i'm from coquille, oregon. the reason why we're sitting here, for me, in my eyes, is to bring awareness to this case. i'm doing this not for myself, but i'm doing this for leah and for her family to get resolution. i'm an innocent man, and i want the false narrative to go away. i think i was about 2 to 3 when we moved down to coquille. my mom works in the medical field. and my dad, he started a business, a produce market. riding my mountain bike, you know, delivering the newspaper with the old paper bag in it. and i wasn't the biggest kid. >> i was nick's fourth grade teacher in -- i believe it was 1992. he was a great student. he enjoyed learning. he was creative. >> in high school, i was just kind of like any average student. i wasn't different really than anybody else. >> nick played for the coquille football team, and it was a big thing there in coquille, friday night football, just like it is in most small towns. >> nick, the high school kid, he was always in love in a way, you know? he always had a girl.

. >> nick gets back into his car and starts driving through the town of coquille, looking for leah. >id call the house, is leah there? and i said, leah, no, isn't they with you? he goes, well -- it's all right, don't worry, i'm going to find her and i'll bring her home. >> i mean, i had even talked to police twice that night. my headlight was out and i got pulled over for it both times. told them that i was looking for my girlfriend. i decided to go by leah's house one more time. and i saw a glare on her window. thought it was her tv. back then it was 2000, it's not like she could send me a text, she couldn't call me on a cell phone. i thought she was home, and i went home after that. leah's mom corey calls at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning the next day. >> where's leah? she's not here. he goes, she didn't come home last night? and i said, no, where is she? he goes, i don't know. >> i went into town as quick as i could. i talked to corey. we went down to the police department. we filed a missing persons report. the police basically told us that leah was probably a runaway. >> i knew some