she had missed a meeting and then not to hear from her, this isn't right. it would havave been impossible to get up every day knowing that t she was gone. >> i had to believe we would findnd her alive. >> narrator: text her, she always got right back. then one day she didn't. where was nailah.

such a a confusing trail of clues, even calls from 91911 were silent. >> no voice, no struggles could be heard. >> in my heart i knew she's not coming back. >> one of the suspects had an alibi, until a camera caught him in a lie. and the strangest clue of all, there in an empty parking lot. >> six perfectly stacked cardboboard boxes. >> narrator: what was in there? >> i watched enough date line to know that was probably not a good sign. >> reporter: in lester holt and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with " "smoke and mirrors." >> narrator: it wasn't like

it wasn't gray, wasn't cold. no flecks s of snow to catch t the bitterer breeze. it w was hot and after midnight, september, 2007. so it was, and it was clear and dark and still. and vacant. here where the deep woods fought back against t the decaying suburban sprawl. and then nothing was clear at all. >> i never cried this violent cry. >> you're experiencing everything, but it's not true. you're just waiting to wake up. >> it t just feels like you're literally in a nightmare. >> narrator: yes, still does. the name, you'll want to remember, is nailah.h. this is nailah's mother, maria. >> i wanted her to be successful successful, and she was. she lived her name. >> narrator: quite true, as

this big family. this is lehia, the first born. chart because it's k kind of involved. >> narrator: full siblings, halflf siblings, quarter siblings once removed that sort of thing. the family was very blended. >> to me, it implies that it's something less and i have never felt that way, i have never used that word. we're just siblings. >> narrator: one big, clclose happy family, so said john, the youngest. >> it's simple for us because we grew up together from the time we werere young, so for us, it's like we're one big family. >> narrator: not one but two ashleys. >> she's ashleys with an e, and she's ashley with a y. >> i think this is kind of unusual, kind of rare, that everybody gets along. >> yeah, everybody gets along, it's a good thing. >> although when we were kids, it was a lot more crazy to other

>> hi. >> narrator: and in the middle of this big family, was nailah. little mute, they used to call her, because once she decided something, all arguments against were mute. >> she was sure of herself from really the earliest time. >> narrator: yes, nailah franklin was going somewhere. >> she was like my hero, i always looked up to her. >> she always accepted you for who you are. it's like she glowed when she cameme into a room. >> narrator: she came to chicago and built a career in pharmaceutical sales. she owned a condo in the heart of the city. >> i think everything she wanted to be she was. the theme fabulous was the aspiration and she always met that mark.k. > narrator: she always stayed in t touch, never failed. call her, she would c call back

reply instantly, always. >> she managed to water all of her relationships, she would spend time with everyone, friends, family. >> that's a pretty special skill. >> to manage that and your career. >> narrator: there were men, of course there were. though she was shall we say, discertain dis discerning. >> professional nicece men. >> she was dating with plastic surgeon guy, and this guy and that guy. >> she took up briefly with a dashing investor with a white bentley. and in july of 2007, she met andre wright. >> she had a big, beautiful

she had a very warm personality and we kind of walked around the space looking at different pieces, talking about my interests, what i was looking for in a piece of art. >> sududdenly this was a different search. >> the art work became of little interest to me at that poioint. >> narrator: jusust like that, it was all over for both of thehem. >> i don't want to go all hallmark card on you, but this was clclearly like a trance indental moment. >> the family loved andre, who wouldn't wouldn't. >> he came to my son's birthday party and he brought a gift. because he's a nice, quality person. >> you started planning on moviving in together, right, on being together? >> we did. >> and it was happening pretty fast? >> it felt good though, it just

>> it was long distance, he in milwaukee, she in chicago. they stayed connected by phone long. >> i would call her every morning. >> narrator: and no one seemed to n notice any dark force, any unseen thing festering in ththe heat of that hot late summer,r, didn't feel the warning, didn't know who said what to whom. it was september 18, a tuesday. >> that tuesday morning, i thought i had called her on my way to work. bubut i was interrupted and she called me and said, hey, what happened to my call. i said oh, i thought i had. so we spoke for a bit, exchanged e-mails later. and then just kind of went about the day. >> narrator: evening came, he in the flush of love, called again. no answer. >> left her a message saying i was heading home and got a text message back from her phone saying she was at a dinner and

>> wait a minute. you had been calling her every day, talking all the time. >> yeah. >> and she said, i'm at dinner, i'll call l you later? >> narrator: but she didn't. then, 9:00 p.m., one of the ashleys call nailah, nailah who always picked up the phone for a sister. >> i texted her and i got something along the lines of i'm at dinner and i'll call you in a few. >> was that like her? >> it's not like her to not answer her phone. i have seen her step out of the shower to answer her phone. >> i sent her an e-mail, in all caps, are you alive? >> one of those things half in jest, half knowing. >> reporter: not only was nailahah increaeasingly hard to g get after

>> one more ominous sign, three calls to 911 from her cell phone. >> no voice, no struggles could be heard, light music in the background. >> that's got to be kind of eerie to hear that? >> it is. we know what it means to serve. get an insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. pet moments are beautiful, unless you have allergies. then your eyes may see it differently. only flonase is approved to relieve both your itchy,z watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. complete allergy relief or incomplete.

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. >> narrator: september 19, 2007 dawned in chicago like any other day, hot,t, the usual, except for

ambitious, dependable, always on heher phone, are silence, even with her new love, andre. >> i called her that morning, e-mamailed her, called her again early afternoon. >> >>. >> narrator: that's when he sent her that all caps e-mail, are you u alive? >> you probably didn't mean it the way it was? >> it's like to say to someonene, are you there? >> later in condo, no answer. she got a key, went in. >> you see her eggs and coffee that she had just left there, just out. >> something's wrong. >> i'm like, you know what? this isn't right. >> narrator:r: then lehia got a professional, she snow knows how, she's a public relations exececutive. >> your p.i. experience really kicked in? >> yes. >> lehia's experience told her not to hope too much for mediaia's help for one unfnfortunate reason. >> quite frankly, i don't knowow of one woman of color that gets the same attention by the media, in general. >> in fact there's some truth to it. that the good looooking young blond, the whole world wanants to know about her, stay talalking about her for years, a black

>> there is really got that. it troubles ththe mind when people of color go missing, or if it didn't f fit the narrative of gun violence or gang violence or something like that, then somehow, it's not real. >> narrator: though lehia knew, but lehia was not to be denied. >> they damned well going to cover it. >> well, they were. >> narrator: maybe this is because of lehia's media salve ity savvy. >> we were in the streets and putting up any place we could, downtown, suburbs. >> narrator: they phoned and texted and e-mailed their friends, but no one reported seeing see ing nailah, no one. nailah's sisters kept replaying their last conversation. >> she called me and she said, i've got something to tell you.

she got a call on the other line. she clicked over and said she would call me back. >> she didn't call you? >> she didn't call me back. >> narrator: awful what a person's mind can churn up in the dark, as day one became day two, and then day three. >> i just kept calling her, i i was thinking, she's going to answer, she's going to answer. >> there's no handbook about this, you think you're going to wake up and it's a dream, but, no, it's reel. >> detective greg jacobson, who right away scanned nailah's phone records and found something alarming. just after 10:00 p.m., the night nailah vanished, her cell phone made three calls to 911. >> chicago emergency, may i help you?

be heard, no background noise, with the exception of some light music in the background. >> that's kind of eerie to hear that. >> if a person is unable to physically complete the conversationon and just able t to dial the nang 911. >> narrator: so the investigators set about talking to just about everybody nailah knew. >> there was doctors she had visited to try to retrace her steps and everyone she had encountered. >> everyone we knew had a relationship with her. >> narrator: maybe lehia's campaign worked because -- >> we had some anonymous tips of people saying they had seen her at this location. >> narrator: but not a single one of them led d to nailah, now detectives knew they were e dealing with a serious crime. and yet -- >> she's missing, technically, there hasn't been a crime committed. >> that makes it somewhat awkward when you're looking into

>> we looked at the boyfriend she went to see from wisconsin the week before she went missing. >> andre was helping in the sesearch and soon was the subject of it. the perfect boyfriend, now to police, a perfectly obvious person of interest. >> reporter: coming up, a discscovery in an empty parking lot. >> it was in a pretty secluded area andnd right adjacent to a lagoon. i watch enough "dateline" to know that's not a good s sign. >> reporter: but what if anything did it have to do with nailah. when "dateliline" continues. use your miles to cover

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>> how overwhelming was that? >> you know, t the world seems so big when you're looking for someone. >> narrator: imagine, all of chicago, and nailah wowould be anywhere, tied up in a basement, in the trunk of a car, or worse. then middle of the night, 20 miles south of town in a place called calumet c city, a cop was on routine patrol checking out a golf course parking lot. his name is calvin lucius. >> i was in this area right here, i noticed right in front of me, six perfectly stakt ly ly stacked cardboard boxes right in the parking lot. something stood out, so i'm like something's not right here. >> narrator: inside the boxes, pills, hundreds of them. >> i was thinking this might be

narcotics and drug related case. >> except it looked like e examples, something a pharmaceutical rep would be handing out to doctors. >> what were they? >> different types of medicines, i can't even pronounce the names. >> narrator: the label, the address to a storage locker and a name. nailah. pretty soon -- >> t the fib and chicago police, everybody was s out here looking. >> narrator: includingng detective greg jacobson. >> it was right next to a nature preserve, that was right adjacent to a lagoon. i watch enough "datelinene" to know that's not a good sign. >> they drudged the lagogoon. >> narrator: back and forth they

founund one thing. >> jewelry hanging from a tree. >> nailah wasn't here. but remember sister lehia's p.r. campaign, not far away f from there, next town over -- >> a person saw a newscast, and d they're like, that car's been on my block for a couple days. and thank god they found that and ththank god they cared enough to call it in. >> narrator: that call came in here, a black chevy impala. >> we wenent out there to see it. >> narrator: it was hers. >> you opened that trunk, the last thing you want to think is there's something in that trunk. and fortunately there wasn't. >> did you find any prints, any dna, anything useful at all? >> i think our

technicians described it, it was wiped clean. >> narrator: determined that she mightt find her sister, the younger ashley drove out there. >> the car was parked in front of an abandoned house. i knocked on thehe door, i banged on the windows, i screamed her name. i didn't want to leave. i had to be taken from that area. >> narrator: of course the cops canvassed the neighbors, and what do you know? > they had even a male >> did they give you a good description? >> it was an african-american. >> that description may have fit a lot of people in nailah's life. for example her new boboyfriend, police had questionened him about their relationshihip and where he was when she disappeared. >> they asked when the last time i saw her was, the last time we

>> narrator: or could that man milling around the car have been someone else, her ex-boyfriend, his name was reginald pops. but befofore the cops could find him, he stepped up and called them. >> he said he wanted to know why the chicago police wanted to talking to him. >> narrator: he agagreed to stop by headquarters to talalk. he had metet her a year earlier, but purely by chance in the street on the ritzy gold coast, she was sophisticated, so was he. they dated on occasion, and realized it wasn't for life. >> he lilives in a very large apartment complex, a high-rise. >> nice place? >> beautiful. >> in an upscale area. >> it's where you want to live. >> narrator: reginald told them

shoppingng with friends at target, bar hopping with not one, but two lady friends, after that an intimate plan with a third girlfriend. >> they made plans to meet at reginald's apartment around midnight on the 18th. >> this guy gets around. >> if you got a bentley, your options are open. >> as investigators went out to check reginald potts alibi, down in calumet, when a partner notices something. >> he saw a couple of ear buds hanging from the trees. >> bright little babbles hanging there in the dark. what else was there at the edge of the midnight woods. >> reporter: detectives take a closer look at a man from nailah's past.

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it's a grassroots effort by family and friends. >> narrator: for all the frannic activity, the phone calls, the flyers, the organized lolooking about, it was a rare quiet time nine days in in nailah franklin's sister felt it. >> i knew, i was like, she's not coming back. >> narrator: and that very night, in the 3:00 a.m. hush of calumet city, calvin lucius made his way from the ear buds his partner found hanging in a tree, behind a derelict video store. >> i got right around in this area, and just looked over and the body was there. > what was that moment like? >> shock, you don't know if it's her or not, but you have a idea, because it's a female body.

to dental records to confirm, it was nailah. >> i think this type of f death, it doesn't just kill that person, it kills a l lot in the family. it's the absence of a piece of you because that person is not here. >> i can't describe it, it's like you know it's happening, but it just feel real. it just feels like you're in, literally like in a nightmare. >> narrator: an autopsy confirmed the death was by asphyxiation, so now it was homicide, but who was the killer? not andre. confirmed he was in milwaukee when nailah vanished. >> everything with him checked out. >> narrator: as for being questioned -- >> are you upset by that at all? >> they should have done that, that's part of their job. >> narrator: what about reginald potts who had been so helpful. well, this is curious, when investigators went to visit his

couldn't help but notice -- >> one of the doors was extremely damaged, like it had been forced open. >> narrator: hmm, that's weird. but maybe not so weird. >> reginald potts was visited by the sheriff's office in order to evict reginald pots. >> of course this was 2006, a lot of people were falling behind in their mortgages. but reginald's was deeper than that. >> he was constantly in default. he had not a pot or pan in the kitchen, but what he believed were important items to surround himself with, cars, clothing, high end restaurants. ththere for show.

turned out belonged to somebody else. and his hookups and a wife who was raising his children and another one who was raising another. it didn't take nailah long to figure it out. >> she knew something was off about him, so she decided to look a little deeper. >> narrator: so she ended it, and as she did, she warned whomever she could about reginald, even one of his other r girlfriends. >> watch out for this guy, he's bad news, and he's cheating on you? >> yeah, they were in communication about reginald. >> nailah told andre that when reginald found out, he wasn't happy. >> he got wind of that and reached out to nailah in a threatening manner. >> narrator: sent her nasty e-mails and voicemails. >> did you worry about that a lot? >> she didn't exhibit any worries to me about it. >> narrator: but she must have

detectives found a report that nailah had called a nonemergency police phone number, asked about filing an order of protection against a threatening ex-boyfriend. she mentioned mr. potts. so, yes, reginald pots was a murder suspect. but he wasn't exactly hiding from the police. remember, he had given them a a very detailed alibi to check out. >> he was pretty spepecific on where he's at. >> n narrator: and as the weeks went by, he seemed quite eager to help. >> he continuously called me on my cell phone. >> really? called you to tell you what? >> trying to direct the ininvestigation, why haven't we talked to you eke echols. >> they were at a target store shopping. >> narrator: and sure enough, mr. echols confirmed his

security cameras at the target store, which would seem to exclude potts as a suspect if he was shopping, not killing and asphyxiating nailah. >> if you're going to commit a crime, do not do it at target, they're going to have everything from the sign to every transaction on the keypad very clear. >> altlthough he managed to avoid every camera on the store, or his frchbd lied to him. he admitted that not only reginald wasn't at the target, but -- >> he got a phone call from reginald potts and traveled to hammond in order to pick him up because he needed a ride. >> hammond, indiana, where nailah's car was found. on september 16, 2007, reginald

of nailah franklin. but reginald, ququite vehemently denied kill herring. >> we would push you and then we would have -- >> fabricatition? framed. >> reporter: coming up, a suspect bears all. >> why are you taking yours off? >> but would he reveal the truth when "dateline" continues. as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. ability to fight infections, serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. or intestines, low blood cell counts,

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>> narrator: here we arere in a little room in a chicago p police station, reginald potts is under arrest for the murder of nailah franklin, the detectives they are certain they have their man. but mr. potts? >> i had mant adamantly deny that i was anywhehere near her the day she disappeared. >> narrator: he was nowhere near her when she vanished. >> i was nowhere near her. >> narrator: of course they told them they had evidence. >> i have video of your bentley in the parking garage of your building.

that's a lie. >> narrator: a police frame-up to which the detectives said -- > you understand that video cameras are everywhere? >> narrator: yes, inincluding nailah's apartment building, and there is reginald, plain as day with nailah, arriving and leaving with her on that very y day she disappeared. >> so you knew he was there? >> yes. >> narrator: but reginald, doubled down on hiss denials. >> i am certain that i am nowhere near inside of nailah franklin's apartment. >> narrator: accused the police of fabricating evidence. >> i guarantee y you you don't have video of me getting off the elevator at nailah franklin's house, if you do, you're very

>> narrator: he never r expressed any desire foror an attorney, but when they asked him to stand d in a lineup so that witnesses could -- >> the state's attorney is representing the people in registering the case, i would not feel comfortable at all, at all. >> so they waited for reginald's atattorney to arrive. and then, it got odd. >> your attorney's right there. why are you taking your clothes off? >> your attorney's rigight here, we want to take him for a lineup rright now. you can step in the other room. >> reginald removed all of his clothing and refused to stand in the lineup. >> that's an interesting tactic. >> yes. >> have you ever seen that before? >> no. >> narrator: so no lineup, but they charged himim anyway with

nailah by then had been dead three months. >> i was definitely relieved, i was kind of surprised that it took so long. but i was relieved. >> narrator: relieved too that reginald potts as was his right, demanded a speedy trial, but then -- >> reginald potts used every resource at hiss disposal to delay the process. >> narrator: nbc chicago's charlie husksky watched in amazezen't as reginald turns speedy justice into something else all together. >> he hired lawyers, he fired lawyers, he tried to act as his own attorney. at each step of the trial, the trial had to b be reset. >> in the fourth halalf of the year, indiana had apolished capital punishment, so that wawas off the table. still reginald's actions forced

just as nailah's family had reached out to the media, reginald potts tried to launch a p.r. campaign from behind bars. >> his famamily reached out trying to convince me that there may besome way that he was not associated with this crime, that it might be associated with someone else. >> narrator: every delay, every manipulation was slow torture. >> i verery much believe that everyone should have a fair and just trial and that too often people who are poor or people of color do not -- or most often, they don't get proper representation, and they don't get a fair shake in our court t system. but this was not that. >> narrator: and then finally, on october 28, 2015, on a crisp, fall day in chicago, the trial

taken eight yeyears to get here. >> when it was finally happening, we were confused about how things would go down. finally a trial, what type of experience i is this going to be? >> narrator: they had no idea, how could they? assistant state attorneys maria mccarthy and fabio value lean enentini were the district attotorneys in the crime. >> narrator: and not many cases with a defendant quite like reginald potts. >> reporter: coming up, an accused killer's defense. >> he's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is. >> reporter: then after eight years, a verdict. >> what really tormented me all these years is that there's a

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the video at the target store that did not show him and thus blew up his alibi. nailah's friends testified she showed them e-mails and played a voicemail in which he threatened her. >> nailah played that v voicemail for them because she was so terrified and essentially, in that voicemail, he said, nailah, i'm going to have you erased, i'm going to make you disappear. >> narrator: in fact said the prosecutors, that's exactly what he did. snuck into her building, led her terrified to the garage,

into her own car. how did they find out where? cecell phone towers, linked together like bred crumbs.s. >> she's not calling anybody, she's not answering calls, her texts are all odd. but her phone and his phone were together, lock step, the e entire rest of the day. >> narrator: right to the abandoned video store behind where they found nailah's body. no coincidence ththat he chose that particular spot so far from chicago, said the prosecutor. >> we find out thahat the video store next door is owned by potts' brother-in-law. >> narrator: he said yes, he did lie for reginald, but he didn't know it was to cover up a murder. remember those odd, mails and texts her boyfriend and sister received? it was potts, using her phone,

said the prosecution, a clever attempt to throw off f a missing person's investigation. >> he's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smamart as he thinks he is. >> narrator: but reginald potts is nothing if not strategic. >> defense attorneys need to create reasonanable doubt. so in this case it was very y hard to determine cause of death. it's little things like that in the hopes that one jururor or two jurors will latch on to that and say i can't convict. >> narrator: they even disputed the cell phone evidence the prosecution believed sinced the case. >> the idea that you can learn the location of a cell phone by the pings on a cell phone tower is flawed. >> did reginald's art persuade them, two hours and 15 minutes after they began, the jury

they pronounced reginald potts guilty of first-degree murder. >> whew. i was so relieved. i was like, okay, that's past now is the next thing. >> narrator: the next thing was sentencing, nearly four months later. >> still waiting and hoping he doesn't get four years or something stupid like that. >> narrator: but again, they had no idea. what was this man all about? there was a hearing to help the judge make a decision about sentence, normally just arguments, recommendations from both sides. but not this time. the prosecution called 35 witnesses to tell ththe judge a hair raising story about reginald potts. reginald was not quite the gold plated success story he appeared to be. >> he lived a live of a lot of smoke and mirrors. >> he was a con man who conned a

>> narrator: andnd when the con man was challenged, even law enforcemement was a target. >> he said he would kill my family, my family would never be safe. >> i was struck three times s by mr. potts in the face. >> narrator: he has a long record in prison where he struck guards. all of that was too prejudicial to present at trial, but now absolutely relevant. >> he took her back by the elevator and i heard slap. >> this guy has been a menace his entire adult life. >> and when a woman stood up to him. witness after witness testified that reginald betrayed them, by bullied them or worse. >> this guy not only had a a propensity to hurt women, but he had a propensity to o choke them and kill them. > if he tells you what time it

>> that bad, huh? >> the guy's a monster. >> narrator: a monster, who however briefly fooled even the sophisticated, successful nailah, to her mother's eternal sorrow. >> you don't know who you're letting into your life. they don't always come looking like a monster. >> narrator: there was a kind of ceremony about these things, everyone gets to talk. >> nailah's murder is stole from our community of bright light. >> i can still hear her moanining and screaming, calling out, begging for her life. >> narrator: but reginald cried, denied everything. >> the jury of my peers came back with a verdict that i believe is false and i believe isis invalid, and i believe a a court of appeals will overturn it. but right now this court has to honor what they said and impose

not the person that ms. mccarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom. i'm not a monster. i'm not a monster. >> narrator: we waited to see if a judge would buy rereginald's story, or the prosecutor's. and here it was. >> you arere a cold, calculating, conniving, coward of a conman who must be punished. >> narrator: and indeed he was, life without parole. >> take him away. >> narrator: so that was justice, the most nailah's family could hope for. terribly important. and strangngely, empty. >> it's still not done. she's still not back. we still can't talk with her. >> narrator: no, they try to rememember nailah, not as a murder victim, but as the beautiful young woman she was, thehe vibrant

but grief, real and painful, comes to visit every day. >> you know, people say, oh, well she's's your spirit and she's your angel and she's in a better place and alall this other stuff, i'm like yeah,h, but i want her here, i don't want my 28-year-old sister to be my angel, i want her to be right here in the thick of it with me. >> reporter: that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you tomorrow for at 8:00 for the "dateline saturday night mysteries." i'm lester holt, for all of us at nbc news, good night.

>> a knockout verdict for gawker. a jury awards hulk hogan $115 million. services for a police officer who gave his life to protect a driver from a wrong way driver. >> a passenger jet has crashed in russia. according to seveveral media reports, all 55 passengers on board are dead. >> we are told fly dubai was trying to land in southern russia when it crashed. that is a a boeing 727 passenger jet. russian media rereports that visibility there was very low. and more breaking news now. eagle 8 hd is over the scene of a two alarm fire at club co