Original subtitles

WENDI REED: This is the spiral notebook

that Margie Pandos, uh, turned over to us

when she turned over the note.

The note that was left at the scene

came out of this notebook.

This is a notebook that Jennifer used

to write back and forth with a friend.

So Jennifer would write summin',

when she'd finished, she would give it to her friend, Kerrie,

and then Kerrie would respond. I thought it was pretty typical

of what a 15-year-old girl would do during high school.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

There's a paragraph written that states,

"You may not know this,

but there are great problems among my family."

JENNIFER PANDOS, ACTOR: "There are great problems in my family."

WENDI: "It just doesn't seem that way."

"It just doesn't seem that way.

The tension in my family is so great,

I don't let many people know how I feel deep inside

because I don't care what happens to my family.

We were never a family.

But my parents think they can make us

one big, happy family.

I let them think it's working...

but it isn't, and it never will."

♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

WENDI: As we can see, she was having

some type of issue in the household.

The last entry in this notebook was made on February 9th, 1987.

And there's nothing in here that would indicate

that she was contemplating

running away or hurting herself in any way.

♪ (SOMBER MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

WENDI:

MARGIE PANDOS:

MARGIE:

MARGIE:

(DOOR OPENING)

KAREN SHULER:

KAREN:

STEPHEN PANDOS:

KAREN:

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

WENDI:

STEPHEN:

STEPHEN: For me, it was just one of these moments of...

"Is this really happening? Am I really here?"

When the police were trying to get ahold of my mother,

Wendi called my mother seven times

before my mother called her back.

And during that period of time, my mother is emailing my father,

asking, "What do they want?"

STEPHEN:

(STEPHEN SCOFFS)

STEPHEN:

(WENDI CHUCKLES)

STEPHEN:

WENDI: That day was stressful.

The letter of immunity was on all crimes

other than homicide.

Margie didn't want the letter, which led me to believe

that Margie was somehow more involved

than what we had thought at that point.

STEPHEN:

MARGIE:

STEPHEN:

(YELLS)

-♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪ -(BIRDS CHIRPING)

-Hi there. Come on in. -INTERVIEWER: Hey.

Nice to see you again.

INTERVIEWER: I thought this could be just real informal,

get more background information and stuff, so...

-Okay. -(DOORBELL RINGING)

Hang on.

-How you doing? -MARGIE: Hi.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

-Have a good one. -Thank you.

Okay. Uh, that was unexpected.

Uh. This is from the National Center

for Missing and Exploited Children.

So it might be the age-progressed...

drawing.

False alarm.

They asked for a photograph of me

from around the time I was 45 or so.

Many long years ago.

-(ENVELOPE RUSTLING) -(TELEPHONE RINGING)

MARGIE: I don't know who that is.

-(CLEARS THROAT) -(TELEPHONE CONTINUES RINGING)

Oh. Hello.

-CALLER: Uh, is this Margie? -It is.

JOHN: Hello, my name is John--

MARGIE: That telephone ringing with me,

getting up to answer it... (EXHALES)

...I've always been that way since she left.

You know, I can't...

Unless I can see, you know, who's calling...

I'm answering that phone.

INTERVIEWER: So how did you meet Ron?

MARGIE: I was head cashier

and he was one of the department managers,

and we married and Stephen came along and

you know, it's just a very mundane,

ordinary, nothing...

spectacular life.

♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

MARGIE: Stephen was born when he was stationed

at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah.

And when he was a month old,

I moved down there, and in mid-October

he got called up to go to Vietnam

and left Thanksgiving of '68.

He was the door gunner on a helicopter,

but he never really talked to me about what happened...

what he's-- had seen, what he did.

I really don't know.

I know he came home with a Bronze Star,

but I don't know what that was for.

And when he got back, he got his degree in accounting

and a few years later, Jennifer was born.

She had some problems.

Her hemoglobin was very low, very pale.

But within two months,

her iron was back where it needed to be

and we were happy and healthy, and she was a jolly baby.

Very independent.

She was pulling up with your fingers

when she was eight weeks old,

wanting to stand. I always said that

when she learned how to open the refrigerator,

that was the last she needed of me.

INTERVIEWER:

MARGIE: It was always strained, I think,

because Stephen was an infant when Ron went to Vietnam

and he came home, and he was an 18-month-old toddler,

you know, and he didn't really know him.

He knew me and his grandmother. It was somebody he had to learn.

As he got older and into sports,

Ron was the little league dad on his back,

and he was always that way, on his back about something.

He had a sh-- very short fuse.

Very short fuse. Um, you just...

mm... (HESITATES) ...knew when to stop,

you know, if you were trying to make a point.

If you woke him up,

you did it from a distance because you didn't know

if he was gonna come up swinging or not.

♪ (SOFT MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

(CUP CLATTERING)

So, what I'd like to do is...

um, what we call is a "debrief."

And, uh, the reason we do that is to look at all the facts.

Do we have motives? Do we have people of interest,

people that we need to interview?

And then we try to figure out the best avenue

of following investigations. Does that make sense?

-So... what happened... -♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

-(MARKER SCRATCHING) -DONNIE NORRELL: ...to...

Jennifer?

(CROW CAWING)

DONNIE: So, scenario one,

Jenn left on her own.

If she left on her own from her home

to at least the gate, if she met somebody afterwards,

there was a pretty good distance of a walk.

It was 28 degrees.

Did she take anything? We don't know.

When she normally leaves on a planned visit,

she takes a ton of stuff.

Her girlfriends have verified that.

But the bigger question is

if she wrote the note and she left on her own,

why was it necessary to disguise her writing?

Disguising the writing

would rule this out because it wasn't necessary.

If she was leaving on her own free will,

why not write the note in her own writing?

You always have to consider this, suicidal ideation.

She left on her own and she was gonna take her life,

maybe jump off a bridge, jump into water.

But that scenario doesn't fit

because she had no history of it.

So, scenario two

is Jenn calls somebody to pick her up.

Who would come and get her?

Tony, the ex-boyfriend, the unknown father figure?

There is one slight possibility of Hendrix.

This is a person

that she babysitted for in the past.

And could this possibly be the same person?

I don't know.

Then again, why disguise handwriting?

Why was that necessary?

I believe that this is the less likely

of all the scenarios that could have happened

because you have to get past the gate,

you have to know where the residence is,

you have to enter the residence

and participate in writing a note

knowing that her parents are upstairs.

It doesn't make sense

if nothing nefarious was going on.

In the last scenario, something happens in the house.

There's only three people in the house...

Mom, Dad, Jenn.

In this scenario, there's explanations

why the handwriting is disguised.

"I'll never come back if you notify the police,"

so there's a time delay for the parents.

Certain details,

the money in the bank, the doctor's appointments.

I need to cancel her doctor's appointment

on Friday. (INHALES DEEPLY)

Mom makes the appointments, and a 15-year-old kid

just goes whenever Mom says,

"Remember, we got a doctor's appointment Friday."

The parents’ behavior was bizarre.

Most parents, if their kid was gone in the morning

and there was a crazy note like that,

the first thing they'd have done is call 911.

(COIN RATTLING)

DONNIE: Sharon is the last person

that calls Jennifer and talks to her

the night before her disappearance,

calls from school on two occasions.

Hi, Mrs. Pandos. Is Jenn there?

She's sick?

Oh, well can you tell her that I called?

DONNIE: The first occasion,

the mother says that Jenn's sick.

Is she still sick? You said she was sick.

DONNIE: And on the second,

-she's off with her father. -Oh.

Well, can you tell her to call me

when she gets home, please?

DONNIE: She's lying to school kids

about her daughter,

when she knows her daughter is missing.

And then, again,

none of her friends ever hear from her.

I still stick to this scenario

as the one that I would pursue.

I'm thinking she had some type of accidental death.

The parents’ behavior is way too crazy to believe,

and then the polygraphs, the handwriting,

the father's history of potential violence,

post-traumatic stress syndrome.

It's tax time. He's stressed, he's working hard.

She's got a crappy teenage attitude

in calling him by his first name.

Okay, okay, all right.

All right, I'll get off the goddamn phone, Ronald, okay?

Sharon, I'll talk to you tomorrow.

"Didn't I tell you to get off that phone?

-It's a school night." -I'm off the phone, Ronald.

"Whatever, Ronald."

(GRUNTS) I can't wait to just get away from you.

(GASPS)

And it could have been as simple as--

(JENNIFER THUDS)

DONNIE: And you fall back

and hit your head on the bedpost...

Baby. Baby, wake up.

DONNIE: ...fracture your skull and you're dead.

Wake up. Baby, wake up.

Wake up, baby. (PANTS) Baby, wake up.

Those are things that only two people know

and that's the mother and the father.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

STEPHEN: So where do you think she is?

Where do I think she is? I have no idea.

STEPHEN: No, we gotta-- you gotta think she's someplace.

-What do you think-- if-- -If Ron were--

Hypothetically, if Ron were to accidently kill her,

where would he put her?

I think he took her somewhere

on one of his nightly excursions

or when he went to Pennsylvania.

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(COFFEE POURING)

(CROCKERY CLATTERING)

STEPHEN'S DAUGHTER: I'll call you about my car later.

Okay. Yeah.

STEPHEN'S DAUGHTER: Bye, Dad.

(CLOCK TICKING)

(DOOR CLOSING)

-(BIRDS CHIRPING) -(KEYS RATTLING)

(CAR BEEPING)

(CAR ENGINE REVVING)

(RAIN PATTERING)

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

MARGIE:

-WENDI: -MARGIE:

STEPHEN: In the three days

between the time that my sister disappeared

and the time that my parents called the police,

and my father telling the police department

that he went to Pennsylvania

to tell his mother about Jennifer...

That never happened.

INTERVIEWER: So... can you tell me

-your relationship to Stephen? -Cousin.

JENNIFER BROADT: Once a year in the summer,

Jennifer and Stephen would come in--

more so Jennifer for about two weeks,

and I would spend time with her. When Jenny and I were little,

I remember her and Ron would be very playful,

wrestling and--

And it would get rough sometimes.

And sometimes he did hurt her, not intentionally,

but, you know, Jenny would cry in the corner.

It was that kind of thing.

My aunt would always be yelling, "Knock it off, knock it off."

So they were playful and loving,

but then on the other hand, she was terrified of him.

I could see it.

But when I was a kid, I just thought it was

because you're afraid to get in trouble by your parents.

I don't know, though.

It's-- It's just hard to believe all of it really.

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

-STEPHEN: Hey, Uncle Bob. -BOB RITZ: Hey, Stephen.

-How are you? -(BOTH CHUCKLE)

-STEPHEN: Give me a hug. -(BOB GROANS)

-How are you? -Good, Jenn. How are you?

Good.

-I have something for you. -(PAPER RUSTLING)

-STEPHEN: What's that? -(CLEARS THROAT)

STEPHEN: (INHALES DEEPLY) Oh, my God.

-I was a fat baby. -(BOB LAUGHS)

DONNA BROADT: (LAUGHS) Weren't you.

STEPHEN: Oh, so when's that?

DONNA: That was when he graduated from...

-STEPHEN: High school? -DONNA: ...high school.

And then the other one is his grandmother, my aunt.

-STEPHEN: That's my grandma. -(DONNA CHATTING INDISTINCTLY)

STEPHEN: What did--

What did my parents tell Nan all these years?

You know?

BOB: Well, it's a mystery to us.

But we didn't find out until-- we assume

-it was 1997 or '98 probably. -Yeah.

-BOB: Right? -DONNA: One time I remember

when they came up to visit in the summertime,

they said that Jenny was invited to go to the shore with friends

and that's why she wasn't there. And then when you got married,

your nan told us that Jenny was living with somebody

who forbid her to come to the wedding.

So we had no reason--

BROADT: That's not what I heard.

-DONNA: What did you hear? -I heard that your dad had said

she had a trip planned with friends.

That's why she wasn't at your wedding.

But I thought, "Why wouldn't you be

at your own brother's wedding?"

DONNA: Yeah, I heard you say that

but Aunt Kitty told me...

-BOB: Different story. -DONNA: ...a different story.

BOB: I think the most perplexing thing-- if indeed

-Jenn was missing, right... -STEPHEN: Mm-hmm.

-...the day she was missing... -STEPHEN: Yeah.

BOB:...why wouldn't someone try to get in touch

with one of us to see if Jenn ever called us

-or talk-- talked to us? -STEPHEN: Yeah.

That's, I guess, the-- what bothers me the most.

When your grandmother got sick, I remember saying to him,

"Ron, you need to tell your mother about Jenny."

And later I ask him,

"Did you tell your mother?" And he said, "Yes."

And I said, "What did she say?"

And he said, "She asked me what I did to her."

It's obvious from this letter he sent me

when he got out of prison that, yeah, there is some things

that he carries with him from Vietnam.

"To this day, I remember vividly my first confirmed kill.

To this day, I see the lady's face

and I constantly ask if she had a family

and did she have any children?

I still have flashbacks.

My granddaughter was born on August 12th, 1999

and I haven't seen her yet.

Not because I don't want to,

but because I'm too ashamed to see my son.

I feel that I failed my son and my daughter."

It's just sad.

INTERVIEWER:

(STEPHEN SIGHS)

I don't know how to say this,

so I'm just gonna sort of spit it out

and it's gonna be really inarticulate.

(SIGHS) This whole experience...

and maybe o-- one of the reasons that I fight... (INHALES)

...you know, so hard for Jennifer,

is that it's what a family I think is supposed to be.

If that makes any sense?

Um...

And that ideal, you know. Um...

I guess because I never had it and it's what I...

probably want more than anything.

That sense of belonging that, you know, that I don't have

because I really don't have a family...

-(CAR HORN HONKS) -...an immediate family. Um...

(INHALES) Uh...

Does that make any sense?

INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

-Hello? -INTERVIEWER: Hello. Come in.

This box is...

the evidence that I collected against Ron Pandos.

It includes everything I had on him.

-INTERVIEWER: You okay? -No. (CHUCKLES) No, I'm not.

(SNIFFLES) It's very difficult

because no one's wanted to hear my story. No one.

And I begged people, I begged them...

(SNIFFLES) ...to hear my story.

INTERVIEWER: Where would you like to start?

You want to start with just meeting Ron?

Well, I met him in...

2005 through an internet dating site.

I just really, like,

fell head over heels in love with him...

(INHALES)

...becau-- And he seemed to be in love with me.

You know, he'd tell me he was a veteran

and that his daughter was like an endangered runaway.

And then he showed up one day at my house

and he said, "I brought something

for you to read." And I said, "What is it?"

And he handed me a piece of paper,

it was in a, uh, plastic holder.

And he said, "This is the ransom note

they left when someone...

kidnapped my daughter."

And the ransom note was written in...

like a black Marks-A-Lot,

in letters probably that big.

And I don't remember now what it said,

but it struck me as very odd.

And I said-- I said, "Is that the original ransom?"

He goes, "Yes, it is." I said, "Why do you have it?

How come the police department didn't have it?"

He said, "Well, they didn't seem to be interested."

And then,

I went and read an article about Jennifer.

It had the ransom note that was left

the night she disappeared. The note he showed me

is totally different than the other note.

Plus, when I read that other note,

I said, "Well, I can tell you who wrote it.

He wrote it, because that's the way he writes."

Like starting out in first person

and then going into, like, third person.

He does that as a matter of course.

DONNIE: So Ron marries Ruth Ann in 2007.

He pleads guilty to the fraud charge

in South Carolina, 2008.

Shortly after that, Ruth Ann turns him in

on possession of a firearm,

says something's going bad with their marriage.

He is sentenced to three years.

During that time, a protective order

is issued on behalf of Ruth Ann. He's released on the 23rd,

and on March 25th,

he is accused of stalking her and going by her residence.

RUTH ANN PHILLIPS: And they all wondered,

"Why doesn't she divorce him?

Why does she stay married to him?"

I did it because, as his wife, I was able to give evidence

to Wendi Reed, the FBI, and whoever needed it.

WENDI: I spoke with Ruth Ann about her relationship with Ron.

She told me Ron was a habitual liar

and that she had come to believe that Ron had killed Jennifer.

It was horrifying. It was horrifying.

You know, think about that daughter.

(INHALES) And...

Okay, Ron had always told me that her boyfriend--

he was trying to get her boyfriend,

like, indicted.

That guy is innocent. Ron's trying to blame him.

I hope that man's not having to live in fear of this.

JEFF VELLINES:

(RUSTLING)

♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

-INTERVIEWER: I just-- -Be-- Before you start...

-INTERVIEWER: Yeah. -...just so you know,

because-- And I tell this to everybody that talks to me,

is I don't BS,

and I'll tell it to you just like I have it. (EXHALES)

So, if you can't deal with that, that's your problem.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

INTERVIEWER: Well, I'm all right with that.

Okay. I just-- Just so you know. (CHUCKLES)

INTERVIEWER: So walk me through the night before.

What-- What do you remember?

-About the night before? -INTERVIEWER: Yeah. And like...

(EXHALES DEEPLY) I do remember...

Jenny was in her room. Well, I was working.

I worked late that night, I remember that.

Uh...

Jenny was doing homework when I came home.

She was in her room doing her homework.

And, uh, we just basically all went to bed.

'Cause we watched-- Yeah, we just went to bed.

And then the next morning, my wife at the time got up...

and went to open her door and it was locked.

We were going, "What the hell"-- Sorry, "What's going on?"

Got the door open,

and then the note was laying on her bed.

And then I read the note... (INHALES DEEPLY)

...and I went, "What the hell just happened?"

First thing I did that I remember...

was I went to both gates...

to see if they had a record of anybody who came in...

into the gates, came into the subdivision,

but they didn't have anything.

Passed out posters,

went... (SIGHS)

...tried to find Tony Tobler. Couldn't find Tony

'cause I still say he has something to do

with the issue.

And I could be wrong, but that's just my opinion.

♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

CROWD: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag

of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands,

one nation, under God,

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

INTERVIEWER: When's the last time you talked to Stephen?

(WHISTLES) Eight years ago.

He had come to the prison to talk to me.

And he wanted me

to admit to doing stuff

that I know I didn't do, and I wouldn't admit to it.

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any part of that conversation?

Not that I wanna talk about.

STEPHEN: In February 2010,

I went to see my father when he was in prison.

I'm speaking to my father, you know, through--

on a telephone, through a piece of glass.

And it was during that, you know,

three and a half hour conversation

that my father said, you know,

"Hypothetically, I hit her and she fell and hit her head."

And you know, "You want me to take the fall

for this for your mother? I'll take the fall."

Which I believe is my father's way of saying

he did it while being a victim.

You know, a martyr for my mother or an accident if he hit her.

But he gets to avoid responsibility.

(RAIN PATTERING)

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

DONNIE: So, from the time-- from the prison,

how many contacts have you had since then?

-He left me one voicemail. -Oh, just a voicemail?

-STEPHEN: That was it. -What did he say?

You know, he accused me of playing God, I guess,

with this thing with my mother.

Is he married now?

He is. Wife number three.

DONNIE: How do you feel about giving him a call again?

Do you think he'd ever tell you the truth?

I'd like to think that he would.

DONNIE: We don't have anything to lose, do we?

Nothing.

Yeah, he can call me. Yeah.

And if you have an issue, let's get down and settle it.

If you have something to discuss, let's discuss it.

(INHALES DEEPLY) Here it is.

-I put this out for Jennifer. -♪ (SOFT MUSIC FADES) ♪

I just felt like, after, you know,

the court declared her deceased, that...

I had to do something.

And when we put this out, we had a little,

you know, ceremony I guess with, uh...

one of the local ministers from town came out here. But...

(INHALES) Uh...

This is what we did for her.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

It's all dirty.

It's just one of those things

that reminds you that this is a reality,

and it's hard to get used to.

(SIGHS)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

RON: I got an email from Stephen this morning.

"Hi, Dad. A lot has happened that you don't know about.

In 2014, I petitioned the court in Virginia to have

Jennifer declared deceased, which they did.

I also subpoenaed the police department

for Jennifer's case file.

That is what I want to discuss."

So that kind of irritated me a little bit.

Actually, a lot, to be honest with you.

I understand it's his sister...

but it's their daughter,

And what gives him the right to tell everybody she's dead

if they don't know that for a fact?

Unless he knows something we don't know.

Which is a good-- Which is a question.

Somebody's not being straight up,

let me put it that way. Hmm.

And I really think the last thing...

(CLEARS THROAT)

...somebody wants to do is not be straight up.

Hmm.

Because God forbid if that becomes the case.

-(INHALES) Hmm. -(CELLPHONE LINE RINGING)

DONNIE: (OVER PHONE) Hey, Stephen. How you doing?

I'm doing great, Donnie. How are you?

DONNIE: All right. What's up?

I'm hoping to have a conversation with my father...

here shortly.

I want to hear, you know, what he has to say

about some of the accusations

in this analysis of these notes.

-DONNIE: Then ask him. -Yeah, well--

DONNIE: But let me tell you, though,

sometimes you gotta eat a little crow.

I don't know if you love him, but I would say,

"Dad, we don't have much family but you are my father.

So if you know something, you know, please tell me.

I just want to know

what happened to my little sister."

But I mean, our time on Earth is limited.

He's not getting any younger

and you want to find out what happened, right?

Absolutely.

DONNIE: Because every time he gets in a dialogue,

he says stuff like the crazy comments

about, "Get me in an airplane and I'll show you where she is."

You know, what do you have to lose?

Not a lot.

-DONNIE: All right, man. -Thanks, Donnie.

-DONNIE: See you later. -Okay.

-DONNIE: Take care. Goodbye. -All right, bye-bye.

(PAPER RUSTLING)

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

Okay.

(CELLPHONE LINE RINGING)

Can we take a break for a minute?

Hello.

Hey, Dad.

RON: Hey, uh, help me out here. What's going on?

Who gave you the authority

to go and have her declared deceased?

I-- I, you know, I'm her brother.

I-- I can do that. Take it up at the court.

That's what I did. And at the same time,

I subpoenaed the police department

for Jennifer's case file. When they picked the case

back up in the early 2000s,

they had to rebuild a case file and that's what they gave me.

Ask him if he can send you a copy--

Can you send me a copy of it?

Yeah.

So, I'm gonna email you a couple things

and then we can go through

while you're sitting there on the phone.

I just sent it.

Print those things and then call me back.

-JAY HALFORD-PANDOS: Okay. -Okay, great.

-Thanks. Bye-bye. -JAY: All right, bye.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

His wife Jay has no idea.

She doesn't know...

any of this.

You can look at the other.

We're supposed to read it and call him back.

"The inclusion of personal information

in the letter suggests the writer

had an extremely close relationship to Jennifer."

STEPHEN: So, I just sent my father

an analysis of the note

that was left when Jennifer disappeared.

JAY: "If your note was fabricated

to misdirect the investigation

and it contains personal information,

your most plausible offender

would be one or both of the parents."

(SIGHS)

What?

I just don't comprehend.

Well, some things don't make sense.

STEPHEN: The stuff in here, I think it's pretty chilling.

If he's not real medicated right now,

he's reading this and just getting

angrier and angrier with every sentence.

RON: I can partially understand

where he's coming from. Not totally, partially.

-JAY: But how do you-- -Hmm.

JAY: What do you think happened to Jennifer that night?

RON: I really think somebody came in to get Jennifer.

And whether they lived in there,

-or whether they-- -JAY: But why?

I don't know. If I knew why,

-I'd be a happy camper. -JAY: I know.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

(CELLPHONE RINGING)

STEPHEN: Hello.

JAY: Hello, Stephen, it's me again.

Hi.

I still don't see anything that Margie or Ron, either one,

did anything to Jennifer.

You know, Jay, when you read these documents

and you take into account all of the other things.

The four different teams of cadaver dogs

that all had positive hits underneath my parents’ house,

that my father did not tell his family

that Jennifer disappeared for at least seven years

-after the fact. That-- -Stephen, he went up

and told your grandmother about a week after it happened.

That's not true.

-Yeah, it is. -Yeah, it is.

It is-- It is not true. It is not--

JAY: Well, that's-- according to--

according to his aunt...

STEPHEN: I've talked to them.

They did not know for seven years, at least.

I've talked to Sharon Rose,

who was on the phone with Jennifer

when you guys got into a fight the night that she disappeared.

Both my parents have failed polygraphs.

You know, why did you guys

wait three days to call the police?

Because that's what the note said to do.

They really believed what the note read.

-STEPHEN: Okay. All right. -JAY: They didn't know. It said

-not to contact the police. -STEPHEN: So here it is.

So you believed and you wanted to follow

all the terms of the note.

The note also said to put money into Jennifer's bank account,

-but you guys never did that. -That's right. We never did.

Right. So how do you follow

some terms of the note, but not all?

I don't think they canceled the doctor's appointment either.

Okay, you're deflecting.

-You know, the-- -RON: No, we're not.

No, we're not. We're not deflecting at all.

-It's ridiculous. -RON: No, it's not.

You need to get your head on straight.

My head is pretty much on straight.

-You know-- -No, I don't.

STEPHEN: You don't have good answers.

Well, the fact that they could

get rid of the body is ludicrous.

I mean, where-- where did they put it?

I don't know. Why don't you ask my dad?

He drew a partial map when he failed his polygraph.

-A map to what? -RON: A map to what?

To where Jennifer's body is, behind the mill pond.

No, you better back up there

because what they asked me to do was they asked me to draw

the back of the property. And then they asked me

what was on the other side of the pond

and my answer was woods.

Okay, well, I'm just-- I'm just--

I'm telling you what I've been told.

And the police have no reason to lie to me.

Are you sure about that?

STEPHEN: Yeah, I'm sure about that.

When I confronted my father about this

when he was in prison in Oklahoma,

what did you tell me, Dad?

You said hypothetically what?

Oh, I said, hypothetically, do you want me to...

state that your mother did it, or something like that?

STEPHEN: No.

You said hypothetically

you hit Jennifer and she fell and hit her head.

And then you said, "You want me to take the fall

for this for your mother? I'll take the fall."

Which is your way of saying you did it.

-(SIGHS) -Outside of Jennifer

walking in the door,

is there anything else gonna convince you

that your father had nothing to do with this?

Doubtful.

JAY: Did you guys have any type of relationship at all?

STEPHEN: No. My father was not safe to be around.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

STEPHEN: He was-- had a temper.

He was unpredictable and violent

and abusive to me and to my sister.

And emotionally abusive to my mother. So no.

-That's interesting. -Yeah, that is.

JAY: Has he ever hit you?

-STEPHEN: Absolutely. (CHUCKLES) -Yeah.

JAY: I'm not talking about a spanking.

Oh, no. I'm talking about-- I've been choked, punched,

kicked, hit with a golf club. You name it, it's happened.

Okay. Hmm.

JAY: This exactly is why I said

you need to talk to your dad and to your mom,

and I feel really sorry for your mom right now.

-I feel so sorry. -STEPHEN: Well, you know what?

I'm sorry for her too. And I'm-- And I'm angry that,

you know, for her in that, you know, my father

has robbed her of any kind of life over this.

That was your choice, Stephen.

Now, Stephen, you gotta own up to that.

Ron had nothing to do with your decision making.

RON: And when was the last time you talked to her?

Mm...

I don't know.

It's been a little while.

Yeah. So you really think I did it?

STEPHEN: Yes.

-Okay. Hmm. -JAY: All right.

Well, listen. You have a nice day.

-Sure. Bye-bye-bye. -Bye.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

That was surreal.

And I just was--

I feel like I'm surrounded by crazy.

I don't--

But, you know, conversations like this

are just maddening.

You know?

To me, I don't know how anybody can read this

and honestly say that it's not conclusive.

INTERVIEWER: Sharon did say that she heard you on the phone.

And the way she describes it,

you got heated with Jennifer about getting off the phone.

(COUGHS) Could be.

If it was past her bedtime,

I would have said, "Get off the phone."

I could see me doing that in a heartbeat.

JAY: I can see you being strict.

I can fully see that, a 100 percent.

But I can't see you being physical-abusive, I can't.

-Hmm. Nah. -Do you think

-Marge was afraid of you? -No.

I don't, you know... As far as I know, no.

It's crazy.

I-- Am I nuts? You know?

After all this.

You know, I feel that way.

I just-- I don't know what else I can do right this second.

(INHALES) I feel like I've tried everything

over the years.

MARGIE: I don't know if we'll ever have a relationship.

I don't know if he will ever be able

to put that aside and know that I'm here.

I'm here for him,

I feel his pain, I have pain myself.

INTERVIEWER: I think the assumption by Stephen is that

the note was in the case file,

so you having it makes it suspicious.

MARGIE: As for the missing case file,

I cannot say with total recall

that I saw that-- that Ron had it,

but something...

out there wants me to say that yes, he did.

Some inkling back in the recesses of my mind

that he had it.

And how he got it, I don't know.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

STEPHEN: So we're going to do a cadaver dog search

in Kingsville, where my father drew this partial map.

This would be the second one, they've done one before.

Wendi wants to do it again, so we're gonna do it again,

and hopefully they find something.

(INDICATOR CLICKING)

-Good to see you. -STEPHEN: Good to see you.

-WENDI: How are you? Good. -STEPHEN: I'm good. How are you?

OFFICER 1: So tell me what this area looked like

back in '87.

-Probably much-- -Were these houses here?

-Yeah. Everything was here. -OFFICER 1: Okay.

OFFICER 2: Do we have some reason to believe

that an altercation occurred

-in these areas... -DONNIE: No.

...or is that just a supposition?

DONNIE: I'm thinking for a body--

hiding a body, body disposal.

-Well, I think we have a plan. -(CELLPHONE RINGING)

WENDI:

If you can give him a call,

he wanted to talk to you while you're up here.

Sure.

(CAR ENGINE REVVING)

STEPHEN: Good luck.

Yeah, okay.

I'll see you back at the hotel later.

Yeah.

DONNIE: All right.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

OFFICER 1: Are you ready?

Search!

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(CELLPHONE LINE RINGING)

JAKE RICE:

Hey, Jake. Stephen.

-JAKE: -Hey, how you doing?

JAKE:

Yeah, yeah.

JAKE:

Yeah, yeah. That's fine. We can do it now if you want to.

INTERVIEWER: Tell us who Jake is.

STEPHEN: So, Jake Rice,

he's the guy in charge of the investigation.

We're gonna go see what he has to say.

(CAR DOOR CLOSING)

-STEPHEN: You all right? -JAKE: I'm doing. I'm doing.

INTERVIEWER: What?

They found the case file buried in the bottom of the...

(CLICKS TONGUE) ...you know, property evidence room in a--

the-- in a box somewhere.

They found the original case file.

|Don't you guys wanna hear this?

-JAKE: (OVER RECORDING) -STEPHEN: Oh.

JAKE:

STEPHEN: Okay.

JAKE:

STEPHEN: Okay.

JAKE:

STEPHEN: Yeah.

JAKE:

-STEPHEN: Right. Yeah. -JAKE:

STEPHEN: Okay.

JAKE:

STEPHEN: All right.

JAKE:

-STEPHEN: Uh-huh. -JAKE:

-STEPHEN: All right. -JAKE:

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

STEPHEN: Yeah, come on in.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

So, how did it go?

WENDI: Uh, they ran the three dogs...

-Uh-huh. -...and they showed

-some interest in the area... -STEPHEN: Yeah.

...but they didn't indicate that there was anything there.

If the theory is that something happened

and your sister was removed from the house,

then it looks more like, you know,

they probably would have left in a car.

All right.

Which that opens up the door for anywhere...

-STEPHEN: Right. -DONNIE: ...you know.

So, I went and saw Jake, um,

and he told me that they found the case file.

He said that there was some new stuff in it

but didn't really elaborate.

It's hard to get your head around, right?

-Right. -You know--

It's a lot to process in one day.

Right. In a couple of hours.

-Right. -(STEPHEN CHUCKLES)

(SIGHS) Right.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

JAKE: The original case file was located.

It was located inside of our records division.

INTERVIEWER: So what changed for you then when that happened?

Well, what changed is that there was information in there

that we had never had.

Different names that were in there.

It gave us a little bit more perspective

on exactly what the parents were telling us.

By looking in that case file,

you can tell that the mother and father

were very active in the case when she went missing.

They were out handing out flyers

and constantly in contact with the police department.

INTERVIEWER: Now, the parents,

are they still high on your list of suspects?

JAKE: They were in the house with her.

They were the last ones to see her.

So, Ron and Margie are suspects

as long as we don't have information

or evidence that exonerates them.

STEPHEN: I mean, does the fact

that they have now found the case file,

does it change anything?

It gives the current investigator

things to follow up on I'm sure.

-Right. -WENDI: It's just new

information to check on.

It just seems like...

everything my parents did was opposite...

Right.

STEPHEN: ...of what everybody else does.

Yeah. And with the note,

you know, no logical person is gonna do something to a kid

and then break back into the house...

-STEPHEN: Right. -...to leave a note

and risk getting caught.

All right. Well, what's next, Donnie?

I've always wanted to do the interview with your mother.

STEPHEN: Yeah, for sure.

DONNIE: It's gonna be a tough interview.

I think she knows more.

I don't know that she knows all the details.

I think if my father could have kept,

you know, details to himself,

that he would have done it,

but I don't think there's any doubt

that she knows more.

INTERVIEWER:

Yes.

I believe all cases are solvable.

Now, some take a whole lot more time,

some of them take just the extreme

little bit of luck, and I believe

that we are going to come to a conclusion on this case.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪