Original subtitles

(phone vibrates) (somber music)

- [Narrator] 91 million of us worldwide search

for love online.

- She was looking for love.

- She wanted someone that would give her the freedom

to be herself.

- He looked like a normal nice guy.

(swooshing)

(police radio chattering)

- [Narrator] But internet dating can be a dangerous game.

(ominous music) (dog barking)

- [Reporter] The mother of two small boys reported missing

early Sunday morning.

- [Narrator] In the UK alone, crime linked to online dating

has risen 450% over five years.

- This is a predator's paradise.

- It's that dark side of the web

that people don't realize exists.

- [Narrator] These are the real life love stories

that ended in tragedy.

- Each day, she was living in fear.

- I knew that he was no angel, but he really had me tricked.

- [Narrator] So how well do you really know

the person you're dating?

- She didn't stand a chance against that monster of a man.

(camera shutter clicking)

(suspenseful music)

- Orting is a small community within Pierce County,

population between 7,000-8,000.

The city of Orting's in a rural area of Pierce County.

You know, there's a handful of businesses,

a handful of restaurants.

There's a river that runs through there

that's fed from Mount Rainier.

There's not a lot of crime in Orting.

They haven't had very many homicides.

It's not a city that's out of control.

- That area of Washington is a pretty close-knit community.

Everybody knows each other down there,

so when she went missing,

it was kind of a shock to everybody.

(suspenseful music)

- [Reporter] Nicole White hasn't been seen

since Saturday night.

- There is still no sign of this mother of two.

- Detectives tell me they believe something sinister

may have happened to Nicole,

but tonight her family says they are not giving up hope.

- Nicole was my daughter, my oldest daughter.

She was really bright.

She was full colors.

She was very kind.

(laughs)

Wow.

(chokes up)

She was kind and always out there trying to help people out.

- Let's see...

She referred to herself as Irish-Mexican.

She was like so short, and tiny, and adorable.

She was beautiful, and kind, and so much fun, like...

But she was tiny.

She was short, she came up to my shoulder.

- I guess we didn't get along until we were older.

We used to fight,

I mean, what siblings don't? (chuckles)

When we had kids, then we became became really close.

I guess she was very protective over us, so...

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] At 28, Nicole White was living

in her hometown of Orting, of Pierce County,

and was a single mother to her two young sons.

- She got married at a young age.

It didn't work out for her and so they divorced.

- After her marriage ended,

Nicole was just working on getting a great job

to make sure she could take care of her sons.

I mean, she was the hardest worker that I ever met.

- She was starting to pick up on her life.

She was starting to date, and she got her a new car,

and she was paying her way in her apartment,

and her and her sons were all together.

- Well, like most separation and divorce,

I'm pretty sure she felt pretty depressed, I'm sure,

you know, down.

But what kept her going was her two kids,

and she was still keeping mentally strong.

She would tell me she would meet the guys,

but she didn't tell me that she was, you know, online.

I think any person that's feeling lonely

and going through a divorce and stuff

sometimes go different ways

to try to fill in that empty space

that, I mean, she needed somebody.

She wanted to feel somebody,

enjoy time with and not feel so lonely.

- If Nicole was lonely as well as being a single mom,

and perhaps feeling low, placing yourself out there online,

on the online dating sites for example,

can leave you in quite the vulnerable position,

because you may not be alert

to what might ordinarily be clear warning signs of risk,

or danger, or the potential for that.

- I did know Nicole was getting involved

with the online dating.

I told her a lot of negative things,

and basically lectured her about it.

I told her that it was dangerous.

You don't know who you're dealing with,

or if it's even that person.

And I used to tell her, you know, she was very,

she was smart.

(clears throat)

I think she thought she was bigger than what she was.

(laughs)

She wasn't scared.

(phone vibrates) (suspenseful music)

- Me and Nicole would show each other

the profiles and stuff,

like, "Oh, what do you think of this guy?"

And we talked about who she was talking to,

or who she maybe was thinking about meeting up with.

- [Narrator] In spring 2015,

Nicole found the profile of 29 year-old Jonathan Harris

on a dating website.

- When Nicole met John, I'm not sure if she was looking

for a long-term relationship.

She had just got out of one.

So she met John online.

I never saw his profile,

but I saw his Facebook profile,

and she said she thought he was cool.

She liked hunters, and kind of rugged looking men.

(dark banjo music)

- I've known John for about 10 years.

We're both bouncers.

We both share the same interests.

I know John used PlentyofFish a lot.

He also used, I think he used Tinder a lot,

just a bunch of different dating apps,

some dating apps I've never even heard of,

but he used 'em all.

He was a country boy.

I mean, he was kind of a big dumb country boy,

like don't know how else to explain him.

He was just a friendly guy.

Everybody kind of seemed to like him,

and Big John, that's what we called him.

He was just, he was a big guy.

- He was giant, I mean,

seemed like he was seven feet tall.

He was just huge compared to her.

He was like five of her.

- He was a flirt.

He was always talking to multiple women at the same time,

and he was a good-looking guy.

Women flocked to him.

They always felt safe around him.

I saw it firsthand.

It was kind of funny. (laughs)

- The internet allows us to create perceptions,

or develop perceptions of people

that are not always necessarily accurate.

So Nicole had formed a perception,

and a connection to Harris online.

Because she had this preconceived notion about Harris,

she wanted to continue that relationship

that she thought was was a real one.

- Nicole told me she is seeing someone,

that he seemed okay.

And she was just going to go out on a date, have fun.

- Nicole had asked me to go with her

to meet the gentleman that she had met online.

It was her first time meeting him.

So I'm like, "Oh yeah, let's go, let's go have some fun."

- John said that he was just talking

to this short little cute girl,

and he was gonna bring her in to play some pool

on a Saturday night.

- [Narrator] Having exchanged messages online,

Nicole and Jonathan had their first date

at a local bar called Jeepers.

Matt Martino was the bouncer on duty.

- John and Nicole looked like they were having a great time.

I mean, it was definitely a lot of flirting.

They're having a lot of fun, having some drinks,

having some food.

I mean, it looked like a really good night and a good date.

- Nicole told me about this guy Jonathan that she just met.

He looked like a normal nice guy, someone I could trust.

- I guess she did everything right though.

See went to public places to meet someone.

She told someone where she was gonna be at.

So she did everything right,

the right way, how you're supposed to do it.

- [Narrator] After their first date,

Nicole and Jonathan continued to message each other.

A couple of weeks later the pair decided to meet up again.

- Nicole said she was gonna go back out to meet with John.

She was driving.

She said she was going to Jeepers.

She started getting ready, started dressing up,

would come down and be like, "Okay, how does this look?

"How does that look?"

And we just started talking about life.

She was like, "Come on, please go, please go.

"I don't wanna go by myself.

"My mom will watch the kids."

And I kept just saying, "No, Nicole, not tonight.

"Next time, next time."

And when she came down, she asked how she looked.

I mean, she looked beautiful.

- Nicole told me that she'd be home before midnight

or maybe one o'clock,

because she had to go to work next morning.

She would go out late and go to work the next day,

you know, on the weekends.

She was that type of person to go out and have fun,

and play hard and work hard.

So she was in a hurry, and she just got dressed and left.

I never knew Nicole would not come home

and I'd never see her again.

It was about six o'clock in the morning.

Kari came in and says, "You know, Jill,

"Nicole didn't come home last night."

And I said, "Well, maybe she's at work."

I called her work.

They said that she didn't show up.

And that's when I knew there was something wrong.

- So I found out that Nicole was missing

around seven or eight o'clock in the morning

when she didn't drop her son off to me,

and her best friend had called and asked

if I had seen or talked to Nicole,

if she came home from going out that night.

- I was terrified,

because Nicole wouldn't have just like disappeared.

She wouldn't have left her son at home.

She wouldn't have missed work.

So it's instantly like, where is she?

She wouldn't have ran away.

- I know Nicole.

Nicole wouldn't do that.

Nicole would not run away from her boys.

Her boys were everything to her.

Her whole life was about her boys.

- [Narrator] With no sign of Nicole or her car,

her desperate mom reported her missing to the police.

- I'm John Delgado, and I'm a detective sergeant

for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

- [Narrator] Detective Delgado led the investigation

into Nicole's disappearance.

- This is Jeepers Country Bar and Grill.

It's in Spanaway, Washington.

This would be the place that Jonathan Harris

and Nicole White would come for their second date.

They'd only known each other for a couple weeks

as far as I know.

And this would be the last place they were seen

by friends and acquaintances.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Matt Martino remembers seeing Nicole

and Jonathan on their second date at Jeepers.

- They came in together, came in through the backyard,

paid their cover, and went up to the bar to get a drink.

At the start of the night, Nicole was in a great mood.

She seemed like she was having fun.

She was excited to be out on a date with John.

It seem like it was gonna be a great night for them.

They both had a little bit to drink,

John more so than Nicole,

but they were nowhere near stumbling around drunk.

They just had a couple beers.

- [Narrator] Nicole and Jonathan stayed at Jeepers Bar

for about four hours.

- As Nicole walked out of the bar, I mentioned to them,

"All right guys, it's closing time.

"It's time to go."

So she walked over to John, started getting him up,

who at this point, he was drunk, but not overly drunk.

And at that point, I gave Nicole a hug,

and I shook John's hand,

and I told 'em, "You guys have a great night, be safe."

I think my exact words were, "Be good or be good at it."

I saw them get into her Dodge Neon.

And that was the last I saw them.

(dramatic music)

- [Reporter] Investigators say Nicole

was last seen Saturday night after meeting up

with some people at Jeepers Bar in Spanaway.

Her family has posted flyers with her pictures

all over the area.

- I was numb.

The only thing that was coming to my mind

was I guess, just, hopefully she's still alive.

Hopefully they'll,

you know, they'll find her.

- [Reporter] Friends and strangers look for signs

of the missing mother of two.

- [Newscaster] They say they can't rest

with so many questions and so few answers.

- It just got bigger and bigger

with people who want to volunteering.

Every day, I think maybe about 150 to 200 people

to come help out with the searches.

- [Narrator] With fears growing for Nicole's safety,

on day two, police had their first major breakthrough.

- Nicole's car was found in Graham,

but there is still no sign of this mother of two.

Jamie Tompkins is live for us in Graham,

where canines are still searching tonight.

- This is the area where they found Nicole's car on Monday.

Today, two canine crews

have come through here investigating.

Detectives tell me they believe

something sinister may have happened to Nicole,

but tonight, her family says they are not giving up hope.

(dramatic music)

- We were thinking maybe she broke down and got lost,

started walking home and something happened to her.

- Nicole White's vehicle

is pinned between these two trees right here.

When the vehicle was located,

detectives thought the vehicle had been staged.

It didn't look like a traffic accident.

It looks like somebody, that they really put it where it was

to stage an accident.

Detectives responded to the scene

after the vehicle was located.

They brought out some search and rescue dogs

to track for humans scent.

The dogs took them up this hill here

where there's several retention ponds,

and they ended up draining about 40,000 gallons of water,

but the ponds didn't produce any signs of Nicole White,

or any evidence that would help us.

That evening, I met Nicole's father and mother

where her vehicle was recovered,

and they were not doing well,

obviously, that's their little girl and she's missing.

And I had looked Nicole White's mother and father in the eye

and told 'em, "I promise you I'll find your daughter.

"I don't know how I'm gonna find your daughter,

"but I'll find a daughter."

So their putting all their trust into me.

And her father, Eddie, even told me, "I'm trusting you."

That means a lot to me.

- Yeah, there was a point where,

I think after,

after about four days or so, five days,

you know, after the first week that she didn't show up,

I think, I felt it in my heart that she wasn't gonna,

you know, that she wasn't gonna be found alive.

I already felt it, you know,

but I still didn't give up hope.

- The initial thinking was we had a missing person,

but very quickly,

we determined that we were gonna be working with a homicide.

- [Narrator] With no body and no evidence,

detectives had to piece together

Nicole's last known movements.

- This right here, it was Jonathan Harris' house.

On June 7th, detectives Laliberte and Brockway

would come here and do an interview with Jonathan Harris

about his timeline and his story about Nicole White.

We shook hands, introduced ourselves and such,

and he had quite a grip.

His hands were quite large and a really strong grip.

- [Laliberte] This is detective Laliberte conducting

a taped statement with Jonathan Harris,

and this is regarding missing person Nicole White.

Also present is detective Brockway, unit 234.

- We talked with him for a few minutes

about where he had been.

He told us he was out with Nicole.

- [Jonathan] Bar was closing,

so I asked Nicole, "Hey man, can I get a ride

"down to ampm, maybe a ride home?"

- [Laliberte] Right.

- [Jonathan] She's like, "Yeah, no problem."

She's like, "You know that I have to work in the morning?"

I'm like, "Yeah, I know you do.

"You know I appreciate, you know, hanging out with me."

This and that, we get down to ampm,

I go inside and I come back out and she's not there.

- This is the ampm

that Jonathan Harrison said Nicole took him to

right after they left Jeepers.

- [Laliberte] So you do your thing.

You make your purchase.

Then what?

- [Jonathan] I come outside and look all around,

and I'm kinda like, "Dude, did she leave me?"

So I called her and got her on the phone,

and I'm like, "Hey, where did you go?"

- [Laliberte] What phone did you use?

- [Jonathan] I used the phone there.

- [Laliberte] Which phone is it?

- [Jonathan] The got a payphone out there.

- [Laliberte] Out front?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- So he used the payphone to try to call her.

There's no payphone.

- [Jonathan] So I just used the phone,

nothing, no ring, nothing.

So I walked from ampm to my house.

- I know he didn't walk six miles in cowboy boots

to his residence.

That's a long walk for somebody to make

at three in the morning in cowboy boots.

- [Jonathan] It took me probably about three and half hours.

- [Laliberte] It's a long walk.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- We sent investigators to the ampm

to look at the surveillance video,

and Jonathan Harris was never there on June 7th

between two and three in the morning.

So right there it's like, okay,

something's fishy here with his story.

- [Laliberte] Do you know where Nicole's cars is?

- I don't. - You don't?

Do you know where Nicole is?

- [Jonathan] I don't know where Nicole is.

- [Laliberte] What do you thin happened to her?

- [Jonathan] I have no idea.

- No idea? - No.

- When the questions got hard,

he kind of paused, like he's having an anxiety attack.

- [Jonathan] It's just a lot to take in, I guess.

- [Laliberte] What do you mean?

- [Jonathan] Well, just like, I don't know.

- [Laliberte] Okay.

- I just get-- - We're just talking,

that's all. - I know.

I just get panic attacks.

- Okay. - That's what happened,

and that's how it went down.

- And we kind of concluded the interview after that moment.

- [Laliberte] All right, everything you tell us the truth?

- [Jonathan] Yes, sir.

- [Laliberte] Okay.

This is Detective Laliberte ending the taped statement.

Time is 19:13 hours.

(suspenseful music)

- I only had one suspect,

but I always try to avoid from getting tunnel vision,

just focusing solely on one person,

but everything was leading towards one person.

- [Narrator] With his story not stacking up,

police took Harris to the station where he was photographed.

What they saw aroused more suspicion.

He had unexplained injuries on his body,

but he refused to tell detectives how he got them.

- Well, there was great potential

that Jonathan Harris was guilty,

but I really didn't have a whole lot to arrest him

for Nicole White's disappearance.

- [Narrator] Police obtained a warrant

to search Harris' home in a hunt for any evidence

to link him to the Nicole's disappearance.

Because the area was close to an Army base,

the FBI got involved too.

- Whenever there's a crime on a military base

or military property,

the FBI's involved because it's federal.

And so they got involved, and the FBI has tools

that we know that do certain things

that are better than our tools.

So whenever the FBI is available to help us,

we definitely take advantage of it.

- [Narrator] They found a reason to detain Harris,

but it was not for murder.

- The FBI searches the garage.

They locate hundreds of weapons parts

and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

The ammunition was manufactured out of state,

so once it crossed state lines in Washington,

it became unlawful possession of ammunition,

a federal charge.

Maybe I could have arrested him,

but it would've been kind of weak,

so the FBI offered to arrest him for the ammunition,

because they had good probable cause where I did not.

- [Narrator] Harris' arrest by the FBI on munition charges

gave Pierce County detectives valuable time

to gather further evidence

while he was held at the county jail.

Blood-stained clothes were also found in the search

and were sent off to the lab for analysis.

While the pressure on police

to find Nicole's body was mounting,

they faced an anxious wait for results.

- When we first arrested Jonathan,

he was arrogant, and maybe confident

that he wasn't gonna get charged with murder.

- Harris may have believed

that he was going to get away with murder.

People who've committed such violent acts

may also believe that they're above the law,

and therefore, above apprehension.

He may have believed that he wasn't going to get caught,

or it may have been that he couldn't possibly compute

that someone such as him could go to prison

like other people.

- [Narrator] Harris continued to deny any involvement

in Nicole's disappearance,

and police were no closer to finding out

what happened to her that night.

- So me and another detective interviewed Matt Martino.

- [Narrator] Matt revealed something surprising.

That night, he'd seen a different side to Jonathan.

- John's mood changed a little bit through the night

after a girl that he was seeing previously

had shown up to the bar with her new boyfriend.

And that kind of put John into a bad mood,

simply, I think, because he still had feelings for her,

but she didn't have feelings for him.

So that kinda changed whole mood of the night right there.

There was a point where he was sitting by himself

in the backyard at a table,

and he was just stewing and mad.

At that point, he got fed up with something

and took a beer bottle

and first, he smashed one down on the ground,

kind of in a fit of rage or anger.

And then later on in the night,

after I'd talked to him about smashing that first bottle,

he actually threw another bottle across the beer garden,

and crashed it into a wall.

And I had to walk up to John and tell John,

"Look buddy, knock it off."

- So one of the last things that Martino did

was he put me in touch with Jonathan's ex-girlfriend.

She said she and Jonathan had met in 2010,

and they dated on and off until 2015.

So that night at the bar,

she could tell that Jonathan was upset

because she was there with a new guy.

Another thing she also tells us

is when they would drive home from that same bar,

they would take a route

where they were less likely to run into law enforcement.

And she says one thing that stood out to her

was every time they'd pass this area,

Jonathan made the comment that this would be

the perfect place to bury a body.

So I asked her if she would take me to the spot and she did.

So me, the ex-girlfriend, the ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend,

we're driving down this road with our windows down,

and we immediately get the smell of decomp

about 200 meters into the woods.

I thought I'd hit the lottery.

I was like, "No way, this isn't going to be that easy,

"but I think we might have just found her."

We got out on foot.

We all looked around,

and I ended up finding a dead dog.

So when we find out that it's not Nicole,

it's like okay, we have a lot more work left.

- [Reporter] The search for Nicole White

has reached day nine, as family, friends,

and strangers look for signs of the missing mother of two.

- [Eddie] I just want to say, Nicole, you're out there

and you hear us, don't give up, because we're not.

- I don't know, the search was,

it was like a nightmare.

It was like 90 degree weather.

I can't imagine people that didn't find their kids.

That was like the worst, the worst of my life, the worst.

Not finding your daughter's body is the worst feeling.

- [Eddie] Remember Nicole, we love you.

We will not give up on you.

Please don't give up.

Don't give up.

(suspenseful music)

- [John] When you get a case like this

and somebody's missing,

and you feel like you know most of the answers,

but there's just that missing piece,

you don't sleep well at night.

The wheels just turn.

- [Narrator] Police dog teams continue to search

the vast area.

- This is one of the largest mountains in the United States

and the forest that surrounds it.

You could head into this area and walk for hours and days

and not see a road or person, just be lost in the forest.

- There's thousands of acres of land out there.

There's roads that you can't possibly cover in one day.

It's a large area.

It's in the back of my head that,

that's like a needle in a haystack.

I'm at a dead end.

I'm reaching.

I have nothing right now.

So I have to ask myself, "What am I missing?"

So I just start going through all of my reports,

everybody else's reports, every taped statement,

just every piece of material that I have

to see what I'm missing.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] Finally, Delgado got the break

he so desperately needed.

So while they're searching Jonathan Harris' car,

I get a phone call from one of my detectives that says,

"Hey, there's this ignition interlock device in here."

- In the United States, if you're convicted of a DUI,

which is driving under the influence,

part of your punishment or probation,

they might install something in your car

that you have to breathe in every time.

And you got to breathe in it to prove that you're sober

before your car will start.

- So when you start the vehicle, it captures your picture.

But what it'll also do is randomly capture your picture

and date and time stamps it.

- [Narrator] The data downloaded

from Jonathan Harris's interlock device

would be the key to finding Nicole.

- So I looked through the photographs,

I looked through the times,

and I just see that he drove the vehicle in the evening

around 6:00 p.m. On June 7th.

Jonathan Harris' cell phone put us in this area on June 7th

during the evening hours.

And then after reviewing his ignition interlock device data,

I was able to determine

that the photograph in the background,

the woods in the background,

the trees in the background matched these.

- [Narrator] The 7th of June was the first day

of Nicole's disappearance.

- We noticed several areas of interest,

and we combined those data points with some pictures

that Mr. Harris' breathalyzer showed us

with wooded areas in the background.

- This is an area where people never been, don't go,

and if we wouldn't have been up there

because of the technology telling us to go there,

we would have had no idea where to go look.

- So that's when we called out the cadaver dogs,

and they worked this tree farm for four days,

working the roads.

And it was on the fourth or fifth day

that we came to this spot here.

- [Reporter] Family members are paying tribute

to 28-year-old Nicole White.

Police say they found her body this weekend in a wooded area

in Pierce County.

More than 50 volunteers, community members,

and relatives who helped look for her are grief-stricken

after hearing the news.

(somber music)

- It was Father's Day,

and got a call from detective Delgado.

He said, "Eddie, I got some news for you.

"We found your daughter.

"But just be prepared, you know, that it's not good news."

- Down here, approximately 20-25 yards

was where Nicole White was found wrapped in a tarp,

and then a painter's canvas, so she was double-wrapped.

And she was probably down there for,

since June 7th, and up until the day she was found.

- [Narrator] After two weeks of searching,

Nicole's family were given the news they've been dreading.

- When I found out they had found her body,

I think I went driving for a little bit by myself.

- Went to the site and it was late at night,

we couldn't really see anything.

And all I thought was, "Why would he throw her off the cliff

"like she was a piece of trash?"

Nicole was not trash.

- When we got to the site, I just,

kept on saying to myself, "Why?

"How can somebody just throw her into a ravine like that?

"How can you just take somebody's body

"and just do that to them?"

You know?

And at the same time, I was just,

talking to Nicole,

and you know, just apologizing to her that,

that we didn't get to her in time.

- [Reporter] Dozens of friends, family, even strangers

came for the candlelight vigil honoring Nicole White

after a two-week long search.

♪ This little light of mine ♪

♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪

♪ Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ♪

- They finally got the autopsy and everything like that.

I think that was even harder of a blow

because of how she died,

'cause it pretty much said she suffered the whole time.

- It was shocking, in a way, to me.

And I can say that in many years

of doing forensic anthropology,

this is one of the worst cases I've seen.

When I examined Nicole,

I discovered that there was pretty extensive fracturing

to her skull.

And she also had a fracture through the sternum,

which is the breastbone,

one incomplete fracture to her right rib,

a fracture to her lower-left arm, forearm,

and then fractures to three bones in her left hand.

One very possible explanation for that

would be very focal impact on the sternum.

Stomping comes to mind for that.

I can't say what instrument he might have used,

except that there was substantial force involved.

- Nicole's injuries were reportedly much, much more severe

than was required to kill her.

This is often referred to as a frenzied attack,

where what we're actually looking at here

is somebody who's experiencing episodic dyscontrol.

And what that means is where somebody essentially loses it.

- Harris had obviously, at this point,

maintained his innocence,

and there were some messages on his phone,

we think probably trying to establish an alibi.

He tried to call the victim after the fact,

and then he also messaged a friend

asking if he had been in a fight,

we think trying to probably explain

some of the minor injuries that he had that were visible.

- [Narrator] Further damning evidence against Harris came

with the results of the search of his house.

Lab analysis showed blood found on the carpet and walls

were a match to Nicole.

- So we watched the surveillance video

of inside of Jeepers, the bar,

of Jonathan and Nicole together.

And the clothing, which was,

he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt,

we found that later on,

that same sweatshirt that Jonathan was wearing that night,

inside of his house in the garage.

There was blood on it,

and that blood was matched to Nicole White's.

(dramatic music)

- Now that we have Nicole White's body

and a positive DNA hit,

we're able to go to the federal detention center

and arrest Jonathan Harris for murder in the second degree,

and then transport him to our county jail.

- [Narrator] On the 23rd of June, 2016,

Harris was charged with second degree murder.

- John Harris first walked out at the trial,

and having to like see him again, I was terrified.

- Oh man, I was anxious.

I was anxious, I was angry.

I just wanted to reach out and choke the guy, you know?

But, I just had to relax and try to stay calm.

- The very first court date, he was being very arrogant

and just kind of smiling and smirking.

He didn't care.

He thought he was gonna get away with this.

He didn't know what all that police had against him,

and he just thought he was scot-free.

- [Narrator] But in a digital age,

it's almost impossible not to leave a footprint,

and police had made a shocking discovery.

One of the more telling things about Mr. Harris' mindset

was searches that he had conducted on his laptop

for topics like rape and strangulation.

- Murder sex, suffocation sex, molesting rape,

forced molesting rape.

- That is something I did not know.

Wow.

Yeah, I did not know that.

I did not know that he was looking at stuff like that.

I mean, yeah, that surprises me.

I didn't know any of that.

- As a criminal psychologist,

looking at at Harris' psychological makeup,

I see him as a man of great rage, of anger,

and he's developing that rage through sexual fantasies.

So the internet became a tool

to explore his sexual fantasies in suffocation and rape,

molestation, and sadism.

I mean, he's a time bomb waiting to go off.

- I've seen John get blackout angry before.

And sadly, I think that's probably

what happened with Nicole.

Something that night just put him over the edge,

and he snapped, and he got blackout angry,

and unfortunately, she paid the price for it.

- [Narrator] In the face of overwhelming evidence,

Harris pleaded guilty.

On the 31st of October, 2016,

he was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

- Nicole White took Jonathan home that night,

probably because she has a big heart

and she didn't want him to not have a ride home.

And once they got there, I don't know what happened,

but I do know, based on forensic evidence,

he beat her to death, drove her out to the woods,

left her body there, and came home and cleaned up his mess.

- The day that Mr. Harris was sentenced, I felt relief.

I felt like something finally got done.

I felt that justice was done for Nicole.

You know, it doesn't fix

or it doesn't bring her back or anything,

but at least we have somebody behind bars

that can't do any more harm to anybody else.

- He took my daughter's life.

He took Nicole's life.

He took my grandson's lives away,

of having their mother,

and they're they're really wondering what's happening.

When is their mom coming home?

It's been almost two years and they still don't understand.

- Yeah, I miss her a lot.

Her kids miss her.

I haven't told her kids anything about it.

I just say she's in heaven.

I think they know. (nervously laughs)

Mm-hmm.

- Nicole deserved so much more than that,

and her kids do, and you know,

yeah, the whole thing's sad.

It's,

yeah,

yeah...

- There's a lot of people that hide information online.

You can't tell the whole truth about yourself online.

People do that, you know?

If you killed somebody, you're not going to say,

"Yeah, I'm dating, looking for a girl,

"and I killed the last girlfriend."

- Somewhere, somebody's put safeguards in place already

by telling their family where they're going to be and so on.

They've already identified

that there may be some risks associated with online dating.

However, we never can predict what these risks are,

and it sounds like in Nicole's case,

she could never have predicted how serious the risks to her

were going to be that night.

- I'm always thinking about her.

She's not here physically,

but mentally, she's always in my heart and in my mind.

And she keeps me going and keeps me positive,

you know, like the person she was, yeah.

(somber music)