All language subtitles for Family.Secrets.The.Disappearance.Of.Alissa.Turney.2024.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX].SDH

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We having fun yet?

- I don't feel carsick
that much anymore.

Well, good.

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Maybe 'cause you're closer
to Disneyland?

Here's Alissa.

Smiling and happy.
Yes.

- Did you look down, Alissa?
- Yeah, I did.

- Growing up, my dad
always had the film recorder

in his hand 24/7
trying to capture

all of our memories.

[soft dramatic music]

I think the happiest parts
of my childhood

were going to Disneyland
with my family.

I loved being there.

It always makes me think
of Alissa.

- We have it on tape.
Alissa can read.

- We looked like
a happy family.

- Don't you know
how to treat a lady?

- Hell of a ride.
Yeah.

♪

- Whoo-hoo!

♪

- But this happy time
is shrouded in darkness.

On the last day
of her junior year,

Alissa went missing,
and that changed everything.

♪

My dad told me that
Alissa had run away.

I was in shock.

I felt so much guilt.
I blamed myself.

♪

But because I was so young,

it's hard to rely
on my own memory.

So I had to go back and try
to piece together the truth.

- Alissa, do not leave
the building whatsoever.

- Searching for the truth,
I was frustrated.

I wanted to tell
Alissa's story...

In this episode...

And that's when I found
podcasting and TikTok,

and I started to
put together the pieces.

You got me in trouble, Dad.

Nobody's heard from Alissa.

- I'm trying to meet you
in the middle here, Dad.

- And you've destroyed
your own family!

- When I started to uncover
more facts about my own life

that I never knew,

it starts to make me
question everything.

♪

The day Alissa disappeared,
it was her last day

of junior year and my last day
of seventh grade.

It was a great day for me.

I remember getting on the bus,
going to the water park,

having a good time
with my friends.

[school bell ringing]

And then after school,
my father picked me up.

He turns to me and says,

"Your sister's
not answering her cell phone.

Can you try to call her?"

[phone ringing]

I call her a few times.

There's no answer.

We get home, and I go
right to Alissa's bedroom.

I was sure
that she'd be there,

but she wasn't.

I saw the contents
of her backpack

dumped all over the ground,

and then there was
a note and her cell phone.

"Dad and Sarah,
when you dropped me off

"at school today,
I decided I really am

"going to California.

"Sarah, you didn't
want me around.

"Look, you got it, I'm gone.

"Dad, that's why
I saved my money.

"I took $300 from you.

Alissa."

My dad immediately panicked.

[dial tone droning]

He started calling
friends and family

trying to figure out, you know,
where she could have been.

- Family Investigations
Bureau.

- This is Pam.
- Yeah, Pam...

- Later in the night,
he calls the police and says,

"My teenage daughter ran away."

So they mark her as a runaway,

but they do not
come visit the house.

They do not come speak
to my father.

♪

And in my mind, I was
staying calm and thinking,

"Of course."

Alissa had big dreams
of turning 18

and moving out of the house,

but I think, inside,
I was scared.

♪

I slept in her room
that night

because I truly thought
that she was fine

and that she'd be back.

♪

- There's Alissa.
How old are you, Alissa?

- Ten.
- No, you're not.

- Yeah, I am.
- You're five.

You'll be six in about
less than one month.

- I am 17.
- And there's Sarah.

She is 16 months old
and a rocker.

Sarah, look at Mama.

Hi.

Can I see her?

I wanna see her.
I wanna see her, Mom.

- Alissa wasn't just
my sister.

she was the only mom
I really ever can remember

because I never
really got to know

my mother, Barbara.

- These are the boys
pretending like

they know
how to play baseball.

- My mom and dad met,
and just a few years later,

they got married.

Mom was
a mortgage loan officer,

and my father was trying
to get a mortgage,

and they fell in love.

- Now let me have it
so I can take a picture of you.

No.

My father was

a deputy sheriff
for a few years,

and then he became
an electrician with the union.

♪

My father
came into the marriage

with the three oldest boys,

Rhett, James, and Mike.

My mother had our brother John
and Alissa

from a previous marriage.

And then together they had me.

- Shnookums.
Sarah.

- So there were six kids
in the house,

and it was absolutely insane.

Well, her face says it all.

- So you're getting it--
you're getting your--

- "Step" or "half"
was not a word

that we were allowed to use.

We grew up considering
each other

brothers and sisters.

Dad, is Sarah your only baby?

- Who?
- Sarah.

- Nope.
John's my baby, and so are you.

- Nuh-uh.

- Yeah, you'll always
be our babies.

- They're not step brothers
and sisters?

- Honey, we don't have
any stepchildren in our family.

- A lot of people
called us the Brady Bunch.

We were all
one big family together

- Alissa, I got
the camera going, honey.

Dad, lookit.

- Shnookums, are you
helping your mom?

Mama!

- Sarah was probably three
when my sister

first was diagnosed
with the lung cancer.

And we were told
from the get-go

that her diagnosis
was terminal.

- You know
where we're at, Sarah?

Are you here to see your mama?

- Where'd Mama go?
- In heaven.

- Mama go to heaven?
Is she happy now?

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

Don't you think
she'd be happy to be with God?

♪

When my mom passed,

everything really changed
in the house.

My dad was left
with six kids

all by himself.

- Sarah and Alissa
were very rambunctious.

- Girls!
Alissa!

You guys stand here
and look pretty so I can get--

Sarah!

And they needed a mom.

And Mike wasn't going to be
able to provide that for them.

Our house was dirtier.

It really felt like living
in a bachelor pad.

- I got a call
one day from John.

John was angry,
and he said, you know,

"Dad doesn't get up
and take care of the girls.

"He doesn't make sure
they're going to school.

There's no food in the house."

♪

We would call,
and it was not even a year

after my sister passed that
we were completely cut off.

- Mm-hmm.
I know.

- All of a sudden,
our aunts were gone.

All of our brothers got older
and moved out of the house.

It was just me,
my dad, and Alissa.

Alissa cooked and cleaned
and did the chores

and was responsible
for making sure

I had good clothes on
for school

and that my hair
wasn't a mess.

You know, there was a summer
where no one brushed my hair,

and somebody
had to come over...

[voice breaking] And detangle
it for, like, two hours.

It's not fair--

the responsibility
that was put on her.

I didn't talk about Alissa
much after she was gone.

I think it hurt too much.

She mentions me in the note.

"Sarah, you didn't
want me around.

"Look, you got it.
I'm gone."

I thought she left me there
in that house

to grow up alone.

Alissa and I fought a lot.

And we were true sisters
in my mind, in terms of--

one minute we were
screaming at each other

and calling each other
horrible names and pulling,

you know, each other's hair,
and then the next minute,

we were dancing
to R&B in our kitchen.

That's just how it was.

As Alissa got older
and entered high school,

I thought
that she was the coolest.

And she was experimenting
with drinking

and smoking marijuana.

You know,
normal teenage stuff.

And I was
an annoying little sister,

and I would tattle on her.

One of my last memories
of Alissa was we'd fought...

[voice breaking]
And I did say something like,

you know, if you hate it here
so much, just leave,

but, you know,
I have to forgive myself.

I was just a kid.

Of course, I never really
wanted her gone.

♪

[sniffles]

♪

I knew that
by the time Alissa was 17,

she was ready to grow up
and, you know, be an adult.

And my dad told me that,
on the day that she ran away,

he picked up Alissa
from school,

took her to lunch,
and they had some argument

about how she just
really wanted more freedom.

He dropped her off at home,
and his last memory

was her walking down
the hallway angry

with her hair
flying behind her.

[tense music]

♪

[phone ringing]

And then about a week
after Alissa ran away,

my dad told me
that a phone call came in

at about 5:00 a.m.

My father says
it's Alissa on the other end,

and she's cursing at him and
telling him to leave her alone,

and then all of a sudden,
the phone call ends.

♪

He goes to the phone company,

and we find out
that it's from a pay phone

in Riverside, California.

Soon after, I go on a trip
with him to California.

♪

We go
to the convenience store.

♪

But there's no surveillance.

There's no trace
of who made the call.

Essentially there's nothing.

But I remember my dad saying
the phone call from Riverside

was proof Alissa
was out there still alive.

I made
her first missing poster,

and my father put
those posters up everywhere.

♪

Him being frantic about Alissa

was his constant state
of being.

♪

I just remember
holding out hope

that she'd be back
when she turned 18.

After she turns 18,
she's free of our dad.

She can do whatever she wants.

So when Alissa
didn't come back,

it felt pretty clear to me that
she may not want to come back.

♪

When Alissa disappeared,

we thought we did everything
we could to try to find her,

but a year later,
nothing is happening.

It was just me
and my dad in the house.

I felt so sorry for my dad.

He fell into
such a deep depression.

He would tell me
that something terrible

could have happened to her--

like maybe she was forced into
a sex-trafficking situation.

I don't think I would allow
myself to believe any of that.

I was trying to block it out.

I went from being this kid
that was extremely scared

of drugs and alcohol,
and overnight,

I started experimenting.

[dramatic music]

All the things that I was told
Alissa was horrible for--

you know,
the drinking and drugs--

my dad would supply me with.

If I was anxious,
he would give me a blue pill.

If I'm a little sad,

then it would be
an orange pill.

If you had a problem,
we weren't talking through it.

He was giving me some type
of pill to make it better.

I just missed Alissa so much

that I was trying
to refill this--

this hole that
she's left in our family.

I'm wearing her clothes,

listening
to all the same music,

so when she came back,
she would think,

"Sarah's cool now,
and we can be friends,

and she's not going
to tattle on me."

[crying]
I was just trying to pretend

that everything was fine.

[somber music]

♪

When Alissa ran away,

her father had called
my house looking for her.

That's how I found out
that she had gone missing.

I became friends
with Alissa in high school.

For the most part,
we hung out at my house

because she wanted
to get away from her home

as much as she could.

- Alissa and I went to school
together at Paradise Valley.

Back when she went missing,
Alissa's dad called me,

yelling at me,
wanting to know where she was.

He knew she was with me,
I needed to bring her home,

but I didn't know
where she was.

Part of me was excited
for her to get away from him.

- Alissa?
Alissa!

Her dad was worried

about what she was doing
all the time.

- Alissa...
I've changed my mind.

- You can't go to the prom.
- Why?

- Because I just
changed my mind.

- Why?
- Because I said no.

- What are you talking about?
- I said you can't go.

- But you look nice.
- Yeah, right.

I ain't going all through this
just to not be able to go.

- I know. Oh, my gosh,
are you kidding me?

No.

- Every time that he would
drop Alissa at my house,

Michael made a point to speak
with my parents

about the things that she was
and was not allowed to do.

- Alissa, do not leave
the building whatsoever.

What?

- He was very protective
and defensive with Alissa.

- And you ladies
always be conspicuous,

always stay in places.

- My parents
have said that Mike

was a totally different person
when Barbara was still alive.

And after Barbara died,
he sort of became

more and more obsessive.

- Alissa.
Alissa.

- Alissa!
- Huh?

Alissa!

- Mike always talked
about how bad Alissa was.

She was always being grounded.

[soft dramatic music]

It was so, like, toxic.

- Dad, is this off?
- It's off.

[screams]

Careful, don't jump
on top of anybody, Alissa.

[laughter]

- Alissa was always treated
as if she was some fire

that couldn't be contained.

I was constantly told that
Alissa was out of control,

that she was always drinking
and always smoking

and always getting
into trouble.

So I was scared for her.

I thought that she was
going down a really bad path.

I think he convinced himself

that he was protecting her
from making poor choices.

But we definitely thought
it was crazy

how overbearing he was.

- Turn off that stupid camera.
- [laughs]

- Turn it off!
- It's off.

- Turn it off, Dad,
and point it the other way.

- I knew that her father had
a passive recording system

on their home telephone.

If she was going to call me
that day,

you know, she would let me
know, "Hey, remember,

"these are always being
recorded,

so careful what you say."

- Every time
you picked up the receiver,

it would automatically
record the conversation.

My dad used to be
a police officer,

and I assume that he knew
what he was doing.

You know,
he was constantly scared

of not being able
to protect Alissa.

I didn't think much of it.

My dad was my best friend.

He really wanted
what was best for Alissa.

I gotta set this thing up.

[tense music]

- My father started putting up
surveillance cameras

when I was
in about middle school.

♪

I thought it was something
that rich people had,

so I was kind of excited.

I thought it was very fancy.

♪

- I did not understand
why he would need cameras

filming the perimeter
of their house.

What was he so paranoid about?

- We got a camera lens
missing somehow.

- To hear that she lived in
a situation where she was,

literally,
constantly being watched

was very unnerving to me.

[somber music]

The day that my dad told me

about the video camera
in the vent,

he said, "I got a new camera.

"This is to watch your sister

"to make sure
she doesn't get in trouble.

Don't tell her."

He was just watching
every move she made.

At this time, I'm maybe ten.

I really thought that
that was good parenting.

Jack in the Box.

- Alissa got a job
at Jack in the Box.

This was Alissa's real
first taste of freedom,

making her own money.

And our dad would watch her
obsessively.

My dad wanted to know everyone
that was working with her.

- You got me in trouble, Dad.
- How'd I do that?

- Because that freakin'
ass[bleep] Mike,

he looks, and he goes,
"That's illegal.

He can't do that."

And I was like,
"That's my dad."

Which one's Mike?

The one that
was talking to you?

- No, the one--
I don't know.

The one that drives
that nice-ass Mustang.

- Alissa told me
how uncomfortable

it would make her feel
that, you know,

he was constantly
watching her every move.

And it made me uncomfortable.

Why in the world would he need
to do something like that?

Part of me hoped
Alissa actually had run away

for her own well-being.

♪

- As time goes by,
days turn to weeks,

turn to months, turn to years.

Alissa never came back.

- As time goes on,
your mind just comes up

with every possible conclusion

of what could have happened
to her.

- I hoped that Alissa
actually ran away,

but a bigger part of me

believed
that it was impossible,

because I knew
that she would never have left

Sarah alone in that house.

♪

- I inherited Alissa Turney's
investigation in 2008.

She had been gone
for seven years at that point.

In Arizona, law enforcement
treats runaways

in pretty much
a passive demeanor,

especially if it's somebody
like Alissa,

who's left a note behind,
who's communicated

to her family that she
does not want to be at home.

Also, one week
after she left home,

she's reported
to have called home.

So she's alive and well
at that point, too.

But there's something curious
about this case.

She's never contacted
any of her family members,

never contacted
any of her friends.

Honestly, I'm having trouble
with a teenage girl

cutting all ties with everybody
she's ever known.

That just doesn't happen.

That speaks
of some deep psychopathy

or that suggests something
nefarious happened to her.

My job is to figure out
what could have gone wrong.

- About seven years
after Alissa went missing,

I got a call from someone
named Detective Andersen,

and he asks me to come down
to the station

for a formal interview.

Sarah Turney is 19 at time.

I tell her, "Hey, I need
to know more about Alissa.

"I need to establish
a pattern of life.

What is normal for her?"

- Sarah tells me Alissa
was the kind of person

that if a strange carload
of boys pulled up and said,

"Hey, do you want
to go to a party?"

She'd jump in the car
without hesitation.

And then I asked about things
that were left behind.

Yeah.

- Sarah also mentions
the cellular phone.

It's odd that she would leave
that phone behind.

Working in
missing persons cases,

I have not had another instance
in which a child left the home

and left behind their phone.

These are concerning details.

And then I asked Sarah
to describe

the relationship between
Alissa and her father, Mike.

- Sarah believes
that her father's dedicated

his life towards finding out
what happened to Alissa.

[tense music]

So I call Michael Turney.

Obviously he's the only adult
in the home when this happened.

Mike declines to do
a formal interview,

and that's fine.

I still have him on the phone.

He's still
relatively cooperative.

Mike was all about
the cop talk.

He introduced himself
as former law enforcement,

and he's so happy that we're
paying attention to this.

Mike points
to the boyfriend,

saying that the boyfriend,
Jon Laakman,

was physically violent
towards Alissa.

And Mike tells me
that he has a videotape

that he thinks
I'd be interested in

of an interaction
between Alissa and Jon

taken at her home
the day before Alissa left.

So, in my mind,
this is a possible catalyst

that pushed her
outside of the home.

[ominous music]

There's
an outdoor carport view

that shows Alissa and Jon
walking off camera.

And then Alissa comes back
and throws a cordless phone

against a wall.

And then it switches
to an interior view.

♪

She's obviously upset.

You can hear him
squealing his tires

and taking off down the street.

[tires squealing]

That is amazingly significant.

We've got interior coverage
of the home.

That's wonderful
because maybe

there is video footage
from the last day

she was seen in the home,
from May 17th.

We figure out where Jon is,

and then we bring him in
for an interview.

- How is he responding,
you know,

physically
to what's being said?

We're looking for those
indications of deception.

Jon doesn't give us any.

Jon talks openly.

He's hurt that Alissa
never called him.

He feels like he was dumped.

And not knowing
that we have that video,

he says he went over
to Alissa's house,

and he was stopped
by Mike Turney.

And Mike told him,
"She's cheating on you

with a guy from work."

♪

Jon obviously
reacted poorly to that.

He confronted Alissa, and then
he stormed out of the house.

He's describing that event.

So that event,
in my mind, goes from,

here's evidence of a violent,
psychopathic boyfriend...

to a staged scene.

I mean, it's--
it's manufactured

by Michael Turney.

♪

And then Jon tells me
a story of Alissa

that is very concerning.

- That is
a very, very difficult,

very taxing thing
for a 17-year-old girl

to talk about...

saying that she was
sexually abused by her father.

♪

This is a darker turn
in Alissa's case.

♪

We immediately start
reaching out to other people

in Alissa's realm--
every living relative,

secondary relatives,
cousins, neighbors,

former babysitters,

anybody I could contact.

And I interviewed
Alissa's brother Rhett,

and Rhett tells me
a story of Alissa,

tears coming from her eyes,
she's shaking,

she's emotional,
and it's that same story.

- She's telling Rhett that
her father took her driving

and then sexually abused her,
touched her.

Rhett never told anybody
about that.

Later on, we have
a third source, Jessica,

close friend of Alissa's,

telling us
that he tried something on her.

Speaking to the police
when I did,

I was just grateful

that they were finally looking
into it.

- So that's three people
all saying

that Alissa Turney
told them that her father

had molested her.

I guess at the time,

we didn't necessarily know
any better.

What are teenage girls
supposed to do?

Who could they tell
when the people

who are supposed
to protect them

are the ones hurting them?

♪

- Alissa and I were sitting
in my bedroom,

and I just remember
looking over to her

and seeing...

this, like, defeated look
on her face.

I pressed her, I pressed her--
"What's going on?"

She finally decided to share
with me an experience

that she had with Michael.

She was gagged.

Mike was on top of her,
and he was suffocating her.

I was completely
beside myself.

But she said, "Don't ever
share this with anyone.

"If you do, it might mean that
I'll be pulled away from Sarah,

"and I can't have that.

You know, I could not
live with that."

She believed
that Sarah needed her.

She was the one
that took care of Sarah,

that was that mother figure
in her life.

She did not want to leave
Sarah alone with Michael.

♪

- Alissa Turney was making
that cry for help.

She's suffering this kind of
abuse inside her own home.

♪

And that home
is keeping secrets.

♪

- As the investigation
progresses,

I know now

that there is internal
and external security cameras

at Alissa Turney's house.

So maybe there's footage
from the last day Alissa

was at home, May 17th of 2001.

That's a valuable piece
of evidence to me.

I asked Mike if he can
provide me with that tape.

Mike kind of hems and haws.

He's not sure
if he still has that one.

He'll have to look around
for it.

I consider that odd
because it's the last day

your child was seen alive.

That's something that you keep.

And Sarah Turney
had mentioned that there is

a cassette tape player
that records

incoming and outgoing calls
on that phone.

We know from
Mike Turney's statement

back in 2001 that, one week
after she left the home,

Alissa called home.

Again, I tell Mike,

I want to hear a recording
of that phone call,

but he doesn't have it.

Michael's behavior towards me

has become progressively worse,

and I need those tapes.

[tense music]

- In 2008, I got a call
from Detective Andersen,

who said that he had news
about Alissa.

He asked if I could come
down to the station

to speak with him about it.

So, that morning,
I was really excited.

I thought it was going
to be something huge.

- OK.
All right.

Yes...

[Sarah sniffles, cries]

[Sarah cries]

- I couldn't absorb
that information.

And I just kept saying,
"I need to go home.

I have to get out of here.
I have to get back to my dad."

Before that moment,
I never felt like the police

were circling in on my dad--
I was clueless.

[sirens wailing]

♪

- I was there looking
for items in the home,

any clue,
any piece of evidence

that might explain what
might have happened to Alissa.

When Mr. Turney came
out of his house

to go check his mail,

that's when he was intercepted
by SWAT officers.

He was equipped
with multiple firearms,

knives, and a recording device

that he had donned

all just to make that walk

from the front door
to the mailbox.

- We're looking
for documents

that have to do
with Alissa Turney.

♪

We're looking
for all the security tapes.

But what we find is...

So much more.

♪

- I recall walking
into the front hallway area

and seeing firearms lined up...

♪

Just a massive amount
of weapons.

- Shotguns, rifles,
other pistols,

a wealth of ammunition
for everything possible.

♪

It was an epic mess.

♪

There were just piles
of things everywhere.

♪

VHS tapes,

recordings
of telephone calls...

there are thousands of them.

- But I would suspect
that Mr. Turney himself knew

where every single thing was.

♪

- We come across videotapes
that show Michael

having sex
with a particular woman.

We also found Polaroids.

♪

The woman is bound
and blindfolded.

- For whatever reason,
sexually or otherwise,

he is incredibly drawn
to dominance and control.

And then when you add to that

what Alissa's friends
are saying she experienced,

it becomes much more disturbing
at that point.

♪

And then one of our detectives
opens a bag,

and he sees
improvised explosive devices,

pipe bombs.

♪

We immediately evacuate
the home.

And then we look
towards an old van

that's in the backyard.

The van appears to be
full of trash

upon first inspection,

but then you take
a closer look...

it becomes very apparent
that the van itself is a bomb.

♪

- It had propane and bleach
and nails in the wheel wells.

The van, as it turns out,
was a giant bomb.

Then we get into his safe.

Inside the safe
are multiple envelopes

addressed to ABC, NBC.

Inside each of them
are little thumb drives.

The thumb drives
contain his manifesto--

"The Diary of a Madman."

♪

Mr. Turney had felt insulted

by the Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers.

He was an electrician,

and he believes that
he was treated very poorly,

concerning stories
about union members

having attempted
to kill him before,

having a long-term grudge
against him.

- He was planning to drive
the van into

the International Brotherhood

of Electrical Workers
Union Hall

to commit a mass murder.

- Michael says that Alissa
was abducted by the union

and murdered

and that her body was dumped
in California.

None of these things
make sense.

- 29 pipe bombs
and numerous guns

were found inside the home.

♪

- Michael invokes
his rights to an attorney

and refuses to interview.

♪

He is arrested
for the possession

of the explosives...

but we're never able

to find the security video
from May 17th of 2001

or the early-morning
phone call

from that pay phone,

so we remain convinced
that Alissa was last seen

in the company of her father

when she was picked up
on May 17th,

and we have no idea
what's happened to her since.

Michael Turney remains
the only suspect in this case.

[ominous music]

When my father was arrested,

it was just a horrible,
horrible experience.

I was pretending as if
it wasn't really happening.

I mean,
I was in complete denial.

I couldn't believe
that he was the man

that the police were
making him out to be.

♪

Growing up, there were
always guns in my house.

- [gunshot]
- Oh!

That was my normal.

And when I heard
about his plan

to hurt all these people,
I really thought

that it was some
fantasy writing of his.

And my dad told me that
the Phoenix Police Department

planted those pipe bombs.

I believed
that he was innocent.

My father was sentenced
to ten years in prison

for the pipe bombs
that were found in the home.

I was just starting college,

and my whole life
turned upside down.

All of a sudden,
I had the responsibility

of a house and three dogs.

I was his biggest supporter.

♪

I started a website for him.

I started a petition for him.

I was actively trying
to get him out.

I believed that he was
wrongfully convicted.

And I thought the police
had to be wrong.

It was difficult to be forced
out of my home like that.

I just love my father and
just want to stick by him.

We know that
he had nothing to do

with the disappearance
of my sister.

He's very loving. I mean,
he's the only parent I have.

And he's the best dad
I could ask for.

- Sarah was very protective
and defensive about her father.

But if he was capable of this,

how could he not be capable
of Alissa's disappearance?

- When they found bombs
in his house

and the search warrant
was something related

to Alissa's disappearance,

I knew in my soul

that this man murdered Alissa.

- That whole time
my dad was in prison

was really, really rough.

He was constantly telling me

how sick he was getting
in prison

and how he needed to get out.

My father asks me
to essentially act

as his legal secretary.

"Dear Sarah, I'm sending you
the originals

"of two important documents.

"One is an affirmation
witness statement.

When I was..."

I was immediately given
legal power of attorney

over all of his assets.

I took over the mortgage,
the house,

and the responsibility
of helping him

fight his legal case.

[somber music]

All the while,
he was telling me

he was the only one
that loved me and cared for me

and how he wishes he could be
out and take care of me

like he's supposed to,
like a dad.

And that went on for years.

♪

Eventually he does tell me,

"Just give the house back
to the bank."

I end up moving around
a little bit.

I graduate from college.
I buy my own home.

And over the years,
our relationship

just starts to turn.

My dad just wasn't interested
in anything but himself.

You know, he let me go bankrupt

paying for things like him
to have a TV in prison,

to constantly send him hundreds
and hundreds of dollars

in commissary money.

It didn't matter
how many hours

I put into working for him,

how much of my money
I gave to him,

it was very clear

that he didn't care
about my well-being.

♪

Then I ran
into Alissa's friend Jessica

at a record store
here in Phoenix.

And it had been years
since we'd spoken.

I was, like, kind of excited
to see Jessica.

And Jessica turns to me
and says,

"You know your dad
killed your sister, right?"

- You know he's guilty.
He killed your sister.

And she's like,
"No, he didn't."

But I did try to convince her.

I remember being in shock.

I mean, call me naive,
but Jessica was the first one

to be extremely blunt with me

and tell me that she thought
my dad killed Alissa.

♪

Later on,
I turned to my boyfriend,

and I said to him,

"Do you think my dad
could have killed my sister?"

And he says, "Sarah,

everyone thinks your dad
killed your sister."

That moment was big for me.

It really opened up my mind
to the possibility

that my father
was not telling the truth

about what happened to Alissa.

I believed my father,

everything he said
for a very long time.

But it wasn't
until I was alone

and no longer
under my father's manipulation

that I began
to question everything.

♪

- This is Alissa's case file.
It's a lot.

I requested them from
the Phoenix Police Department,

and I was sure

that they weren't
going to give them to me,

and all of a sudden,
somebody came out of the back

with this huge pile
of documents.

[soft dramatic music]

♪

There are police interviews
in here from 2008

with almost everybody
who knew Alissa.

There are transcripts
of audiotapes

that I'd never gone through,

transcripts of videotapes.

It's everything I didn't know.

- Pulled over somewhere and
tried fooling around with her.

- And it made her
really uncomfortable,

and she got out
and walked home.

- Alissa said, "My dad tried
something with me

of a sexual nature."

And then he threatened

for her basically
not to tell anybody.

[phone clatters]

- She did not want to leave
Sarah alone with Michael.

- When I read through
those files,

I was devastated for Alissa.

I didn't realize
that Alissa was abused

and just terrified,

even from a very young age.

♪

I find an interview from 2009

with a woman
who was my dad's girlfriend

after our mother died.

- And here we have--

the little homemaker
has made a-a nest.

- Want me to model my skiwear?
- All right.

Very nice, very nice.

- She was a teacher
at our school,

and I loved her.

I loved her and her kids,
and Alissa did, too.

She was the closest thing
to a stepmother we ever had.

Supplement 117.

This is the interview

of Alissa's
third-grade teacher.

"I asked if she saw
anything inappropriate

between Alissa and Mike."

- That statement
is problematic,

because you can very quickly
make any child retract,

depending on the way that
you approach their revelation.

- She attributed the statement
as Alissa acting out

and being jealous
of her relationship with Mike.

It wasn't what she believed
to be a cry for help

or anything other than
the little girl

looking for attention.

So she does not report
what Alissa told her

to Child Protective Services.

- I can't imagine
what it was like for Alissa

to build up all that courage
to tell someone

what was going on
to just be dismissed.

- Come here--
Alissa, look at me a minute.

Why do you keep
doing this, Alissa?

You keep losing.

I don't understand
your attitude.

- We were raised
to be afraid of everyone

and to not trust anyone.

My father didn't want Alissa
to have any friends.

He didn't want her to have
any trusted adults in her life

who she could go to.

- Alissa's trying to hit us
with a snowball, snoot.

♪

- Learning about the
allegations of sexual abuse

really made me reexamine
everything I thought I knew.

It was hard to reconcile that
with my own memory.

And then one night,
I was just reviewing a VHS

like I had done
so many nights before,

and it was a camping video
from the '90s.

I'm probably 8.
Maybe Alissa is 12.

[laughter]

- Oh, God.
[laughs]

And then eventually
I'm recording,

and my dad tells me
to turn off the camera.

- The red button.
- Why?

- Hit the red button now.
- I don't want to.

How do I record?

- Hit the red button.
- Sarah!

- I wanna record me.
- Sarah!

Sarah!

- Watching those home videos
again made me rethink

what I always thought
about my dad.

- Sarah, give me
the camera now.

So we have it on tape.
Alissa can read.

I'm serious--
I'm getting ready

just to pull you over
and spank you.

Now stop it.

Alissa, do not leave
the building whatsoever.

Turn off that stupid camera.

- All this time, I thought
that he was just that dad

with a video camera
taped to his face...

What are you doing?

[speaks gibberish]

- Just trying to capture
all of our memories.

- Dad, stop!
- Stop what?

- Stop.
Please?

- I had no idea
how nefarious

it really was.

Dad's a pervert.

- While I thought my dad
was basically

a superhero
and the best dad ever,

it seems that he was a monster.

[doorbell ringing]

- Hi!
- Hi!

- I don't know
if you've seen this one.

She's definitely younger,
but it's, like, so her.

- Yes!
[laughter]

Alissa, stop that racket!

- See?
There it is.

- Yeah, you got that.
- One more time. Yes.

- The resort buses.
- Where is?

- There's one right there.
- There it is.

Random--
zooming in on random women,

pretending to film his kids,
and then moving on to--

- Mm-hmm.

Doesn't everything, like,
look different

when you look back on it?

Those home videos
used to be something

that I loved watching--
full of happy memories.

And now everything I see,

I see in a different light.

[soft dramatic music]

- Sarah would reach out
to me and inform me

that she was feeling
differently about her father.

I was relieved that--

that she finally, you know,
was seeing some of the things

that many of us were seeing.

And I shared with Sarah
how Alissa told me

she did not want to leave Sarah
alone with Michael.

And that's what kept her there,
is her love for Sarah.

[somber music]

♪

- Honestly, that was one
of the hardest things

for me to realize.

Alissa wanted to leave

and refused to leave me behind
with our father.

As an adult, I can realize

the pressure
that she was under and...

that all those sister fights
that we had...

were nothing in comparison
to what she went through.

[voice breaking] It also still
makes me feel extreme guilt

that she felt she had to stay
and be abused to protect me.

♪

There were so many things
that I never knew about,

like my father
creating contracts.

- He would have
her sign contracts,

which he requires her to state

that there was
no sexual abuse.

He would tell her things
to discredit her

in the event that she might
come forth saying them.

This is a legal document

in which Alissa Turney

is made to initial
every bullet point,

saying she had not been
physically or sexually abused,

but she had to do that
in front of a notary public.

That is the level

that Michael has taken
that relationship to...

holding that legal document
over that child's head

so that she cannot make
any sort of accusation.

We also found that Michael
himself had contacted

Child Protective Services,

stating that if this child,
Alissa Turney,

accuses me of molesting her,

accuses me of doing
anything inappropriate,

you shouldn't believe that.

She's trying to extort me.

Just taking pictures.

- I think my dad
was terrified that Alissa

was going to come out about
the sexual-abuse allegations.

And once he was no longer
able to control her,

it's very clear
that he was panicking.

- Not long before
Alissa goes missing,

my dad calls my brother Mike
to complain about Alissa.

- It's clear that my father
was extremely angry

with Alissa
before Alissa went missing.

[ominous music]

And my entire life,
my father had always talked

about how he could kill
someone and hide a body.

♪

I mean, he had
an entire manifesto

about how he was going
to kill people.

♪

So I can absolutely see my dad

being that violent
towards anyone.

♪

My theory is that on the day
Alissa went missing,

my father picked Alissa up
from school,

took her out into the desert,

which makes it harder
to find her.

I think he tried what he had
tried before in the past,

according to Alissa.

Perhaps she fought back,
something went wrong,

and he decided
that today was the day

he was going to kill her.

♪

I believe that the last day of
school was picked on purpose.

That way, no one would ask
about where she was.

I don't know if he actually
brought her home that day.

And, of course, we don't have
any video surveillance

to tell us
one way or the other.

And as I got older,

I had a lot of questions
about that runaway note.

That first line,
"Dad and Sarah,

when you dropped me
off at school today"...

I wasn't there to drop Alissa
off at school that day.

♪

Also, the "Dad,
I took $300 from you,"

that was an incident
that happened

before Alissa went missing,

and that money was actually
returned to our father.

I believe that note was from
a previous time period,

and then my father found it
and planted it in her room.

♪

[phone ringing]

And that phone call
from Riverside, California,

just further solidified
the runaway idea.

I don't believe Alissa
made that call.

I think he used it
as an alibi.

My dad knows what he's doing.
He's former law enforcement.

He knows how to cover
his tracks,

and he did it very well.

It's a long, painful process
to try to turn your heart off

to someone who you looked
up to so heavily.

But the second
I put those pieces together,

it all made sense.

My dad would try
to call from prison,

and I just stopped answering.

I slowly just cut
that relationship off.

Once I was convinced that
my father killed my sister,

I went to the police
and said, "Hey,

"I see what you've been trying
to tell me for all these years.

What can I do to help?"

[soft dramatic music]

- Sarah explains
her change of heart now.

She's very open
and very adamant

about his responsibility
for Alissa's death.

But at this point in time,

we've contacted
hundreds of people.

Anybody that could have
possibly known Alissa

has been talked to.

We went to the point
of exhaustion.

♪

My investigation
has to thrive or die

based on what details

and what facts I can bring up

that cement Mike Turney
as the suspect.

♪

The circumstantial evidence
that we have is damaging,

but there's nothing physical
that shows Alissa died.

You're lacking a body, and
you're lacking a crime scene.

Now that I understood

the full story
of Alissa's case,

I did not understand
how this was not enough

to arrest my father
for Alissa's murder,

how it wasn't enough
to arrest him for anything,

for any charges.

They had the means, motive,
and opportunity.

♪

My father got
out of prison in 2017,

and it had been
about three or four years

since we'd spoken.

I wanted to confront him
and let him know,

I know that you're lying,

and I'm not going
to let this go,

and I want you
to look me in the eye

and tell me the truth
of what happened to Alissa.

[tense music]

♪

- My dad served
about nine years in prison

before he got out
on the bomb charges.

I asked him to meet with me

at a coffee shop
in downtown Phoenix.

I thought that this would be
my one chance

to maybe get answers
out of him,

that he might just be
spiteful enough

to get caught in something
that could get him arrested.

And to be honest,
I was nervous.

I had no idea
what was going to happen.

I turned on the voice memo
on my phone

because I wanted
to give it to the police.

At this point,
my father had never sat down

for a formal interview
with them,

and this seemed like the best
opportunity to get answers.

- He kind of asked me
to get to the point,

and I said I wanted
to say to his face

that I thought
that he killed Alissa,

and I wanted answers.

- That is the closest thing
to a confession

that I believe we'll ever get
from my father.

And, honestly,

him saying that to my face,

"Come to the deathbed,"
that was it.

That's when I knew Alissa
wasn't out there

and she wasn't coming back.

- Be there
at the deathbed, Sarah,

and I'll give you all the...

- Sarah turned over that
recording to law enforcement,

and she said things
like, "You know, look,

here, he says he'll tell me
the truth on the deathbed."

I can't take snippets
of a conversation.

The very next sentence is,

"But it's going to be the same
as what I'm telling you now."

[Michael laughing]

- I have to look
at the totality

of that conversation,

and the totality
of the conversation was,

I'm not responsible.

You've been lied to.
The police are corrupt.

The police are lying to you.

It's not a confession
to a homicide.

I think it is just

an exceptionally cruel thing
to say.

To me, that is the crescendo

of the manipulative
behavioral control.

If you want to know,

then you need to be there
when I die.

Like, the ultimate going out

with control
over somebody else.

- After the police told me
that my dad's statement

about the deathbed confession
wasn't good enough,

I was devastated.

I said to them, "What are we
doing going forward?

How are we going
to press charges?"

And they basically said,
"We don't have enough. Sorry.

Your best chance
is getting media exposure."

My name is Sarah Turney.

This is
"Voices for Justice."

In this episode,
we are discussing my father...

I was determined.

I reached out
to every single person

that I knew knew Alissa
and asked them to be involved.

My dad did?

- When I was conducting
these interviews

with family members, I was
getting the complete context

behind these police reports.

I was learning
the full story of everything,

and some of those stories
were horrific.

- I just want to thank
everybody for being here.

I was really hopeful that
my brothers would interview

for my podcast,

but they were not interested
in coming on the podcast.

I think they all
have their reasons.

There's four brothers,

and they're all
different individuals

who have their own trauma.

There was some frustration
that I was tarnishing

the family name.

♪

And, eventually,
I was no longer invited

to family functions,
birthdays, holidays.

I was outcast from them.

That's when I realized
that it was all on me.

I was doing my podcast,

but people weren't paying
enough attention

to Alissa's case.

And then I saw TikTok.

It's not easy being the
disappointment of the family,

but someone had to do it,
so here the [bleep] I am.

Press "publish,"
and basically overnight,

it just went viral.

[soft dramatic music]

Then I made another video
and another video,

and I just kept going viral.

♪

And you're still recording.

1 million views,

2 million views,

up to 20 million views.

They wanted to take action.

They wanted to help
get justice for Alissa.

One of my followers
made a campaign

called
The 12 Days of Alissa.

Every day was an action item,
and one of those days

was Call the Maricopa County
Attorney's Office,

asking them
to arrest my father

for Alissa's murder.

I remember
I was driving home from work.

I called
the county attorney's office,

and they said,
"You're the sister?

We've been getting calls
all day."

People were pissed.

I didn't know
what was going to happen.

And then on August 20, 2020,

I get a phone call...

[phone ringing]
And that changed everything.

- Hey, guys,
I don't know if you've heard.

I got a call
about an hour ago now,

maybe less than that.

[breathes deeply]
My father's been arrested

for Alissa's murder.

I couldn't have done this
without you guys caring so much

and sharing her story

and just making this
a priority for the media.

- Just a bombshell
arrest tonight.

Almost 20 years after
Phoenix teen Alissa--

- Alissa's stepfather has
really been the only person

of interest
in her disappearance

for at least
the last ten years.

- It's absolutely horrible
to hear that your father

is being arrested
for the murder of your sister,

but at the same time,
all this hard work,

giving up so much of my life
for this fight

was the right thing to do.

To Alissa's sister,

your perseverance
and commitment

to finding justice
for your sister, Alissa,

is a testament
to the love of a sister.

- Just felt
such relief for Sarah.

This was the first step
in her getting her life back.

- I couldn't believe
that it was finally happening.

- I was looking forward
to looking the man in his eye.

I was looking forward
to that day

that we would be sitting there

and he would finally
be answering for this.

[dramatic music]

More than 20 years

after 17-year-old
Alissa Turney disappeared,

her stepfather
is now on trial,

accused of her murder.

- Michael Turney,
who is now 75 years old,

arrived in court
in a wheelchair.

When the trial started,

I was getting
more and more nervous,

but I was really hopeful

that we would finally get
justice for Alissa.

This was Alissa.

The relationship
she had with this defendant

was oftentimes troubled.

- The state had
a really heavy burden,

because there's no body.

There's no murder scene.
There's no murder weapon.

There were no witnesses
to Alissa's murder.

- You will find
that the state's entire case

is based
on circumstantial evidence,

based on speculation,
based on belief.

There's no evidence.

- Beyond that,
a whole bunch of the evidence

that friends of Alissa
and Sarah wanted to bring in

was excluded from the start.

- Defense has filed a motion
to preclude

any further mention
of sexual abuse and molest.

I was not allowed to talk

about any of
the sexual-abuse allegations,

and I asked
why I was even there.

- The prosecution
could not talk about things

that Alissa accused Mike of
because Alissa is not here

and Mike has the right
to face his accuser.

It's the Constitution.

Also, the nature
of that accusation

is so damaging
that you run the risk

of him being found guilty
of a homicide

because people are mad at him
for having molested the kid.

- The prosecution
being unable to talk

about the sexual molestation

really made it difficult
to explain

why Michael Turney
may have murdered his daughter.

It made it much easier
for the defense

to claim that Alissa was just
an unruly teenager

who put herself
and others in danger.

Alissa was a free spirit.

She liked to have fun.
She liked to party.

She would drink.
She would smoke marijuana.

She thought she was old enough
and could do what she wanted.

The rules didn't apply to her.

- The defense tried to create
a story of her being

some crazy teen
who must have, you know,

got herself
into some big trouble

and that's the cause
of all this.

- You told Detective Andersen
that she would get into cars

with strangers
to go to parties,

even though her friends
didn't want to.

That's what I was told, yes.

Everything the defense
presented,

in terms of my thoughts
and feelings,

came from basically
that interview with police

when I was about 19 years old.

That interview is based off of
memories I had when I was 12.

I was never re-interviewed by
police officially after that,

so that was all used
against me.

They did the same thing
to every single witness.

- My understanding is that
you also told

Detective Andersen
she could be mischievous?

You told him she was boy-crazy?

- I think that every 16-,
17-year-old girl

is a little boy-crazy.

- You said
she was open sexually.

You said, she wasn't quiet
about it, that's for sure.

No.

- She was stubborn,
confrontational.

You said she was the most
difficult of your six siblings.

Yes.

- They were trying
to make it seem

like she deserved it.

As if there's ever a situation

where a teenage girl deserves

to not only be murdered

but completely vanish
off the planet.

- They knew exactly
what they were doing.

That is the handbook
on how to victim-blame a child

who was abused.

As the trial went on,

I think I got
more and more nervous.

Shocking, to say the least.

Never happened.

Never, ever, ever,
ever happened,

and then this happens today.

- We are back on the record
in State v. Turney.

How would the state
like to proceed?

- At this time,
Your Honor, the state rests.

- In the State of Arizona,
the defense

has a right to ask the judge
to determine

that the state hasn't provided
enough evidence

to allow a jury to reach
the reasonable conclusion

that this person is guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt.

Judge, pursuant to Rule 20,

the court must enter
a judgment of acquittal

if there is not
substantial evidence

to support a conviction.

- Rule 20 motions for judgment
are almost never granted.

It's incredibly rare for judges
to not allow jurors to decide.

I was in shock.

It was heartbreaking.

What happened in that trial
is not the truth

of what happened to Alissa
or her life.

I feel like the trial was
just a part of the pattern.

Alissa's been failed by almost
every adult in her life,

every institution.

Her schools,
the Phoenix Police Department,

the County Attorney's Office,
everyone failed Alissa.

- An acquittal
wasn't even something

that occurred to me
was an option.

So it's just paralyzing...

to know that that's it.

- Bombshell ruling
from the judge.

And the question is
whether or not

he could be tried again
for this.

The answer is no.
Jeopardy attaches.

He cannot be tried
on this particular charge

of second-degree murder again.

- In theory,
if new evidence were found--

Alissa's body, for example,

he could be charged
with other crimes.

But, unfortunately,
Sarah's options

are really limited.

Michael Turney is highly likely
to be a free man

for the rest of his life.

♪

- The acquittal
has given him power

to say, "Look, I'm innocent,"

when that's not
what the acquittal means.

The acquittal means

that the state
did not present their case.

It's been about five years

since I've spoken
to my father,

and he was never
fully questioned

by any authority ever.

I just want one last shot
to ask him about Alissa.

Sorry, it's like,
the moment of truth, right?

[line trilling]

I absolutely still have hope
for Alissa's case.

Her remains
have never been found,

so I need to set up
this meeting with him.

Yeah, hey, it's Sarah.

- Well, I'm filming
a documentary about Alissa,

and I was wondering
if you wanted to talk.

[sighs]

Yeah, I guess.

Well, actually, I'm wondering

if you wanted to, like,
do it in person.

- It'll just be me and you
and the production crew,

and they have,
like, a security guard,

which means
they have to make sure

that you don't have
any weapons on you,

and they have to make sure
I don't have any weapons on me.

[laughs]

- I don't know.
I'll have to think about that.

- What I'm asking from you
is honesty.

So, if you want a hug from me,

if you want me
to shake your hand,

then let's sit down
and have a real talk.

You already got acquitted, Dad.

There's nothing left
for you to lose.

Give me some peace in my life
and give me some answers.

- So I'm just going to--
This is Chris, our sound guy.

He's going to put
a microphone--

- Put a microphone on me?
- Yeah, if that's OK.

Oh, and I think
Sarah mentioned,

we do have to do a pat-down.

[tense music]

♪

- This it?
- Yeah.

I can go in?

- Hey, Dad.
- Hello.

Everything's recording.

It's on just like
I said it would be.

Are we going live?

- No, it's not--what are you
talking about, live?

Oh, shucks.

- So I know
that you have questions for me,

but are you OK
if I ask you questions first?

- You're more than welcome.
- OK.

[sighs]

So I wanted to ask you,

how did you feel about Alissa

after she accused you
of sexual assault in 2000?

- Upset, disappointed,
my heart broken.

Were you angry?

- Yes, at her.
Yes, I was.

- Do you think Alissa
was afraid of you?

- No. Not like you guys
keep saying she was.

- Because you told me before
that you don't remember

fear and Alissa's eyes,
but you remember defiance.

So you don't think Alissa was--

- You don't know--
you don't even--

Alissa wasn't afraid
of hardly anything, Sarah.

- OK, do you recall
writing to Alissa,

your words, quote,
"I am so sorry

you were afraid of me,"
end quote?

- That had to do
with Alissa telling people,

you know, I'm afraid
my dad's going to kill me,

which is every statement
that you made,

- everybody else makes.
- Right there.

- You just said it.
- Oh, there you go, Sarah.

Earspot, guys.
Earmark that one.

Come on, Sarah.

What is wrong--
Is your career that important

that you're going to manipulate
this into a lie?

You've destroyed
your own family.

You're helping destroy--
Your brothers and sisters--

or brothers
don't want to talk to you

because you keep continuously
bringing up these lies.

You even bring up things
that they say,

"Dad, how can Sarah remember?
She wasn't even there."

- Well, that's
between me and them, right?

- And, no--
- That's between you and them?

They talk to me all the time.

- You're the one that's making
this into national news, Sarah.

- Dad--

- I'm not here for you
to interrogate me, OK?

- Dad, you said that I need...
- I did not kill your sister.

- Rely on my memory,
and now I am using examples.

- No, you don't have
your memory.

You're reading off
of something that--

You just said it yourself,
you just read it

because of letters I wrote.

You don't remember that.
Were you there?

- I'm, like, trying to meet you
in the middle here, Dad,

- and you can't even hear it.
- No, you're not.

[laughs]

- You'll have an opportunity
to ask me questions

when I'm done
asking my questions.

- Really?
- Is that fair?

- You continue on
with your attitude, Sarah,

I'm going to leave.

Do you understand?

- I can stop this interview
right now

if you're not
going to be civil.

- I am being civil--you're
the one that's being hostile.

I'm not hostile.

You're trying to gaslight me,

and you're continuing
your abuse,

and I'm not taking it.

- What does gaslight mean?
- Look it up.

- Boy, Sarah,
you're just absolutely nasty.

[sighs]

- You're turning things--
really going off haywire.

Calm down, Sarah.
Please, calm down.

I mean,
you're really losing it.

- I'll calm down
when you tell the truth.

- What truth are you
looking for, Sarah?

Remember me asking you
over and over,

what are you looking for,
Sarah, other than ratings?

- OK, so my last question is,
will I get that confession

on your deathbed?

Bad phrasing, Sarah.

It meant that the story
that you have heard

is never going to change,
even when I'm dying, Sarah,

because I did not molest
and I did not kill

your daughter--your sister.

I was warned
by all of the family,

don't talk to Sarah,
but I chose to talk to you

because I really wanted
to see if my daughter

had that much hatred
towards me.

- You--
- I feel nothing for you.

I will leave this conversation
and never think of you again.

My children
will not know who you are.

- Are you--Sarah--
- I will not speak your name.

Oh, now for the audience.

- I wish you the best.
- You're a liar, Sarah.

Why are you doing this, Sarah?

To make money
off of your dead sister,

if she is dead?

- If you'd like to speak
to the producers, you can.

I wish you the best.

No drumroll, guys?

♪

- When I left that meeting
with my dad,

it gave me a lot more peace.

I put myself through
all of this for Alissa.

Her story deserves to be told,
and he needed to be confronted

because no one else
had ever done it.

Part of telling Alissa's story

is how you stop
this generational abuse.

I had to take that power back,
saying, "It stops here."

- Got a pretty hat--what kind
of hat is that, Sarah?

- I don't need
a judge or a jury

to tell me
what we all know happened.

Sarah!

And although I don't have

a legal sense
of justice right now,

I'm at peace with
what I've done for Alissa.

[dramatic music]

You may not always get
the results you want,

but at least you have peace

knowing you've done
everything you can.

After spending
so many years talking

about my sister Alissa's case,

I've decided that I want
to help other families, too.

This is 17-year-old
Asia Cowell.

She went missing
on September 7, 2020.

25-year-old ISU grad student
Jelani Day

was last seen
in Bloomington, Illinois.

I didn't want to just stop
with Alissa.

I wanted to keep going and help
as many people as I could.

Leah Croucher went missing
from Milton Keynes, England,

on February 15, 2018.

There are so many people
out there

with missing or murdered
loved ones

that were trying to get
media attention

and get the world
to care about it.

If you do have
any information,

if you recognize this woman,

please call the Palm Beach
County Sheriff's Department.

I'm so proud of Sarah.

She's helping other people.

- She says she's encouraged
by how her story

has inspired people
around the world

to self-advocate
when it comes

to working
with law enforcement.

- It was Sarah's page
that inspired me.

- She's helping them
find their own voices

in their own situations.

It's really beautiful
what she's doing.

- As much
as I never wanted to be

this big of a part
of Alissa's story,

I have to recognize
that it has inspired others

to do something similar
to what I did.

[somber music]

So next week
you're going to hear me

talk about a brand-new case
that you've never heard before.

This case has so many twists
and turns over the years,

it'll have your head spinning

and wondering why this family
is still fighting for justice.

♪