01x02 - For How Long?

[bunniefuu]

MAN: Good possibility
it´s a red truck,

they still don´t know the make,
with a white camper shell.

If we can find that
truck and identify it,

there may be evidence
in that truck.

REPORTER: The Alma
Police Department

making a huge
announcement today.

The chief, Jeff Pointer,
took over the chief position

after Russell White
retired from the position.

I found statements
that I had seen before

at different times
over the years.

Location number seven...
Other witnesses,

they observed this
vehicle come in.

They felt like they observed the
adult male driving the truck,

potentially holding a child down
in the front seat of the truck.

I start digging through files,
looking for more witnesses,

more things, and I come
across the photograph.

I think, "Oh, my God, I´m
looking at the truck."

REPORTER: Police say
this truck is a Mazda.

INTERVIEWER: Had
you ever heard that?

Um, I mean, I don´t...
I don´t remember it, no.

We need to find this truck, and
we need to find this person.

COLLEEN: We love
her and we miss her.

Whoever´s got her, just
bring her back to us.

♫♫

COLLEEN: She´s got
her eyes closed.

Keep them tight. Real closed.

Closed real tight.

♫♫

Okay, open your eyes.

COLLEEN: You kind of scratch
your head and wonder...

It´s like, where do I live
now? And what is this world?

What is real?

[ laughs ]

That´s for you. That´s your
happy birthday present.

Didn´t you just wish that
this was just a night...

That was just a nightmare

and this was the
better place to be?

This is a world that was real.

You know what?

He´s been sleeping in
our bedroom all night.

That´s when Mama made you
hurry up and get out of there

while company came in.

Last night, when you
came in our bedroom.

♫♫

Last night? Mm-hmm.

I didn´t even see it.

I know. I made you leave
fast before it could holler.

♫♫

I didn´t know enough about
Morgan, but we connected.

And I think that that´s
been the sort of magic.

It´s like, you´d
tell me something,

and I could just know
exactly your feelings.

And it was... it was the same.

♫♫

Hey, he put his
little nose on me.

In the video camera, I
can´t tell where his nose is

and I where his eyes
are. He´s shaking, Mommy.

He´s scared. He
doesn´t know you.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

COLLEEN: The first
time I called you,

I had... I saw a
magazine article,

and it had the phone
number for your foundation,

and it was late.

It was 2:00, 3:00
in the morning.

And I called and
got a voicemail.

Your executive director
ended up calling me back,

and I just wanted... I
just wanted to talk to you.

Didn´t know you.
Had never met you.

And he said he would
make that happen.

And you called me the next day.

Yeah.

It was such an
unbelievable story

that you were telling me
that I hadn´t really known.

I mean, back then,

it wasn´t like news was
immediate and so current.

You know, we knew cases
in our neck of the woods

and you knew your
neck of the woods.

[ laughter ]

You know, that´s one of
the things we always talk

to law enforcement about

is that families are very
isolated when children are taken

because there´s no one
in your neighborhood

or no one in your circle
and no one in your community

that you can go to for
help and intervention

and trying to figure
out how to do this.

It´s like, just to
sit down with somebody

who at least one part
of their life is shared.

Right.

All of the surrounding
circumstances

might be different, but
there´s this one common factor

that is so horrific,
you can´t imagine it.

And, you know, with
any other crime,

people don´t try and put
themselves in your place.

But a lot of times, you
have a missing child,

and people would say,

"Well, I know if it
were me, I´d be angry.

I´d want to do this,
I´d want to do that."

And it´s like... They
never get it quite right

because you can´t.
No one can know.

You know, people care
so much. They want to.

Right, and they want to
think that they´d be brave

and they want to think this.

But you can´t know.
You can´t know.

I think time is kind of a
mystery while you´re searching

because it doesn´t
mean anything.

You know, you go to school
for, like, kindergarten

to [laughs] like


You buy a car over six years,
you buy a home over 30 years.

You know, it´s like,
how long do you do this?

You know, there
was no parameter.

There were no parameters.

And I was always amazed

when it would be, like, fifth-year
anniversary or something.

It´s like, "How?" It
can´t be, you know.

And I just got confused
by time because how long?

How long till we´re done?

So I remember one
time we were together

and somebody asked you, like,
"But when is enough enough?"

Oh. [ chuckles ] Yeah.

And people really
don´t understand

how you can keep... Just
keep relentlessly fighting,

but Morgan is
worth fighting for.

And you make the
rest of the world

know why they need to care.

Kids are found because
people don´t forget

and somebody sometime
feels safe enough to tell

or they can no longer
live with what they know

and they didn´t want to
tell or something changes

or it´s just time
and they are ready.

But that really
is almost a key...

Almost always a key ingredient,
is keeping the case alive...

Keeping hope alive and
keeping Morgan alive,

keeping Jacob alive, keeping all
these kids who are out there.

They just don´t
vanish into thin air.

They do go somewhere,

and someone took our kids.

♫♫

♫♫

PATTY: Jerry took Jacob fishing

because it was the
end of the season.

I took Trevor and bought
shoes, and we came back

and watched the
Minnesota Vikings play.

And then they begged
to go to the ice arena

and just have one more
skate before tryouts.

And so they did that,
and they came back.

And I had chaired
an art festival,

and we were having a
kind of a revisit...

How did it go? What
worked, what didn´t?

And we asked Jacob if
he minded babysitting.

Our oldest daughter, Amy, was
staying at a friend´s house.

It was Sunday night, but they
didn´t have school the next day.

And Jacob was in sixth grade...


It sounds so young, but he
was nearly 12 in sixth grade,

and we weren´t going
to be gone long,

and we asked if he
minded babysitting.

He said, "Sure, can
Aaron come over?"

So now we´d have two
sixth-grade boys.

So we ordered a pizza.

We left. We got to
our friend´s house

and then called home
to give the boys...

The kids the phone number.

And shortly after they called
and said, "We´re bored.

Can we ride our bikes to
the store and rent a video?"

This is pre-Netflix, right?

So our house to the
store is a mile,

and I had answered the phone,

and I said, "No, find
something to do."

It was starting to get dark.

And Trevor said, "Well,
let me talk to Dad."

So, you know, you
hand over the...

"Your son would like
to speak with you."

And Jerry answered the...

You know, picked
up and it´s like,

"Look, Dad, we got a
white sweatshirt on Aaron,

Jacob´s wearing
your jogging vest.

I got the flashlight. We´ll
go straight to the store

and come straight
back. Is it okay?"

And he said, "Yeah,
it should be okay."

Really, his concern was traffic.

It´s a country road and
there´s not a lot of traffic,

but the cars that do go go fast.

♫♫

They went to the store.
They got a video.

They got, ironically,
The Naked g*n.

They got some candy.

And they were... They
were coming back.

It was now dark. It
was just after 9:00.

And two of them were on bikes,

but Aaron was on one
of those foot scooters

that you just push. So
they were going slowly,

and all of a sudden,
they looked up

and there was a man standing
in the road with a g*n.

Trevor the flashlight...
He was first...

And they all saw the g*n.

And he told them to
put out the flashlight,

get off their bikes, and
lie down in the ditch.

And Trevor said it was like
some kind of a sick joke,

but they did as they were told.

And then he asked their ages,

which was, um... confusing.

Trevor was 10,
Aaron 11, Jacob 11.

He told Trevor to run into
the woods as fast as he could,

or he would sh**t.

And Trevor took off.

He said the same words to Aaron.

First he looked at Aaron´s face.

I think that´s where
the selection was made.

I-I´m not sure.
But he looked...

He told Aaron to
run into the woods.

Exact same words, "As fast
as you can or I´ll sh**t."

And when they really thought...

Trevor really thought
this was a prank

and that he was going
to let everybody go.

But when Aaron caught up
to... He saw the man grab

Jacob´s shoulder when he left,

and when he caught up to Trevor
and they felt safe enough

to turn around and look
back, they were gone.

They were just gone.
There was no car there.

They didn´t hear a
car engine start.

They didn´t hear
a car door slam.

They never saw a car.
They were just gone.

So they ran. It was like a
half a mile from our home.

They ran across a field

and went screaming into
the house next door

to tell the babysitter
that to call 911,

somebody took Jacob.

REPORTER: The search
for 11-year-old Jacob

is pressing on in high gear,

even though no one has found
any real sign of the boy.

An army of volunteers continues
to search roadsides and fields,

and more than 250
National Guardsmen

and Department of
Natural Resources workers

are scouring forests and swamps.

In the meantime, this town tries

to keep the story of
Jacob in the news,

putting up reminders of the


There´s absolutely
nothing we can do,

and it´s a total
helpless feeling.

The only thing we can
do is to keep everybody

looking and helping.

It´s like, we don´t...
We want you here.

♫♫

PATTY: People say all kinds
of things and it´s like,

got to prepare for the
worst-case scenario

or something silly like that.
How can you prepare for that?

You can´t prepare for that. It
may happen, but you don´t...

There´s no readiness for it.

A reporter said to
me one time, he said,

"Hypothetically, what if
Morgan doesn´t come home?

What will you do?" It was
a very serious question.

And I remember looking
at him thinking,

"What if Morgan
doesn´t come home?"

I´ve literally never
thought about that.

And I still don´t give
any energy to that

because my my response is,
"What if she´s out there?

What if she somehow
survived? Yeah.

You know, what
if we find her?"

It´s just so much for
people to comprehend

that you can keep fighting
for years and years

and years without an
answer, but it´s what we do.

We´re moms. Yeah.

The first people I
met that got it was...

They were vets and
they were honoring...

It was Veterans Day,

and they were honoring all
of the missing in action.

And they had these black
balloons that they released

for all of the
missing in action.

And they had one
white one for Jacob.

And they just said,
"The way we see it,

he´s missing in action."

And I´m like, "Oh,
you guys get it."

You don´t quit because
it´s been a while.

You just... they knew.
They understood the hope

that you and I get,
that I had never met

anybody like that.
I loved that.

That´s awesome. I´ve
never heard that.

Yeah, it was. They
were really good to us.

♫♫

BRETT: There were
people in this case

that they had put
focus on at times,

and based on that, you
will see information

on those people in the future.

I really don´t want to sit
here and name them off.

I really don´t want
to give them any time.

I don´t. Just know that
when you look at those,

some of those...
Basically what this is,

is when you get people
that are bad people

and you know they´re bad people,
they´ve got a history of this,

they become a person
of interest for you,

especially if they´re
from this area.

One of those people...
I´ll throw the name

because you probably
already know it...

Charlie Vines. Okay?

Charlie Vines was a mad
man that lived in Syria.

And we know that he did
a lot of bad things.

I look at Charlie Vines and
I know Charlie´s operating

in this area at the time
that Morgan´s abducted.

I would not be doing my
job if I did not look

at Charlie Vines.

♫♫

REPORTER: The case of
Juanita Wofford is now over.

Charles Vines admitted before
a judge he is guilty of beating

and stabbing the woman
to death in 1993.

When we come across people
that have been arrested

post-Morgan in this area
for attempted abductions,

then, yes, we are
going to be climbing

right in the middle of them.

REPORTER: The agreement was this...
police would ask Vines questions

about unsolved cases,
including Melissa Witt,

Morgan Nick, Lori Murchison,
Dora Do, and Juanita Wofford.

Vines tells the truth,
he gets to live.

We don´t believe that
we have everything

that this person did.

We believe that
there´s more out there

in that particular circumstance.

It was just a knowledge
that this person is here,

operating at June
the 9th of ´95.

We know that this
person was doing that

in this area at that time.

This person´s victims ranged
from 14 years old to 93.

You can´t rule out that this
person didn´t go to six.

You have to look. I
just started gathering

as much information as
I could on this person,

and I actually
started mapping it.

The first thing I did is
obtained his addresses,

family addresses, where I knew
that he had lived previously.

And then the next thing I
do is I take known victims

and start plugging those in so
that I´m physically looking at,

okay, this is where he´s living
and this is the proximity

of his victims in that location.

And then go a step
further and start digging

and try to find out,
okay, who else is missing?

From back in the ´80s to this
timeframe when he went to jail,

who else is missing
in these areas?

What I saw when I looked at
that was very concerning to me.

Basically, the green pegs
that you´re looking at

and the green
writing are locations

that Charlie Vines
was known to live.

And then what you´re looking at
in red are actually his victims.

You know, close proximity
to his house, uh,

was also, uh, a r*pe and m*rder
of another elderly female.

With Mr. Vines, you´re
potentially looking

at a serial k*ller.

When you have a crime
this close to home,

is you´d be very
foolish not to look

at what´s in your own
backyard at that time.

And at the time of Morgan´s
abduction, he was active.

Uh, didn´t get caught until
about six years, I believe...

Five or six years
after her abduction.

Through this area, many other
things that have occurred,

it gives us a very strong reason
to go in and take a look at him.

♫♫

ROB: When it´s been
work for so many years,

first of all, that´s a sign that
it´s going to be a tough case.

♫♫

What can I find that maybe
someone else didn´t find?

What´s a perspective
I can add to this

that... that maybe helps?

Charlie Vines had attempted

to m*rder a girl out
here in Crawford County,

and he got caught in the act.

And when they identified him

in that, his DNA matched up with
some other murders in this area,

so he started being
looked at as a suspect

for the Morgan Nick case.

You know, the
thing with a person

who would harm a child, to me,

something that...
It takes a darker,

more sinister type of person.

So I get a much larger
gratification of building a case

and putting someone away
that does this type of crime.

Charlie Ray Vines was a guy
who lived in Crawford County.

He had a period of victimization
through Crawford County.

Looking at him saying, okay,
he has a predisposition

to harm another person,
to m*rder, take life.

When you look at that and
he´s within close proximity

to, you know, the
Morgan Nick abduction,

so that brought us to
doing a kind of a deep-dive

investigative look at his life.

♫♫

[ knock on door ]

♫♫

[ indistinct conversation ]

I got you over
there right quick.

♫♫

BRETT: He´s a known k*ller.

We know that he
has k*lled people.

He´s been convicted of it.
He was doing life in prison.

You know, he is not
just a m*rder*r,

he´s a r*pist.
That´s been proven.

You are looking at somebody
that has some serious issues

going on... some very
serious issues going on,

and that is operating right
here in your backyard.

You can´t turn
your head to that.

Yeah.

ROB: Charles, uh...

And, uh... And, uh...

You know, the things that
we know in this case...

Did he have access
to the vehicle

we´re looking for on that night?

Did he have the ability
to be here that night?

You run through
every one of those

and you run out every potential
lead you can run out in them.

BRETT: We did receive a lead,
based off of prison information,

that Charlie Vines had
confessed to this crime.

ROB: Charlie Vines had
admitted to telling...

He admitted to someone else

that he had actually done
the Morgan Nick abduction.

It was obviously third- and
fourth-generation information.

Someone told someone
who told someone,

but it was never followed up on.

And so it was like, when you
talk to the person, you´re like,

"Okay, that´s interesting.

BRETT: A lot of things get
said in prison, and, you know,

you go to the validity and
the credibility of the person

passing this information to
you, as well as whether or not

this is somebody
trying to take credit

for a crime they didn´t do.
You have to look at all of it.

That person gave us
enough... Was close enough

to give us accurate information

that made us really
focus on Vines

for multiple murders.

RUSSELL: I mean...

When we identified him as
someone we really wanted

to eliminate or, you
know, work further on,

the best thing to do is just
try and go talk to someone.

They were going to
go interview him,

and I get a call from
them one day that says,

"Hey, we can´t interview him."

♫♫

I said, "What do you mean,
you can´t interview him?"

And they said, "Well,
he´s got cancer."

By the time we had started
making arrangements

and figuring out where he´s
at, he was in a prison,

he was already terminally ill.

And he was basically in
a comatose-type state,

to where they didn´t
believe that he had

more than a week to live.
They were calling family in.

And he died.

And so he passed
just basically weeks

before we were able
to go talk to him.

Not that it would
have done any good,

because my experience
with people in prison

is they´ll talk to you,
but it´s going to take days

and hours of of going
through what they tell you

to figure out what´s
bullshit and what´s truth,

because that´s just
the way they are.

And so we would
have expected that,

but it still would have
been nice to have at least

approached him and
see the reaction.

BRETT: So in some respects,
it makes it tougher for us.

In some respects, it could
actually potentially help us

within the case,
because people may feel

more free to come
forward with information

and help us more
in this lead now,

because he´s no longer alive,

he´s no longer a threat that
they would deem from him.

I know for a fact that he had
a red truck with a white camper

because I used to drive by it.

I know for a fact he owned one.
Where he lived at the time,

I was very familiar with,
used to patrol all the time.

Here´s where the problem
runs into on this,

is actually timeline.

Going back and being
able to look at this,

we´ve received information that
he had access to a red truck

with a white camper
at that time.

Being able to look at
a registration and go,

"He had this red truck
with this white camper

registered to him at the
date of this abduction,"

we´ve not been able to do.

♫♫

ROB: Vines had admitted to
more than four murders...

Well more than four murders...

And that he had
also communicated

that the best way to hide a body
is under rocks and concrete.

And so that that causes
you to say, "Well, okay,

let´s just dig further into
that. What does that mean?"

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

COLLEEN: What if
she did AncestryDNA?

What if she did? I don´t know.

♫♫

But what if her, you
know, DNA is out there

and we could get a
match if I did mine?

And it seems like a really...

♫♫

A very unlikely scenario.

It seems very unlikely.

But I´ve watched friends of mine

who were adopted at birth
do their AncestryDNA

and have found their
biological parents

and found brothers and sisters.

And I know this is a
little bit different,

but if the DNA is in the
system, and then it´ll match.

And so... And I´ve really spent
two years thinking about it

because it does seem pretty
far-fetched that it might work.

And I´m, um...

♫♫

♫♫

So I hate to do it
and have it not work.

♫♫

I try something else one more
time and have it not work.

But, you know, I want to
do everything in my power

and I don´t want to pass up
an opportunity, just in case.

Even if it´s the tiniest
percentage that it might work,

I want to do this.
And so I talked

to our investigative
team and asked them

what they thought about it, and
they just kind of looked at me

and said, "Why didn´t we
do this a long time ago?"

So they´re very much on board.

Um, you know, in my heart,

I don´t actually expect
that we´ll get a match.

I don´t, but I have to try.

♫♫

[ door closes ]
MAN: Right this way.

♫♫

♫♫

ROB: We started
interviewing neighbors,

people who knew him
back in the day,

people who lived in that
area back in the day.

And some of the stuff that came
up was one neighbor spotted

him on the hill across
from his property.

There´s a radio
tower on that hill.

It would be a shot
in the dark for us

to just walk up in
there and poke around,

but, you know, the hope
is that maybe this tool

can get us some furtherance
or at least help us, you know,

put to bed some of the
suspicion of that area.

BEN: I do historical
work with her.

So the oldest that we´ve
found is 2,500 years.

Jeez. So...

She worked some historic sites

out in west Texas,
out south of Odessa.

ROB: A team had been
identified out of Texas

that was willing to come
up and use their dogs.

I know they had a dog
that was supposed to do...

Supposed to be able to
detect older remains

and a dog that was supposed
to detect newer remains to see

if that would help us narrow
our area up on the hill.

Those teams were brought in.

♫♫

I have never used canines before
in this type of a situation,

but trying to have a
scientific approach,

we had information that this
was the area he liked to be,

so we wanted to have
the dogs work that area,

but also want them to work
other parts of the hill.

So here was his property
back in the day.

It´s kind of a triangle, and
we´ve gone through a lot of it,

but what we noticed when we
surveyed it a couple of times,

just basically
walking through it,

but when we were actually
digging on spots,

as we would walk
around, we would find

more suspicious spots.

So the hope is that the dogs
can do some work around here

and, you know, help
us cover that area

where we can´t get to.

When you´re dealing with scent,

the theory is scent rises
on mountains in the mornings

and it falls in the evenings.

So if we´re starting out up top

and there´s scent coming
up from something,

then they´ll pick it
up and work to it.

♫♫

♫♫

You ready? Okay. Send her.

WOMAN: Come on. Get it.

BEN: So she just gave
her a search command.

She´s giving her
trained final response.

She knows it´s right over in
that area. Now she had it.

So then she put her nose on it.

They´re animals.

That´s the dog´s
paycheck right there.

They don´t, you know, understand

"Well, you´ll get
paid on Friday."

What they know is
that when they work

and they find the right odor,
they get rewarded for it.

You´re looking for what we
call a change of behavior.

It means the dog´s
trotting along,

everything´s fine,
and all of a sudden

you´ll see maybe a sudden
turn in a direction,

like they´ll change directions,
maybe even do a 180.

If you´re in an area with trees,

their nose will
go up in the air.

So those are all things that
we look for and we listen for

when we´re working them.
They check out other odors.

It´s like you seeing somebody
off in the distance and going,

"Oh, that´s Aunt Sophia."

And then you get a little
bit closer and you´re like,

"No, that´s not Aunt Sophia.
She just looks like her."

Dogs are going to do
that with negative odors.

So a dead cow, a dead
dog, they´re going to go,

"Oh, that´s dead.

Oh, wait a minute. That´s
not the one I´m looking for."

And so they´ll check it out,

but then they´re
going to move on.

♫♫

♫♫

BRETT: What do
you think, buddy?

REUBEN: Well, I think
this is a good day for it.

Hot as any other day.

Yeah. It wasn´t this dry
when we came last time.

No, it was not.

WOMAN: Are these, like, roads
or are they, like, easements

of some kind?

No, I think that is going
to be the easements.

There´s a power line that
runs back through here,

and I think that´s clear
cut for part of that.

I know when you measure the
road that used to be here

on Google Earth, it´s
only 40 to 50 feet.

So it´s not that far back in.

It was more just a spot. Yeah.

More just a place for a farmer
to pull in beside his field.

If you want to... if we
want to go to that point

and you want to take off from
there and go out, we can.

It´ll get you on the
other side of that water.

Yeah. Yeah.

How far do y´all
think he would go?

Like, from what y´all...

REUBEN: No more
than, like, 100.



Okay. And so I´ll
search up to...

to that clear area behind it

and just a hair off to the side.

Okay, that´ll work.

So I´ll start him in from
right here and work back.

Alright. And then come up.

And if we get anything,
we´ll rework the wind

and try to pinpoint
and narrow it down.

All right.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

We are now at our
seventh location,

and we are out here with the FBI

and a K-9

that is with Texas Game Wardens.

The dog is currently
working this location.

We´re trying to look and
see if we get any hits,

any possible locations
where we can dig

or gain any evidence
regarding Morgan´s case.

We know what the
possibility is here,

based on witness statements.

So if she works this large
area and we don´t get a hit...

Yeah.

♫♫

Some witnesses
that were down here

the evening of the
abduction, and they were

able to provide enough
information for us,

and within the
timeline, it´s perfect.

Within descriptions
of the vehicle

that we´re looking
for, it´s perfect

to match up with
the information.

And this is, for us,
the last location.

It´s the last location that
we believe that Morgan was.

♫♫

Basically, it was several
different witnesses

that were down here

together to provide information
on a vehicle coming in here,

exactly what time the vehicle
came in, was a red truck

with a white camper shell,

and the vehicle stayed here
an extended period of time,

and they reported
that information

right after the fact.

So for us,

going back, looking at
the beginning of the case,

looking at the timelines,

getting back into the details

of looking at specific
details about the truck...

That is one of the things
that we´re focused on.

And we had one of those
witnesses that believed

that it looked like the subject
was potentially reaching over,

holding a child
down in the seat.

So it... We got a lot of
hopes and a lot of prayers

sitting right here.

We need to ask her how
much this water laying here

is going to impact him,

because the ground is
going to be even colder

because of the
water, I would think.

♫♫

And I don´t know how to
watch this dog to tell

if he alerts to anything.

He does sit?

REUBEN: But he´s
supposed to sit.

Well, I wouldn´t if I was him.

♫♫

I guess the dry only
lasted so far up the road.

♫♫

♫♫

Any interest at all?

There´s, like, a water
catch down there.

Okay. And working down there,

Dexter kept pulling
to the right.

It wasn´t really an alert,
but it was just different.

Right. You know, so I just...

I wanted to get a second
dog out here to...

To see. I didn´t want to...

Like I told you, I
didn´t want to leave here

and not have the
second dog run it.

Scenario... If she
was buried here

and she´s however many feet deep

and you´ve got water
laying on that...

They´re going to be fine,
even though it´s been cold?

BEN: Yeah, because the
water... scent likes water.

So, like, even if you´ve got
something on land by water,

a lot of times the dogs
will hit on the water first

until they work it out,
because the water tends

to attract the
volatile molecules.

Okay. So...

♫♫

♫♫

I see him back there now.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

Amazed.

How´d we do? No?

All right.

I think it´s that water catch,

and there´s all kinds of
odor getting hung up there,

and he was just checking it out.

Yeah, her dog did the same
thing out there too, so...

Okay. Good.

♫♫

♫♫

[ indistinct conversations ]

♫♫

Yeah.

♫♫

ROB: In this team... This
dog team coming down,

there were alerts on the
hill in the general area

where the witnesses
also saw Charlie Vines.

The problem was there
was multiple alerts,

and those alerts, in totality,

end up being a
large area as well,

making it difficult to just
pinpoint where we needed to dig

or where we didn´t need to dig.

BRETT: We had three
different dogs,

and somebody said, the
way these dogs work

is if a dog gets a hit, uh...

they don´t tell the other
dog handler where it hit.

Mm-hmm.

They´ll bring him to an
area and let that dog work.

So essentially, what
we ended up with

is we ended up with
three independent dogs.

One at a time. One at a time,

three different times.
Actually, the one dog

came back twice,
worked this area,

and we got several alerts
right in this area.

And so today is just the day

for us to come out
here with ERT...

The FBI ERT... And
clean this area out.

And we´re going to start
digging and see whether or not

we have any positive
results based on that.

We´ll keep our
fingers crossed. Yes.

[ equipment running ]

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

COLLEEN: Just getting this
in and going to open it

is really difficult.

♫♫

What I have to say to
myself is... I mean,

and what I believe
is we´re probably

not going to find anything.

It´s just... It is
going to be what it is.

There won´t be anything there.
There won´t be any matches.

That makes sense. I think
everybody knows that it won´t,

but just that hope that it will.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

It makes me nervous.
It makes my heart hurt.

What are you doing, cat? Hmm?

[ cat purrs ]

So I´m going to open it
and see what it says.

♫♫

And if there´s not a match,
we´ll just go on and know

that, um, we tried
one more thing,

you know, and that...
That´s what...

That´s what this
is about, really,

is just trying everything
that we can think of to try

and knowing at the end
of every single day

that I´ve done
everything that I can.

You know, I think it´s
how I sleep at night.

It´s how I go
forward, is knowing

that I´m doing everything
that I can possibly think of.

I´m doing everything in
my power to find her.

♫♫

It is really difficult to do

because when I´m sitting
in front of this link,

if I´m not careful, I´ll
let my hope get too big

and then the
disappointment is too big.

♫♫

♫♫

So it´s easier to...

♫♫

Just assume...

♫♫

That it will turn out to be
nothing, like things tend to do,

and we´ll just go on.

♫♫

[ sighs ]

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

So it says zero starred matches.

♫♫

And 1,000 fourth
cousins. [ laughs ]

Or closer.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

[ sniffling ]

♫♫

♫♫

Yeah.

♫♫

So that´s it.

♫♫

It says I´m Irish, which
I knew. [ chuckles ]

♫♫

♫♫

Can we stop?

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

TARYN: My mom involves
me when she can.

When I´m allowed to know
a lead or what´s going on,

she will talk to me about
it and I can support her

so that, you know,
she´s not so isolated.

So I would say I´m
definitely more involved

than I used to be as a kid.

I don´t know if I
have a specific time

that I remember my
mother telling me

about what happened to Morgan
because I was so young.

I just remember growing
up, my mom explaining to me

that a family was
looking for a little girl

to make a part of their
family, to love on,

and they chose my sister.

And while that made me very
sad and it broke my heart,

I felt like she was safe,
she was taken care of.

And it wasn´t until
I was older...

I was early teens, actually...

When Jaycee Dugard
was recovered,

and I think People magazine
did an article on her,

and that is when I
realized the abuse

that most kidnapping
victims go through.

And I´m so thankful

that my mom sheltered me
for so long from that.

I can´t imagine how
hard that was for her,

to have all of that grief

and to be able to
put it in a way

that my mind could comprehend.

You know, we have home videos
and pictures of Morgan,

and I see the love in her
eyes that she had for me

and just the joy of
her being a big sister.

And my mom actually has a
video of her singing to me.

It´s just really sweet.

I´ve always craved that
sister relationship

that I see a lot
of my friends have,

and knowing that I
would have had that,

yeah, that hurts.

♫♫

[ machinery rumbling ]

♫♫

Hold up, Rick.

WOMAN: You want some
help down there?

See, this is normal
for up here...

To have that type of
rocks down in that clay.

We... this is where we
may hit that five foot

until we hit bedrock.

You think that´s rock? Solid?

♫♫

♫♫

BRETT: We came in here,
went all the way to bedrock

in the areas that we
were working yesterday,

and it´s the area that
the dog concentrated on

and absolutely have
not found anything.

And so we´re working right
now in different areas

that the dog came in and
alerted to and kind of working

our way back up the trail
that the dog showed us,

and those areas to see whether
or not there´s anything there.

But so far, it´s
turned up nothing.

♫♫

A little frustrating.

♫♫

You know, there are days
when the grief of this...

just, it takes me to my
knees, I´m just telling you.

But at the end of that moment
or at the end of that day,

I know that I have to
keep fighting for Morgan.

If I´m not fighting
for Morgan, honestly,

eventually, nobody else will.

Are you done?

Hey.

Get it all out of there?

Whatever... once you
get it pushed in,

I don´t know if you need
to pull this one out,

but I think you can come
right through here. Huh?

You want to do that tree?

If we have any
question, let´s do it.

That´s the first
place that dog hit,

but, I mean, I´m at this point

thinking this
dog´s full of sh*t.

It feels disheartening.
I mean, it...

You know, we talked about
whether or not this is Morgan

or somebody else that
we´re looking for.

We obviously feel like
this person´s capable

of doing this type of stuff
or we wouldn´t be here.

And so when you get your heart
set that there´s a potential

you´re going to do a
recovery for a family

and it comes up a zero, it´s
extremely disheartening.

It´s frustrating,
and there´s a feeling

in this area of defeat,
but on the other side,

we´ll just pick up and
keep going forward.

That´s what we´ve
done for 24 years,

and we´re not
going to change it.

COLLEEN: My job is to make sure
that nobody loses the focus...

That anybody who is
involved in her case

continues to fight
for her with passion.

Not just checking boxes
and checking leads,

but that they feel
her in their hearts

and that they think about her
when they go home at night,

and that they want to do
everything in their power

to fight for her. And if
I don´t do that myself,

I can´t expect other
people to do that.

♫♫

♫♫

It´s insane that
we live in a world

where someone can take a
child and we just don´t know

what happened to them...
Off the face of the earth,

and we cannot find them.

And we can´t allow that
to happen in our world.

[ voice breaking ]
There´s no part of that

that´s acceptable.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

We can change how that looks.

We can change that
children wouldn´t be taken

and that communities
are educated

and that law enforcement
knows how to respond

and that predators get jail
sentences that don´t allow them

to get out again and commit
these kind of crimes.

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

♫♫

REPORTER: A day Minnesotans
will never forget,

full of tears,
sorrow, and heartache.

After 27 years, we finally know

what happened to
Jacob Wetterling.

REPORTER #2: And it took
nearly three decades,

but answers about Jacob´s fate
finally came out in court.

MAN: You know, we really
did not know what to expect

here at the federal
courthouse at 1:00 today,

and then there was this surreal
moment in the courtroom...

I´ll never forget
it... When you realized

we are about ready to find
out exactly what happened

to Jacob Wetterling,
and we´re about ready to

hear it from the man who did it.