visitation rights. meanwhile, stephen's parents have spoken tom sydney about what happened to her dad. >> he gave his life for her. >> that is all for this edition of "dateline." thank you for watching thank you for watching k you for watching >> chelsea was out scare some halloween fun. >> right lipstick, a wig on. she looked beautiful in her costume. >> next morning. she was gone. >> i got a couple facebook messages. do you know where she's at? >> you have the majority of people in costume. the worst case to start an investigation.

>> was somebody lying? >> did you have anything to do with her disappearing? >> the halloween mystery that will leave you chilled to the bone. >> very eerie place. the train. the echo. >> the hair on the back of your neck stands up. >> i had to find her. >> quite rural township, two young women prepare for the social event of the season. >> it's gonna be great. it'll be so many people. >> or so they imagined, so they hoped, in their sunny naivety. they and so many others of a particular demographic, on the farms and in the small towns

around monroe county. >> it was, like, a build-up that whole summer that we couldn't wait to go to this halloween party. >> halloween! becky brinson and her friend chelsea bruck just loved dressing up for halloween. chelsea and becky worked together at a restaurant called olga's kitchen in monroe and, as they served their customers, they talked endlessly about what was coming. this wasn't going to be just any halloween party. it was big mike's annual halloween bash of 2014. >> everyone -- just everyone knew, big mike has the biggest halloween party. >> and after all, their friends were going -- and there'd be bands and noise and excitement and, who knew what all there'd be? >> we were definitely gonna be there. >> big mike had made quite a name for himself, with his heavy metal music and his epic parties, here at his mother's farm. the girls had been to some of those parties before.

and nothing bad ever happened. so, really why should they worry, as they dreamt up their costumes. their clever impersonations of evil. >> we were both gonna be batman villains. >> chelsea would be the essence of evil, batman's nemesis poison ivy. >> she looked beautiful in her costume. >> yeah, i'll bet -- >> i'll never forget. >> chelsea made it herself, spent weeks bent over a needle and thread. by hand, she sewed on each leaf of artificial ivy -- >> i didn't even know -- she could do that. >> and she found a wig, just the right thing. maroon with tips, red like blood, like the wine jug she carried. like the bright red of her poison lips. >> and she must have been very proud of it? >> she was. >> did they imagine even for a moment as they prepared. that true evil would find them here on this sleepy country road, not just the pretend kind. no, not as they tingled with excitement that saturday

october 25th, 2014. and blended into the wild, bacchanalian scene inside two giant tents big mike had set up for the occasion. and the revelers poured in -- 600, 700 people, hundreds more maybe. who knew? a parade of eight heavy metal rock bands blasted their shock waves into the night. one of them big mike's very own band, pick axe preacher. that's him, singing the band had dressed up as ninja turtles for halloween. somewhere out there in that crowd were becky and chelsea and their friend penny watkins. >> me and chelsea kind of -- kind of attached at the hip. >> penny was a decade older than chelsea, had four growing kids. but, that night at the party? >> we were walking around and being goofy -- [laughs] kind of like two little schoolgirls, just laughing and giggling and drinking a little bit. i felt like 21 again when i was hanging out with her. >> chelsea was 22, grew up in a

tiny safe place called maybee. she was the youngest of five children, still lived at home with her parents. >> she was nice. she was friendly, um kind of wholesome. just this girl that, you know, came from the country and was ready to meet new people and do things and have some fun. happy, happy start her life, happy to adventure and explore and do new experiences. >> just after midnight, the last band stopped playing, and big mike lit up a huge bonfire, flames up to 15, 20 feet high. >> we actually walked over there together. that's when she bumped her nose. >> chelsea, that is. chelsea bumped her nose on a tent pole. had to hurt. >> was it bleeding or anything? >> it wasn't bleeding. there was a mark where she had hit it, and she was holding her face. we were kinda laughing at her. [laughter]'cause j -- you know, she -- she's clumsy sometimes. >> it hurt, you know when you hit your nose and it kinda stings?

i kinda babied her a little bit. like, "oh, you're gonna be okay. it's gonna be okay." she wanted to go home right then. >> oh? >> "it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay. just drink a little bit. it'll go away." you know, and after a minute or two, she was fine. then she was back, enjoying the party. >> then, about 1: 00am, it was time to go home. earlier, chelsea had asked penny for a ride home, but sometime during the bonfire they lost sight of each other. and penny's sister had work the next morning, and so had to leave right then. >> she had to be up at 6:00, so -- >> oh my -- >> so it was time to go. >> such confusion. by then becky was holding chelsea's phone because chelsea had no pockets in her poison ivy get-up, but becky couldn't find chelsea either. >> and i was, like -- "like, what do i do? like, do i find a different ride? do i get stuck here? like, find -- go find chelsea? " >> i assumed that, you know, she knew other people and she -- someone would give her a ride home. i felt like she was there

with people in the community, people that knew her. so i didn't have a reason to be concerned that anything bad would happen. >> so they left penny and becky, who still had chelsea's phone. >> probably the biggest regret of my life. >> in hindsight it was probably the worst mistake i've ever made was not looking out for her better than i did. there was so much i could have done to help protect her, and i didn't. >> later, much later, someone would report seeing chelsea as the party wound down. in the dark. alone. seemed to be crying. and then -- nothing. chelsea bruck simply vanished into the cold night air. >> where was chelsea? certainly she'd turn up by the next day. >> at the time i guess there was a hope that maybe something silly happened.

>> but that "hope" faded fast. >> there were probably about 15 people all searching through the field. that's when it started getting more alarming. >> this is real. >> yeah. >> this is real. >> yeah. [ mid-tempo music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ why don't you do cool spins? uh, people need to read it. i can't read it. [ chuckles ] that's 'cause you're like 4. 4 1/2. switch to progressive, and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says.

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halloween party, 2014, was a sunday. recovery day -- >> i remember just telling my dad, how much fun it was and how happy i was to get outta the house and, you know, just all good things. >> penny watkins and becky brinson failed to understand. just yet, it was going to be second guessing day, too. becky, through the haze in her "morning-after head" called chelsea's mom, left a message that she had chelsea's cell phone. >> and whenever chelsea woke up that day, she could come get it. 'cause i'd be home all day. >> did you hear anything back? >> i didn't hear anything until late that night. >> when chelsea's sister sent becky a message on facebook, saying chelsea hadn't come home. so becky responded. >> she's probably at a friend's

house. she's probably, you know, maybe still sleeping. who knows? maybe got up, ate, and went back to bed, you know. who knows? >> who indeed. by monday, when chelsea had still not turned up at home or called or sent word. her worried family contacted whoever they could think of, friends, the police big mike. >> i was sitting at breakfast. >> this is big mike. the party guy -- his real name is mike williams. and this is his mother's farm where he's lived pretty much all his life. >> i got a couple facebook messages. "did you see chelsea? do you know where chelsea's at? " and i'm like, "i didn't even know who they were talking about at first." >> it was chelsea's sister who messaged big mike. the family was worried. very worried now -- >> people were like messaging me, "michael, look through your field. you know, go look. take a walk." you know, i'm like, "all right."

>> but look for what? a body? surely not -- anyway, look he did. >> i took my dog with me. we went walking. i went hiking through the field. probably hiked a couple miles and then my dog stumbled on a fox trap. >> so mike took his injured and bleeding dog back to his house. and there encountered chelsea's mom who, he said, gave him a chilly reception. he excused himself, took his dog to the vet. >> and then i came back here. and, you know, there were probably about 15 people here. they're all searching through the field. that's when it started getting more alarming. >> this is real. >> yeah. this is real. she's -- she's missing. >> chelsea's family was frantic, did not waste time. they set up camp here. >> yeah, they did. this was kind of like their base for a little bit. >> did they put up a tent or something? >> they put up a tent. i had a generator, port-a-potty. and i talked to my attorney and what we should-- how we should handle it. and he said just-- just leave them alone for now. and then eventually they'll go away.

and we took that advice. and just kind of let them do their thing. and-- >> did they say, "do you mind if we set up here? " or-- >> they actually-- i don't think they even asked. i think they just did. >> really? >> yeah. >>'cause they sort of suspected you. >> yeah, they kind of suspected me. and i don't think they really-- maybe they were trying to put heat on me or something. >> maybe. >> yeah, i don't know. yeah, they kind of suspected me. and i don't think they really-- maybe they were trying to put heat on me or something. >> maybe. >> yeah, i don't know. >> well, that might be an understatement. meanwhile a few sheriff's deputies joined the family and searched the fields behind mike's house with their atv's and a search dog. and found nothing. but suspicion was in the air. that monday evening, at least as mike saw it, chelsea's mom, understandably very worried, took on an accusing tone. >> "is she in your basement? is she in your trailer? do you have her? " like i have her locked up somewhere you know, that kind of, like, threw me off. like, no, i'm out here helping. >> but here around the farm, people wondered. was he? anyway, that was about the time penny heard that chelsea never

made it home after the party. >> kinda got a lump in my throat. like what? >> and she joined in the search that night. >> at the time, i guess there was a hope that maybe something silly happened, like she got her leg caught in somewhere. that maybe she just somehow was on the property. >> got lost, was in the woods somewhere or something. >> yeah. i mean, this is monroe, stuff like that don't happen in monroe. >> it's safe, safe little place. >> yeah. >> the next thing becky heard was very early the next morning. tuesday -- >> i got a knock on my door from the police. >> and then, finally, becky understood. something awful may have happened to her friend chelsea. what did your mind go to? >> the worst possible scenarios. maybe she walked home. what if she got hit by a car? what if she's in a ditch somewhere, you know? what if somebody kidnapped her or trafficking? >> there were cases of human trafficking? >> yes. >> so people were being snatched, you know, women particularly. and then taken to be prostitutes somewhere against their will -- >> yeah. >> how did that feel?

>> it was helpless. >> penny used facebook to get the word out about chelsea and kept looking. >> i was out there almost every day. some nights i would put the kids to bed and go out searching all night. >> out on big mike's property, the family invited the media including our detroit affiliate wdiv to their command post. and chelsea's mother tried to stay focused through her fear and regret. >> had i known she was going to a party with over 600 people, 22 or not, she would not have been going. >> this was agony for a mother and for a sister. >> if she was able to come home, she would have by now. >> from mike's farm, the family sent volunteer search parties around the neighborhood and beyond. >> and they were still conducting searches throughout the fields. and they were knocking on farmers'doors. asking if they could look around their fields and things like that. detectives from the sheriff's office were very active, too, by then. but they'd already

encountered a serious problem. how to investigate six or eight hundred people, many in halloween disguise? >> coming up, an eyewitness. >> he saw chelsea. he described her as being tipsy. >> he also spotted someone walking away with her. >> he described this guy pretty good which ultimately led us to this composite sketch. >> upon releasing that, we-- we got flooded with phone calls. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues ♪ ♪ time for a kitchen refresh.

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little groups of people showed up at big mike's place out in rural monroe county, eager to follow a worried sister's direction. >> 5-mile radius outside the first circle, my house, 10-mile out. that's where we're looking, that's where she'd go. >> while in town, the sheriff's office confronted a baffling mystery. >> it's a halloween party, so you had the majority of people in costumes. >> it didn't take but a minute for detectives brian sroka, and mike preadmore to get the picture. this wasn't going to be easy. somehow, they had to figure out what happened to one young woman at a rowdy party of more than 600 people who'd been drinking. many of whom had disguised themselves for halloween. >> so, you put all those together, it almost makes it a worst case scenario to start an investigation. >> there certainly wasn't a list of people they could contact. >> you're in the middle of nowhere and it's --

it's pitch black, you know, minus the fire and the -- a little bit of moonlight, and this party's going all throughout the early morning hours. people are coming and going. there's just no accountability, who's there, who's coming, who's leaving. >> so, somebody walking through the grounds of the party, if they weren't right beside the fire, it would be a little hard to tell who they were. i mean, it's like some ghostly presence coming out of the dark and -- >> yes. >> they're wearing makeup, and then they're gone. >> yes. >> it was chaos almost. >> still -- they needed to figure out what happened, and also they wanted to understand the young woman who was missing. >> chelsea, she almost became our sister during this. you talk to the family. >> i mean, we've searched her room. you know almost everything about her, it seems like. she's 22 years old. she's the youngest of five children, almost the baby of the family. she was the only one still living at home with mom and dad, and they -- they kind of were lenient on -- on her, but she was --

>> there's something -- >> a grown adult. >> very special about that. >> yes. >> youngest daughter of the -- >> yes. >> when you've got a large family. >> yes. >> so -- >> she even had told my mom that night, i'm not even staying that long. i'll be home in a couple hours. she was just going to go with her friends for a little bit, and come back. >> detectives talked to chelsea's friends, too, of course. >> and what did they tell you about her dating history? >> she wasn't currently seeing anybody, but there were a couple of guys she was interested in. so we obviously -- we looked into these people. >> these were guys she had dated before? >> she had dated, or is interested in.

>> how carefully did you look at these guys she had been interested in, or had dated? >> very in depth. >> did any of them go to the>>o. >> oh. >> so, we were trying to determine did they pick her up. >> we brought them in. we talked to them. we searched their homes. we searched their cell phones. you know, we -- at one point, we even collected some of their clothing, you know, to maybe possibly get some type of every, dna, fibers. >> but detectives were hearing from people who had been at the party. >> we actually have six different people that we made contact with who let chelsea borrow their phone for phone calls, and then she actually tried to call two friends. >> one of those friends was penny who was home by the time chelsea called. >> she asked if i could come get her. at the time i thought i was being responsible, and i told her, i'm sorry, i drunk too much, i really have no business driving. she didn't sound desperate for a ride. she didn't sound upset. >> she never tried to call her mom or anybody else. she was seen crying a few times, you know, by the fire. she was --

saying, nobody's, she has no friends to give her a ride. she was cold. she was just upset. >> but then, a couple of days after the party, a woman called in, said her son may have seen something important. >> he saw chelsea, and he remembers clearly that it was chelsea because he talked to her about her poison ivy costume, and that -- how badly allergic he is to poison ivy. >> did he remember what time this was? >> it was approximately 3:30 in the morning. he described her as being tipsy. >> but -- here's the thing, and maybe it was some kind of break in the case, he said he saw a man hovering over chelsea. >> you know, he's kind of comforting her, standing with her, you know, talking to her. >> almost like they knew each other, said the witness. >> he described him, you know

as a little taller -- slender, hair swooping, wearing glasses, and then the two disappeared into the dark, he said. >> he described this guy pretty good to one of our -- a michigan state police sketch artist which ultimately led us to this composite sketch. >> and released it to the public? >> right away, as soon as we had it. >> upon releasing that, we -- we got flooded with phone calls. we didn't realize how common of a look that actually is. i mean, a lot of people actually look like the sketch. >> mike williams offered an opinion. >> it looks like 150 different people that i know. you know, i don't know. i could take you to a bar right now where everybody in the bar looks like that. >> but mike told the detectives that a couple members of a milwaukee band that worked the party looked a bit like the sketch. >> maybe talk to them. i don't know. maybe she hopped in their -- in their tour van and went to -- back to milwaukee. i don't know. she was kind of a free spirit. so i mean, i thought maybe she just cut town. you know. >> we sought assistance from the fbi tracking them down.

nothing panned out. >> they all had alibis. >> yes. >> but big mike? neither the detectives nor chelsea's family could shake the idea this guy was hiding something. coming up -- >> we asked for his consent to search the house, and he denied us consent. >> big mike in the spotlight -- and, a new witness who says he saw chelsea right before she went missing from mike's party. >> so you went back out to the parking lot, and the vehicle that you put her in was gone? >> and her too. and her too my uncontrolled . some mental health meds can cause tardive dyskinesia, or td, and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. it's the only treatment for td that's one pill, once-daily,

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bruck disappeared, the detectives decided it was time for a serious talk with big mike williams. >> chelsea. ok, you know her? >> i don't know her, know her. but i do know who she is. >> funny thing about mike. on the one hand he seemed cooperative. but on the other.. >> we asked for his consent to search the house, you know, for any kind of evidence from the investigation and make sure chelsea wasn't even in the house. and he denied us consent. >> so, they did it the hard way. >> they came in with 13 swat guys in full gear. and i said, "do you have a search warrant? " and they presented it to me right then and then. and then "are you gonna let us in or we going to kick in the door? " that's when i let them in. >> they're getting tough with you at this point. >> yeah. they went through my house and they were searching for things, like, they left a terrible

mess. it's the first time, i think, ever in my entire life of living here, like, forever that i didn't feel comfortable in my own home. >> outside, investigators took one look at mike's fire-pit and was there something in there? >> they dug through, you know, years of burning stuff. you know, having parties and >> what was that like? >> i kind of shoot my head. they had it all taped off and i think they dug all day looking in -- looking in there. >> nothing. still. was he a person of significant interest? oh, yes. >> absolutely. >> we kept mike -- big mike close. >> but the investigation was about to take a turn. det. preadmore was at the office when a new tip came in about a young man named harlin bird. >> he'd possibly have information that would help us find chelsea or what happened to her. >> which is how the 19-year-old mr. bird wound up in an interview room at the sheriff's office. >> so who did you go to this party with?

>> i went with my best friend i consider my brother. >> he remembers two subjects harassing a female in the parking lot of the party. and at this time, they were, you know, shoving her around and pushing her around -- and pushing around -- assaulting this female, and that she was -- crying and yelling for help. he intervened and he fought these guys off and he helped chelsea up off the ground. and he actually got blood of chelsea's on his shirt. >> could he describe her? >> he described her as chelsea. he -- he described -- >> wearing the poison ivy costume? >> as her poison ivy, the wig. he -- he described chelsea to a t. >> finally, a witness who could actually tell them something. >> i just told her to please sit still. i didn't want to leave her but i didn't want to stay there either because i didn't know whether or not if someone found her like that they'd blame me. >> harlin said he put the woman in a red four-door car, though he didn't know who it belonged to, and then he went back to the party to find anyone who knew her.

>> i was looking for like 5 to 15 minutes. walked back to the car and it was gone. >> so you went back out to the parking lot and the vehicle that you put her in was gone? >> and her too. >> the detectives knew chelsea bumped her nose at the party. so when harlin mentioned blood, that got their attention. >> so from where you picked her up there was a little bit of blood on your right shoulder. >> not this shirt. i was wearing, it was a different shirt i was wearing but yeah. i'm not saying it was a big spot it was just a dab. i didn't realize it until i got home that night and looked at my shirt. >> you still got the shirt? >> i should. i'm pretty sure it's being cleaned right now because my fiancã© has a -- or girlfriend slash fiancã©e >> well, if there's blood on it we want it for her dna. >> if it was cleaned would you still be able to get something off it? >> no. >> unfortunate, if true. but there was something about young harlin, that didn't seem quite on the level. >> and when you got her up she had a bloody nose?

>> well i didn't see her have a bloody nose, but i figured that she was bleeding somewhere because >> earlier you told me she had a bloody nose >> i didn't say i seen it >> when i ask you said it was up here >> i said it had to be because when she brushed my shoulder -- or her face on my shoulder that's what i figured. >> well when i asked how much blood you said just a few spots. and i said from her nose and you said just a few spots. >> i don't know for sure. >> i mean i'm having a little bit of problems with your story here harlin. >> i'm just telling you what this girl that i found. >> when a person tells a story like that, frequently it's cover for having actually done something bad. >> correct. correct. >> you start thinking he says that he has her blood on his clothing, is he >> but i tried to save her. >> is he trying to make >> yes. >> an excuse if something did happen to chelsea, if we find her with some injuries? is he trying to account for that and cover that up? yeah. >> hey, are you in here for

another reason? you know, did something happen and >> and did you have something? >> that you're -- and you're -- >> to do with it? >> coming forward, but you don't want to come forward and just be direct? this is your way of telling us that you possibly had something to do with chelsea's disappearance? and he denied -- he denied, you know, doing >> reporter: they put some pressure on harlin. >> did you take that girl and do harm to her? >> no. no. >> did you take that girl and have sex with her? >> no. >> did you rape her? >> no. >> did you kill her? >> no. >> and it was through more questioning and his story kind of got, you know, it wasn't makin'sense at all. and that's when, you know, ultimately we asked him, "did you ever see her? do you even know chelsea? did you have any contact with her? " he ultimately said, "no, i just wanted to look good." >> he made the whole thing up? >> he made the whole thing up. >> this is nothing but a big lie that i shouldn't have done, and i'm sorry. >> of course they had to waste more time checking harlin's stories, whether made up or not. and then they arrested him for lying to the police.

>> what's it like to think you've got a lead like that and then it's gone? >> it's deflating. >> still. something about that young man. as they moved on, they kept him in mind. just in case. one tip that sounds too good to be true. >> he had a knife and he goes, "this is what i used with chelsea bruck." >> and another tip, that's all too real. >> she says, "oh, my god, brian, that's her shoe." with lowe's price promise. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free.

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heaven. >> chelsea bruck had been missing for more than a week. >> i love her, and i miss her, and i want her to come home. >> when her family and friends gathered for a prayer vigil. >> she's coming home. it's not hope, it's a reality. >> it's something that i wish no one else ever has to go through. she's just, she's your baby sister, you're supposed to take care of her, and be there for her and you can't. >> chelsea's family moved their search operation from big mike's place to a more permanent base. >> they actually went to a vacant bank from monroe bank and trust, set up a headquarters. >> a lot of new faces today which is good because people are tired. >> and from here her family held for dear life to a fading

hope. that chelsea was alive might still come home. >> absolutely miss you. love you. if someone is holding you no matter where you're at -- no matter, we just want you home. >> the family's organization was impressive. each volunteer assigned to a group, each group sent to a particular area or neighborhood. >> and this just went on and on. >> soon there were posters of chelsea's face and purple ribbons her favorite color everywhere. >> friends like penny worried she might have been kidnapped by sex traffickers. so penny went looking in the darker corners of toledo, ohio, a half hour south of monroe. >> i was handin'out flyers. have you seen this girl? you know -- in the areas where prostitution is known. i had policemen tell me, "you don't need to be out here, you need to go back home, " because i would go out at night because that's when the prostitutes were out -- >> that's kind of a dangerous thing to do, you know?

>> i had to find her. i just -- you know, what do you do? i mean i couldn't live with myself just sitting at home and hoping that she turned up. >> chelsea was featured on dateline's own missing in america series. her mother tried to stay positive. >> cannot lose hope. cannot give up. the faith and prayers has given us that hope and if anything it's only gotten stronger. >> but penny and others couldn't quite keep that up. >> i know her sweet mom always had hope, and i know one time i introduced myself and i said, "i was chelsea's friend." and she corrected me, "no, you are chelsea's friend. chelsea's out there." >> but christmas 2014 came and went no sign of chelsea. and then a week into the new year a break. maybe the break they'd been waiting for, a terrified woman in toledo reported that her ex-boyfriend confessed to her that he killed chelsea. >> ok kerri, i'm det. preadmore, this is det.

smith. >> we brought her in right away. and -- another detective and i sat down with her and interviewed her. >> her name was kerri carr. >> when i went to go leave i walked out and was trying to get in my car. >> ok. >> and he pulled out a knife. ok. a pocket knife. and then he goes, "this is the one i used on chelsea." >> she provided information that this ex-boyfriend of hers told her that, you know, he was at the party and that he left with chelsea, and that he ultimately ended up killing chelsea and dumping her body in the toledo area, in a cemetery. >> and kerri said he threatened to kill her, too. >> he like grabbed me by my shirt and he had a knife and he goes, "this is what i used with chelsea bruck." he didn't say her name exactly -- >> what did he say? i need to know exactly. >> he said, "i used it on

chelsea, don't make me use it on you." >> you could tell that she was nervous, you know, real on edge. >> kerri said she lived in fear of her ex-boyfriend and she wanted him arrested right away. >> i want him locked up but i can't have him like questioned and then released. he lives on the same street as me. he's going to go after me and my kid. >> if kerri was telling the truth, this was very big. >> did you actually confront this guy? >> we did. we interviewed him. and we -- we brought up the same information that was provided to us. without even mentioning her name. he says, "this girlfriend of mine, kerri carr, we've had problems for a long time. and i believe that she's doing this to get back at me'cause she don't like me. she wants to see me in trouble." >> the detectives brought kerri in for another chat.

>> after a lengthy discussion, she ultimately said, yes, what her ex-boyfriend told us, that she was trying to get back at him and try to get him in trouble, almost like i got you kinda thing. >> you know, it's frustrating work that you do. >> yeah, this was -- i mean, this took days. you know, it took us away from the -- what we're thinkin'we're investigating, trying to locate chelsea and find out what happened to her with this information that someone comes in and brings to us. >> so they arrested kerri, too, for lying to the police and they went back to square one. while chelsea's family waited for something anything good. >> still very hopeful that she is somewhere alive and well. >> and the searchers slogged. >> it's pretty marshy back there.

it's a lot of mud. so it's pretty tough to get through. a lot of downed timbers. so it's challenging. >> cops deputies volunteer firefighters. >> any type of clues, um maybe some things she might have been wearing or disturbed ground or anything like that. >> and everybody waited for something from the detectives. >> a lot of pressure. >> oh, yeah, intense pressure. >> we did work on it every single day. all of our resources were still on this case. new leads coming in and you just kept chippin'away at it.

>> and then it was a sunday in late march spring cleaning time. and a woman called in she'd found something on the edge of her property. >> how far away from the party was this? >> that was 2.3 miles. so, that is a route that -- you know, many people leaving the party would have taken. >> her name was sheryl retzlaff. this is her. she told the detectives she'd been cleaning up a winter's worth of debris along the country road. just like every other spring. >> what-- what sorta stuff do you find out here? >> yeah. i find all manner of things. i mean, i have found cameras hanging from my trees with cd-- you know, the-- the disk cards in them. we've found car radios and speakers. and cases of booze and broken booze bottles. -- >> my husband comes home from work and as per the usual he's like, "so what'd you find this year? " i'm like, "well, i didn't really find anything but trash, other than this shoe." and he was i'm -- instantly on alert. a shoe. he's like, "you know, sheryl,

really, maybe, do you think it could be hers? " and i knew who he meant right away. right away. and i'm like, "no. there's no way. all winter? they searched everywhere here. how could they have missed it? how could they have missed it? " >> yeah. >> sheryl called the monroe county sheriff's office and deputies came to pick up the shoe. and the next day det. sroka sent a photo of the shoe to chelsea's mom. >> i'm on the phone with her. i tell her, "i-- i just sent the email to you. did-- did you get it? " she opens it up and she says, "oh, my god, brian, that's her shoe." and it-- it was just surreal. at that point, you-- your heart drops and you're like, this-- this may really be, you know, something we've been waitin'for. and she checks with other family members and they also confirmed that it was chelsea's shoe. >> now, that was a tip. >> yes.

>> the shoe was tip number 623. >> but what does it tell you, really? >> yeah, it-- it didn't look good. uh-- but again she's still missing. we have one shoe. you know, where's the other shoe at? where's chelsea at? where's her costume? where's everything else at? so-- >> and nothing else found in that area during -- >> nothing else. we searched within several miles on-- on foot and in the air-- you in fields, woods, and not a single sign of anything else. --g else --g else -- hide my skin? not me. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain,

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chelsea disappeared and the only trace of her was one red shoe on a roadside two miles from the halloween party. but when chelsea's mom found out about that shoe? >> i could tell a change in her

demeanor,'cause she had been real upbeat during the whole investigation. you could just feel -- feel negativity. you just -- she knew at that point, i think, that -- >> like the air coming out, yeah. >> yeah. spring. people go outside. they see things. >> was this here before? was this here when you came that day, this berm, this earthen thing you're climbing up? >> yeah. it wasn't as big to my knowledge but it was definitely there. >> erik kassab and a friend were trying to make some quick cash finding and selling abandoned bits of metal. this was 10 miles from big mike's. >> that day, i was comin'here to --

find any scrap metal that i could take out. i was in a rock in a hard place and i needed -- money pretty quickly and -- >> what do we call that, "scrapping, " or something? >> yeah. it was scrapping. >> erik wasn't having much luck. and then inside this half-collapsed ruin, he turned over a piece of disintegrating plywood and -- >> i saw what i thought was like -- it looked kinda like a plant, like a fake plant, so i went and picked it up. i didn't realize what it was, because it was all bunched up. it had leafs on it, like fake leafs. >> sewn on? >> yeah. >> there was also a maroon wig. >> i did see -- the wig and -- kinda creeped me out, so i didn't wanna pick it up at all. >> so what'd you and your friend do at that point?

>> i showed him. he told me it was a poison ivy costume. we actually contemplated keeping it'cause it looked cool. >> yeah. >> and -- decided that it wasn't worth our time, threw it back down right where it was underneath the plywood and then -- continued to -- look for scrap metal. >> the two left with what little metal they could salvage and forgot all about it until -- >> about a week later, i was at work and i saw a poster for the missing girl wearing that costume. >> oh, and immediately you thought? >> "hey, that looks just like what i found." >> so, should he report it? well, he probably should, he knew but, after all, he touched that costume. couldn't that make him look kind of suspicious? >> i've seen enough -- television shows to know what dna is. >> yep. >> and i was around the same age as the girl. there were just so many circumstances that could make me look like -- a suspect. i contemplated it. i didn't want to turn it in. i just wanted to leave it alone and pretend like it didn't exist, but i couldn't get it outta my head. >> erik joined his sister for easter brunch and told his sister about the costume and his dilemma. she knew right away what erik had to do. had to. >> she was tellin'me that like i had to report it. and she basically gave me the ultimatum. she calls the police or i call the police. >> so he made the call. >> i was actually sitting down

for easter dinner. and then the phone rings. and -- our sergeant called and he said, "i'm needing you to come in. we have -- chelsea's costume and wig." and i'm thinking, "are you sure? " "are you sure this is hers? " he texted -- texted me a photograph of it and -- you get that feeling in your heart and stomach and you're like, wow, this is -- this is what we've been lookin'for for a long time. >> the costume had been ripped at the straps and the crotch. important? maybe. they sent it to the state lab for tests. and officers picked through the discarded junk on foot, by air, all day, and into the evening. and, right away, that easter sunday, the detectives brought erik kassab to the station for a talk. >> it's -- suspicious that he just happens to find this costume. he waited a week to call us. so, there's a lot of things that are looking kind of suspicious. >> just as erik had feared. >> did you go to that party by chance? >> no. >> tons of people went to this so we're trying to talk to everybody who went to the party -- >> no, i've never gone to a party. >> so you're saying you didn't go to the party on post road in newport at all? or -- >> no. however, at that time my baby's mother lived in newport. >> in fact, his ex-girlfriend lived on war road, the same road where chelsea's shoe was

found. >> you said you don't know chelsea. >> i don't know her. >> okay. i gotta ask you -- >> yeah, i know -- >> did you have anything to do with her disappearing -- >> no. >>--at all? >> no. >> erik swore he was at home with his daughter that weekend and had nothing to do with chelsea's disappearance. he agreed to give his dna and fingerprints. >> all right. open your mouth i'm going to swab the inside here. >> but there was something else about the discovery of the poison ivy costume. and it had to do with harlin bird. remember him? the guy who'd tried to sound like a hero, who told detectives he helped chelsea at the party, then admitted his story was a lie? >> this abandoned building, where the costume and wig were found, was literally 100 yards, 200 yards tops from harlin bird's house. you could pretty much see harlin bird's residence from where the costume was found. back in the interrogation room. and the discovery. has she finally been found? when "dateline" continues.

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22-year-old chelsea bruck disappeared from big mike's halloween party. her costume had been found. it was found rip ped underneath an abandoned building. this was interesting. it happened to be a hundred yards from the trailer park where harlan byrd had lived. >> what did you think when you saw that?

>> the hair on the back of your head kind of stands up. >> coincidence? the detectives didn't think so. >> the first thing we did, we called harlan byrd in for another interview. >> you thought we've found our guy here. >> yes. >> because you had been kind of wonky about him before, right? >> yes. things had been adding up. >> harlan came back to the station, this time with an attorney. >> how do you explain the items being found so close to your grand grandma's house? i can't explain it. >> do you have any thoughts to why some of her clothing would be found? >> none. >> a half mile from your grandma's place? >> no. >> harlan was adamant he never

saw chelsea at the party. he made up the story. he had nothing to do with her disappearance. >> he did appear to be nervous like this is getting serious now. i really made everything up, i had no involvement, i'll do whatever you want. >> would you belling to take a polygraph? >> a lie detector test? >> yes. >> yes. >> he took the test and passed. >> we also obtained a dna sample from larn byrd because we recovered the leotard. he did give us a dna sample. >> they sent it off to the lab and waited. penny heard the news and still distressed by a sense of failed responsibility felt some force pulling her to the place the poison ivy costume was found. >> very eerie place. there was a train track on the other side of it. i don't know. i just envisioned being tortured in there and the trains going by and the clinking and the echoes.

i just had to see for myself, i suppose. maybe i'd find something that someone else missed. i don't know. >> or maybe someone else would. it was spring remember, time to get outside, clear the land, find things. >> i'm breaman live in carlton where we have breaking developments in the search for chess s chelsea bruck. >> april 24th, 2015, about seven miles from big mike's place, a dump truck pulled up to a construction site. a man was building his dream house, needed fill for a low spot on his property, but as the driver backed up across the spring wet soil -- >> this truck got stuck in the mud.

he goes behind the truck, walks behind to assess the situation, see if he can get it moving again. >> that's when he saw it. a few minutes later he called 911, very upset. >> can you tell if it's a male, female? >> female. i think it's the one posted all over time. >> he was guessing because it was unrecognizable, but was it chelsea? had the truck not gotten stuck, they wouldn't have found out. the body would have been buried forever. instead -- >> we all responded out there. we had the crime lab from the michigan state police come out to help us. we took a close look at the body. >> had it been covered up or anything like that? >> the body had some small logs, branches over parts of the body. >> as if somebody tried to hide it. >> yes. >> not far from the body, they found one artificial leaf just like the rest of the leaves on

chelsea's poison ivy costume. >> kind of tells you something, doub doesn't it? >> yes. >> that's a hard call. you don't have absolute confirmation it's her, but you know it's her. >> we had a pretty good idea. >> did you call her family or wait. >> we went out and told the family. we wanted them to know before they heard it because the media was showing up and we knew the news was all over it. we didn't want the bruck family to hear it that way. we went out and personally visited them and said we found the body. we don't know for sure if it's chelsea, but it's a female. we think it might be. you know, for it to come down to that, that was extra tough go out there and be the bearer of such bad news. >> becky wasn't family, of course, but it hit her hard pretty much the same. >> one of the ladies at work said they found a body. i went home, turned on the news, and sure enough they were by the railroad tracks and they had the helicopters.

>> what was happening in your tummy? >> sick. sick. my heart was pounding. butterflies. and-- by this point, we just wanted to know the truth. and still, we had to wait for them to verify that it was her. >> they did that the next day. dental records. >> it was a relief to know the truth, but then opened a whole new door of questions of what happened, why, who did this. so it was like a whole new stressor. >> we almost felt more pressure on us all of a sudden, too, because it's not a missing person case anymore. it's a homicide. we know there's a killer out there. is the killer going to be strike again?

you know -- we - we need to find that person as fast as we can. coming up, the investigation heats up with a promising new clue. >> the crime lab assured us it was a pretty good unknown sample of dna and they said it's just a matter of time. >> and the detectives set their sights on a familiar face. >> we're going back. >> like, for example, big mike. >> big mike. that's the dna that we wanted. >> when "dateline" continues. when "dateline" continues when "dateline" continues types of water they have in this aisle? kim, did you just change blades back there? -ah. -this is perfect. jackpot. variety pack. remember, it's a football game, not a play date. one more slice. it can be a lot. oh, good, the manager. uh, brian in produce -- very helpful. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. -pulls to the left a little bit. -nope.

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discovered at a construction site roughly seven miles from big mike's farm. detectives were now on the hunt for her killer, and that's about when the state lab called with dna results from chelsea's costume. they found her dna, of course. in fact, her own blood was inside the front of the

leotard. but someone else's dna was there too. a man. a mystery man. >> we entered it into our codis system, and there was no hit. >> it's a database of dna. >> correct. >> the crime lab assured us that it was-- it was a pretty good sample, the unknown male dna. and they said, it's just a matter of time. and sooner or later, we think we'll-- we'll get-- a match on it. >> they checked, of course, the dna of erik kassab, who found the costume and harlan byrd. and both men were cleared. >> when we got that information from the dna. it was almost like our investigation kind of shifted gears. we were in the recovered dna mode. we were trying to collect dna from anybody and everybody we could. >> did you go back to the people at the party? >> we did. we did. >> we did. the people we talked to on the

first day of the investigation. we now were going back and asking for their dna because, before, we didn't know there was going to be dna. we didn't-- we didn't even know it was a homicide at that point. so, we're going back, making a list of people's dna we want to get. >> like, for example, big mike. >> big mike. that's-- that's the dna that we wanted. >> and? >> he wouldn't give it to us. >> what was it with big mike? was he cooperating or what? >> they asked for my dna. and i talked to my attorney. he said, you don't have to if you don't want to. and i just felt like i didn't want my dna in some database. you know, i'm not-- i'm not a criminal. i'm not a felon. also i felt like they were almost pointing, pointing the finger at me again. i was over it. and i was trying to move on with my life. >> and so mike williams stayed on the'persons of interest'list. about a month later, the medical examiner's office told the detectives they now knew what killed chelsea. >> they ruled the-- the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the face. we had initially noticed that there was a break in the jaw, and they just kind of confirmed that there were severe facial injuries, which they believed was the cause of death.

>> several facial bones were fractured, especially around her eyes. the detectives decided to keep all that secret. and chelsea's parents held a private funeral for their sweet youngest child, the baby of the family. hearts are breaking in this small town today. >> and then in early september, about ten months after chelsea disappeared, the man who'd found her remains called the sheriff's office. >> he's doing some more excavating on his property there, moving dirt around, working on the property. and he notices a red shoe. and we have several detectives that go out to the scene, and it happens to be the left shoe. it's the same size, same brand, same style as-- the one that had been found on war road. obviously it's chelsea's other shoe. >> yeah. >> the detectives began to look around a little bit more. they moved things around in the

area and they happened to find the green tights of chelsea's. so at that point we have everything accounted for. we have chelsea's shoes, her tights, her costume, her wig, and her body. >> everything, na is, but her killer. coming up -- >> yeah. i mean things were adding up. >> or that's what investigators thought until -- >> she put her foot down and she said you don't want to see this right now. so we stopped and she handed me the lab sheet. >> peace and love. that's my motto. >> a peace-loving suspect confesses but not to murder. >> i just like smoking weed and having sex. >> when "dateline" continues. sex >> when "dateline" continues >> when "dateline" continues i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪

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-- detroit with a win now planned that worked in his favorite receiver cooper kupp rams to 20 3:20. after days of protests over covid-19 -- mandates allowing commerce to float really between canada and the u.s.. now, back to dateline. big mike williams did not throw a backyard halloween bash in 2015. it didn't seem right, one year after whatever happened to chelsea. >> i wasn't going to do it. i -- i felt like i was just going to be be done with it. and then i kind of had some people kind of contact me -- >> oh, no. you've got to have one, mike. >> yeah. >> you've got to keep doing it. you've got to keep doing it, got to do something. i'm like, you know what? i'll do it. >> mike took his party to a club in detroit. the investigation, however, was stalled. and so it was out of desperation, really, that in june 2016 they gave the media photos of this guy, captured from video shot at the party.

>> what was that all about? >> so we had received a tip very early on in the investigation about a white male with a moustache that had showed up around 3:00 in the morning at a residence on war road. this is about a quarter of a mile or so, not even, from where chelsea's shoe was found. this guy shows up at three in the morning, pounding on this guy's door. says he's coming from the party, he's looking for a place to stay. you know, the -- the -- the gentleman says, you know, you can't stay here. you have -- you have to get going. >> the party-goer took a snooze on the man's front porch, but he then left. and the homeowner found the guy's vest the next morning and called the tip line. >> the vest had a pocketknife and some rope inside of it. so this guy shows back up, wants his vest back. he gets his vest and he leaves. >> weird. back at the time, it didn't seem like much of a lead. but who knew? so they combed through the party video. >> and we actually could see several frames where this guy is actually dancing around

wearing a black leather vest. so we're thinking maybe this is the same guy that was at the house on war road, knocking on the door. >> but when those pictures went out on local media -- >> did you find him? >> he actually came forward. >> what did he have to say? >> he came in and, you know, another key factor in the identification was he -- he resembled the sketch. he was -- >> ahh, the original sketch. >> yep, yeah. so -- >> that's a boom, boom, boom, boom. >> yeah. i mean, things were adding up. and he's in the area where her shoe is found, late, you know, a knife in his pocket, rope. >> the young man said he was very drunk at the party and didn't remember much. they took his dna and scheduled a polygraph. but on the very day that was supposed to happen, the sheriff's evidence tech received an email. >> she says, hey, you guys, i -- i have something here you're going to be want to see. and we were pretty much focused on what we were doing at that time. and we kind of, you know, said,

hey, just hold off. you know, wait a minute. let us finish doing what we're doing. and she put her foot down and she said, you're going to want to see this right now. so we stopped, and she handed me the lab sheet, and it was a confirmation of dna. >> it was a match to the unknown male dna on chelsea's costume. but it was not the guy in the party video. it wasn't any of the men they'd been looking at. they could clear them all, including big mike. no, this was someone else. someone new! >> daniel clay. >> had you ever heard of daniel clay before? >> never. never heard -- >> and he'd never come up at all. >> not in this case. >> who was daniel clay? >> daniel clay is a guy that lives in -- in monroe county and doesn't

really have a permanent address. he just kind of flops around from house to house, girlfriend to girlfriend. he has a few -- a few kids. but he just kind of does his own thing. >> someone that's not doing very well in life? >> unemployed. >> oh, boy. >> and we had found out that he had actually been arrested a month or two prior -- i believe it was in may of 2016 -- by the monroe city police for a larceny from a person where he stole a backpack with some tattoo equipment off of somebody. >> a petty crime, essentially. >> but it's a felony. >> and unfortunately for daniel clay, the law in michigan had recently changed. under the old law, only dna from convicted felons was entered into the national database, codis. the new law included the dna of anyone arrested for a felony. >> so upon his arrest with the new law in michigan, they took a dna sample from him and sent it to the crime laboratory to get entered in the codis. >> so where was this guy? >> well, that was one of our big things, was locating him. >> yeah. >> he was homeless and was just bouncing around from home, trailer to trailer. >> and imagine this. there were two warrants out for

him for unpaid child support. so when they found out where he was, they set up surveillance and made a plan to arrest him on those outstanding warrants without telling him he was a murder suspect. that is, if they could catch him. >> on at least one occasion, we see a male subject come out of the front door onto the front porch and smoke a cigarette. and we confirmed that that was daniel clay. the deputies go up, they knock on the door. i mean, they're pounding on this -- this mobile home for quite a while. >> oh, boy. okay. >> so it doesn't look like he's going to come out. they keep knocking. suddenly, the back door flies open and out comes daniel clay. and he takes off. fortunately, we had several officers at the back door who were able to take him into custody immediately. they take him to jail, book him in just like a -- he's being arrested just for his child support. >> can you let me call my girlfriend and tell her i'm going to jail for child support. >> okay. >> so when they put him in an interview room, daniel clay did not know he was a murder

suspect. and questions about the halloween party may have come as a surprise. >> so what time did you go to the party? >> about 8:00, 9:00. i was out of there about 10:00 or 11:00. >> did he say he knew chelsea? >> he denied ever knowing chelsea. didn't see chelsea, never heard of her, didn't know her, until later on he s -- he watched stuff on the news and that about this girl that went missing. but denied ever knowing her. >> still, said mr. clay, he did know a lot of women. he was a lover of women, he told the detectives. a real ladies'man. he already had two children with two women, another on the way. a nice simple life, said daniel clay. >> i live like it should be like the'70s, free love. peace and love. that's my motto. like i don't like fighting, i don't like violence, i don't -- i just like smoking weed and having sex. >> sex and pot? oh, he probably liked those

things a lot, didn't he. but peace? non-violence? hmmm. time to figure out mr. clay. and this was when detective preadmore went to work. >> you told me you never had sex with chelsea bruck. >> never had sex, never nothing with her. >> would there be any reason that your dna would be with chelsea bruck? >> no. >> or on her clothes or in her hair? >> not to my knowledge. >> a good interrogation is like peeling an onion to get to the truth at the core. coming up -- daniel clay's story starts to change. when i ask you about chelsea bruck and having sex, there's a possibility? >> there is a possibility. >> so that means. >> when "dateline" continues. prices you like every day

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a backyard halloween bash in 2015. july 2016, 21 months and 1,037 tips after the untimely death of chelsea bruck. detective mike preadmore confronted daniel clay, the ladies'man whose dna was on chelsea bruck's halloween costume. >> you never had sex with chelsea at the party? >> no. >> before the party, after the party? >> nothing. i didn't even know her. >> like a patient fisherman, the detective flicked lures around his suspect. >> you're a lucky man. i wish girls just -- >> be confident. just talk to them. >> i think i'm a pretty confident kind of guy. >> do you have a wife? >> i do have a wife. that's probably the problem. >> so it went. until, calmly and quietly, the detective broke the bad news. for all of daniel's denials, dna doesn't lie. and his dna was on chelsea's costume. and so the question -- how could that be? >> i did not do anything to that girl. i did not. i'm telling you. >> he was adamant.

they kept talking. and then daniel admitted he did have sex with a woman at the party. could it have been chelsea? well, maybe. >> when i ask you about chelsea bruck and having sex, there's a possibility? >> there is a possibility. >> so that means -- >> i had sex with someone that night. like i was out in the car and -- somebody and then not long after i talked to my baby mama, got in the car, and left. >> okay. >> so, time to reel in the fish. >> this is the thing. hear me out, i have been nice. i think i have been a pretty -- a gentleman to you. >> yeah. >> really, and you have to me. all right. there are some things you haven't told me. all right, but we're getting there. i do not think you're a murderer. i'm being up front. i'm being honest with you. i have been honest with you 100 percent. i think something happened. you did not have any intent to hurt her. >> i didn't do anything to her. she was fine and breathing when i left her. she got out of the car and walked away.

>> daniel, figured detective preadmore, must have assumed they found semen dna, so he told that consensual sex story. but then det. preadmore revealed a little more -- that dna, he told daniel, wasn't semen. it was skin cells, recovered where chelsea's costume had been violently ripped at the straps and the crotch. >> i have your dna where her stuff was torn. nobody other's, nobody else's. no one. >> okay. >> either something happened where it was intentional, unintentional, accidental, so listen to me. now is the time for you to tell us what happened because are you that monster murderer? >> no. >> did you have intention, but it just --

it just got -- it just slipped, it got out of control? >> no, i didn't do that to her. >> or was it an accident? >> i had sex with a girl. that's it. >> it was like -- it -- for a split second, time stopped for daniel clay because now he's thinking in his head about all them lies that he just told me prior to, that he don't know her. never had contact with her, nothing, nothing. no contact with chelsea, nothing. now i'm telling him that dna was recovered on her costume, his dna. so daniel clay now has to rewind and see how he's going to cover up with lies, the lies that he's already told me. >> and then det. preadmore told daniel a lie. >> and i'm going to tell you one thing that nobody knows

about chelsea bruck except us and her mother, is that she had brittle bone disease. brittle bone disease is a simple -- >> [inaudible] >> -- a touch, a tap where [bleep] breaks. >> like my bones, i break my fingers a lot because of it. >> so that's what happened. it was an accident. >> i had to do something to relax daniel clay and open him up to talk to me and tell me what happened. so this is where the brittle bone disease came in. and at that time, i think, in the interview, is where the turning point, daniel clay kind of leaned back and was like, oh, yeah. yeah, that -- brittle bone -- i've heard of that. that's -- i had my hand broke one time real -- and he goes on. >> the detective could almost see the wheels turning in daniel's head. if her bones broke easily, could he say her death wasn't his fault? daniel, not so calm anymore, asked for a cigarette and told a new story that he saw chelsea walking down the road after the party and offered her a ride.

and then, he said, they had sex in his car again, and this time things got freaky. >> she told me to choke her. i choked her. then we switched because she got underneath me. like i don't know. we were [bleep] for a minute, and then she kind of stopped and she went limp. so i stopped. i'm like, you know, i started tapping her face. >> okay. >> i guess i choked her too hard or something like that. >> okay. >> i wasn't even choking her that hard. i didn't think -- i got girlfriends that like to be choked and stuff. i know how to do it. like i didn't realize her bones were brittle or whatever. >> so, he says, i attempted cpr. i kind of hit on her chest a little bit. and after that, he just freaks out. he says that he drug her -- put her in the back of the car and was freaking out, didn't know what to do. didn't think of going to the hospital or anything like that.

and he found himself driving. >> driving, he said, until he stopped by these railroad tracks and carried her body to this wooded property and tried to hide her with leaves and branches. he claimed he simply had no idea how her costume ended up in that abandoned building five and a half miles away. >> i don't believe we ever got the full true story of what daniel clay did to chelsea. >> something made him snap. we don't know. did chelsea simply ask for a ride home and realize that he was going the wrong direction and then confront him on that? try to get out of the vehicle? did she turn down his advances for sex? we don't know. something -- something set him off, though, and just made him snap.

>> they arrested him then -- for murder. but before the news went public, becky heard about it, and this was an added shock. the friend who told her about daniel's arrest, a woman named jessica, also worked at olga's kitchen, and has a son with, of all people, daniel clay. daniel had called jessica before he was taken to his cell. >> jessica, it's dan. i'm going to jail for a while. a long while. >> and she's crying hysterical. she took a big breath, and she said her son's dad had killed chelsea, and she's like, i'm so sorry. and then i started crying because i felt bad for her. it was crazy that it was literally one person away, like, in our circle. >> but daniel clay had only confessed to an accidental killing, not murder, so he pleaded not guilty. after all, no eyewitnesses, no hard proof he meant to kill chelsea. the ladies'man was going to trial. coming up -- the prosecution says it was murder. >> he obviously used massive force against her and ultimately killed her. >> daniel clay takes the stand to say, it wasn't.

>> did you murder chelsea bruck? >> no. >> why do you say that? why do you say no? >> when "dateline" continues. ontinues don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent. it's like a flavor festival on an almond. ♪ zest fest! blue diamond almonds. super flavor all on a superfood. ♪ ♪ time for a kitchen refresh. come in to lowe's now for a rebate blue diamond almonds. on samsung appliances, like their 4-door flex refrigerator with beverage center, and air fry range. find the prices you like every day

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murder in may of 2017, and as chelsea's family and friends sat here at the monroe county courthouse, the prosecutors prepared to deal with a tricky problem. daniel clay had confessed to an accidental killing. leah hubbard and michael roehrig needed to prove it was really murder. >> of course, there's only one person alive who knows what really happened that night, and that's daniel clay. and he's certainly no friend to the truth. >> although lead prosecutor roehrig admitted some of daniel's story was plausible. >> i think that the fact that she was alone at the party without a phone, without a ride home, it was cold, and she was dressed only in that costume, i think, does play a role here because i think it makes it

somewhat more likely that she might have accepted a ride from the defendant whom she would probably have been acquainted. >> but what happened after that, the state argued, chelsea did not agree to. >> it seems fairly likely that daniel clay demanded of chelsea that -- something that she didn't want to provide to him, and he obviously used massive force against her to get what he wanted and ultimately killed her in the process. >> daniel clay's claim that chelsea asked him to choke her and after 20 or 30 seconds she expired? on the stand, here's what the medical examiner said about that. >> there was nothing left for me to evaluate whether or not chelsea had been asphyxiated. >> nothing to evaluate because of the severe decomposition of her body.

but could choking have killed her so quickly? >> it is not a ten-or 20-or even a 30-second process. >> no, said the medical examiner. and certainly not by accident. >> and with constant pressure placed on their neck, a person will loose consciousness within 20 to 30 seconds. after that point, the constant pressure has to be maintained on the neck of an unconscious person for an additional two to two and a half minutes before that victim is dead. >> if the jury couldn't believe daniel's choking story, what would they think about this? >> in this case, chelsea's costume spoke for her. in fact, it really shouted for her. >> the poison ivy costume. daniel had told detectives she removed it by herself, willingly. not possible, said leah hubbard. >> in reality, it would have taken quite a bit more force than chelsea would have been able to exert to remove the garment. >> prosecutors called a state

crime lab fabric expert. >> my opinion is the leotard was torn or cut and torn with a blunt object. >> and prosecutor hubbard argued chelsea would never have ripped her costume for any reason. >> chelsea spent months making this costume. she was so proud of it. we never believed that she would tear that. >> and look inside the leotard, said the prosecutors to the jury. >> the jury had an opportunity to see the blood stains on the costume. and they were significant. the costume was turned inside out and shown to the jury. and it was very clear that she sustained a trauma that caused a significant amount of blood loss. >> she was, therefore, obviously wearing the costume when she was beaten and bloodied. the defendant, by his own account, indicated that chelsea was naked during what he claims was a consensual sexual encounter. but clearly what happened was she was beaten and bloodied first, and then that costume was forcibly removed from her.

>> and all those strands of evidence, said the prosecutor, from daniel clay's lies to the dna, the broken facial bones, the blood inside the torn costume added up to first-degree murder. but daniel's defense attorney russell smith countered, huh-uh, his client killed chelsea, yes, but this was no murder. >> it's a tragedy that this young lady is no longer with us, but the fact that these two people got together and one of these people passed away is not proof of murder. >> he argued it was just a horrible accident caused by choking during consensual sex. and he put on his own forensic pathologist to argue that as well. >> some type of neck compression, strangulation. >> though the expert conceded there was no physical proof of that. but he disagreed with the state's conclusion that chelsea

was beaten to death. >> the facial bones by themselves would be an unusual cause of death. there's a variety of things that could have occurred after death that potentially could have resulted in these type of fractures. >> then the defense called his only other witness, daniel clay himself. the one person who knew what really happened that night. and daniel swore his story about the accidental choking death was god's truth. and, when she died, he said, he panicked. >> i was extremely emotional. i never dealt with anything like that before. and never been in serious trouble in my life. >> as for the broken bones in chelsea's face, he wasn't sure how that happened, he said. but he had some possible explanations. maybe he accidentally hit her head with the car door. or maybe he dropped her on the way to the woods. >> so how many times did you drop her if you recall?

>> probably five or six. >> or maybe, he said, one of those logs damaged her face. >> i remember tipping a bigger one on her and a couple smaller ones. i just grabbed the one end of the log and proceeded to tip it up on top of her. >> it was all an accident, said daniel, and he felt just terrible. >> every day i think about this and i regret what happened. it's something i have to live with. it's something that her family has to live with. i never wanted to put someone through something like this. >> did you intend to cause her death? >> no, i did not. >> did you murder chelsea bruck? >> no. >> why do you say that? why do you say no? >> because i didn't mean for her to die. i didn't mean for this to end like this, and this was not my intent. it was to have a good time. >> the prosecutor did his best to break daniel's story. said, of course, daniel didn't seek help because people would

have seen immediately that chelsea had been brutally beaten to death. >> and they would have seen her smashed in face, wouldn't they? >> no. >> and they would have seen her torn and bloodied costume, wouldn't they? >> no. there was -- >> they wouldn't? >> i mean, probably if they would have looked, yes. >> if they would have looked, they would have seen it? >> yes. >> but daniel said he was drunk and high that night and thought maybe it was all a bad dream. but then he said, he saw on facebook that chelsea was missing. >> and that must have confirmed it in your mind that, yes, in fact, you did kill her. >> it started making things seem like they happened. >> i see. and that's when you contacted the police? >> no. >> in fact, you never reported miss bruck missing or murdered, did you? >> no, i did not. >> you never reported where her body was? >> i didn't remember where her body was. >> you never reported killing her, did you? >> no, did not. >> all right. >> daniel clay did not raise his voice. he even came off as kind of sincere. >> i've never hit a woman. i've never done anything like this in my life. it's not

something i chose to do. >> but, this was no accident, prosecutor roehrig insisted, and he implored the jury, just look at the evidence. >> the defendant murdered chelsea bruck. and then he discarded her lifeless naked body in those woods in an attempt to hide the evidence of his wrongdoing and escape any measure of justice for what he had just done. >> not enough, argued defense attorney smith. oh, they should find daniel guilty, he said. but of manslaughter. not murder. for daniel clay had no reason to kill chelsea and no motive to do so. >> he caused her death. it's not a secret. is it a murder? what was his intent? was his intent to kill her? did he premeditate the intent to kill her? that's the reasonable doubt, folks. >> what was the jury to do?

coming up -- the verdict. >> my heart was racing. >> you just heard gasps in the courtroom. >> and regrets. >> i know i didn't do anything wrong, but it's something i'm not going to forget. >> when "dateline" continues.

chelsea bruck's family and friends waited at the courthouse for the jury. a strange, nervous limbo. >> i feel like the prosecutors had a lot of evidence, a lot of people to back up the picture they made of what happened that night. >> but. >> i'm past the point in my career where i feel confident about cases until the jury returns with their verdict. >> that afternoon of deliberation crawled by.

>> it was about 4:00 or 4:15 at this point. the judge indicated to us in chambers at that point that he was going to break for the day. >> some of chelsea's family and the media were just about to leave the courthouse. >> and when the judge came back on the bench, he let us know at that time the jury had reached a verdict. >> that was shocking. i thought for sure it was going to take at least a day or two. >> the jury entered the courtroom, anxiety in the air. >> my heart was racing. >> we, the jury, find as follows. count 1, first-degree murder, not guilty. >> wait. not guilty? oh they weren't finished. there was a second first-degree murder charge. for killing chelsea while sexually assaulting her. >> felony murder, guilty. count 2, concealing the death of an individual, guilty. >> i was, like, i knew it. i knew it. >> you just heard gasps in the courtroom-- people crying.

it was just unreal. >> what's that feel like to get that result? >> that's the closure you're looking for. you know, you put so much time, effort -- this was a part of our life for several years, and it comes down to that, and to get the conviction like that, it just -- it feels satisfying, an you feel very, very happy for the family. >> two months later, everyone gathered again for sentencing, many wearing purple, chelsea's favorite color. her mom, leannda, spoke directly to daniel. and what she said surprised many here. >> today with the strength from jesus christ, i forgive daniel clay because if i don't, all that has happened the last 2-3/4 years will destroy the rest of my life. but forgiving is not forgetting, because forgetting would mean that chelsea didn't matter, that chelsea is not important, that chelsea didn't exist.

mr. clay, i am leaving you with a bible. jesus came to heal our mess of a life, and i hope you will let him in. heal your mess. >> was daniel's response sincere? only he knows, of course, this ladies man no more. >> i thank you for that bible, and i will keep that as long as i'm able to. there's nothing more i can say except for i am sorry for what i have put you through and i will live with this for every day for the remainder of my life. >> i know her mother forgives daniel. >> which is pretty remarkable that she would do that in court. >> it is. >> could you do such a thing? >> one day i'll forgive him. i'm not ready yet. >> and then the judge turned to daniel. did not mince words. >> what's very clear to me mr. clay, you're a liar, a rapist, and a killer.

it is the sentence of this court that you be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> and a postscript. chelsea was not daniel's only victim. shortly before his arrest, daniel sexually assaulted another young woman. in june of 2017, he was tried and convicted in that case too. >> we have no doubt that if he wasn't in custody right now, if we wouldn't be able to identify that he's the one that did this to chelsea, that there would be other victims, whether it be sexual assaults, more murders. we're just glad that he's off the streets and can't do this to anybody else. >> and big mike still throws his annual halloween party at a music venue in detroit. but he's not sure if his life will ever be back to normal. >> even still to this day. even though the guy is caught and convicted, still, little things -- i hear little things here and there, and i'm like really, really? they're like, oh, he's the guy that threw the party.

don't hang out with him. like what? you know, like, i absolutely had nothing to do with that. you know what i mean? >> becky and penny no longer attend big mike's parties. difficult memories haunt them still if only they imagine if only. >> i know i didn't do anything wrong. i didn't mean for anything wrong to happen. but my actions could've prevented something wrong from happening, and that goes through my head a lot, and it's something i'm not going to forget. >> how often do you think about chelsea? >> every day. i think about her every day. i have a wedding coming up, and she'd probably be in it. >> what would you say to her if you could talk to her right now? >> i talk to her all the time. that i miss her. you know, tell her i was sorry. sorry that i let her down. and

that i loved her. but i think she knew that. because i told her every day when she was here. good evening and welcome to politics nation. tonight's lead, enemies within and without. right now, it seems like we're watching a number of warnings for signs of invasion, as white house warns of potential invasion of ukraine by russia, continued to huddle with