All language subtitles for Dateline.Secrets.Uncovered.S11E04.720p.WEB.h264-BAE.[eng]

- I'm craig melvin,

And this is "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

- She had this look of
absolute terror on her face.

She was scared.

She really, really
was afraid,

And I don't really
know why.

- She was a sunny,
free spirit

Who had yearned to
make it in hollywood,

But she made headlines instead
when she vanished.

- One day, she was gone.
Her pets were gone.

- I knew that
something happened.

- Did something
drive her away?

Or maybe someone?

There was that
old friend turned enemy.

- They seemed to
be very passionate

About hating each other.

- There was
the new friend--

Young, handsome,
a man of mystery.

- He said, "I'm not
what people think I am,"

And I thought,
"wonder what that means?"

- I told her this could
end up killing her.

- A brother and sister
desperate to learn the truth.

- It's just chilling
for me to think about that.

♪♪

- Hello, and welcome

To "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

Brittany tavar wore
her heart on her sleeve,

Opening her life to anyone
she thought needed her help,

Whether that meant pets
or people.

But after she vanished,
her family learned

That a secret
she had been hiding

May have inadvertently
exposed her to danger.

Now could investigators
find her alive?

Here's keith morrison with...

- They noticed it first
at her favorite place,

That private beach club
faces out at the south atlantic.

Took a little longer
for the story

To spread up and down
the historic streets,

This oldest of all
american cities,

Until it reached
the ears

Of a young reporter
named justine griffin,

Who worked the crime beat at
"st. Augustine, florida times."

- This one was definitely

One of the most bizarre
that I've covered.

One day, her car-- she was gone.
Her pets were gone.

- The "she" justine
is talking about

Was the local fixture here
in st. Augustine, florida,

A striking and friendly woman
named brittany tavar

Who had, without a word to
anyone, up and vanished.

Hardly a big story
at first.

After all, people do come
and go around st. Augustine,

And this was July 2010,
heat ratcheting up.

Good time to
head north, maybe?

- Just as the weeks went on,

It sort of got a
little bit more strange.

- A little bit strange?

In fact, the disappearance
of brittany tavar

Was about to become the biggest
and perhaps strangest story

Of justine griffin's
young career.

Not just that
brittany disappeared,

But that she'd vanished

On such an important
day for her,

The day she was due to appear
in a st. Augustine court

And bring charges
against a bitter enemy.

- She had an enormous
amount of anxiety.

- This is brittany's sister
pat bellamah.

Pat lived clear across
the country in portland, oregon,

So she couldn't do much
about her sister's worries,

Couldn't help her confront
her nemesis in court,

But pat had been aware
since girlhood

Brittany was pretty good
at looking after herself.

- We were polar opposites.

I was much more academically
oriented than she was

And sort of more staid
and analytical.

She was very agile and athletic,
and I wasn't.

So I spent my childhood
following her up trees

And trying to jump
over creeks,

And she could do it,
and I couldn't.

- Scattered family.
Five siblings in all.

Andrew bellamah, one of
brittany's three brothers,

Kept track of her from his
place up in the northeast.

- She was very extroverted.

She-she, uh, marched to
the beat of her own drum.

- So when they heard
she was missing,

Pat and andrew had to
consider the possibility

That brittany had decided
to try something new.

- Well, she very much had
a sense of inventing herself,

You know, her whole life.

- Like the time she went
to hollywood years ago,

Wanted to be a movie star.

- She wanted
certain things in life,

And she just thought
if she belinieved herself,

And she went out
and tried, you know,

She would-- she would
get those things.

- Didn't get those things,
up to now at least,

But she had
some family money,

Settled comfortably
in st. Augustine,

Took up photography,
sold real estate,

Bought a nice house,

And joined a private beach
club called the serenata,

Where she developed a group
of very close friends.

For example, brenda lemke.
- The thing about brittany,

She was a single woman
living on her own,

And I just thought she was
very strong and very brave.

You know, she had money.

She didn't have
to worry about that,

But still, you know, she had
to create a life for herself,

A social environment.

She was interesting.
She wasn't boring.

- Joanna simmons was also
a friend from the serenata.

- I invited her to come
to choir one night

At this church that
I was going to,

And she came and seemed
to really enjoy it,

And so she joined
the choir.

- Was she a spiritual woman?
Was she--

- I think she had a very much
of a spiritual side to her.

- They enjoyed
her personality.

You know, she could be very
sort of sparkly and vivacious.

I was impressed that she
had so many close friends

Who cared so much
about her.

- So because brittany's family
members lived so far away,

It was friends like
joanna and brenda

Who first tired to solve
the puzzle of her absence

That week in July.
- I called a few times,

But I didn't
hear anything.

And then Thursday came,

And I called Thursday,
and I knew.

I knew Thursday
that something happened.

- So brenda called
brittany's family

And they asked her
to go 'round to the house,

But, frankly, just looking
at the place from the outside,

She didn't see any sign
of foul play.

Back in portland,

Brittany's sister pat
didn't know quite what to do.

- I actually happen
to have a long-time friend

Who's a police officer,
so I called him,

And I said,
"what do we do?"

And he says, "well,
just get a locksmith.

"send brenda back
with a locksmith,

"and have her go
into the house."

- Which, by now,
several days

After brittany dropped
out of sight, brenda did.

And inside,
nothing seemed amiss,

Although, she had apparently
taken some of her pets,

Her two little dogs.

- Her dogs were gone,

Huey and kuebear,
her little white bichons.

- But brittany also
had cats,

And they were still
in the house alone.

- One of the doors was open
for the cats to go in and out.

- Some people do that,
it's true. But brittany?

- Well, my sister loved
her cats very, very much,

And she would never just
go away on a trip

And leave them to fend
for themselves.

- Where had brittany gone?

Why would she take her dogs,
leave her cats,

And take off,
vanish,

On the very day she was
all set to appear in court

To resolve
a bitter feud,

A feud which
she told her family

Kept her in constant fear?

- It was very strange that
all of a sudden,

The day that she was
supposed to be in court,

Now she's gone.

- Brittany tavar was
a master of reinvention.

Had she simply run off
for a fresh start?

Or did something
sinister happen to her?

- Over the years,

Eight different people
lived in her spare room.

- That's a very
interesting thing

That a single woman
living on her own would do.

- She wasn't really practical.
I mean, the risk of it--

But I think she really liked
the idea of helping people.

- When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Something was off,
something very wrong,

Here in the dripping heat
of the st. Augustine summer.

Friends of brittany tavar had
been unable to reach her

For several days.
- Everybody that knows brittany

Knows that she would never
just take up

And leave like that
without telling me.

- So brittany's family,

Frantic but far away in
opposite corners of the country,

Called a locksmith,

Asked brittany's friends
to go inside her house,

Have a look around,

And the place seemed
perfectly normal,

Except one or two
little things

Didn't quite make sense.
- There were some anomalies,

Like the air condition
was blasting,

And she never would have left
the air condition blasting.

- Oh, and there was
one more thing, though.

It wasn't so much
as something wrong

As it was just
a little too right.

One of the friends who
searched brittany's house

Was tim martin, a man
brittany had been dating.

- She was a little unorganized,
but the house was very clean,

And so it looked
like maybe somebody

Was going somewhere, but--
- somebody had

Fixed the place up.
- Yes.

- The good news was,
everything was tidy.

There was no sign
of a crime scene.

The bad news is,
the home looked too clean.

- It certainly could be that
brittany simply

Cleaned the place more
thoroughly than usual,

Then packed up and left

And left the back door
open for the cats.

The police told the family that
in the absence of foul play,

There wasn't much
they could do.

No law against a grown woman

Taking off without
telling anyone.

- We hired
a private investigator

Who started looking around
to find something

That would get the police
involved in the case.

- While the pi made his
inquiries,

Over the next few days,

Brittany's family began
their own investigation,

And soon discovered a few
very brittany-esque secrets,

Things she had never
told them about.

- We didn't know
that over the years,

Eight different
homeless people

Lived in her spare room.

She usually had some kind of an
arrangement with these fellows

That they would
help her with stuff,

Like the first guy helped
with the yard work.

I mean, she would never
tell us that,

Because, of course,
we would say, "bad idea."

- "what are you thinking?"
yeah.

- You know, you can't
just invite strangers

To live in your house,
you know?

- That's a very
interesting thing

That a single woman living
on her own would do.

- She wasn't really
practical.

I mean, the risk of it-- either
she would have dismissed it,

Or maybe that was
what was interesting about it.

But I think she really
liked the idea

Of helping people.

- It's kind of
like bringing home

A bird with a broken wing,

And you're gonna fix it
or something like that, and--

- Right.
- Make it right.

- Well, she also grew up
in a family

Where serving people
and serving the poor

Was just part of the
environment that we lived in.

- Brittany had recently
been hosting

A handsome young man
named joe roberts

Whom she had met
at a barnes & noble store.

- She was trying to start up
some enterprise,

And he was gonna help her
do the computer work.

- According to friends,
brittany was a doting landlady.

Bought young joe
new clothes,

Even a computer.

Brittany's friends
got to know him some

When she showed him off
down at the serenata beach club.

- Here she is.
"joann. Joann.

"I want you to meet the guy
in the hot tub.

"he's so good looking.
He's so nice."

- He seemed like he
could be my brother,

My younger brother.

- He just seemed like
such a nice guy

And that he was just-- he just
really wanted to try.

- They accepted him
as somebody brittany was

Trying to help
and who might help her.

- Very charming.

I thought he was
well mannered.

He thought the girls were
really shallow his age,

That they just wanted
to go out and have, like,

One night stands
and he didn't want

To be involved in
relationships like that.

He really wanted, uh, sincere
relationships with women.

- In addition to which he was,
those women could plainly see,

A bit of a hottie
and of course

You know how
gossip can be.

A good looking young guy
that brittany

Had treated very kindly.

He stayed in the master bedroom?

Where did she stay?

- She had a room over by
the pool, the swimming pool.

She liked to listen
to the fountain at night.

It helped her sleep.

- There had been speculation
that there was

Nothing romantic
or sexual about

Inviting this
young man in?

- You know, I joked
with her about it.

She would always say no,
he likes megan fox

And, you know,
he's not interested.

I'm too old.

- Still, who really knew
what went on

Behind closed doors?

Anyway, they couldn't ask joe.

He never stayed anywhere
very long

And he wasn't around anymore
to shed light

On his ex landlady's
disappearance.

So, still playing ametuer
slueths,

Brittany's family now asked
the obvious question.

Was there anyone here
in st. Augustine

Who might want
to harm brittany?

And the answer was
a resounding yes.

Friends like joanna simmons told
how at the serenata beach club

In the days before
she disappeared,

Brittany seemed terrified.

- I saw her one day leaving
the, uh, hot tub area

To go into the pool and she had
this look of absolute terror

On her face.

- Why britney was terrified
began with a very weird story

About a neighbor
she'd gotten to know.

This woman, her name
is ann lydon.

- Everybody knew brittany
and if she stopped you,

She'd want to chat and,
you know, get into your life.

- You couldn't get away
from her for a while.

- No, she's a busybody.

- And if ann doesn't speak
very kindly of brittany now,

You have to understand
it was very different

At the beginning.

Then they were friendly
enough to become partners

In a little dog
breeding venture.

- She wanted to breed
huey with one of mine.

- But then complications.

Brittany began a romance
with a fellow named billy,

Friend of ann
and her husband's.

Billy, uh, as the new boyfriend,
moved right in

And everything was
hunky dory

Until, well, love is
unpredictable.

And in this case,
it didn't last.

- They got into
some stupid fight.

So, billy calls up and said,
"I'm coming to get my stuff."

And, um, she said,
"come by yourself."

- But billy didn't
go there alone.

He was accompanied by
ann lydon and her husband.

- Brittany said,
"don't come in the house."

And they came in.

- But she was cussing
and screaming and whatever

And, um, I said,
"okay, I'm leaving."

- What happened?

- She hit me over the head
with a wine bottle

And she was sitting
on top of me strangling me

And michael and billy
pulled her off.

- Two sides to every story,
of course.

Brittany said ann and her
two men refused to leave.

- You would think
that's her house.

If I say,
"get out of my house,"

You should leave my house.

- And yes, it was true
they fought, said brittany,

But in a report to police,
brittany claimed

She didn't start it.

In fact, after the fight
subsided, it was brittany

Who called the police to accuse
ann of assaulting her, but...

- They went over
and talked to ann

And then they came back
and arrested brittany.

- Arrested brittany?

But why her?

- She admitted that
she put her throw--

Her hand on ann's throat

And-and they arrested her
based on that.

- They charged brittany
with battery.

She spent the night in jail.

It was a very
traumatic experience

And she called me up crying.

- In court, brittany was
sentenced to probation,

Anger management classes,
community service,

And a one year order
to stay away from ann lydon.

But ann, oddly perhaps,
chose to be closer

To brittany,
at least physically.

She and her husband
joined brittany's sanctuary,

The serenata beach club.

- Felt so bad for her
because that was a place

That she really, really
got peace and she was able

To socialize with people
and then enjoy herself there,

And then all of a sudden
here they show up

In the hot tub all the time.

- And before long,
the conflict--

The growing fear was all
brittany could talk about.

She was fearful for her life
and I-- and I-I told her,

Um, this could end
up killing you.

- Did brittany's terror
drive her

Hundreds of miles away?

- Her dogs were found
roaming the streets

And they were both
found separately.

- How did they manage
to connect two dogs

In columbia, south carolina
to her?

- That's just the beginning
of a long, strange tale.

- They were following her
credit card transactions

To north carolina,
idaho, oregon.

- When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

- What a respite was
the serenata beach club.

What a lovely perch from which
to enjoy the brilliant sun,

The warm soothing currents.

But on those summer days
in 2010, events at the serenata

Were perhaps a little too warm.

Day after day, the sworn enemies
faced each other

Across swimming pools
and hot tubs,

And all the while
brittany seethed with

An expanding collection
of insults and incidents

Heaped on her
by her ex friend ann.

- I was like, brittany,
can't you just let this go?

And she just--
she couldn't let go of it.

It was so-- it was sub--
an obsession actually.

- Brittany accused ann
of keying her car.

So, she began carrying
around a video camera

As a kind of a visual bodyguard
until the day when ann,

Tired of being taped,
swam over to the camera.

At that point poolside
inside brittany's bag.

- Yes, and I knocked
the camera in the pool.

She pushed my buttons.

She went around town--
the whole neighborhood--

Everybody, "I'm scared
for my life."

- It was after the dunking
of the video camera

That brittany launched
legal action against ann.

By this time she invited
joe roberts into her house

And so she listed the help
of the handsome young border

To prepare a dvd of the incident
to show the judge.

When she got to court,
said brittany,

She was going to tell that judge
just how dangerous

She believed ann was,
and in fact she was afraid

Ann was going to kill her.

- I think all her friends
made very clear she was

Quite traumatized by this.

She was just very, very
much afraid of this ann.

- The court date was
Wednesday July 7th, 2010.

The morning arrived.

Ann came with her attorney.

Sat in court waiting
and waiting

And brittany did not show.

So, that was the very day
she disappeared.

A convenient repree for ann--
too convenient.

Bizarre thought the crime
reporter,justine griffin.

In light of how important
that court date was to brittany.

- She had become
very obsessed of--

With this restraining order.

Everything she was doing was
to basically make sure

This restraining order
was going through,

- Perhaps brittany was
afraid to show up.

Afraid of what'd might happen?

These were not necessarily
genteel ladies, then.

- No, no.

They seem to be
very passionate about

Hating each other,
especially toward the end.

- So, in the days following
brittany's disappearance,

Some people around town
wondered just how much

Ann lydon knew or what she might
have to do with it.

After all, if anybody had
a motive it was ann.

Had all the anger,
the emotion, the bitterness

Finally culminated
in some violent confrontation?

Were they looking at you
as a suspect, you think?

The media.
- Of course they're gonna--

That's the first thing
you're going to think of.

I already had all the news
and the helicopters

And all that, you know,
filming the front of my house.

- The local police department
got wind of it of course.

- That's basically
where detectives

Started asking questions.

- But not very many questions
and not for long.

In fact, according to ann,

There was really only one thing
those detectives asked her.

Did she know anything about
where her arch enemy had gone?

What did you tell them?

- I haven't seen her.

He goes,
"that's all I need to know."

Never heard
from her again.

- And poof!

Just like that,
the police ruled out

Any involvement
on the part of ann lydon.

There were other reasons too,
of course, for doing that.

One of which was that
brittany was just fine

The day before she failed
to show up in court.

- They had surveillance footage
at this gas station

That showed her
getting out of her car,

Putting gas in it,
and then driving away.

Nothing unusual.

- And between
the time that video

Was recorded on July 6th

Then court
the next morning,

It turned out ann lydon
had an unassailable alibi.

So, what could
brittany's family do?

Through all their efforts,

They couldn't persuade
the police

That a crime
had occurred,

That something bad may have
happened to brittany,

And thus the investigation
stalled.

So, those who loved brittany
had no choice

But to follow what leads
there were on their own.

- We were keeping cool heads
and being vigilant,

Trying to do everything
possible,

Coaxing them to do things
they hadn't done.

"did my sister
go on a cruise?

"did she leave town
for a week or something?

"search this area.

"you haven't searched
this area.

Why haven't you done this?"

- But they also hired
a private investigator,

Remember,
and he had an idea.

If they couldn't find
brittany,

Maybe somehow they could
find her dogs.

- We were checking
the pounds.

We were doing anything
and everything

You can possibly imagine.

- Word about the dogs spread

And a week after
brittany's disappearance,

A call came in
and what do you know?

- A tiny white dog.

- It looked like
a rabbit at first.

- Her dogs were found
in columbia, south carolina.

- Ah.
- Without collars.

Just roaming the streets,

And they were both
found separately.

- How did they manage
to connect two dogs

In columbia, south carolina,
to her?

- She had the microchips
implanted in the dogs

With her information on them,

So the veterinary clinic
were able to scan them

And figured out that these dogs
were from florida.

- And belong to brittany.

- They belonged
to brittany, yep.

- Now all of the sudden
the case broke loose,

Because one of the dogs is found
two or three states away.

No tags.

Um, now finally
there's probable cause.

There's no question.

That was, uh, a key--
a key break.

- That was enough to
get the police involved,

But unfortunately,
at that point,

It was 11 days after
she disappeared.

- Finally, st. Augustine
police took over

From the band
of amateur sleuths.

Pat flew to florida to do
what she could to help,

Met with the police,
did the rounds of local media,

Tried to keep the search for
in her sister

Front and center
in the public mind.

- The family long ago
ruled out any possibility

That this is just
a purely innocent, uh,

Departure for her.

I mean, you know,
that just is not possible

That she would abandon
her pets and--

And, you know, stop
calling her friends.

I really felt that
it was a short--

A brief window
of opportunity

While there was still some
publicity about the case,

And then people
will move on.

There will be
other stories.

- Quite reasonable worry,

Especially when the search
for brittany

Seemed to be going nowhere.

- Her picture
had been everywhere,

And had she been anywhere,
somebody in florida--

Somebody would
have seen her picture.

That's why we started to think
she really has disappeared.

- And then, suddenly,
a break.

Almost two weeks after
brittany disappeared,

The police finally
picked up her trail.

Looked like she was on
a long, winding road trip.

What they found were her
credit card transactions,

Which headed north from florida
to south carolina

Where her dogs were found.

- They were following
her credit card transactions.

There were transactions
in north carolina,

Idaho, oregon.

- The question was,
was brittany alone?

Or was she with
someone else?

Was she the driver?
The willing passenger?

Or was there something else
going on?

- And what about
that young drifter

Who disappeared
along with brittany?

- He said, "I'm not what
people think I am,"

And I thought,
"wonder what that means?"

- They thought maybe
the two of them had just left,

Could have just gone on a trip
together, just left town.

- You realize that something
irreversible has happened.

- When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

♪♪

Welcome back to "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

I'm craig melvin.

Brittany tavar had
generously opened her home

To people who needed
a place to stay,

But brittany kept details of
these relationships a secret,

And now she was gone.

Investigators discovered
a trail of digital breadcrumbs

Leading across
the country,

And the race was on
to catch up to her.

Back to keith morrison
with "the stranger."

- A spouse
is late for dinner.

A teenager
stays out all night.

The awful,
sinking feeling

When a loved one
is out of touch.

Usually, of course,
everything rights itself,

But not for the family
of brittany tavar.

In July of 2010, they found
themselves stuck fast

In the purgatory
of missing persons,

The place where families
must go to wait,

For what
they do not know.

- You alternate between,
"it's not real.

"it isn't
really happening."

To having these terrible,
terrible moments

Where you realize that something
irreversible has happened.

- Brittany's two little dogs
had been found,

Abandoned by the side
of the road,

Three states away
in south carolina.

Brittany loved those dogs,

Would never abandon them,

And yet, the credit
card record

Made it look like she
had done exactly that,

That she'd been
driving her car

Clear across the country.

At last, a nationwide alert
was issued for brittany's car.

Now with the whole nation's
law enforcement on watch,

The answer to what happened
to brittany tavar

Should not be long
in coming.

The family held
its collective breath,

Waited, and hoped.

- We were dealing
with the bank authorities,

And they were talking
to the police.

If there's any activity,
one guy had a pager on him

With one of the cards.

If anybody tries to put
anything through on this card,

Our guy's pager's
gonna go off.

- By now, the local police
had been joined

By u.S. Marshals
and the fbi.

And attention now turned
to the young man

Who'd been living
at brittany's house,

The one she'd been showing off
at the beach club,

26 year old joe roberts.

It seems that
joe had left

Around the same time
as brittany disappeared,

And police now had to consider
the distinct possibility

That brittany had
simply washed her hands

Of the feud with ann lydon

And taken off on a cross-country
trip with young joe.

For justine griffin, that only
made the story more interesting.

- I mean, living in
her house for free, so...

- Makes you think,
doesn't it?

- Yeah. They thought maybe
the two of them had just left,

Could have just gone
on a trip together,

Just left town.

- So, really, it was
all speculation.

In fact, nobody had a clue
what those two did.

And then another
lucky break,

Or it seemed lucky.

The good news
in mid-July--

Police found out that just four
days after brittany vanished,

A cop stopped her toyota
on a highway out west,

But brittany wasn't driving.
Joe was.

- On July 11th, uh, roberts
was actually stopped by police

In wyoming for speeding.

- The bad news?

That cop stopped the car
before the alert went out.

He wasn't looking for the car
or brittany or anybody.

He said he didn't recall
seeing a passenger,

But then, he wasn't
looking for one.

- They let him go
with a warning.

- And now that car and whoever
was in it was long gone.

But that stop triggered
a serious effort

To find joe roberts.

- It was after that

That they had released
an arrest warrant for him

With grand theft charges.

- So the investigation
took a turn,

The police hoping
that finding roberts

Would lead to
finding brittany.

They went on tv hoping
to raise public awareness.

- We believe that they, uh,
car's gonna relate to people

More so than him,

Because it's a rav4
dark blue color vehicle

With florida tags.

He pretty much can blend in
with any crowd.

- Trouble was,
police soon discovered,

That only a few days
after brittany disappeared,

Just after the time
of that traffic stop,

The credit card trail
abruptly ended.

They must have stopped
using the card,

And without the
credit card trail,

The police had no idea where
roberts and brittany were now,

Or if they were even
still together,

And if not,
where was she,

And what was he up to?

- What we're concerned about

Is did he meet someone else
at a coffee shop?

And is he living
in someone's house right now?

And that's why I think
it's very important

To get this story out
as much as possible.

- And all that effort finally
produced another break,

Or what seemed like a break
and justine's next big story.

Police discovered somebody
caught roberts on videotape

Just four days after he
and brittany disappeared.

- There was surveillance
footage of him

Walking into a walmart
in ontario, oregon,

And him buying a tent
and some clothes.

- Just him.
No brittany.

But, again, by the time somebody
found the walmart video

And got it to
the florida police,

Roberts was
nowhere to be found.

- So they had alerted
police in that area,

Had started putting
out flyers.

It looked like from--
once he got to the walmart,

He was going to go
off the grid

With his tent
to live in the woods.

- But just who was
this kid anyway?

What was his story before
brittany took him in?

Oh, a lesson in recent
history seemed in order--

The curious story
of young joe roberts.

- He said to me
something really interesting

Which I thought was-- kind of
stopped me for a second.

He goes, "I'm not what
people think I am,"

And I thought,
"wonder what that means?"

- That strange
and charming drifter--

Was he hiding
a shady past?

- Well, he would just
sleep in his car,

But this is how he came
to know a few other women

In st. Augustine.
- The more I got to know him,

The more he started
scaring me.

- When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- It's a strange thing,
rather cruel, actually,

How an answer
so desperately sought

Can slip away just at
the moment of capture.

Police had finally
sniffed out the trail

Left by joe roberts,
the one person

Who seemed to know what
happened to brittany tavar,

But before they could
catch up to joe,

He was gone in a puff
of oregon fog.

- The investigators had alerted,
uh, police and law enforcement

All the way up
through washington,

Past seattle
in the pacific northwest,

'cause they thought he was
headed in that direction.

- Meanwhile, investigators
warned brittany's family.

- Well, they were telling me
he had a history

Of falling off
the radar screen.

- And sure enough,
that's just what he did.

And days turned
into weeks.

Summer turned into fall.

No sign of him.

Police suspicions
turned darker.

- I think it's important
for us here in florida

Not to lose interest

And to not just be thinking
and puttin' it off

As this guy is, you know,
2,000 miles away,

'cause he might still be
in our backyard

Or comin' back to our backyard,
for all we know.

- Life went on for
the rest of the world,

But not for those who
loved brittany tavar,

And who knew full well

That time is not on
the side of the missing.

- I really did feel
that the more time went on,

The less likely we
would be to find him.

- Brittany's family found
themselves in kind of limbo,

A barren landscape shared
by more people

Than they had ever
imagined was possible.

- People would say to me, "oh,
you need to talk to so-and-so.

"his sister disappeared."

There are hundreds of thousands
of missing persons,

Um, all heartbreaking
stories,

And you're just a number
in a pool of people

Who are going through this
or who have gone through this.

- Back in florida,

Police had been digging up
everything they could find

About joe roberts.

As crime reporter
justine griffin learned,

Joe had been on the road
roaming the country,

Ran out of money about the time
he got to st. Augustine

Where he began living off
the kindness of local women.

- Came here and got a job

Working as a clerk at
a kangaroo gas station,

And, uh, I guess when
he couldn't afford

To stay at a local motel,
he would just sleep in his car,

But this is how
he came to know

A few other women
in st. Augustine.

- One of them
was a coworker,

A single mother named
cheryl davenport.

As joe needed
a place to stay,

Cheryl invited him
to her place,

Put him a spare bedroom
right down the hall

From cheryl and her
two little children.

- He was a nice guy.

He was always really
good around the kids.

- So cheryl wasn't
worried about joe--

No reason to be,
apparently.

- Joe has too much
of a pretty boy face.

He wasn't
very intimidating at all.

I think I was more intimidating
than he was.

- But then cheryl
began to tell us

Some rather more disturbing
things about joe.

- He told me that
the reason why he left home,

He had run some type
of internet scheme

To where he was getting
people's credit card numbers

And stuff like that.

And they had found out,
and so he took off.

- He confessed this to you?
- Yeah.

And he said that him and his
family don't get along,

Because they believe
he has mental issues,

Severely messed up
in the head,

And that he was convinced
he didn't have issues.

- When he moved in,
said cheryl,

He told her he used to
have a drug problem,

But swore he'd stay clean,

Certainly at least while living
with cheryl and her family.

- He actually looked
for a job

For the first month.

And then he slowly just got
lazier and lazier.

- What was he doing?
- He was going on drug binges.

That's when the anger, like,
started coming out.

The more I got to know him,
the more he started scaring me,

And the more he started
upsetting me.

- And that's when
she says she demanded

That joe get out
of her house.

And then...

- He was about this close
into my face,

And he went like this,

Like he was gonna
punch me in the face.

And I just looked at him
with a dead stare

And I was like, "joe,"

I was like, "I swear to god,
if you hit me,

I will take you down."
[laughing]

- So he left
and found brittany,

Who police would learn
told her friends

Not long before
she disappeared

That she was getting a little
exasperated with joe, too.

- She said that, um,
she would come home,

And he would have gone
through her stuff

And that they got
in a few little fights.

I was kind of worried.
I asked her about them.

You know, she would go,
"no, it's okay, it's okay."

- Did you warn her?
- No, I did, I did.

I warned her about having
people into her house.

- And now still no word.

- We still didn't
stop believing

That there was a chance
that she was alive.

- Police rededicated
their efforts

To find the elusive
joe roberts.

- We are looking for him.
There's no question about that.

- Then sure enough.

- We figured it would be
something trite or petty

That he'd get caught for.

Sure enough,
that's what happened.

- The drifter
makes a mistake,

And brittany's family
learns the truth.

- It's just chilling for me
to think about that.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Welcome back.

The search
for brittany tavar

Became a hunt for
her secretive roommate,

A drifter
named joe roberts.

He was the one person
who could answer

Whether brittany
was still alive,

But roberts had been good
at covering his tracks so far.

Now police were hoping
he would slip up.

Here's keith morrison

With the conclusion
of the stranger.

- For three long months,
brittany tavar

Was just missing.

And all the searching since
by agencies

From the canadian mounties
to the fbi

Had produced no sign
of brittany or joe roberts,

The young boarder who
disappeared along with her.

Nothing, not a thing.

But then on
October 12th, 2010...

- He was caught
in seattle

In a grocery store
in the area,

Trying to steal
lunch meat.

- His captor was a clerk
in a grocery store.

- He wasn't a sheriff.
He wasn't a police officer.

He was somebody that was
employed by a grocery store

To deter theft.

- But it wasn't until after
the seattle police

Showed up and arrested roberts
on a shoplifting charge

They discovered this was
one very wanted man,

And so called the police
in st. Augustine, florida.

- Sometimes we just
have to count on luck,

And sometimes we can
count on their mistake,

And in this case
I think he made a mistake,

And, um, we had a little luck
on our side.

- And then
a little more luck.

- They had found
brittany tavar's car parked

In, like, a north seattle
library parking lot.

The keys had been locked
inside of it, actually.

- So the police had the car,
but no brittany.

It wasn't long before
policemen from florida

Were sitting in
a seattle interrogation room

With young mr. Roberts.

Her family waited again,

This time to hear
what roberts would say.

Only he could resolve
the mystery,

Why she'd been
out of touch for months.

- You always hold out
a small amount of hope

That she would be alive,
and you never give up hope.

- And then
within three hours,

There in that
police station,

Joe roberts finally
answered the question

That had been hanging
over everybody,

Half hope,
half dread,

Over what happened
to brittany tavar.

- The answer was perhaps
the most dreadful story

This young crime reporter
had yet written,

Taken right from the confession
roberts gave police.

- She woke up early on
the morning of her court case,

And woke him up
very angry

That something
wasn't done correctly

Or he didn't do it at all

And was bugging him
early in the morning,

Trying to get him out of bed,
yelling at him.

- Now why would
she do that?

It didn't take
but a minute

For her friends
to figure it out.

- This whole big argument
with joe was about

Him not being able
to get this dvd or cd

Up to perfection about what
they were gonna take to court.

- The court case against
ann lydon, that is.

And so her friends speculated
about what happened

That last morning
of her life,

Said she must have vented
her temper on a man

Who according to
a former landlady

Had a drug habit,
possible mental health issues,

And an anger problem.

- I think it just got
to the point

Where he got pushed
to the point of no return.

- In a statement to police,

Roberts said they argued

The nght before
her disappearance.

And then the next morning

Brittany went off
about something,

Which is when...

- He grabbed a hammer

And hit her in the head
a couple of times.

- That anger issue again.
- Right.

And she was laying on their--
on the kitchen floor bleeding.

And in the report he says

There was lots
and lots of blood.

And at first he tried
to stuff her body

In the attic of her house,

But he said that she was
too heavy for him to carry

All the way
up those stairs,

And then decided
he was going to leave town

And dump her body
in the woods.

Roberts would tell
investgators

That he brought
the dogs with him

To buy him some time,

Because he knew people
that knew her well

Would think that
it was strange

That she just left
without her animals.

- It was a shock, of course.

And then joe roberts
answered another question,

This one with
no good answer,

Where was brittany?

- She was found
on a state road,

Sort of where some
homeless camps in the area,

But it's mainly
just woods.

- One of the most
terrible things would be

To know that someone you loved
died in fear,

You know, died in a moment
of terror and pain.

And that was a very, very hard
thing for me to accept.

It just was-- even today,
it's just chilling

For me to think
about that.

- But at least...

- We never would have
found the body

If he hadn't told us,
you know,

It was in a forest
somewhere.

And the likelihood,
you know,

Maybe it would
show up in 20 years,

But we wouldn't
have found it.

- Having offered his detailed
confession to police,

Roberts pleaded not guilty
to first degree murder.

But ultimately his case
did not go to trial.

After years
of legal wrangling...

- State your name.
- Joseph roberts.

- Roberts pleaded guilty
to second degree murder

On an amended indictment
in may, 2014.

- And you still believe this
plea is in your best interest?

- Yes, sir.
- Thank you.

- And was sentenced
to 30 years

In a florida
state correctional facility.

As brittany's family
struggled

With the aftermath
of her loss,

Her friends looked
after brittany's dogs.

And her friends mourn,
as does her family.

- My sister was the one

That my parents worried about
the most, you know?

She was the one
they were concerned about,

Because she had
the hardest time

Getting her feet
on a path in life,

Finding her way.

We never, ever,
ever dreamed

That anything like this
would happen,

That anything violent
would happen to her.

I guess you have a point
from which you move on,

But there isn't
really closure.

That actually is something that
the homicide detectives know.

There really
isn't closure.

You know, that's a cliche
that people use,

But there's no closure.

- Brittany tavar lived life
on her own terms.

Naive? Maybe.
Reckless? Sometimes.

And it cost her dearly.

- She just thought
she was invincible.

She didn't think
anything bad could happen.

- But that's part of
who she was.

She did have
a very big heart.

- So she did,
and lived out loud

And was exuberant
and generous,

And for those who loved her,
is eternally missed

For all of those things.

- She was my sister,
and I've been robbed

Of the rest of my life
with my sister.

I've been robbed
of that relationship.

I've been robbed
of those conversations.

You know, I've been robbed
of that friendship.

- That's all
for this edition

Of "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

I'm craig melvin.
Thank you for watching.