once again, keith morrison. >> it was quite an eye opener.d her now dead husband, major david shannon, were regular and enthusiastic swingers. but when joan told them she developed a special one on one thing with a married man named jeffrey wilson, now that was a real lead. could it be the major was the victim of a jealous lover? so detective murphy paid a call on wilson, also a soldier here at ft. bragg. >> jeffrey did confirm he was involved in a romantic relationship with joan shannon. >> where was he when this murder occurred? >> he was actually working at the time of the homicide. >> in fact, a little checking revealed it was an unassailable alibi. jeffrey wilson was innocent. of murder, that is. he was very cooperative. he revealed every lurid detail. >> back in april, they were probably meeting for sex about two times a week. and in july, and of course the murder occurred on july 23rd, at least four times a week. >> so now the deputy d.a. began to flip the idea of a love triangle motivate on its head. it seemed to west the person who h

here is keith morrison. >> our story begins with this mother of a teenage daughter. a woman who would spend most of her life trying to figure out who she was. what was her name? where did she come from? we'll tell you about her long search, her discovery finally of what felt like truth. but as you'll soon see, real truth can be elusive. it can hide. let's begin at the beginning. but at the beginning, all she had was a memory. >> a twin canopy bed with pink ruffles around it. kind of waved over the top of it. >> it was dream-like really. and for years it was all that felt real in her upside down life. >> and it was all pink and white. it was -- everything matched. >> the closet full of dresses. the dolls, the teddy bears. >> i actually -- there was a little old-fashioned where you put the baby in the wagon. >> and the reason for those tormenting memories? >> it's a lot of hurt, sadness. sadness for the little girl that didn't have a life. >> for most of her life, the part after that little girl's bedroom, she has been pepper, and the baffling, terrifying story of what

. >> keith morrison with secrets in a small town. >> hello, welcome to "dateline extra." i'm craig melvin. a case centers on a mother that had gone missing and small town secret that led to a stunning revelation. here's keith morris. >> suppose you were sitting in your car smack-dab in the middle of tus sca tuscaloosa, alabama into a sweet place could moundville, one stoplight, one general street and store. been around a long time. it's a sad truth as the sheriff says, even here, where everybody used to know everybody -- >> it's not that way anymore. so many people moving in from around the world. >> trying to escape the crowds? >> trying to escape the crowds or running from something. >> reporter: where have you gone, mayberry? it went up and left us. he investigates real crimes. >> the same crimes you see here is the same as any larger city just a smaller version. >> reporter: moundville is moundville and they might know more than in tuscaloosa, for example, which can be a bit of a nuisance if you need to keep a secret, especially, for example, if your secret is about m

here is keith morrison with "swept away." >> who can say what lurks out there past the horizon, waiting i'm personally utterly at random as thousands of lives tick to their unknowing end. and simple coincidence, a young man from middle america made a single decision. >> could you imagine back there in indiana that you're about to make your life flip on its head? >> no, never. >> how could he know that on the other side of the world a young woman made exactly the same decision or that they'd meet practically on the eve of one of the biggest natural disasters in recent memory? or how could he know that in the middle of disaster he'd lose her. >> i wouldn't know what i would do without her. >> so coincidence, love, disaster. there is no fairness about these things, they just are. zach brannon turned 23 in 2010. i just picked up a degree in history from a college in indiana, no idea what to do next. and then he saw an offer for a job in japan, a two-year stint teaching english to elementary school kids, no japanese language skills required. >> why japan of all places? >> i don't think there

here's keith morrison. >>> suppose for a minute you were sitting in your car smack-dab in the middle of tuscaloosa, alabama and you pointed southwest down highway 69 and kept a sharp eye out after half an hour or so. you roll into a sweet little place called moundville. one stoplight, one main street, one general store. been around for a long time has moundville. but it's a sad truth, as the sheriff says, even here where everybody used to know everybody -- >> it's not that way anymore. so many different people are moving in from around the world. >> trying to escape the crowds. >> well, escape the crowd or running from something. >> yes. and where have you gone, andy griffith? >> mayberry has up and left us. sheriff ken ellis fights real crime nowadays. >> the crime here is the same crime you see in any large city, just a smaller version. >> still, moundville is moundville and neighbors tend to know more of each other's business than they might in tuscaloosa, for example, which can be a bit of a nuisance if you need to keep a secret, especially, for example, if your secret is about m

here is keith morrison with a conclusion of our story.ne winter walked out of this courtroom in montana, she landed here, more than 450 miles east across the state at thewomen's prison in billings. she sat down with us, quite well aware of how all this time she had been the target of so much curiosity and anger. >> i'm curious to know what your thought process was as you went about deciding, yeah, i think i'll talk now. >> i don't know. i guess it was probably that i was being shown in a different light than what i wanted to be shown in. >> when you read accounts of your case and with when you see the comments people write, what is that like.? >> they're ready hard to read. i reader one that said i needed to hang from a noose on a tree. >> what does it feel like inside when you saw that comment, for example? >> i'm really weird and with my brain injury, i feel it in the second, but it's hard to, like, recall it afterwards. >> that brain injury is the reason she says she sometimes smiles when she doesn't mean to, why everything came out wr

here is keith morrison. >> we know the truth.nd we know everything that happened. >> how do we know what we know? >> it's emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer. >> though it is, even if we've seen something, or if we think we have. and thus the question at the heart of the whole puzzle. is this woman right? >> i know what i saw. and i know the conclusion of my story. >> of course she does. of course she does. so why does this other woman think this? >> she doesn't know for sure what she saw. >> a question, we say, on which all the rest will turn. why don't we begin here. calimesa, california, riverside county. historic missions. sprawling suburbing creeping out to the rim of mountains around the eastern flank of los angeles. here is where chris and cristi hall had come to live out their golden years, though they were far from old when it happened. just experienced, with life and each other. >> as far back as i can remember, it's always been chris and cristi. they were never thought of as separate. they were a unit. >>

here is keith morrison. >> reporter: in the dark of a philippine jungle, surrounded by men with haten their eyes, gerfa lunsmann looked, terrified, at her 14-year-old son. an approaching car had put the kidnappers on alert. and now one of them held an automatic rifle to kevin's head. >> i just said, "don't move, son" while my entire body was frozen. >> reporter: and then the car passed. and they kept walking. and several hours later they arrived at abu sayyaf's base camp. and this is where they were brought -- to a cage in the jungle. not this cage, we actually built this one, but to the exact specifications given to us by gerfa. five feet by five feet, some old broken boards for a floor, jungle sticks lashed together with bark. no roof, no protection from the elements. but a cage as secure as any cage in any prison. there were guard tents on either side of the cage. a sniper on a hill above, watching them. and right beside the cage, a seemingly bottomless cliff, planted with land mines, said their captors. i know you had been walking for, like, 36 hours or something. how did you fee

here is keith morrison. >> the key was waiting for them under the mat, that evening in june, 2006, outside their mom's house. silence. no one home. where was she? she was always on time to pick them up from their dad's place. but tonight he had to drive them. this just wasn't like her. where was she? conrad, the eldest, put the key in the lock, opened the door, chelsa, in the middle, crossed the threshold, stopped. what was this? >> once we took a few more steps in we realized there was something wrong. >> this was the moment, the defining one. nothing the same after this. >> and there was a lot of blood everywhere. >> then the adrenaline kicked in, instinct took over. >> we dropped our stuff. >> panic rising now. conrad was 15 now, his little sisters chelsa 14 and savannah 10. three kids trying to make sense of a horribly frightening scene. >> my mom keeps it spic and span. >> now things were anything but. >> where the desk was you could see there were papers scattered around, drawers were, you know, ripped open. >> you went into the bedroom? >> that was the first place my sister ran into

here's keith morrison. >> what was she thinking? when she went to the computer? when she typed in those five little words? did she not understand where those little words might lead? >> where are you at? okay. what's your name? >> michelle. >> michelle was no doubt about it dissatisfied. here she was young, successful, attractive and, yet, wasn't exactly boredom eating at michelle. she started a new career as a psychologist offering counseling new couples. >> she was relatively new with her life. i think that was her first real job. >> michelle would have laughed at the idea that pretty soon now evens would propel her to such notoriety that newspaper reporters like melissa stoddard diaz would be poking around in her past. >> michelle, from everyone i've spoken to, wanted to be somebody and really worked hard to get to we ultimately got her degree and became a professional. >> then michelle even at an early age always seemed confident about getting what she wanted. she was just 16 when she started dating marty. marty was a couple of years older, worldly, bright, f

here's keith morrison. >> reporter: it was her first time in las vegas. her first look at that famous strip, its outsized kitsch, its gaudy casinos with their endless electronic clatter and their darker places where men in dark suits hover over the study calm of high-rolling wishful thinkers. her name was adrienne solomon and she was here on business. >> i was excited to go, to get to see what this city was all about. >> reporter: adrienne came to las vegas for a medical conference. meeting planning was her business, a road job. >> i was probably gone 50% of the time. >> reporter: now the job had brought her here, to a vast casino, all alone. exciting, of course, though buttoned down compared to her previous, more exotic occupation, teaching the flying trapeze. >> i went to work for club med and worked for the vacationers, i worked for seven years, living all over the world. >> i can't imagine what it would be like to have a job where your responsibility is to teach people how to relax and have fun and do it in a wonderful setting. >> it was the best job.

here's keith morrison with, "the house on the lake." >> reporter: it's a long, winding ride this tale. studded with surprises. >> i just felt like i was being kidnapped in broad daylight and >> reporter: it's a long, winding ride this tale. studded with surprises. >> i just felt like i was being kidnapped in broad daylight and no one could help me. >> reporter: it's been the story of their lives. >> we cannot sit here in silence and watch another travesty of justice take place. >> reporter: it's about their world, the one that fell apart in the time they can't recall. do you remember very much about your mom anymore? >> not really. >> it's been a long time. >> reporter: it's about what happened on a september day the rest of the world can't forget. is there a corner of your brain that thinks maybe it was somebody else? >> not at all. not at all. >> reporter: 14 years, three tiles, moments of sheer agony. >> takes your breath away. you know, it's like getting stabbed in the stomach. >> reporter: tonight, the climactic chapter in a family saga. one that began in a moment all but drowned

for the conclusion of our story, keith morrison. >> when bonnie craig's raped and beaten body was founda creek outside of anchorage, alaska, it was september 1994 and kenneth dion was a 25-year-old cocaine addict on the way down a long criminal spiral. now at 41, he was entering middle age and facing 124 years in prison for rape and murder. >> was bonnie murdered? no. she died accidentally. >> reporter: but not if defense attorney andrew lambert could help it. >> bonnie accidentally fell off the cliff and died. >> reporter: after having consensual sex with your client. >> not necessarily that day. >> reporter: it could have been a couple of days before. >> it could have been. >> reporter: and that was the essence of it, the defense of kenneth dion, that he and bonnie had consensual sex and a few days later she just happened to die in a hiking accident, no provable connection between the two events said the defense. dion told trooper hunyor a few years earlier, he had never met bonnie, his attorney is now saying the opposite, with no evidence of how or when they met. but after all it was

here's keith morrison with "after the party." >> reporter: what is so optimistic as a party on new year'sve. what night as hopeful, as full of anticipation, as the clean slate midnight brings? >> it was a small new year's eve party. >> just family and friends. >> reporter: disappointment is inevitable, of course, clean slates no matter how ardently desired are messy all too soon. >> we noticed that there was a lot of alcohol out. >> reporter: still, we celebrate possibilities and drown past sorrows. and watch the clock that ticks toward our new beginnings and our ends. on december 31, 2011, an hour north of denver in west evans, colorado. ashley and tom fallis, surrounded by friends and family danced to the music that brought them together -- their wedding song. >> they decided to get up and dance in the middle of their living room. and -- >> reporter: everybody watching. >> with everyone watching. >> reporter: kinda romantic. >> i think i said, "oh, this is sweet." >> reporter: it was their party, ashley's and tom's. she'd invited her co-workers like andrea. >> it was casual. but she ver

returning to our story here is keith morris. -- morrison. >> nine small planes about to give up theirrch for a missing teenage pilot, hope dying with the set sun. >> we all looked until the last light. you know, the absolute last light. >> so as the minutes tick by, the passage of time changes somehow. doesn't it? >> yes. >> yeah. it felt like days. >> but here, in the outskirts of a little place called douglas, wyoming, an outdoorsman named josh alexander was about to get roped into the story. >> if you were given your choice of some way to spend two weeks, do whatever you want, what would it be? >> in the mountains hunting somewhere. that's what i live for. >> josh's friend and colleague nathan coyle feels just the same way. >> i mean, there's places, you can go and not see people for days. >> kind of sweet spots for you? >> yeah. very relaxing. very calm. quiet. >> in august of 2013, josh and nate planned to spend a few days in one of those sweet spots. a place most of us will never see. the absorcas in western wyoming, some of the most remote mountains in the country. the purpose