he was a good man who didn't deserve this, to make sure people understood how much he was loved. one of my favorite photographs that i have of myself and john is in a frame engraved with, "my brother from another mother." if there was ever a person that i knew that deserved to die peacefully in bed surrounded by a loving family, it was john. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." hello, i'm craig melvin, and a hopelessness.ne." ter: you know, where did she go? who did she see? i just want to know what happened to my sister. craig melvin: a young mother is missing in a case gone cold. and it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening.

craig melvin: then detectives had an a-ha moment. to solve the case, they would turn to something you probably use every day-- facebook. jim wallace: why don't you establish a facebook account? i thought, that could actually accomplish a great deal. craig melvin: and that's when everything started to change. something happened to her. craig melvin: in court, you'll see it all come pouring out, a hidden crime and a son's heart-pounding moment. [clears throat] that's ok. man: ok. this is a horrible crime. i'm glad we know the truth. [theme music] carol lubahn was a restless young mom with two kids when she vanished from her southern california home. heartbroken, her loved ones assumed she'd left them to start a new life. but as the years passed with no word from carol,

a nagging suspicion took hold. was her disappearance the result of something more sinister? before investigators could solve the mystery, her son would have to face a dark family secret. but would it lead them to carol? here's keith morrison with "secrets in the mist." [music playing] keith morrison: january 2013, point vicente, california. the wet, gray morning cold has settled in to stay. at noon, a police boat sets off in the pea soup fog. a hail mary pass, apparently. a slim chance to find the truth at last. but why out there? why after all those lost 30 years? maybe some cases are destined to stay cold. easier that way. before they came along, with their wild ideas about murder and facebook, of all things. and now this, their doomed errand into the fog.

[music playing] her name was carol jeanne meyer, though she was carol lubahn when all this happened back in march 1981, the night of the slamming doors, the harsh words, the car roaring away. and it's an old story, anyway. pretty girl gets pregnant at 15, marries the guy. pretty soon, she's a 20-something with two kids and a hankering to live, really live, for a change. and this particular pretty girl? terri meyer samuelson: she was fun. she was outgoing. she had a lot of friends. keith morrison: she had these two sisters. terri was the younger one, gail the older. gail meyer: we were very close and made each other laugh all the time. craig melvin: but carol lubahn wasn't laughing at the end of march '81. for one thing, she wanted to be somebody, her own somebody. terri meyer samuelson: i know that carol wanted to complete school and further her career.

and that's when she went back to study architecture. keith morrison: sure, her husband was a nice kid. and she loved him once with all the intensity of first love. the handsome high school football player who'd hang around on her front porch. dear mike stepped up and married her after the baby was born. gail meyer: he was a good father. he just seemed to really enjoy his kids. keith morrison: enjoyed carol's family, too, especially her dad, milt. milt brought young mike into the family house painting business. gail meyer: we just took to him immediately. he was always a very likable person. keith morrison: friendly, loyal, but not exactly ambitious. he didn't seem to mind at all settling down to a modest existence, them and the two kids all cramped up in a two bedroom, one bath house in torrance. but carol did mind it very much. she'd had a secret affair by then, maybe more than one. she'd got herself a cute little red car, an audi fox.

ordered personalized plates, cjs fox. the car is long gone now. so we did this one up to look just like it. and quite often, she'd get in her little car alone and go roaring off to school or to meat markets, like the local red onion was back then. and then that night in march, kids off to bed. their son, mike junior, was just a boy, 10 years old. mike lubahn jr: i was in bed. i had just got a new stereo for my 10th birthday, and i was listening to the headphones. [rock music] keith morrison: from his bed, he could see something happening out in the hallway. mike lubahn jr: i remember them getting into an argument, which was unusual. because they just didn't? not that i knew of. and i remember her marching past and going out the front door and slamming the door. you heard the slam? i heard the slam of the front door. i know that. keith morrison: and the next morning. mike lubahn jr: we got up, and she wasn't there. keith morrison: mike senior told carol's dad that carol

had demanded he sign papers to sell their house, and he didn't want to. and she got mad, and they argued. and he went to bed. and when he woke up in the morning, she was just gone. nearly a week after carol departed, her red audi fox showed up in the parking lot of the red onion, dusty, as if it had been there a while. i remember being upset about it. she was gone, and i didn't know where she went. keith morrison: they drove around, looking for her. went to bars, carol's picture in hand. the torrance police department opened a file. but they couldn't answer any of the questions, like had she just finally gotten fed up with mike and this little place and gone off to start a new life somewhere else? or had she been in an accident or something worse? more than a week after carol disappeared, there was still absolutely no sign of her. and then something strange happened here at the house. something very strange. could it be that carol, unbeknownst to anyone,

sneaked back in here when nobody else was around? imagine what it was like back then in that little house. mike thinking things over. on a hunch, he said, he placed tape on carol's dresser drawers. a little trap. one day, he took the kids to universal studios. and sure enough, when they returned, he noticed the tape was broken and some mail on the counter was moved as well. a few weeks later, it happened again. some of carol's clothes went missing, along with some money from a place no burglar would know to look-- under the butter dish in the refrigerator, where mike said he and carol kept $100 in emergency cash. and now $60 was missing. just like carol, said her sister, gail. gail meyer: she would have not taken all of it. that was in carol's personality to just be very fair. keith morrison: and then there were those mysterious phone calls. terri meyer samuelson: we would

get the calls on special days, her birthday, my birthday. my grandmother would get calls. and just silence on the other end? yeah. keith morrison: almost three months after carol vanished, the detective handling her case put it in the inactive file. in his report, he wrote, "no foul play involved." mike lubahn jr: i remember thinking about her all the time. and i used to play records over and over that she liked and just thinking, where is she? when is she coming back? keith morrison: eventually, mike started dating a 19-year-old named carrie, brought her into the fold. we were happy that mike was going on with life. keith morrison: and so they did all go on with life. and many years went by. until the morning in a whole new millennium when a torrance detective happened on the case of the missing young mother. and somewhere in the back of his brain, a little light turned on. i just had a hunch that this just didn't sound right to me.

as doubts about carol's disappearance grew, detectives turned to a surprising source to help solve the mystery. coming up. jim wallace: why don't you establish a facebook account for carol? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. let's review. okay. we're not gonna talk about traffic or weather. if anyone brings up lawn care, i will handle it. hosting can be extremely difficult for young homeowners turning into their parents. oh, are you done with this? i'll just take that. okay, he's still drinking. right. oh, look what the cat dr-- no, no. let's try again, if you wouldn't mind. it gets ugly. you can either take it off or i'll take it off you. yeah. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. but you love to take it. she doesn't want it. sore throat got your tongue? mucinex instasoothe sore throat medicated drops, uniquely formulated for rapid relief that lasts and lasts. that's my babyyy!

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many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. you're gonna love this property. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. ahhh! mucinex in, mucus out! treat the cause. mucinex in, [music playing] keith morrison: in march of 1981, carol lubahn, a lovely young mother of two

known to be unhappy in her marriage, suddenly vanished, departed for parts unknown, leaving behind not just her husband, mike, but her son, mike junior, then just 10 years old. mike lubahn jr: i never felt that my mother abandoned me. i was never upset with her, ever. really? i never thought she did. i don't know why. i just was upset she wasn't there. i thought she would be there, show up at a graduation or something. keith morrison: but she didn't. and at family gatherings, as the years went by, thanksgiving, christmases, that awful question, why would she leave them? remained the unmentionable elephant in the room. when it came to my family, i think they didn't talk about it because they figured it would upset me or my sister. my family's pretty closed to talking about heavy things. so something like that rarely talked about. it was an ultimate heavy thing. yeah.

keith morrison: in 1987, almost six years after carol vanished, the torrance police department revisited the case. and time seemed to have altered mike's memory a little. a few more details had come back to him. remember, soon after carol vanished, mike said they argued. he went to sleep alone. woke up in the morning early, and she was gone. but in 1987, he remembered they argued, went to bed together. she got up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the bathroom. he woke up, then drifted back to sleep, and woke up to the sound of a car engine starting and driving away. odd. but memories do play tricks. anyway, it didn't seem terribly significant. so the case went back into the file and got colder. mike took over the house painting business from carol's dad and went on to marry carrie and have two more sons. gail and terri raised their own families. and it was having babies that started

to change terri's way of looking at her sister's disappearance. terri meyer samuelson: as unhappy as you might be in your life, you might leave your husband. you would take your kids with you. and so when you began to suspect that she wouldn't leave her children, what did that mean to you? that something happened to her. keith morrison: in 1996, 15 years since they'd heard from carol, the police came around again. this time, they scanned the lubahns' backyard with ground-penetrating radar, even dug up the ground. didn't find a thing. funny thing, though. about four months later, the local paper, the "daily breeze," did a little story, interviewed mike. and this time, his memory was slightly different. he remembered that on that terrible morning when carol left, he heard the garage door go up before she drove away. just one more little detail, though nothing profoundly different.

and, of course, no evidence whatsoever of any crime. case went away again. and then one day in 2002, a detective named walt delsigne was rummaging through some cabinets behind his sergeant's desk. walt delsigne: i was just being nosy. i thought, what is this? keith morrison: it was the carol lubahn case folder. at that point, more than 20 years old and cold as they come. walt delsigne: i never even heard of it before. and i go, this is interesting. i wonder if this lady's still missing. keith morrison: of course, she was. so again, he read through the police reports. couldn't help but notice the subtle changes in mike's story. walt delsigne: and i thought, that was kind of strange because i wouldn't think you would forget the last time you saw your wife. keith morrison: and so he went to see carol's parents, her mom, melba, her dad, milt. walt delsigne: and he looked up at me, and he was starting to cry. and i'm like, milt, are you ok? and he said, he goes-- he goes, i'm just so happy.

i can't believe you guys are still interested in this case. keith morrison: milt died one month later, never knowing what happened to his beautiful middle daughter. but when terri went to her father's funeral and saw mike there, a private thought ate at her. mike must know something. terri meyer samuelson: i didn't say anything. i tried to keep away. he was, of course, paying his respects to my family. but i couldn't carry on a conversation with him. keith morrison: meanwhile, walt delsigne had become a little obsessed. he had many other more pressing cases. but something kept pulling him back to carol lubahn. for years, detective delsigne chipped away, until finally, in 2010, eight years after he found that musty old blue file, he decided to pay a surprise visit to mike lubahn. his colleagues thought he was a bit nuts. walt delsigne: there were those that thought, well, yeah, what, do you think he's going to admit it to you? and i go, well, i played enough sports in my time.

i know you're not going to get anywhere if you don't try. you never know. keith morrison: what story would mike tell this time?

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[music playing] keith morrison: for eight years, torrance police detective walt delsigne worried away at the carol lubahn file, drawn by an irresistible hunch

that this young mother did not disappear voluntarily. but actual evidence of a crime? just wasn't any. so finally, in 2010, 29 years after carol supposedly walked out on her family and never came back, delsigne decided it was time for a surprise visit to michael lubahn. he went over with his sergeant. he invited us in. we did catch him unexpectedly. but that was the plan. keith morrison: but was mike upset or thrown off? not at all. walt delsigne: very nice, like i anticipated he would be because i'd now heard from everybody in the family how mike's a good guy. keith morrison: so together, they went over again the details of that last night back in march '81. and right away, mike remembered a little more about the night carol presented him with a real estate contract and a demand they sell their tiny house.

"you make my skin crawl." yeah. ah. yeah, and i thought, bing, i'll bet you she did say that. so i pushed him some more for more details. keith morrison: and the details were once again a little different, about when and where he last saw her, for example. it wasn't when he went to bed around 10:00 pm, as he said on one occasion, or 5:30 the next morning, as he also said. no, this time, mike said he last saw carol about 10:30 or 11:00 pm in the bathtub. keith morrison: and then he said, maybe around midnight or 1:00 or 2:00, he heard the garage door go up. and he went to the door and actually saw carol's car driving away. keith morrison: also, remember that story about putting tape on the dresser drawers after carol left

and that later he found it broken? didn't remember that now. keith morrison: but as he said here in 2010, he did remember some other traps he had set, even more elaborate. keith morrison: by now, detective delsigne was working with his colleague, jim wallace, and deputy da john lewin. lewin specializes in tackling the most difficult of cold cases. do you remember, when you saw the results of that interview, what you thought? yeah, i thought that his memory had grown in areas where it shouldn't. and in areas where he should be saying the same story, it was different. and that's the hallmark of deception. keith morrison: sure. but the mind plays tricks. the mind invents things and inserts them into your memory, and you believe them as strenuously

as if they actually happened. that's an interesting theory. i don't think it's really supported. memories can be lost. but memories don't increase in details over the years. and they don't increase in different details. and that's a sign of what we call a lie. his version of what happened from the start made no sense to any of us. this is what makes the case-- keith morrison: and why would mike lie? to the cold case team, it seemed obvious. walt delsigne: he killed her that night. she stopped living that night. and everything else that's going that doesn't make sense, it's all because it's a lie. if you know it's a lie, then it all lines up. keith morrison: remarkably, mike lubahn continued to talk to them, three more times of his own free will, very friendly. without an attorney, he even let the prosecutor take a crack at him.

keith morrison: did you catch what mike said? "it had nothing to do with that." lewin did. when you just look at sentence structure and you look at how people talk and communicate, it wasn't about that. what is the "it?" you gave that great significance, didn't you? oh, absolutely. keith morrison: so they kept at mike. and at one point, it seemed to them he was on the verge of confessing. keith morrison: but when he came back, he didn't give them anything. and they were right back where they started. suspicion, sure, but no evidence of a crime. no way to even prove carol was dead. jim wallace was a detective who finally hit on an idea,

to use a tool that didn't even exist when carol lubahn fought her husband on a march night in 1981. craig melvin: coming up, a dramatic turn in the case and fresh heartbreak for carol's family. another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. you're gonna love this property. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. ahhh! mucinex in, mucus out! treat the cause.

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hi, i'm richard lui with a news update. the death toll in the car ramming attack at a christmas market in germany has risen to five people including a 9-year- old child. officials say the suspect was identified as a doctor from saudi arabia who lived in germany. amazon work is affiliated with the teamsters union are on strike in the thick of the

holiday season. the union said it involved delivery drivers demanding better working conditions. for now, back to dateline. confessing to the mu rder of his wife, carol.der but then he refused to talk, and the investigation hit a wall. without a body, how could they prove there was a murder at all? the answer would send investigators in an unexpected direction. could facebook help them find out what really happened to carol? here again is keith morrison with "secrets in the mist." [music playing] keith morrison: deputy da john lewin and the torrance police department cold case team believed mike lubahn killed his wife carol back in 1981. but they had one big problem. they couldn't prove carol was dead. jim wallace: the biggest assumption is going to be, well, how do you know she's not just out of the country or across the country or changed her identity?

keith morrison: kind of an important question, with no answer. and then in january 2011, jim wallace got the flu. lucky break. no, really. jim wallace: and i was laying in bed, and my wife came in. and unfortunately, when you work these cases, all you talk about, because we are a dedicated cold case team, is you're talking about the case you're working. sure. i'm sure she was tired of hearing it. but she mentioned to me, why don't you establish a facebook account for carol? i thought, that could actually accomplish a great deal. keith morrison: of course, back in 1981, when carol disappeared, facebook creator mark zuckerberg wasn't even born yet. but 30 years later, detective wallace knew social media and its potential to connect to millions of people around the globe instantly. it could determine once and for all, he thought, whether carol was alive or dead. jim wallace: because all of us know from using facebook that it's, number one, it's a kind of a place where we say, here i am. but it's also a place where you can find people. keith morrison: surely, if carol was still alive,

wallace thought, someone on facebook or twitter would know something. of course, wallace also knew carol would look vastly different 30 years after her disappearance. so he found an age progression artist to create an image of what she might look like today. and then he placed that photo and others like it on facebook and other sites. and it turned out it was a great point of contact for me to contact 350 friends and family of carol. and right away, we said, has anybody seen carol? and we discovered immediately that nobody had seen carol since the night she disappeared. keith morrison: and if carol merely googled her own name, she'd find herself at wallace's website, caroljeannemeyerlubahn.com. but that never happened, which meant something very significant, said the detective. she's not looking for herself. she's-- she's dead. or a farmer's wife in uruguay who doesn't go on the computer much. maybe. lots of people are not on facebook. i don't check or google things.

it doesn't mean that she is dead for sure. absolutely. it just means you've made a fairly good case for it. in this large cumulative thing that we're looking at, it's yet another piece that points to the same conclusion. keith morrison: if carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the accusation to court would be risky. totally circumstantial, of course. no body, an unclear motive, a sympathetic defendant. but prosecutor lewin decided to roll the dice. 30 years after carol lubahn vanished from her family's life, on april 13, 2011, mike was arrested for carol's murder. when you went to the family and said, we're going to charge him, what was their reaction? mixed, at best. keith morrison: mixed? that's a mild word. how about upset? horrified? mystified? in fact, most of carol's family members believed the idea mike could have murdered carol was just ludicrous. gail meyer: well, he was a member of our family. you know, and nobody wanted to see him be arrested

or him be the reason or-- or any of that. it's like another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. keith morrison: but of all mike senior's family members, perhaps no one was as torn as his namesake firstborn son, mike junior, who loved his father unreservedly. followed him into the family painting business, worked side by side with him for decades. and who had confessed to detectives that, like his aunt terri, he, too, had doubts about his father, doubts that had taken root shortly after mike senior's second wife left him. he talked about my stepmother constantly for years. it was nonstop. and why was that so significant to you? because he never talked about my mother. at all? never. keith morrison: but mike never confronted his father. mike lubahn jr: i just knew in the back of my mind that this could be a possibility.

and i really, honestly, at that time, i never wanted my father to go to jail. i just wanted to know. and it was so important to me to know the truth behind that evening. keith morrison: to get the truth and avoid a trial, prosecutor john lewin was willing to make a deal. john lewin: we had offered him voluntary manslaughter if he gave us carol's body. and he turned you down flat? he did, repeatedly. keith morrison: mike pleaded not guilty. the case was going to trial. and if members of carol's own family didn't believe mike did it, what would a jury think? craig melvin: coming up, the accused on the stand. isn't it true, mr. lubahn, that carol lived her last breath in that bathtub when you murdered her? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms...

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[music playing] keith morrison: it was september 11 of all days, september 11, 2012, 31 years, five months, 12 days after the last known sighting of carol lubahn. an inauspicious day to begin the prosecution of a popular man? could be. but deputy da john lewin went ahead anyway. what i'm going to be able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt, ladies and gentlemen, is that despite the fact that mike lubahn is a decent man,

he murdered his wife. keith morrison: of course, lewin knew that to prove a murder had occurred, he had to show the victim was, in fact, no longer alive. for that, he turned to detective wallace, who explained to the jury the facebook and social media presence he'd created for carol had turned up a whole lot of nothing. john lewin: have you been contacted by anybody, either by phone, email, in writing, who says, you know what, i've seen carol lubahn after the day she disappeared? no. keith morrison: though as lewin and his team also let the jury hear, family members like carol's sister gail believed what mike told them, that carol had run off. attorney: has it been hard for you to accept the possibility that she may be dead? oh, yes. attorney: is it made even more difficult by the fact

that you care deeply for the defendant? yes. keith morrison: and younger sister terri, even though she had suspected mike for years-- john lewin: do you still think of mike lubahn, sr., as a part of your family? yes. keith morrison: but most anguished of all, mike and carol's son, mike junior. is there anything about the way you remember your mom that would make you think or made you feel that she would leave you and never come back and never say goodbye? no. keith morrison: he loved his dad, but also secretly doubted him. something he'd never revealed until now. i was sweating so profusely during that whole trial. he never knew i had these feelings. so on the stand and publicly, i had to basically say, yeah, i'm thinking maybe there's some weird things about your story. and it was the first time that my father really would

have known i felt that way. so i was really, really stressed out about that. how hard is it for you to be here today? very. do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mother's disappearance? do i want to believe it? attorney: yes. no. let's assume that your dad, in fact, did kill your mom. would you want to see him punished for it? no, not particularly. keith morrison: prosecutor lewin knew the ambivalence of these family members did not help his case. but-- john lewin: in the end, my job isn't to make sure that the family members get what they want. my job is to to make sure that, you know, carol's killer is held responsible. keith morrison: but was mike a killer? his attorney, kevin donahue. i think the police are just wrong. keith morrison: no forensics, no witnesses, not even a body. the defense might have stopped right there.

instead, they decided to gamble. mike was a nice guy. the jury should see that. do you solemnly state-- keith morrison: and if the details had been a little different each time he was asked to tell the story, here was his chance to straighten it all out for the jury. how odd then that mike, under oath now, amended his story just a little again, like when he added the detail that carol was in the bathtub when she said something mean to him. mike lubahn sr: and she said, "you make my skin crawl." keith morrison: also slightly different, the way he discovered she was gone. i opened the front door and went out. and the garage door was up, and the car was gone. keith morrison: in earlier versions, didn't mike say he heard the garage door go up and then saw tail lights as carol drove away? why had his story changed again? what's the deal with that? did you hear the garage door? i don't think so. why do you think that now? what has jogged your memory?

because i think over the years, i've thought about this night so many times. and i just, you know, i'd seen that car back out of that driveway many, many times, you know, when she was leaving. so i think i just thought repeatedly in my mind that that's what i thought happened. i saw the car. i can see it right now. keith morrison: he never thought for a moment, he said, it would be the last time he'd see his wife. i thought maybe she had gone out that night and went dancing and stayed the night with a friend. keith morrison: what did happen to her? mike insisted he simply didn't know. did you have anything to do with killing her? no. did you have anything to do with her disappearance? no, other than i didn't sign the papers and made her upset. but that's it. keith morrison: successful testimony? maybe. but now the downside. he'd have to answer questions from john lewin. john lewin: do you lie sometimes? no.

john lewin: you never lie? i don't say never. i mean, a white lie, or who knows? john lewin: well, let me ask, have you ever lied about something serious that wasn't a white lie in your-- no. in your entire life, you've never lied once about anything that wasn't a white lie? i'll just say not that i can remember. keith morrison: in fact, mike had a hard time remembering a lot of things prosecutor lewin asked about. i don't remember. i don't remember going to bed. i don't remember saying that. i don't know. keith morrison: but how on earth, asked lewin, could he not remember the last time he saw his wife? would you agree that that would be one of the most significant events, details of your entire life? yes. but i-- it doesn't mean i had to remember it. keith morrison: lewin wasn't buying it. isn't it true, mr. lubahn, that the last place that carol lived her last breath was taken in that bathtub when you murdered her?

mike lubahn sr: no. why are you looking at the judge? because i'm waiting for him to correct you. no, i didn't murder her. i'm sorry. in the bathtub? and, mr. lubahn, if you had murdered her, you would tell us today that you did, if-- i would have admitted it. you would have admitted it on the stand today? yes. do you think that statement's believable? i think so. i'm done. keith morrison: of course, believability was a question for the jury to decide. and decide they did. though, as you'll see, that wasn't the end of the story, not by a mile. craig melvin: coming up, a final push for the truth. please, for your family, for your kids, tell us what happened. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues.

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[music playing] ok, let's call the jurors out. keith morrison: there are few things in american life as dramatic, as weighted with consequence as the moment a jury, verdict in hand, files into a courtroom. had they been persuaded that mike killed carol, or even that she was dead? mike's family held its collective breath. so did the prosecutor and the police. walt delsigne: you know, you don't know what to expect.

keith morrison: and now here was mike's fate. we, the jury, in the above entitled action find the defendant, michael clark lubahn, sr., guilty of the crime-- keith morrison: guilty of second-degree murder. mike lubahn was going to prison. and longtime detective jim wallace felt surrounded by a very unfamiliar reaction. jim wallace: i've had cases before where you get done, you know, and you'll walk out of the courtroom, and the family throws their arms around you. they're just so grateful, right? that's-- that's not this case. i'm going to come talk to you after. gail meyer: i was just very surprised that the jury would convict him on such little evidence. and i don't think any of us are happy to see mike go to jail. and you still believe mike is a nice guy, believable guy? yes. keith morrison: what gail and the rest of the family wanted most were some answers. terri meyer samuelson: it's not so much that i want mike to pay for what he did. i just want to know what happened to my sister. keith morrison: and at the sentencing

hearing in december 2012, mike's own son echoed those sentiments. guilt or innocence aside, i've never wanted my father to go to prison. i've only asked that if he knows anything to please let me know. keith morrison: and then mike junior made a heartbreaking plea to the court. he's been a good father and a good person. if he's sent to prison today, i want him to know i'm going to miss our time together. it's going to be hard to see the world change without him. that's ok. man: ok. i humbly stand before the court today to request leniency for my father when giving his sentence. thank you for the opportunity to speak. keith morrison: after that, well, then the strange tale of the much loved convicted killer took quite a remarkable turn. it happened that very day in court. prosecutor lewin. i'm asking right now as we sit here, mr. lubahn's going to have a chance. please, for your family, for your kids, just let it go.

tell us what happened. can i just have a moment? keith morrison: the judge granted a recess so mike could speak with his attorney privately. did he actually have something to confess? he returned a few minutes later. and we're asking to continue the sentencing. keith morrison: time to think? the judge pushed back sentencing by a month. john lewin: my hope was that he would tell us what happened, that he would tell us what he did with carol, and that he would be honest about both. keith morrison: for almost four weeks they waited, till january 7, 2013. all eyes were on mike lubahn as he entered the courtroom and then shifted as one to prosecutor lewin, who told the court that that very morning, mike finally revealed to him the secret he'd been keeping almost 32 years. and so now lewin did the talking. and mike, for once, said not a word. all of the information about them

fighting about the selling of the house, he says that was truthful. that occurred. keith morrison: then carol stormed out. and it might have blown over, as arguments do. but she came back 1:30 am and said the one thing that would not blow over, not ever. she told him that she was going to be taking somebody else, another man, to her sister terri's upcoming wedding. he said he was very upset. keith morrison: she tried to comfort him then, he said. and she was telling him, don't worry, you'll find somebody else, et cetera. keith morrison: and that was the last thing carol lubahn ever said. john lewin: he didn't want to hear it. and he said that he pushed her. she fell and hit her head on a heavy end table in the living room. he said that she didn't bleed, but he knew instantly that she was dead. keith morrison: detectives hooked lubahn up

to a polygraph machine. how much of this was true? john lewin: after the polygraph, the test was done, he confronts him and says, you didn't pass. now the defendant changes his story. and he says, ok, i punched her in the head, and i punched her hard. but he said, only one time. keith morrison: then he told lewin what he did with carol's body. after he killed her, he put her in the garage behind some carpet. he took her car the next morning to the red onion parking lot, dumped it there. at some point, she was placed in the trunk of mr. lubahn's vehicle. keith morrison: and then he said he took her to the ocean, put her on a raft, paddled out to sea, and dropped her down, a cinder block tied to her body. it was a shock, of course, a big shock. for so long, the family, or most of it, believed mike.

and now in this very public way, they finally knew that carol was dead and he, their sweet mike, killed her. but the whole truth, was it actually out there somewhere? and so on that cold and foggy january day, mike, surrounded by a retinue of cops and lawyers, floated out into the mist to find carol, find whatever was left. terri meyer samuelson: if they find the-- the cinder block in the ocean after the search, if they find that, that will give me half of the closure i need. keith morrison: she didn't get it because after the boat ride, mike admitted his ocean tale was one more lie. and perhaps it was finally, for the sake of his son, the son who never abandoned him, that he finally passed a polygraph and led investigators to the place he said mike's mother had actually been all these many years. police searched the area, but once again were unable to locate carol's remains and give the family what they hoped for most--

the chance to say goodbye. i don't really know why getting her back is the ultimate bookend for me. i want to know that she's, you know, properly buried or cremated or what-- whatever we would choose to do with her. why is that so important? i think it just is the ultimate answer. this is it. there's no more wondering. keith morrison: no, not about that. but his father in prison, 15 to life. when we last spoke to mike, it was clear he had a good deal of wondering left to do about that man and what he took away. do you still love him? yeah, i do. i mean, i always will. i just got to figure out how i'm going to process these facts i know. i don't know yet. i kind of thought a perfect punishment for my father was, i was going to ask him to write one sentence about my mother to me every week he's in prison, you know, just to-- so he has to think about her and i have to--

i can remember her again. keith morrison: as those weeks turned to years, mike senior's children never gave up on him. they wrote letters in support of his parole. but in prison he stayed. then, in september 2021, a surprising twist. prosecutor john lewin, on behalf of the district attorney's office, filed a motion to have mike senior's conviction reduced from murder to voluntary manslaughter. lewin said he believed the story that mike senior told after his conviction, that carol was killed as a result of an argument about her wanting to sell their home and take the man she was having a secret affair with to her sister's upcoming wedding. had he been aware of these circumstances, said lewin, he would not have pursued murder charges. a hearing was held about a month later, and the motion was granted by the trial judge, who agreed

with lewin's assessment. in november 2021, lubahn's murder conviction was reduced to voluntary manslaughter. he was sentenced to six years in state prison, the maximum penalty for voluntary manslaughter at the time carol was killed. but later that month, he was released from prison, having already served more than 10 years behind bars. as for carol lubahn, her remains have yet to be found. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [music playing] stephanie roller bruner: i'm here, asking for help. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." craig melvin: it was like hearing a ghost-- a voice from beyond the grave. stephanie roller bruner: there's no way i can go back.