped off at the corner. 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's truck heading north on the right street at the right time. to the cops chris's 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 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 whit's end.

>> yes. >> the phone rings and it's marty. >> yes. >> did you know a marty? >> no. >> did lynsie know a marty? >> no. >> marty went to pick lynsie up and she wasn't there. he had money for lynsie's that she needed for tuition. none of that made any sense to . >> after lynsie goes missing, nancy, the mother gets a phone call from a guy named marty. >> marty ross. >> what did marty say? >> marty says 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 rosler? >> marty rosler was not marty rosler. he had a relationship with lynsie he hadn't told his wife about. he told police he would pick lynsie up and give her rides but that was about it. marty was 58. >> she was 20? >> she was 20. >> they were boyfriend and girlfriend? >> don't think so.

>> so police brought in marty. over two days they recorded interviews. sometimes on video, sometimes on audiotape. . >> when is the last time you saw lynsie? >> a week ago now. >> 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 had received, a clerk at a local clothing store had said she had seen lynsie and a much older man who matched marty's description together at her store after the day lynsie went missing. >> i wasn't there on that day, okay? i have been in that store, all right and i'm -- i said, i'm --

i'm -- i'm easily identifiable. every place that i went would know that i was in there with her, okay? >> it was a very long interview. >> friendly? >> no. i remember drilling down on him because i really thought that he might know where lynsie was. >> might know where lynsie was if you had a child that vanished, 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, you know, this family's had their share of hard -- you know, and this is just -- hardships. i feel so helpless. >> i don't think you are helpless. if you can help us. >> marty insisted he couldn't, that he didn't know what had happened to lynsie. detectives weren't buying it. >> did you harm lynsie? >> no.

no. never. >> even by accident? >> never touched her. you know, never touched her. >> this -- >> have you put her someplace where she's left? >> 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. ♪ ♪

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nancy and lynsie had been together all lynsie's life. now alone nancy waited ticking off the days. in the dark about where her daughter was and about the piece of the investigation. so nancy was delighted when they said they were going to come visit. police were not keeping her in the loop so nancy was delighted when they called to say they were coming to visit. >> you look at the boyfriend, matthew. >> uh-huh. >> you look at marty, the older guy. the relationship nobody knew about. he denies it? >> right. >> you look at chris, he said, i dropped her off, i 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 usually do. >> coffee, too. >> like i always do. 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 much of a suspect was nancy? >> i don't know that nancy was on the radar for a long time. she was on the radar long enough to be able to set her aside. >> 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 mccanus.

>> in here. do you remember connie loomis? >> yes. >> april 2002, more than a year after lynsie went missing detectives decided to start over. they brought chris mccanus back to see if his story still held up. >> i really would like to think that lynsie has been like either abducted or something happened to her, i'd really rather think that she's with friends or something like that. >> police turned up the heat. >> cut the bull and get down to the nitty-gritty. of all things i'd like to think in a polyanna mind all things in a perfect world i'd like to focus. >> it's a possibility she's dead. >> right. >> police thought chris seemed oddly calm talking about a friend who may have been murdered. >> if it turns out somebody killed her, what do you think should happen?

>> find them. >> when i find them, then what? >> go to jail. >> how long do you think they should go to jail? >> as long as it takes. >> like what? >> go to jail for a while. >> that's as strong as you could get out of him? >> that's as strong as we could get out of him. >> not he ought to go to hell or i'd personally electrocute him? >> i'd personally electrocute him. he should get the gas chamber. not she was my friend. she wouldn't deserve that. she wouldn't hurt a fly. there was nothing. >> his lack of emotion was suggestive that perhaps chris should move to the top of the list, but it was not evidence. after the interview chris 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'd 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 believe, 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 in placentia working everything drugs, gangs, rape, murder and cold cases.

which 2008 it was clear placentia p.d. had hit that wall and they would need help on this one, and what they needed was a guy named larry. >> tell me about larry. >> larry is phenomenal? >> phenomenal because, what, he sees things other cops don't see? >> phenomenal because he sees things cops don't see. i don't know anybody who could have done a better job than larry. >> the evidence whisperer was 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.

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i'm dara brown with the hour's top stories.

haitisfrom jovenel moise, shots were fired outside the funeral event dignitaries were rushed to safety and forced to cut their trip short. meanwhile, after a year of delay due to covid-19, many of the world's beth athletes gathered for the olympics. with the games under way, about 100 u.s. atmosphere lets remain unvaccinated according to top doctor. now, back to "dateline." welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. where was lynsie ekelund? the investigation was at a standstill. detectives had two possible suspects but no evidence linking either of them to a 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 mankowicz 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 p.d. decided to outsource the investigation to the cold case unit at the orange county d.a.'s office, to a guy named larry montgomery. with more than 30 years working homicide, larry'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. >> i mean, i'm concerned about this girl, you know? and she's missing. >> marty, lynsie's older friend who kept their relationship a secret and lied about his name and chris. >> she might be still alive. >> the last person known to have seen lynsie who dropped her off at that corner. >> at that point any idea on your part which of those two was the more likely suspect? >> no. i don't know until i get into it and see the details. >> you no doubt have a god's in the details. >> and innocence. >> innocence. >> 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've got a bad guy waiting, hoping that a girl drops out of her car at 4:25 in the morning. >> it can happen.

>> you consider that and weigh it. 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. he watched the february 2001 interview that police did with a very unhappy marty. >> doesn't it strike you as tremendously suspicious that marty would call after lynsie disappears, talk to lynsie's mother and give a phony name? >> if you didn't know the background of marty, then absolutely. >> when i talked to the mother on the phone, i gave her an identifier, named marty resler, that's 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, okay? >> 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 doing exactly what you would do if you were looking for lynsie. he was searching. >> so larry montgomery turned his attention to chris mccanus, 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 that what he said he actually did. >> correct. >> but when larry compared photos of chris's truck with the photos from the bank, he saw something no one else had noticed. the paint on the back of the side view mirrors on chris's truck was white. >> what about the truck in the photo? >> truck in the photo had a dark spot in the photo. >> so it's not the same truck? >> that's right, it's not. >> suddenly chris's alibi had a big hole in it. larry moved on to chris's history with women.

two ex-girlfriends talked to police about how chris would come unhinged by rejection or what he called disrespect. larry heard about how chris had once crushed a pet crab with a hammer right in front of one of his girlfriends because he thought the crab had killed one of his fish. >> this is a guy with some significant anger issues. >> certainly appears that way. >> car accident. >> larry listened to chris's interviews and caught him talking some of the time about lynsie in the past tense. >> was pretty much stuck like this. >> okay. >> then larry found something in the paperwork from placentia p.d. that proved chris mccanus had lied to the police early on about his whereabouts on saturday, february 17th, the day lynsie didn't come home. chris had told the cops he stayed close to home, but larry checked chris's 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's dad, that he was in construction and that in 2000 and and 2001 he had a job site in santa clarita. >> you can't tell now, but back in 2001 this was major construction site. chris had told police that he did not work for his dad that winter, that he was on unemployment, but larry saw big cash deposits going into his bank account in addition to his unemployment checks. he thought chris may have been working with his dad off the books and larry came up here. >> they told you it was chris's father's construction company. >> chris's father did some of the tractor work at that site. >> and chris worked there? >> and chris was one of the

tractor drivers that the superintendent said was there ever day. >> is this where you thought to yourself, that's where lynsie ekelund is? >> i thought chances were excellent that if i killed lynsie and i was in chris mccamus's 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 of the evidence whisperer who to do was prove it. coming up, an undercover operation. >> were you armed? >> yes. >> and you were wearing a wire? >> yes. >> when "dateline" continues. ins ♪ for the maestros of the creamiest-ever, ♪ ♪ must-have smoothies. ♪ ♪ it's irresistibly delicious. ♪ ♪ more almond breeze, please! ♪

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it was october of 2010, nine years after her daughter disappeared. nancy ekelund was still waiting and doing what she could. she was now at 3,535 days without lynsie. she didn't know it, but a few miles away larry montgomery was tightening the noose around chris mccanus. 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 sandelli was that officer. >> how were you dressed? >> jeans on and just a little shirt. something that a college student would wear. >> were you armed? >> yes. >> and you were wearing a wire? >> yes. >> hi.

are you chris? >> yes. >> hi. my name is nicole anderson. i'm from the college sports magazine. >> officer sandelli was posing as a student reporter complete with a phony press pass. she knocked on chris's front door. chris had talked to a student reporter from lynsie's college in the past about the case. >> did you use your real name? >> no, i used a fake name. told him who i was. >> we received word at the college magazine that remains had been found so i guess they're doing dna testing right now and in the meantime i'm supposed to go contact friends, family to get their initial reaction for a story. >> okay. >> when i told them that the police believed they found lynsie's remains his demeanor changed. >> how? >> quite drastically. 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's house bryce angel of the placentia p.d. who was assigned to work with larry was listening and keeping an eye on the action. >> you're watching him as the interview happens on the front doorstep. >> yes. i was sitting ten houses down watching the reporter. an under cover police officer. once she left the area, we were in business. >> what happened? >> later that night, he was seen coming out of his house and going into the garage, lights go on, and we're talking like 3:00 in the morning. it was clearly a sign of somebody who couldn't sleep. >> detectives were sure they had rattled their suspect. the next day they trailed chris when he left his house.

apparent that he knew that we were following him. >> they broke off surveillance and brought chris in. >> chris, have a seat. >> larry had read all about chris mccamus, and he looked at tape of every time chris had been in for an interview. >> here's what the situation is. >> today he and chris were going to meet for the first time. >> i have been investigating this case for about two years now. >> 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 there. larry promised to fill him in on detail thinking chris would want to know if the cops had the goods and then maybe he'd have something to say. >> since you're under arrest i have to advise you of your rights. which i will give to you in a moment. after that i'd like to explain to you everything. >> larry read chris his rights and before chris could really respond larry laid out his case. he said he knew chris had never

dropped lynsie off that night because the atm photo that at first fooled investigators actually proved chris wasn't there. >> it wasn't your truck, but for years it was thought of that it was your truck. it's not. 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. you are working. you are up there where you said you were not. he said you guys don't work on saturday. lynsie disappeared on a saturday morning. none of your credit card usages up there is on any weekend, all of it's on weekdays except for the day lynsie disappeared. you're not up there working that day. he told of the lie of lynsey 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've got lynsie up there right near 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's 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 or 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 has made it

pretty clear if someone declares that they want an attorney, the interview is supposed to stop until one can be hired or provided, but in this case larry was walking a line believing that asking for a lawyer isn't the same as wondering if you need one. corrine loomis was watching from another room. >> that's about as close as you can get to the i want a lawyer line without actually crossing it. >> saying that i want it, right. >> were you holding your breath when he said that? >> yes. this was a make or break interview, if he didn't confess, he was going to walk again. >> "dateline" returns after the break.

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

detective angel, who had been letting larry do the talking, then spoke up. >> i knew that was a moment of truth and had to interject something very quickly. >> nobody likes to be labeled a monster and in this case, that's the way it is pointing. only you have the other side of the story. nobody is going to be able to speak for you. that's why we're here now. >> i see. >> there is a reason everything happens. i'm sure there was some circumstances that happened that night or that morning. >> he kind of sighed and he laid out his story. >> all right. what happened was -- >> and suddenly you realized -- >> this is it. he's going to give it up. i was sitting next to the

detective from the other agency, and i reached over and grabbed his arm and i said, he's going to confess. >> it was sad, and it was ugly. >> she -- i was going to take her home. >> okay. >> she was telling me, why don't i sleep over at your place because i don't want to upset my mom. >> makes sense, yeah. >> as larry had suspected, chris never dropped off lynsie at that corner. >> i was trying to kiss her, and then she elbowed me in the chest. and then i went to my -- i went to my kitchen in my apartment and i drank a lot of vodka. and then i went back and i tried to do the same thing. she pretended to be asleep. and i pulled her pants down, and i was totally drunk.

>> okay. >> she got up, said, oh, my god, what are you doing? i'm calling the police. when i got up and walked to her, she tried to knock me out with my phone, with my own phone on my face. like this to my face. >> okay. >> and being drunk, it enraged me. it set me on fire. and i grabbed her, threw her onto my bed, and i got her into a headlock. >> okay. >> and she died. >> and then what did you do? >> then i tried to figure out what i should do because i couldn't believe how it just happened that way. >> quickly, huh? >> i just couldn't believe it. i thought she was just going to pass out, and i ended up killing her.

>> that was it. lynsie ekelund had been killed before anyone realized she was even missing. chris says he then drove up to the work site and used a skip loader to dig a hole. he held onto lynsie's body for a few days, and then when no one was around, he buried her. >> did it feel any better to finally know? >> no, because i was really devastated. there was a relief, but i wasn't any happier because of it. >> with detectives, chris returned to the site that had become lynsie's final resting place. chris wouldn't stop talking. >> unbelievable. >> finally to 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 because of this? >> you'll have to ask those questions. >> larry came back. always meticulous, he wasn't done. he wanted that final detail. >> where was it approximately you dug a hole to put her? >> where exactly chris had left lynsie. he explained even though they found her remains, though it wasn't true, the grave site had shifted over flooding. >> this is where i dug the hole. >> he returned to the site with the detective to what had become lynsie's final resting place. >> right where this tree is i pulled my truck over and parked it. >> this tree to our left here? >> uh-huh. right where this tree is. didn't used to exist there when we had construction.

>> okay. >> he wasn't sure of the exact spot. >> it's over in this vicinity. >> it could be way out there or way over here? >> from the tree all the way to that brush. >> that brush over there? >> yeah. >> it took more than a day of digging to find what was left of lynsie. first they found a shoe. then a jacket. and a bracelet. that's how nancy knew they had found her. a coroner confirmed it using dental records. >> the back of my truck was over here. >> two years after he confessed, chris mcamis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. his sentence? 15 years to lifer. >> you told me that you thought you had let this consume your life too much. >> oh, it did. it does to this day. >> well, now it's over. what are you going to do? >> i don't know. i knew life is opening up to you and i don't know. i don't have any answers.

i just have to get over this. >> and that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. first up on msnbc. the olympics are under way after a scaled back opening ceremony, but the delayed games are already off to a chaotic start with more athletes testing positive for covid and the first match being canceled. we'll talk to one vaccinated players who games were cut short. >> i'm glad i took every possible measure i could to make sure that i had the best