he wasn't my biological child, but my heart-- you can't tell that to my heart. i love that boy. and it's not fair that he was taken from his children or from his family. he had so much potential. he had gone so far. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm andrea canning. thanks for watching. [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, monica peck: she was so alive. to hear that news and realizing that it's amber, how could that be?

her life was just beginning. andrea canning: amber made friends for life. there was just no trying with our friendship. it just was. andrea canning: but that life didn't last long. amber is on the floor, face down. and she has a plastic bag wrapped around her head. the till's open. the door's open. most people that rob a store don't kill anybody. our world just died right there. andrea canning: for months, the murder stayed cold. didn't have witnesses, didn't have video, didn't have dna. we had everything going against us. we'd go down and talk to the detective. we wouldn't let it go. andrea canning: then a break, another victim. he would duct tape me, duct tape my mouth. andrea canning: and she knew a secret. would she risk revealing it? something's going to happen tonight. andrea canning: a killer ready to run face to face with the one person who might be able to stop him. he just reached over the glove compartment.

he pulled out the gun. and i said, please don't kill me. i wanted to get out of there alive. [music playing] hello, and welcome to "dateline." amber belken was a force to reckon with, a petite young woman whose big dreams and drive made her seem unstoppable. then she was found murdered. was amber the victim of a robbery gone bad, or was this brutal crime personal? three people knew the truth. two of them would risk their lives to reveal it. here's keith morrison with everything she knew. [music playing] keith morrison: it was a monday morning in january 2007, 9:08 am. a young woman in san antonio texted her boyfriend, i love you. that's all it said, i love you. nothing more.

downtown, the alamo had just opened its doors. a few tourists began boarding little boats to gaze at remnants of texas history along urban stretches of the san antonio river. and several miles away in the farther reaches of the modern city, the manager of a video game store began his daily ritual. his name was mariano rivera. the store opens at 10:00, but the managers typically get there at 9:00 in the morning, get the tills ready, grab the money, take it with you, and go to the bank. keith morrison: similar process in the sister store. same company, not far away. that one, managed by the woman who sent the text to her boyfriend, except this was strange. as the morning stood by, her store remained closed. mariano got a call from the district manager. can you go over there? and maybe-- maybe you can see something, see what's going on. keith morrison: he did. he saw a white car in the parking lot that looked like the young woman's car.

he peered into the store window. nobody there. and i thought, man, this is strange. like, where she is? i kept calling. nothing. keith morrison: her name was amber belken, tiny, just 5' 2", 100 pounds, but energetic, ambitious, and very much in charge. she was a firecracker. that's the easiest way to put it. matt pina is in texas politics nowadays. but back then, he worked in amber belken's store. she would let you know what she wanted. but i think she was one of the kindest souls ever that i've ever met. so i guess, it depended on what side you met her on and how much you made her mad. she could be tough. oh, most certainly. she loved her job. she did. keith morrison: monica peck and ashley flores were amber's best friends. was she cut out to be a manager? - yeah. - oh, yeah. oh, yeah. she was fierce. but she still was friendly. she-- she loved all her employees. and she loved all of her customers. monica peck: she was only 25.

she was a store manager. and so it was a very good sense of she's doing it. she's making something of her life. like, she had goals. she had ambitions. and she wanted to go back to school. she wanted all of it. keith morrison: not that she set out to work in a game store. she wanted to be a veterinarian. ashley flores: she was just so loving. we couldn't pass a turtle on the road. she had to turn around and pick it up and take it to her house. she would find these random animals on the side of the road. i was like, how did you find that animal? keith morrison: like her little dog, buddy. amber's parents, lee and randy. she actually ran for-- buddy across the expressway. and the hair was all matted up, looked like dreadlocks. and she said, well, i can't put it back out on the road. it'll get killed. so i just opened the door let it in. keith morrison: amber was their only child. they doted on her from the day she was born. and she was good in return. she helped anybody that needed it.

they didn't even have to ask. she was going to make sure that you were protected. keith morrison: but now, where was amber? why was her store not open? why didn't she answer the phone? early afternoon, still no sign of amber. so again, the district manager called mariano-- something is just strange. keith morrison: --and sent him back for a second look. so again, mariano looked in through the big front window. but this time, he saw someone, amber's assistant manager, brandon, just standing there behind the counter. i knock on the door. and so he lets me in. and i said, brandon, have you seen amber? he's like, no. he goes, but something is strange. there's money on the floor. there's just-- you know, it looks like there was some kind of struggle or something happened. something-- things got knocked over. my first thought was, where's amber? and so he said he didn't know. and you know, of course, right away, i'm thinking, you know, what is going on with this guy? he clearly sees there's something wrong.

he must not recognized her car. i'm thinking, that's her car outside. you see it. you see there's some-- there's things in the floor. why haven't you reacted right away and called someone or checked the rest of the store? keith morrison: but he hadn't. so mariano ran to the back office, the only other room of the store, not a moment he will ever forget, not for the rest of his life. and when i run to the back, i find that amber is on the floor face down, and she has a plastic bag wrapped around her head. and instantly, i knew what happened. one mystery solved. amber was no longer missing. but a much bigger mystery remained. coming up-- most people that rob a store don't kill anybody. andrea canning: maybe the robbery was just a cover for murder. he had the classic motive. it does kind of seem personal. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪

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life has twists and curls. but you define them and make them bounce. tresemme flawless curls defining mousse. 24 hour. hydrating curl definition. style your life the way you want. ♪♪ tresemme, style your way. keith morrison: there are some things, which once seen, can never be unseen, amber belken sprawled in death in the back office of a video game store, her head wrapped in a plastic bag. mariano rivera dialed 911, his mind a horrified confusion. he stared at amber's assistant manager, brandon beale. i was angry. i was upset.

you know, and then i'm looking at brandon like, i don't understand. like, how did this happen? and, you know, i don't want to blame anybody, but your first thought is who is around? who can you look at and say, maybe he had something to do with it? it's got to be a pretty shocking thing to discover. i mean, it's-- it's hard to describe. you just have a million emotions just running through. and you just don't know what to make of them. [music playing] keith morrison: the police came, took one look, and called raymond "ray bob" roberts, then a detective with the san antonio police department. it looks like a robbery gone bad. the store's in disarray. the clerk is found in the back office. she's dead. i tried to get some information. are there any witnesses? no, sir. so he tell him, hold the scene down, and get the crime scene detectives out there. keith morrison: the news, indistinct, unconfirmed, spread through the texas afternoon. somebody dead in amber's store. but most people did not know who, including amber's father as he headed over there. i jumped in my truck.

and i called a friend of mine who is a defense attorney. and i said, i need you to call anybody that you can and see what you can find out. and i was just about there, and he called me. and he said, well, how far are you from here? keith morrison: and that's when he realized it wasn't that amber found someone dead. they found her. and my knees just buckled. and i just-- our whole world just died right there. it's a pretty dreadful feeling, isn't it? it's the worst feeling in the world because you totally realize no one can fix this. nobody can bring her back. keith morrison: not for them, not for her friends. and then everything just stopped. disbelief.

disbelief. your earth shatters. i sat on the curb and cried. everything around me was just a blur. keith morrison: inside the store, detective roberts had a look around. raymond "ray bob" roberts: there was a bunch of dvd games on the ground where the cash register was right there by the front. the till's open. the door's open. there's some change just kind of laying around. there's more dvds on the ground in the back. like somebody came in and ransacked it? ransacked the place, took off, yeah. keith morrison: he went around through the back alley. was this an escape route? he probably stacked all the games up here. either-- either had their car here in the alley or had it parked over there, put the boxes out here, and picked them up and took off. you wouldn't think robbing a game store would be worth killing somebody in the process. well, he wouldn't think [inaudible] rob a game store. yeah. normally, during robberies, you know, it's just a robbery. there's no murder. keith morrison: and this was certainly a robbery, given

the mess and the empty safe. we checked the bank. there was no deposit made for that morning. there was $1,900 stolen, three or four big video games, playstations, and ps3s, and dvd games. all that was taken. keith morrison: the haul totaled just under $6,000. maybe the store's surveillance cameras could tell the detective who took it, except-- --there's no surveillance video in the store. there is none in the strip center that the store's located in. there's no video anywhere. there was video at the starbucks next door, but it only showed the front door, and that's it. you don't see anything. keith morrison: who would know that? who would know it was the video game company's only store in san antonio not equipped with cameras? the answer was obvious to the detective an employee would know just like an employee would know amber hadn't taken the cash to the bank yet. then mariano told the detective

about encountering brandon and that he couldn't understand why brandon didn't look for amber until he, mariano, arrived. his first thought should have been, i think there might have been a robbery. let me make sure, first of all, the robbers are not still in here and can hurt me. but also, let me see where amber is. keith morrison: just what the detective was thinking. he talked to amber's coworkers. they said she had issues with brandon. they had never learned to work together yet. and it's just when you have a guy like that who's not really the same type of attitude or mentality that the rest of us were, it causes some problems. did she trust him? you know, i don't know. i think in some instances with some things, no. keith morrison: even amber's parents said they knew she was dissatisfied with brandon. because she had written him up. keith morrison: she'd prepared a negative work review. randy belken: she was going to turn it in that day. lelia belken: it's just his last chance, mom.

she said, i can't-- i can't allow him to continue to make these mistakes. keith morrison: so motive, opportunity, behavior that didn't seem innocent. i mean, he had the classic motive. he didn't want her to write him up. yeah. keith morrison: he didn't want to get fired. he didn't want to get fired. this seemed like a personal crime, right? could have been. most people that go in and rob a store don't go with the intentions of killing anybody. they just go in there, do the robbery, and leave. putting the plastic bag on her head-- --squeezing it tight and holding it that long. squeezing it tight takes four or five minutes, probably. it takes a commitment. yeah, no kidding. you know she's struggling. you know, she's-- she's just not laying there. that takes a while, so that takes-- it does kind of seem personal. keith morrison: they had brandon in the backseat of a patrol car. a detective went to talk to him. he tells me a story, and it's just not making any sense. keith morrison: so he had brandon taken downtown and questioned by a colleague known

for her special interviewing skills. she's a real good detective. she-- she has a way with-- with getting stuff out of people. about an hour later, i'm still at the scene. she calls me back and says, yeah, something's up with this guy. andrea canning: coming up, amber's parents were convinced it was brandon. everything pointed to him. andrea canning: would that explain what amber's mom said she saw at the funeral? he put one of the gamestop tag holders that had their id on it. he put one of those in her casket. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. life has twists and curls. but you define them and make them bounce. tresemme flawless curls defining mousse. 24 hour. hydrating curl definition. style your life the way you want. ♪♪ tresemme, style your way.

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keith morrison: it was four days after that awful morning in the video game store. amber belken's funeral was huge, as in death, she'd been adopted by the community around her. over 600 people. and the ones that couldn't get into the chapel waited in the lobby and in the parking lot. was that a comfort? a very big comfort that she touched that many lives. they loved amber. they said, we love amber. keith morrison: as amber's parents watched, they could not stop seeing in their heads another scene, the one in the back room of the video game store, the way she was killed. that told me it was personal. she had to be so frightened.

and when she tried to pick up the phone, i know it was to call us. and he yanked the phone out of the wall. keith morrison: was it brandon beale? by the day of the funeral, they were sure. we definitely thought brandon did it. everything pointed to him. keith morrison: then, as mourners filed by to pay their respects, suddenly, there he was at the funeral. in front of them, brandon beale. did you think, my god, her killer has come to the funeral? oh, he came, and he shook my hand. and i got up. and my knees just fell weak. and i just fell. keith morrison: then, said amber's mother, she was sure she saw brandon walk right up to the casket and put something into it. he put one of the gamestop tag holders that had their id on it-- he put one of those in her casket.

and i got that of there as fast as i could and put it in a tissue and put it in my purse because i thought that's the last thing i want buried with my daughter. keith morrison: was that id potential evidence, she wondered. was brandon trying to bury evidence with amber's body? so mom was automatically thinking brandon did it. it's got to be brandon. a week after the murder, detective roberts questioned brandon on videotape. keith morrison: brandon repeated the story he'd been telling from the start. he was nowhere near the store that morning. he didn't get to the store, he said, until after 2:00 pm for afternoon shift. and when he got there, he insisted it was still closed.

so he panicked. was he supposed to open that morning? he looks around and sees the dvds on the floor, the cashier's drawer open. he sees all this and thought, hmm. so he starts going about to open the store. he thought, hmm? yeah. so you know, he's not looking for amber. he's not looking for anybody that's supposed to be working. keith morrison: brandon told detective roberts he had no idea amber was in the store, no idea amber intended to submit a negative work review about him that very day, didn't notice her car in the parking lot, he said, didn't think the obvious mess in the store meant they'd been robbed. you saw the disarray. yeah. if an employee saw the disarray-- a normal person, you would think, would go in and start looking something's up. - something's wrong here. - yeah. keith morrison: so roberts' got a search warrant for brandon's house and car. maybe they'd find some of the stolen dvds and game consoles there.

they did not. but there had to be something. for weeks, the detective looked for evidence on brandon beale. randy and mama called me 24/7 every day two, three times a day. brandon is-- brandon. brandon. brandon. brandon. keith morrison: detectives questioned his fiancee, her parents. they scoured his phone records. we did everything we could to try to get some kind of evidence on brandon. and there was none there. yeah. there was none there because he didn't do it. keith morrison: that alibi about helping his fiancee's parents checked out. and his phone records revealed he was miles from the store when amber was murdered. finally, brandon beale was cleared. did you, at some point, think, i'm going to be charged with murder? yes, i did. keith morrison: the memory's still fresh. brandon beale: i had nightmares of going to jail. you know, it was hard for me to sleep.

keith morrison: that terrible day-- my whole thought process was let me get this store open because, you know-- i think i screwed up? brandon beale: right, i screwed up. keith morrison: why didn't he notice they'd been robbed? you know, some stores are a little messier than others. sure. so maybe that meant that whoever was on the night before didn't put things away properly? brandon beale: that was my thought process, totally opposite of, hey, there's somebody dead here. there was a robbery. keith morrison: brandon was 23 then and terrified. i'm just thinking, you know, just-- they're really just trying to put on this young black man, you know? keith morrison: when they questioned his fiancee, now wife-- they was trying to convince her that i did it. they would say things to her like, you know, how can you sleep with a murderer? you know, you know he did it. you know, you're possibly next. keith morrison: when they searched his house-- it seemed like a scene on a movie, just going through drawers, throwing our clothes. they left my house a wreck. keith morrison: even when he was finally cleared, he said no one told him. nor, he said, was he told amber had written them up.

though, he agreed they hadn't always seen eye to eye on some things. and until we spoke with him, he said, he had no idea amber's mother believed she saw him put something into amber's coffin. did you walk over to the casket and put in a lanyard or something in there? that's the most absurd thing i've heard. no. no. that was my very first funeral, so i didn't even get that close to the casket. keith morrison: but brandon is a father now with two kids. so, he told us, he thinks of amber's parents and understands. i couldn't imagine losing one of my children. keith morrison: but if brandon beale didn't kill amber belken, then who did? andrea canning: coming up-- i'm sitting at the office, and the phone rings. andrea canning: --a caller reluctant to give his name, but gives up someone else's. he said, well, i know who killed-- killed this girl. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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support in the bell road state. meanwhile, former president trump held rallies in michigan and pennsylvania, sending mixed messages on early voting. and president biden says he hopes israel strike against iran will and the escalation between the two regional powers. israeli fighter jets and drones targeted military sites, resulting in the deaths of four iranian soldiers. now back to "dateline."

police initially played out a h that the culprit must have had a game store connection. now, a call from an anonymous tipster was about to breathe new life into that theory. once again, here's keith morrison with everything she knew. keith morrison: that brandon beale did not kill his boss, amber belken, was very clear, which meant that detective "ray bob" roberts had a big problem. we had everything going against us. didn't have witnesses. didn't have video. didn't have dna. didn't have fingerprints. didn't have nothing. keith morrison: he went public then. had to. raymond "ray bob" roberts: we held a big news conference with the parents, mom and dad pleading for help. crime stoppers put up a lot of money. nothing. i was hoping-- you know, money talks. 100 grand reward. 100 grand reward is a lot of money. nothing. lelia belken: we put fliers up all over san antonio. we wouldn't let it go. keith morrison: but as months went

by without a single solid lead, detective roberts sank through frustration and into a kind of despair. this little girl, she looked like my baby-- my-- my girl. and she-- she resembled my daughter, same build, same color of hair. amber's favorite book is a baby book, "if you give a mouse a cookie." i read that to my daughter a million times. you know, you do this for an extended period of time. you try to distance yourself. for sure. you got it. and the worst mistake we can make is getting too close to it. yeah. i got close to the family mentally, physically for the detective. if you do that every case-- --you're no good. you're no good. you burn out. keith morrison: and then about seven months after amber's murder-- raymond "ray bob" roberts: i'm sitting at the office, and the phone rings.

keith morrison: the caller claimed to know something. what's your name? i don't want to tell you my name. just call me joe. ok, joe. what do you got? he said, well, i know who killed-- killed this girl. i saw a guy named geovany. i said, ok, what makes you think this guy did it? well, he asked me if i wanted to do a robbery with him, you know, before. i said, ok. fascinating. he says, we used to both work for eb games. i said, well, you know, why did he want to do this robbery? well, he wanted to do the robbery at this store because there's no cameras. i hang up with him. i call eb games. yeah, both of them did work for eb games. so i'm thinking, we finally got a break. keith morrison: the detective asked joe to come in for a talk. joe told him that at first, he didn't think geovany's request was serious. but after he heard about amber, said joe, it all clicked. geovany must have killed her.

but how much stock could roberts put in this guy joe, who initially wouldn't even give his full name? and who was this geovany, anyway? the detective checked for priors. it wasn't much. had a record as a juvenile. got his fingerprints, get the fingerprints that we lifted from the crime scene. there's hardly any that are legible. keith morrison: and none was a match. now you're stuck as an investigator. this is all you got. you got this one witness. and you want to tie the suspect to the scene, but there's nothing to tie him. i mean, there's nothing. i got-- i have nothing to hit him on. keith morrison: but worth a try. he brought geovany in for an interview. water or coke? no, do damage to my stomach right now without food. of course, he denies it. keith morrison: was it crazy? no way to prove, really. and then a couple of days later, detective roberts brought the tipster, joe, back in. and this time, joe poured it all out,

s geovany actually told him straight out that he killed someone. now, that was huge if joe was telling the truth. but just one guy's accusation, no idea how credible it might be, wasn't much to go on. still, it was all they had, so-- so i draft out an arrest warrant, and i draft out a search warrant, bring it to the magistrate. she reads it, says it's about time because this was in the news. this is a high profile case for san antonio. you know, rich white girl dies at work. you know, people went crazy. it shouldn't have mattered, but people went crazy. you know, they want justice. yeah. go get the search warrant signed. go get the arrest warrant signed. it's my birthday. this is what i said. man, this is the best birthday present ever. keith morrison: but then he got a call from his sergeant.

he says, ray bob, i want you to keep your mouth shut. don't say anything. i just want you to do what i'm telling you to do. he said, i need you to get the arrest warrant quashed. wow. geovany would not be arrested after all, just not enough evidence. the prosecutor had made it clear he didn't want to try him and fail in court. but the detective still had a warrant for geovany's dna. so they went to his house unannounced. he opens the door. i said, got a warrant for you. didn't say a search warrant. didn't say arrest warrant. and he sinks. and he turned back to his wife and says, i'm going with him. and he was defeated. he-- --put his head down? head down. shoulders-- shoulders sank down. and he put his hands behind his back. like he was getting ready to be cuffed? like he was getting ready to be handcuffed. he thought he was going to go to jail. that's certainly a tell. oh, yeah. keith morrison: geovany gave them a dna sample. but afterwards, he clammed up, wouldn't say a word. i was disgusted, so i had somebody

else take him back home. but i called my friends at swat. i said, hey, keep an eye on this guy. keith morrison: and sure enough, just hours later, he got a call. swat calls me and says, hey, ray bob, he's loading everything up in a car. he's moving. keith morrison: they pull geovany over traffic stop, asked him, where was he headed? going to be in laredo. i'm getting the hell out of here. keith morrison: geovany was going to laredo, texas along the mexican border. nothing ray bob could do about it. and the case was pretty much nowhere after that for many months until there was a woman. she was terrified. and did she have a story to tell. andrea canning: coming up, a young mother locked in with a killer. he just reached over the glove compartment, and you pulled out the gun. and i said, please don't kill me. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. [music playing] when you want something... you pursue it.

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also try the new chewable welcome back. their case was getting colder by the week, when out of the blue, investigators got a break. a tipster told police that his friend, geovany rivera, killed amber belken while robbing the store where both men once worked. detectives believed the story, but didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest. now someone else close to geovany was about to step forward. and her chilling tale would blow the case wide open. here again, keith morrison with everything she knew. keith morrison: late june, almost a year and a half after the murder of amber belken,

detective ray bob roberts roared down the highway to laredo. he had just gotten a call from the police there. geovany's wife wanted to talk. her name was veronica. and what a story she told. i made a dumb choice. i was really young. and i got pregnant really young. keith morrison: still in high school? veronica rivera: yeah. keith morrison: she tried to resist him, she said. wasn't attracted that way. but he was so insistent. and once she was pregnant-- our family would insist that we get married. and i listen to everyone except my own feelings. keith morrison: and once they were married, she said he demanded sex whenever he wanted it. whenever he, like, touched me, i would feel sick, and i would tell him to stop. there were times when he would get angry or frustrated. and then he would force himself on me. keith morrison: and right beside sleeping children in their one small bedroom-- he would duct tape me, duct tape my mouth, duct tape,

you know, my-- my wrists to the leg of a chair and-- just to keep me quiet. i was very afraid. and again, i was young. keith morrison: much too afraid to tell. and while detectives searched for more clues in amber's death-- keith morrison: then one day in late january 2007 as she watched tv, she saw the news of amber's murder. and i said, look at this. wow. isn't that crazy? and he just looked, and he just said, wow. that's-- he mirrored my-- my reaction to it. like, wow. that's-- that's-- wow. i can't believe it. i never thought for one second, like-- like, he just acted normal that whole time. keith morrison: that is until after the police knocked on their door in the fall of 2007 after joe reported geovany, after detective roberts got that search warrant for geovany's dna. we were asleep. and it was early in the morning.

and then we hear a-- a pounding at the door. boom. boom. boom. like just-- and you know, that woke us up. that woke me up. and we're like, what's that? and he got up first, and he went to go check. keith morrison: and then he returned and told her, it's the police. they think i killed someone else. i was like, did you? what's it like to hear that? i was shocked and mortified. and he says, it's because i did kill someone. and that's all he said. he said, i killed someone. who? why? and i'm assuming, maybe he had, like, an altercation with someone, like, maybe a friend or some guy down the street. i don't know. keith morrison: but geovany only said-- we're going to move to laredo. let's just go. that very day? the next day. mm-hmm. a very rapid move. unprepared and just fast. keith morrison: veronica was beside herself, paralyzed by fear. how do i tell somebody? do i call the police? do i tell a family member? do-- what do i do? and i just-- i just stayed quiet,

and i was so afraid to say something. keith morrison: and then one night, she worked up the courage to ask him a question. i asked him, did this have anything to do with what i saw in the news that day? and he said, yes, i did that. that was me. what was that like to hear? i just started crying and sobbing. i was like, oh, my god. why? why? why did you do that? he said, we-- we needed the money. keith morrison: she begged him, turn yourself in. instead, he went to his mother. she would cry to him. like, no, don't-- please don't go. you don't want to leave your children. they're never going to see you again. and i'm just there crying inside. i'm just-- i'm trying to do it as peacefully as they can without making them angry toward me. keith morrison: and then around dinnertime one evening, veronica finally told him she'd had enough. the marriage was over. then he said, you know what?

let's go for a drive. let's go get the kids something to eat. keith morrison: instead, he drove her to a secluded area. it was just dirt all around, empty and no people, no one in sight. that's when he pushed the auto-- the lock. yeah, the car lock. veronica rivera: the car lock. and he locked all the doors. and that's when i was like, ok. something's going to happen tonight. something's going to happen because we're in the middle of nowhere. and i knew he was going to kill me. i was thinking, how am i gonna get out of this? then i look over, and he just reached over the glove compartment. and he put out the gun. i said, please don't kill me. he said, don't worry. just do what i say. keith morrison: get into the backseat, he ordered. he followed her. and then he-- he raped me back there. i started crying. i just started praying. god, please.

i wanted to get out of there alive. keith morrison: but it wasn't veronica who would die. it was geovany. he pulled her out of the car. take the gun, he said. shoot me. i said, i can't do that. he was like, yes, you're going to do it because if you don't do it, i'm going to come after you. i'm going to come after the children. i'm going to come after your family. and whoever you end up with, i'm going to come after him too. so you need to end my life tonight. geo, i can't do this. i can't be like you. i cannot be like you. i can't do this. keith morrison: she tried to reason with him, she said. told him if she killed him and went to prison, their children would have no parents. i just said anything i could say just to get him out of this mentality. keith morrison: and it worked. he drove home, told her what she had to do. he had me laid down next to him. he made sure that i was right there. i was awake the whole night because i was afraid that he would do something while i

was asleep, or to the children, or just do something crazy. then the next morning, he-- he said, i'm just going to disappear. keith morrison: he drove veronica and the kids to her mother's house, and he took off. what did it feels like to walk away from him? like i'm almost there. it's almost over. and i run in there, and i said, i need to make a phone call. i need to tell the police what happened. keith morrison: and she did. they started to ask me, why did you take so long? i said i was just so afraid. but i'm here now, and i'm telling you everything i know, everything that he told me. keith morrison: but now, he was truly gone. a manhunt goes into overdrive and stretches across the border. coming up-- we're in a jail, a cold, stinky, loud jail. andrea canning: confronting a killer, healing a wound. they were grateful that i said something, that i did the right thing. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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plus, a free samsung galaxy s24 fe. welcome back. veronica rivera had gone to police with a horrific tale. her husband, geovany, confessed to her that he killed amber belken. and when the terrified mother of two told him their marriage was over, he raped her, then begged her to kill him. she couldn't do it. and now, geovany was on the run.

here's keith morrison with the conclusion of everything she knew. keith morrison: the day veronica called the police was the beginning of the end for geovany rivera. i'm drafting an arrest warrant. we're finally going to get the son of a bitch, you know? keith morrison: not that easy. all they knew was he'd gone somewhere, probably mexico. but it was a full six weeks before they tracked him down, surprised him at a relative's house, sure enough, in mexico as he played one of the video games he stole from amber's store. detective roberts finally got his suspect exactly where he wanted him. we're in a jail, a cold, stinky, loud jail. i'm detective roberts. raymond roberts, san antonio police department. all this background noise, we read geovany his rights. you have the right to remain silent. and he-- he starts talking.

keith morrison: wait, put the needs of others before me? really? he says, this past christmas, i needed money. eb games. he said i'm going to do the one on san pedro because there's no video. he drives there. he tells me-- he says, i had tape and a knife. i'm like, what's the tape for? to tie him up. keith morrison: he claimed he didn't know it was tiny amber belken running the store that day. in my heart, i think he knew. keith morrison: after all, geovany had worked for the game store company, knew who managed the stores. and he knew amber. if he was going to pick somebody to rob, why wouldn't he pick this 5 foot 2, 100 pound young woman? --instead of brandon-- keith morrison: --instead of brandon, who's big and tough? --who's a big guy instead of all these-- he knew. keith morrison: when he got there, said geovany--

but then, he claims, she reached for the phone, so he took her down, taped her wrists with duct tape, like he had often done to his wife. he put a bag on her head, he said. he squeezed it tight around her neck. he held it there.

geovany's story would not be tested in court. he took a plea deal, murder, with life in prison with parole possible beginning of the year 2038. at the sentencing, the belkens finally confronted the killer of their only child, their darling daughter. was it helpful to do that? it it. it is. no. not for you? he sat back on the constable's desk tapping his foot just looking around. --like you're wasting my time. it would have been beneficial if i had heard him say, i am really sorry. i am so sorry, mr. and ms. belken. you know, amber didn't deserve to die.

i'm so sorry. what did he say? nothing. keith morrison: but the belkens did get an apology from someone else, geovany's now ex-wife, veronica. hi. [inaudible] keith morrison: they met for the very first time when we shot this story. i've blamed myself for not saying something sooner, for waiting too long. and i always felt like they had maybe some anger towards me. keith morrison: but blame her? no. they knew she was a victim too. in fact, geovany pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting veronica. they were really nice. they were grateful that i said something, that i did the right thing. lelia belken: we don't have any ill feelings at all. she's a wonderful girl. keith morrison: they are, they told us, broken still. they always will be.

and they cling now to amber's best friends, ashley and monica. my daughters, our adopted daughters, which were amber's friends through thick and thin. keith morrison: they have each named daughters after amber. and they hang on to memories like gold. it's like you have to put it in a box and then just keep it there for safekeeping because that's what you have. and that's what you hold on to. ashley flores: it hurts. it hurts. life will never be what it was with her. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. [music playing] good morning and welcome to the sunday edition of