laura van ryn was 22 at the time. her parents, don and suzy, living in caledonia, michigan. laura was the youngest of four children. she had an older sister, lisa and two brothers, kenny and mark. laura and her boyfriend aaron had been dating for three years. everybody knew they'd get married. what was she like as a child growing up? mom? >> happy. giggly, joyful, just loved being where everybody was. she was a lot of fun.v everybod. she was a lot of fun. liked everybody, everybody liked her because she was just real. and genuine. >> whitney cerak was 18. she grew up in gaylord, michigan, with her parents and her older sister carly. >> whitney was just an amazing girl. i know i'm partial because i'm her mom. she was a lot of fun to be with. she made people feel special. she made us feel special. >> whitney was a freshman, laura a senior at taylor university. a small evangelical christian school in indiana. >> this sounds maybe quaint, but a real family feeling that you connected with so many other people there. >> laura and whitney were both outgoing and athletic with a wide

innovation for all. ♪ >>> the night of may 29, 2006, memorial day, laura van ryn's mother, suzy, wroteanguished entry in her prayer journal. >> please don't take laura from me, lord. my heart is heavy today. please don't let it be. my heart cries out in desperation to you. this would be more than i can bear. i know you are not a cruel god. what purposes would there be? could my heart deceive me? could i not know my own daughter? oh, god, help me. you are all i have. please give me laurie back. >> what must that have been like when you started to doubt? >> agonizing. first of all, you've been on this emotional roller coaster for five weeks. and we still weren't at the end of it and feeling like we're getting little glimpses of laura, and it's still a long road ahead, and now all of a sudden, this thought that this might not be laura. you can't deal with that at the moment because there's -- your daughter who's lying there still needs you, and -- and if it's not your daughter, then you need her parents. she needs her mom and dad right away. >> the van ryns had been caring for their criti