by then as you can imagine the whole town knew about the disappearance of debbie hawk. and they knew something else too. two days after she vanished there was a find and it wasn't good. but it wasn't debbie. instead, police found her van. it was parked on the street in a high crime district of fresno, 40 miles from home. the drug samples debbie had kept in the back, medications for nasal allergies and asthma were missing. and this was weird. the windows were down. the keys in the ignition. the license plate had been replaced with a stolen one. >> it appears that whoever left it there wanted somebody to get in and drive off. >> oh, and one more thing, the van's back seat was covered with blood. >> at that point whoever was driving the van would immediately become a suspect in debbie hawk's disappearance. >> reporter: police were pretty sure that was exactly what the killer wanted. it was a ruse, an attempt to plant blame somewhere else but arjd town some people had already begun directing blame at one individual. they thought they knew who did it. >> she had said to me, y

children of dave and debbie hawk. >> we do the best we can. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." thanks for watching. >>> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> it was just chaos. >> a day at the mall descends into mayhem. armed men turned shoppers into prey. >> lots of screaming. lots of gunfire. they had a demeanor like they they had a demeanor like they owned the place. >> you have to be aware of your surroundings all the time, because you just never know. p pangiced moms protep p pangiced moms protep quir quiet liquiet lp . >> yeah, and just run. >> from out of the blue a hero. >> she starts running. >> could he rescue the smallest >> when she got up and ran, did thought, oh, my god. >> here's kate snow with hostage. >> hello and welcome to "dateline." newtown, orlando, las vegas. it seems like mass shootings have become all too frequent in the u.s. and overseas at a mall in nairobi, kenya, masked assailants carried out an even debtlier attack. a normal afternoon of shopping when gunmen turned it into a scene of bloodshed and bedlam but what