made a home for that little boy who witnessed it all, the boy in the backseat, josh, jr. this little guy has been our godson. without him, i don't know how we would have made it through. josh is literally the glue that holds this family together right now. how are you keeping amber's memory alive for josh, jr.? oh, we've got pictures all over the house. now, every night, before he goes to bed, and every morning, we all say, good night to him. grandma and grandpa love you. mom and dad love you more. [music playing] . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." . it was all dark, and everything was just spinning away from me into, like, blackness. it was terrifying.

craig melvin: it was a whirlwind romance with mr. right that morphed into a mind-bending mystery. my blood run cold. she was like, i feel like i'm being watched. my phone would be followed. he said, you could be under surveillance. craig melvin: followed? surveillance? she'd stepped right into the "twilight zone." hidden codes, government agents, undercover spies. i was so scared. craig melvin: who was this man she was about to marry? your brain has got to be saying, holy cow. craig melvin: to learn the truth, she would launch a secret mission of her own. testing, testing. craig melvin: a high stakes game of spy versus spy. dennis murphy: you were your own detective here. i was. he wasn't going to stop, unless somebody stopped him. [theme music]

craig melvin: hello, and welcome to "dateline." ask any divorced parent, finding love a second time around can be hard. but when mischele lewis met liam allen, he checked all the boxes. he was charming, smart, and something of a jet setter. mischele welcomed him into her heart, only to realize her new boyfriend was leading a double life. who was the real liam allen? it was a riddle this single mom was determined to solve. here's dennis murphy with "the mystery man." dennis murphy: what's love got to do with it? well, as mischele lewis tells it, just about everything-- love. her new guy at long last made her tingle as though ginger ale had filled her heart. i felt really good about myself. he was just a wonderful person. dennis murphy: but why, oh, why should

something so good and rare lead to such a dark place? a shadowy world where nothing was as it seemed, where secrets became goggles blinding the truth. this is so intricate and so dark. dennis murphy: as she was pulled deeper into the riptide of her fiance's hidden underworld, she joined forces with a woman an ocean away to uncover the truth. he has intruded on every part of your body, of your mind. dennis murphy: would mischele be as patient at the game of revenge as she'd been in the game of love? mischele lewis is a born caregiver. as a little girl in southern new jersey, she daydreamed about working somewhere in medicine, helping people. sure enough, as an adult, she got her nursing degree and reported happily to the labor and delivery ward. you're with the team delivering babies, right?

i do. it's wonderful every day. you connect with your patients. i am there with them the whole way. i've cried with them. i've laughed with them. it's amazing. dennis murphy: fellow nurse robin myers said mischele was a natural as a nurse and as a best friend. she's a light in a dark place. she's wonderful. she's the one trying to brighten up somebody else's bad day. dennis murphy: but mischele has seen her own share of bad days. for years, she struggled in a difficult marriage, eventually moving with her kids into her mother shirley's house. she knew that she would be the single parent. and she put her best foot forward to do that. dennis murphy: after calling it quits with her husband, she started to explore the possibility of finding new love. she went online. i wanted somebody who was established, had their stuff together. dennis murphy: one man caught her eye. his name was liam allen. he seemed to be well traveled, well versed.

everything he had said was what i was looking for. dennis murphy: they agreed to meet for coffee at the mall. i walked in. he was exactly like his photo, very warm smile, very nice, very charming. i would say it was probably a good four hours, four or five hours that we just sat there and talked. so this is a long cup of coffee, this date. it was a long cup of coffee. i had a really good vibe when we parted. dennis murphy: as they talked more in the days that followed, liam allen opened up about his life. never married, no kids. like mischele, liam had been born in new jersey but was raised in the united kingdom. nice little lilt to the voice. yeah. liked the accent. dennis murphy: another bonus-- he was geographically desirable. liam had a nice house in the nearby town of cherry hill. he had sent me photos of it. he had sent me renovation photos of before, during, and after. dennis murphy: all well and good, but she wanted to know more about his resume.

the guy at the mall you met is nice. but i need to know more, and do you have some id, bud? well, i did go to the internet, typed in his name. nothing came up. i'm like, ok, so he's not like some crazy criminal with a past record. dennis murphy: mischele could feel herself letting go. she felt comfortable about starting to see liam more. it felt good to be myself again, to laugh again, to be happy. dennis murphy: but mischele soon discovered liam allen came with boundaries. notably, he told her he couldn't spend time with her outside of the hours of 9:00 to 5:00. he did warn me that a lot of nights and weekends he would not be available. did you think it was a little bit offputting? i thought it was a little bizarre. dennis murphy: liam explained his odd schedule was related to his nighttime work with a medical record software company. but still it bothered her. why could he barely send her a text while on the job? he used to talk about what-- being on the map and off the map? that's kind of what i started to use was on the map and off the map for the blackout times. dennis murphy: when mischele asked liam about why he was so

distant, he slowly began to reveal some jaw-dropping information. his true line of work wasn't in computers. he took out his phone and pointed to some letters at the top of the screen. and it just says uk. and he says, you know, this says uk because i work for the british government. dennis murphy: liam allen went on to describe his assignment for the british ministry of defense as a kind of glorified chauffeur, shuttling foreign dignitaries and other vips back and forth between new york and dc. and as for that medical software company, well, it was real. he also was asked to obtain personal medical information on targeted people. targeted people? so he's in the secret world. it's a spy, mischele. pretty much. dennis murphy: it was a doozy of a secret. liam allen, the easy, chatting established man,

turns out to be a spy for the british government. your brain has got to be saying, holy cow. what is this guy telling me, right? yes. i was a little taken aback. are you starting to drift out of your body as you're hearing this story? i was a little concerned, but he was willing to kind of hold my hand through it. dennis murphy: and there was more. liam told her that to date him seriously she'd need to follow his rules. that meant disclosing her entire personal life to the british authorities and undergoing her own government security clearance. he told me that in the coming weeks, he would bring me an application. i said, oh. i have to apply to be with you? and he said, no. he said, because i work for the ministry of defense, do you need to be security checked. he's telling you you're going to be introduced into the secret life. pretty much. yes. of british intelligence. he told me i could think about it. dennis murphy: on the plus side, once she got clearance, liam said there'd be no more communication blackout periods. but if she declined the vetting process,

she could never meet his parents or even visit his house. i couldn't meet them. i couldn't go to the cherry hill home. like, we had, like, no-go zones. so this is getting stranger and stranger, mischele, huh? very. very strange. did you think this was quite cool or really kind of scary? both. craig melvin: coming up, what other secrets might this man of mystery be keeping? you put that name into google. i did. what came back? horrific, horrific news. beyond anything i could have expected. craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. did you know... 80% of women are struggling with hair damage? just like i was. pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner with melting pro-v pearls. locks in moisture to repair 6 months of damage. for resilient, healthy-looking hair. if you know, you know it's pantene. so you wake.

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listen now. president trump's first 100 days watch. >> i'm going to be here five days a week again. >> read and listen. >> staying up half. >> the night reading. >> executive orders. >> for this defining time in the second trump presidency. stay second trump presidency. stay with dennis murphy: the guy mischele lewis had been dating was shaping up to be mr. right. right up to the point he told her he worked for the british government as some kind of covert operative. but she was willing to try to make things work. mischele needed to prove she could keep a secret because liam had just given her a manila envelope stuffed with official looking documents-- the security clearance application. everything was very personal information, background information-- date of birth, social security number. and then in the pages after that, it was almost like taking the sats. it was like in essay format. did you do it? did you fill out the form? i did not.

dennis murphy: but mischele would soon find out that liam had already passed on her name to his bosses. they were already checking up on her. in may is when i first received an odd text message from a number i didn't recognize. dennis murphy: the person introduced himself as tom chalmers from the five star realty company. he said, "i understand that you made an inquiry regarding one of our overseas properties located in the uk, specifically an allen home model." a little light bulb there? not at first. it took me a minute. dennis murphy: she noticed the texts were coming from the 202 area code, washington dc. that's when the light bulb hit. it was like, oh, these are-- this is part of your security clearance. yes. did you ride with it? did you play your part? i did because i thought that's what was expected of me. so yeah, i did. i went along with the code. it was crazy. dennis murphy: and the ride was about to get a lot crazier. he said that my phone would be followed, like mine

and liam's phones were kind of like dots on a map. dennis murphy: and liam allen even told mischele and her mom to expect some surveillance at their own house. he says, don't be surprised if a car rides by. they're just checking you out. so like 10, 15, 20 minutes later, a car would ride by with dark windows. and he says, they just seen you on the porch. she was like, i feel like i'm being watched. i feel like i'm under a microscope. and i feel like it's starting to creep me out. dennis murphy: if mischele's life was no longer quite her own, soon she was being asked to risk even more. again, in coded language, tom chalmers instructed her to transfer some money into a certain account. your personal money? my personal money. and what was that for? it was to basically prove that i was committed to everything.

i was committed to liam, committed to the process. dennis murphy: the money transfers of a few hundred dollars would be returned when the security clearance was complete. mischele followed through and held on. i had a strange gut feeling that told me i need to keep going, that the light at the other end will be worth it. liam allen would be worth it. he would be worth it. dennis murphy: now a few months into their relationship, liam was decidedly on the map at home. turned out he was great with mischele's children, especially her teenage daughter. he related to victoria very well. he was there for her. dennis murphy: but behind the scenes, mischele was starting to realize just how deep and dangerous liam allen's covert connections really were. there was the time he showed up late to a summer wedding wearing heavy winter clothing, only to tell her to keep her eye on the news. and the following week is when the whole edward snowden story broke.

dennis murphy: when she learned snowden had sought asylum in the cold country of iceland, she realized her boyfriend must've played a part. i knew before it was a big deal. it's a little creepy. then the news came-- it's a little creepy now, mischele. it is creepy. dennis murphy: and it wasn't the only time mischele says that liam tipped her off about a world event before it went public. [cheering] mischele lewis: when kate middleton had her baby, i had a couple hours notice on that. syria i knew about, the attacks in syria, before they hit mainstream media. so he was getting secret mojo from somebody. he knew somebody somewhere who knew something. and i knew too. dennis murphy: and then came that strange early morning phone call from one of liam's british handlers. 4 o'clock on the dot, my phone starts going off. hey, wake up, wake up. i gotta talk to you. dennis murphy: the handler felt she should be clued in about liam's treacherous past. he was way more than a driver.

after 9/11, he'd been dispatched to an elite mission in the middle east to spearhead the takedown of top bad guys, faces from the military's infamous terrorist deck of cards. so here liam was an operative. he was a commando, basically, in the war against terrorism. it was very, very heavy news. dennis murphy: the question now had to be asked, how much did the terrorists know about him and the people closest to him? a chilling thought. but any fears about terrorists would be pushed aside. because a few weeks before christmas, liam asked for mischele's hand in marriage. on his knees? on his knee. and i said, yes. dennis murphy: her family and friends were thrilled for her. mischele came to work. and i looked, and she went kind of like this. and i was like, ah! this is what she wanted. so i was pleased with it. dennis murphy: but what should have been a happy new chapter together was the start of a descent into chaos. liam began coming around less and less,

skipping christmas celebrations with her family. mr. wonderful never showed? didn't show. i was so upset. i was infuriated. i was absolutely infuriated. i was crushed. dennis murphy: then in january, mischele discovered she was pregnant. and how did that conversation "i've got some news for you" go? he told me he needed to process. there's a disconnect. yes. dennis murphy: hurt, confused, she searched her memory for when it all went wrong. and she recalled a detail about her inscrutable fianc . a couple of weeks before, she had nosed into liam's wallet. something urged me to look in it. i opened it up, and i pulled out a card. and it said william allen jordan. william allan jordan? mm-hmm. and i was like, wow, this isn't him. it's close. but it's not him. dennis murphy: at the time, she'd tucked the information away, thinking it must be an alias used for undercover work. but now, she decided to dig some more. you put that name into google.

i did. what came back? horrific, horrific news. beyond anything i could have expected. enter, enter, enter. and it just gets worse and worse and worse. the more i read, the worse it gets. craig melvin: coming up-- this is not spies to me. i knew this was going to happen. craig melvin: a revelation from halfway around the world. another woman with another tale about liam allen. it was devastating. it was crushing. it was like coming out of "the matrix." craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. play, blink, relief work, play. blink. relief. the only 3 in 1 extended release formula for dry eyes. blink. you know. >> those fat. >> hoka sneakers? nice shoes, but the. >> price not. >> as nice. >> however, skechers max

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consequences of government action. >> alex wagner, reporting from across the country and the across the country and the rachel maddow show weeknights dennis murphy: mischele lewis had been poring over a flood of shocking information she found online about her fiance, liam allen. i was in my room. it was all dark. and everything was just spinning. the hallway was going away from me until, like, blackness. and i was literally sick. dennis murphy: he was notorious. no better word for this william allen jordan, the true name on liam's wallet id. she saw that someone had even written a book about him, a woman named mary turner thomson who lived in scotland. she emailed the author. i said, oh, my god, i'm dating this man right now. and i immediately sent her my phone number. dennis murphy: mary had been expecting the call from mischele or someone just like her. this is not a surprise to me. i knew this was going to happen. dennis murphy: and the story mary turner thomson in scotland

began to tell mischele lewis back in new jersey was eerily similar to mischele's own. it began in late 2000. mary was a single mother living in edinburgh, when she met a man named will jordan. he was charming. he was tall. he was good-looking. and he just seemed to be a really, really nice guy. dennis murphy: he told her he was from america and worked in it. she found him highly intelligent, humble, and family-oriented-- [children talking] --spending time with mary's daughter, now older. he would, you know, play games and stuff. it's hey, we're all-- yay, we're going to have fun today. dennis murphy: but just as mischele lewis would experience years later, mary also grew frustrated with his frequent absences. i wasn't happy with this at all. so i started digging into his background a bit and trying to find out more about him. dennis murphy: mary, in her private detective mode, traced will jordan to an address. and when she peeked over the fence into the house's yard,

she saw children's toys. she confronted him. he sat down and said, i have something to tell you. and he explained to me that he was working for the odci, more commonly known in the uk as cia. dennis murphy: that house with toys in the yard, he explained it was actually a safe house for agents only staged to look like a family lived there. a female agent on site sometimes posed as his wife. and as time passed, will jordan gave mary all the proof she needed to believe him. she spoke with other agents on the phone. and when he was called away, she received his dispatches from the war on terror. i can't really complain. you know, it's rather like complaining about superman not coming back for dinner. dennis murphy: so mary kept a stiff upper lip when jordan postponed their wedding date after being sent on an assignment. but they did eventually get married. soon after, they welcomed their first child. it was a baby girl whom they named eilidh. he was like really fun, but then, like, kind of strict.

it was almost like you knew he cared about [baby crying] dennis murphy: a baby boy named zach soon followed. but not long after, will jordan's work threatened mary and the children in the most dire way imaginable. he explained to me that insurgents that he had dealt with in the past were now threatening him and that they were going to steal the children, kidnap them, and rip bits off them and send this through the post unless we came up with money to pay them off. dennis murphy: frantic, mary sold her house and emptied her bank account. i had nothing left. and i just thought, you know, there is no further down i can go. dennis murphy: but how wrong she was. almost four years into her marriage to will jordan, the phone rang. april the 1st, 2006, i got a phone call from a woman who said, are you mary turner thompson? and i said, yes. and she said, are you also mrs. jordan? and i said, yes. and she said, i'm the other mrs. jordan. dennis murphy: that's when the other mrs. jordan delivered the knockout punch.

and she said, have you been told i'm an agent? and i said, yes. and she said, i've been told you're an agent. dennis murphy: mary confirmed the sickening truth-- both were married to william allen jordan, and both had children by him. their husband was no special agent, just a fraud and a bigamist. it was devastating. it was crushing. it was like the whole of my-- it was like coming out of "the matrix." dennis murphy: now it was mischele lewis's turn back in new jersey to absorb the massive import of what mary was telling her. everything was a lie. everything was a lie. he had been married. he had children. are you angry, heartbroken, or somewhere in between? oh, everything. i was like putting all your feelings in a blender and hitting the highest setting. dennis murphy: and even more shocking, mischele learned that it hadn't been just mary and the other mrs. jordan in this man's life. there were others. oh, yes, there were. he has 13 children by six different women. he had two wives and five fianc s in 2005.

dennis murphy: this baker's dozen of sons and daughters lived in several different countries. he had four children within one year by three different women. mary sums up her take on his mo-- to target single mothers, get them pregnant, and then siphon away from them money and other valuables. and the thing is, he doesn't pick dim women, either. he picks intelligent women because otherwise, it's like playing chess with a toddler. dennis murphy: mary exposed jordan in her book, "the bigamist." and after realizing he'd ultimately taken her for around $300,000, she also helped put him in prison. in 2006, he was convicted in a british court of bigamy, fraud, and illegal possession of a stun gun. mary says after jordan spent 2 and 1/2 years behind bars, he was deported to the us. and within about six months, i was contacted by the first of his victims in the usa. dennis murphy: mary heard for a woman in the northeast, another in mexico.

the weird thing was, after 2010, there is nothing. dennis murphy: that is, until the call from mischele lewis. and once mischele's head stopped spinning, she knew exactly what she wanted to do-- beat will jordan at his own game and then bring him down for good. i want to be one of his very last victims ever. craig melvin: coming up, liam allen, british spy, meet mischele lewis, super spy. testing, testing. does he suspect anything's going on here in this hidden camera stuff? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. ok, noah's going to make a fire. our job is to let him do it...by himself. what kind of wood you got there? gregggg! it is important to challenge young homeowners turning into their parents. -mm... -oh! -not a great start. -you got to turn it. you got to turn it. doesn't look structurally sound here. tom! they can't help themselves. -a fire starter?! -you know cavemen,

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>> i'm richard lui with a news update. the trump administration temporarily suspended ukraine's access to satellite imagery, which the country relies on for its fight against russia. this comes on top of a halt in military aid and intelligence sharing. meanwhile, trump took a

softer stance against russia, threatening sanctions and tariffs to get them to the negotiating. >> table. >> and the measles outbreak in texas and new mexico has surpassed 200 cases so far. one child and one adult has died from the virus, which is preventable with a vaccine. preventable with a vaccine. >> for now, back to welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. mischele lewis had fallen head over heels in love with a lie. her fianc , liam allen jordan, claimed to be a british spy but was in reality a convicted bigamist and a fraud. she was not alone. jordan had more than a dozen children with several different women around the world. but mischele was determined to be his last victim and hatched a daring plan to stop jordan once and for all. here again is dennis murphy with the mystery man.

dennis murphy: mischele lewis's head spun like the dry cycle on a washer. too much to take in. according to a woman named mary in scotland, the man she was engaged to marry was a rare breed of devious career criminal and a complete fraud. he's a phantom. he doesn't even exist. you don't know who this person is, who this liam allen is. no, he certainly wasn't who he portrayed. everything was a lie. did you feel like the biggest fool who was ever born? oh, yeah. i was like, oh, my god. i can't believe i fell for this. and mary in scotland said something to reassure you on that point. didn't she? she did. oh, my god. i feel so ashamed. and she said, don't be. he's been doing this for three decades. she says, he's very good. dennis murphy: and of all the things mischele learned about william jordan, one was most chilling. in 2006, he'd also pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender. mischele found out his prior conviction involved the daughter of one of his victims, a girl around the same age as mischele's own daughter.

how awful is that? horrible. this man i brought into the household, is he targeting my daughter, possibly? yeah, he was never alone with my kids. but i don't know what his long term plans were. dennis murphy: but as tempting as it was for mischele to just crawl in a hole and make it all disappear, she couldn't. for one, she was still pregnant with this man's child and had a supremely difficult decision to make. his first wife said mental illness ran throughout the family lines. and as a nurse, i know how genetic that can be. not only that, but it would have tied me to him forever to have that baby. so thinking long and hard, i chose to terminate. and you know as people hear your story, they will be judgmental about you because of that fact. oh, absolutely. but they're not walking in my shoes. it's not their life they have to live. it wouldn't be that child's life. this monster of a man would be labeled as their father. dennis murphy: the painful decision

made, she vowed to make her broken dreams his last betrayal. now it was trying to prevent anyone else from being hurt, to stop his damage. dennis murphy: but how? first, mischele confronted him at her house. and i said, you know, who's mary? and he looked me a little quizzically. and i said, you know, your wife? and he just kind of closed his eyes, and he just kind of sighed. and he said, you know. and i said, oh, yes, i know everything. dennis murphy: but instead of disappearing, will jordan, the international man of mystery, did something surprising. first, he came clean, sort of, explaining his misdeeds were a thing of the past. then he tried to woo mischele right back. he very much thought that he had his claws in her so deep that she was just going to roll over and say, ok, that's fine. i still love you. dennis murphy: and that gave mischele an idea.

if william allen jordan still wanted to play, then mischele would give as good as she got. through mary turner thompson's connections, mischele linked up with a surveillance video company. he had brought me this purse, which has a camera built into this little rivet here. he fitted me with a vest that had a camera on it. testing, 1, 2. dennis murphy: now she'd play the part of a spy and try to catch him making incriminating statements on video. did the authorities know that you were doing this? no, they did not. they probably would have advised against it for safety purposes. dennis murphy: she chose a public place for their first meeting, agreeing to talk over coffee. dennis murphy: after some chitchat, jordan assures her he's still the man she fell in love with and that not everything about him is a lie.

does he suspect anything is going on here in this hidden camera stuff? i was hoping not. but i became very nervous and i started to fidget with my hands. i mean, i completely shredded a poor napkin. dennis murphy: jordan even wonders aloud if she's taken the story to the press. you know your next phone call was to. was to. dennis murphy: he's the one to bring up all the allegations against him. th dennis murphy: he tells mischele to put those transgressions in perspective. but he didn't deny any of the major allegations against him.

no, he didn't deny. he didn't outrightly admit them, but he didn't deny, including-- including the sexual attack on a minor child. a little girl. yeah, absolutely. dennis murphy: mischele shows him a picture, a montage of his own children, 11 of the 13 known. his response is a shrug. dennis murphy: before they wrap up, mischele gives him a piece of her mind. been amazing to you in the. >> last. >> last. >> dennis murphy: this date felt light years away from that first long cup of coffee they'd once shared. and yet when they part, it's almost as if nothing is different.

dennis murphy: on one of these tapes, he says, i love you. and you reply, i love you too. yeah, i'm like, ok, i can't take that out of rotation quite yet. he may know something's up. dennis murphy: after her first day of secretly recording william allen jordan, mischele knew she had him right where she wanted. but she wasn't done with him yet. i wasn't happy with all the answers that i had that day. i knew i needed more. dennis murphy: it was time for mischele lewis to go undercover again and turn up the heat on william allen jordan. craig melvin: coming up, deeper undercover. but now over her head? i was like, oh, my gosh, did something happen to her? craig melvin: when "dateline" continues. no matter what kind of teeth you gotta brush, oral-b electric cleans better with one simple touch. oral-b's dentist inspired round brush head hugs em,

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or what he was truly capable of. i was so scared. every day i went to go meet him, i told mary i was going. i told my mom i was going. i would tell my friends i was going. dennis murphy: because mischele was about to turn up the heat on william allen jordan. she asked him more about his prior conviction for sex assault against an underage girl, which mischele had found out he pleaded guilty to. he denied it. i said, why would you plead guilty to it? and he said, it would have cost me more money in legal fees to get out of it. and he said, by pleading guilty, he said, i got a lesser sentence. dennis murphy: and now, two weeks after mischele's first undercover session, she set up another secret recording of him, this time in her car. i would set my ipad to record audio, and i tucked it between his seat and my center console with the microphone facing up.

dennis murphy: she put jordan on the spot. was he really a british spy? his answer was cryptic. he said that he didn't lie about his job, but he did lie about who he worked for. but he didn't lie about what he did. what does that mean? that's a little ominous. it is. what part of him was the truth? he did admit to the wives, to the kids. he denied taking the money that he took. he said, they all knew what was going on. dennis murphy: back in the car, she pressed on. just who was tom chalmers, his supposed british handler? dennis murphy: she wondered why she stopped hearing from the handlers.

dennis murphy: she also leaned into him about her missing money, those funds she'd wired to the handlers for the security clearance. dennis murphy: he said, neither did he. he had nothing to do with the demands they made on her. dennis murphy: but ultimately, it's not about the money for mischele. she has lost so much more. dennis murphy: in the end, jordan told her the decision about whether to stay with him was hers alone to make. dennis murphy: and act, she did, with the help of mary in scotland. back at home, mischele scanned through her hours of footage and fact-checked jordan's stories with mary.

i racked up crazy amounts of cell phone bills, calling her to say, hey, this is what he told me. what can you verify? dennis murphy: as for jordan's take on the meetings, mary turner thomson got the sense that her former husband was enjoying every minute of it. it's a challenge. it's the challenge that he likes. having let someone down and then having to pull them back under your control, that's exciting. that's entertaining. dennis murphy: but what jordan didn't know is how deeply mischele was now connected to the other women from his past life. i introduced mischele to five, six of the other victims because i still talked to them all. he thought she had one little puzzle piece, where she actually had the whole thing. dennis murphy: with behind the scenes support from jordan's other women, mischele forged ahead with her undercover subterfuge, right up to her emotional breaking point. here she is, trying to portray her old self in front of him, where she is screaming inside, wanting to just tear him apart because of what he's done to her,

what he's done to her life. dennis murphy: and then the unthinkable happened. mischele went missing. she hadn't checked in with family and friends all day, and no one could reach her. kept calling and calling and calling. and i'm thinking, oh, my gosh. where is she? i knew that she was supposed to be undercover that day, that she was supposed to be meeting him, and i got concerned. i was like, oh, my gosh. did something happen to her? dennis murphy: had mischele's escalating game of cat and mouse with william allen jordan turned dangerous? craig melvin: coming up-- i was panicked. i'm like, oh, my god, he's here. he's here. craig melvin: the police are about to enter the picture. had mischele gone missing? when "dateline" continues. >> secrets. >> your love. >> becomes something. that much more. >> more breathtaking, more. >> heart. >> racing.

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>> >> com dennis murphy: mischele lewis had been playing william allan jordan at his own game, spying on the fake spy. but then one day after a hidden camera session with him, she disappeared. the hours passed by, and i got really concerned. i haven't heard from her. do i need to go out and look for her? like, what's going on? dennis murphy: mischele's mother had even called the police before mischele resurfaced. and you were now a missing person. yeah, she reported me missing. dennis murphy: turns out the pressures of undercover work had finally gotten to mischele, and she'd taken a much needed mental health day off by herself. so i went home first and apologized profusely to my mom. then i went to the police station. and they said, ok, what's going on? dennis murphy: she told them about her year of spiraling

down into this enigmatic man's strange world, of discovering his lies, of her undercover hunt for the truth. police launched a criminal investigation of their own. and then they made their move. mischele was the bait. i said, this is where i'm going to be and this is the route i think he takes. catch him. dennis murphy: then she set up a date with jordan to run some errands, telling him she'd pick him up in town. i got there about two minutes before our meeting time. and for once, he was on time. dennis murphy: she rolled down the window to hear him say he had to pop into the pharmacy, but he'd be back in a jiffy. i get on the phone with the police, and i'm like, oh, my god. he's here. he's here. they need to come like right now. i was panicked at that point. i was hyperventilating on the phone. dennis murphy: her frantic thought-- if jordan jumped into her car before the cops nabbed him, what would he do as soon as they were surrounded? and now jordan was done with his errand. at that point, time just stopped.

he came out of the pharmacy, was about to cross the street back over to me. dennis murphy: every step he got closer was terrifying. but then police swarmed in. they came in and intercepted him and arrested him. he took a good long look at you at that point, didn't he? he did. i wanted to stare him down so that he knew i was the one who took him down. but when the time came, i was unnerved by it. dennis murphy: relying in part on evidence mischele provided them, authorities book jordan on charges of theft by deception, impersonating a law enforcement officer, and a third offense that may be surprising to some-- sexual assault. mischele lewis claims she was a victim of a crime that's only just starting to be recognized in us courtrooms called sexual assault by fraud. because nothing that i knew about him was true. dennis murphy: she says she was sexually assaulted by jordan, not by force, but by his lies. i really couldn't give him knowing consent

to any kind of sexual relationship because i had no idea who on earth i was sleeping with. dennis murphy: but mischele's case suffered a setback months later, when a new jersey grand jury failed to indict him on the sexual assault charge. they said that i couldn't prove that he was a harm to me, basically because he hadn't physically hurt me. dennis murphy: as her case against jordan moved through the court system, mischele wanted to know, were there other victims out there? i don't know if there's another victim in new jersey, pennsylvania, new york, dc, baltimore, anywhere in between. dennis murphy: mischele wondered, was he living with another woman and her children in his cherry hill house, just as he'd once had two wives and two lives in scotland. "dateline" found out more about that cherry hill property. maybe you don't know this. the landlord of that property says that he indeed lived there, but he was evicted for failure to pay rent. no kidding.

no, i didn't know that. had never known it. and he lived there with a woman, identity unknown, and a child. wow. that's shocking. that is shocking. so there was someone else, at least one someone else. god knows. i don't know if that was his child, her child. wow. dennis murphy: if there were other children of jordan's out there, mary turner thomson's girls were ready to welcome them into their unusual family. when we last spoke, jordan's daughter, eilidh, said she skypes with some of her many siblings. we're all really good friends. and we all look exactly alike. dennis murphy: still, eilidh said many of jordan's children felt hurt by all he's left behind. i know loads of them who are, like, really damaged by it, like, really, really damaged by it. dennis murphy: the girls were glad to hear that jordan had been arrested. as nice as it would be to have more siblings, it would be easier for everyone if he just,

like, just took a break, and he stopped. dennis murphy: and after his arrest, mary and her children were rooting for mischele lewis as she faced him in a new jersey courtroom. judge: ok, this is the matter of the state of new jersey versus william jordan, iii. dennis murphy: in 2015, he pleaded not guilty. woman: judge, we want to enter a not guilty plea. mischele lewis: it's laughable that he pled not guilty. i have so much evidence on it. i don't even know if he realizes how much evidence i collected on him. dennis murphy: but after negotiations between attorneys, william allen jordan accepted a plea deal of three years in state prison for theft by deception. then two years later, jordan was free. in october 2016, jordan was granted early release from prison with credits for good behavior, his work in prison, and the time he had already served in county jail. through his attorney, jordan has declined to speak with "dateline." this is going to impact my life for years to come. dennis murphy: mischele was disappointed with the news

but has moved on with her life. she said she hoped to protect other women by changing new jersey law to make rape by deception not just a crime of the heart, but a prosecutable offense. family and friends said that whatever happened in the new jersey courts, mischele lewis would have a bright future ahead of her, one she'd meet with arms and eyes wide open. she'll get her happily ever after. and she can rest knowing that, you know, will jordan is not going to have a happily ever after, not with her, anyway. and hopefully not with anybody ever again. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [theme music] >> good morning and. >> welcome to. >> this saturday edition of morning joe. weekend. it was. >> yet. >> anothen