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 and this is "Dateline:         
   Secrets Uncovered."          

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  - I started thinking          
maybe somebody took her.        

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  - You knew something          
  was wrong right away?         

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   - She wouldn't ever          
  not answer her phone.         

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   - It was maddening.          
  It was crazy.                 

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- When the officer tried        
  to speak with the boyfriend,  

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  he was very confrontational.  

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- Did you contact               
this ex-husband of hers?        

9
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- Yes. There was                
   a domestic violence charge   

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where her husband               
   had been arrested.           

11
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 - So your mom's                
   not around.                  

12
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   - I was old enough           
   to realize                   

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something serious               
  was going on.                 

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- The last person               
   Rita was seen with           

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was a suspect in                
 a sex assault.                 

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- I was trying to leave,        
   and he kept, like,           

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pushing me down.                

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  - Did he tell you what he was 
   going to do to you?          

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- He said he was                
 gonna kill me.                 

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- There were just               
  too many similarities         

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   to really discount.          

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I knew something horrible       
  had happened.                 

23
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   - Come on.                   
 Where the heck are you?        

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   ♪♪                           

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 - Hello, and welcome to        
 "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 

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  Single mother                 
  Rita Gutierrez-Garcia         

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worked two jobs to build        
 a better life for her children.

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  But after a night out         
 with relatives,                

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  she vanished.                 

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Her family was desperate        
  for answers,                  

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 but the investigation stalled. 

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  Then, a breakthrough.         

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Could a woman who almost        
met the same fate               

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 hold the secret                
  behind Rita's disappearance.  

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  Here's Keith Morrison         
  with "Finding Rita."          

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   ♪♪                           

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   - It was a Saturday evening  
 in March, 2018.                

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It was St. Patrick's Day.       

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And the downtown bars in        
 Longmont, Colorado were noisy, 

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   crowded, cheerful.           

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   So, did anyone pay           
  attention to the man          

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 who moved about                
   among them,                  

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 or wonder what he was thinking 
   as he befriended strangers   

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   at the bar,                  
female strangers.               

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 Well...                        

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 why would they?                

47
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This was a place                
 to relax, to be happy.         

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  Which is exactly what         
  Rita Gutierra-Garcia needed,  

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   to get out,                  
  forget her troubles,          

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  to get a fresh start,         

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and wash that man               
 right out of her hair.         

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   Just that very day,          
   Rita had broken up           

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  with her longtime boyfriend.  

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  - She was just like,          
"I'm gonna go out and have fun."

55
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  You know, "I don't even want  
 to think about anything else." 

56
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- This is Diane,                
   Rita's mom.                  

57
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  What did they                 
   plan to do?                  

58
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 - Well, it was                 
   St. Patrick's Day,           

59
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 so they were just gonna        
  go out and celebrate.         

60
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 - Though, not too much.        
  She was a single mom,         

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 had three boys                 
waiting at home.                

62
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- She was like, "I'm not        
   gonna have a lot to drink.   

63
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 "I'm just gonna go out         
 and have fun."                 

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- Don't worry, she said,        
  she'd be with family.         

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And she'd                       
 be home early.                 

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 Her middle son,                
 Roman.                         

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  - It was like                 
any other night.                

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   I mean, we're used           
   to her being gone at nights  

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because she used                
 to work nights.                

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   - When his mom wasn't home,  
   said Roman,                  

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his older brother               
   would be in charge.          

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 This night was                 
  no different.                 

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  - She'd gotten ready and said 
  goodbye to all of us,         

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  and we said bye back,         
  and she walked out the door.  

75
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   - Her half brother           
  picked her up                 

76
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   and they drove downtown to   
  the pub district in Longmont. 

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   It wasn't very big,          
   most places within           

78
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 a couple blocks                
 of each other.                 

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 Throughout the evening,        
 Rita kept in social media touch

80
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  with her two sisters,         
   Jessica and Nicole.          

81
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   - We knew that she was out.  
 - She was out.                 

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- She was posting stories       
 on her Snapchat                

83
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  throughout the night.         

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   - At home, her boys          
   went to bed                  

85
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expecting to see                
their mom in the morning.       

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 But when they woke up,         
   Rita wasn't there.           

87
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 This is her youngest son Reyes 
who was nine at the time.       

88
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- I remember me and Roman       
were trying to call her.        

89
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And she wouldn't pick up.       
  I was scared.                 

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Just being scared               
  and worried.                  

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00:04:19,192 --> 00:04:21,861
  - Right around then,          
   Rita's mom Diane showed up   

92
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  to take them                  
   to church,                   

93
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  and encountered worried boys  
  and no Rita.                  

94
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   - I thought, well, maybe--   
maybe she decided               

95
00:04:30,236 --> 00:04:34,407
to reconcile with David.        

96
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 - That is, Rita's ex boyfriend,
  David Brehm,                  

97
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   the one she'd just           
 broken up with.                

98
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  Or maybe she just had         
  too much to drink that night  

99
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 and stayed over                
  with family.                  

100
00:04:47,453 --> 00:04:50,023
 Anyway, they were sure         
   she'd be home soon           

101
00:04:50,123 --> 00:04:52,959
because later that Sunday       
 was a big family event,        

102
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a baby shower for               
  Rita's sister Nicole.         

103
00:04:56,062 --> 00:04:58,364
 She'd never miss that.         

104
00:04:58,464 --> 00:04:59,766
  But she did.                  

105
00:04:59,866 --> 00:05:01,134
   - So that's why we're like,  
 "Where's Rita?                 

106
00:05:01,234 --> 00:05:02,969
 "Why isn't Rita here?"         

107
00:05:03,069 --> 00:05:04,904
 - Would she not show up        
 for something of yours?        

108
00:05:05,004 --> 00:05:07,874
   - No, she wouldn't           
  just do that.                 

109
00:05:07,974 --> 00:05:09,976
- All afternoon,                
into the evening,               

110
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 Diane and her daughters        
  kept calling,                 

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   no pick up,                  
 no call backs.                 

112
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Just a deafening silence.       

113
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  What happened                 
in here?                        

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Did you feel it?                
- Panic and fear.               

115
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- Right at the beginning?       

116
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'Cause you knew something       
  was wrong right away.         

117
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- We knew, yeah.                

118
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 - She didn't not-- ever        
  not answer her phone,         

119
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  or at least text you          
and let you know                

120
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 that she's okay                
   or she's somewhere,          

121
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so for her to not               
 have her phone on, um,         

122
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  wasn't Rita.                  

123
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 - What were those next few days
like for you two?               

124
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   - Horrible.                  

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  Definitely got worse.         

126
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 - Your mind just automatically 
goes to the worst places        

127
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  and the worst things          
you can think of.               

128
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So it was never like a--        
"Oh, it's gonna be okay.        

129
00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:05,098
"Rita's gonna come home."       

130
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It was never a--                
  like an easy feeling.         

131
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  It was always, like,          
and eerie feeling               

132
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   of, like, just discomfort.   

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   ♪♪                           

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00:06:18,511 --> 00:06:21,681
- Monday morning arrived,       
  but not Rita.                 

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 Diane tried to maintain        
  a sense of normalcy,          

136
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   drove her grandkids          
   to school.                   

137
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   She didn't                   
say much to them,               

138
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 didn't want to                 
   alarm them.                  

139
00:06:30,189 --> 00:06:32,458
   - Our grandma, I feel like,  
  tried to protect us.          

140
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They just didn't want to,       
 like, scare us                 

141
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or tell us something that       
 we wouldn't be able to handle. 

142
00:06:39,232 --> 00:06:40,767
  - After dropping off          
   the kids at school,          

143
00:06:40,867 --> 00:06:42,702
 Diane drove to                 
  David's mom's house.          

144
00:06:42,802 --> 00:06:45,805
That is,                        
   the ex-boyfriend's mother.   

145
00:06:45,905 --> 00:06:47,840
   - And I said, "I don't know  
where Rita's at.                

146
00:06:47,940 --> 00:06:49,275
  "She's not answering          
   her phone.                   

147
00:06:49,375 --> 00:06:51,144
  "Is she with David?"          

148
00:06:51,244 --> 00:06:53,413
So she called him               
and he said, "No.               

149
00:06:53,513 --> 00:06:55,915
   "She's not with me.          
Why would she be with me?       

150
00:06:56,015 --> 00:06:57,650
   "She's probably, you know.   

151
00:06:57,750 --> 00:06:59,051
"She's probably off with        
some other guy."                

152
00:06:59,152 --> 00:07:00,853
- Some other guy.               
 - Yeah.                        

153
00:07:00,953 --> 00:07:02,955
- Full panic now.               

154
00:07:03,055 --> 00:07:04,657
 - I was like, you know,        
"Come on.                       

155
00:07:04,757 --> 00:07:05,892
"Where the heck are you?"       

156
00:07:05,992 --> 00:07:07,960
   "And why aren't you          
  returning my calls?"          

157
00:07:08,060 --> 00:07:09,762
  And then the boys got         
 out of school,                 

158
00:07:09,862 --> 00:07:13,232
   and one of her sons          
 had a recital.                 

159
00:07:13,332 --> 00:07:16,169
   And then she didn't          
show up for that.               

160
00:07:17,437 --> 00:07:20,173
- First the baby shower,        
now the recital.                

161
00:07:20,273 --> 00:07:23,376
 Very worried now, Diane called 
  the local hospitals.          

162
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She wasn't there.               

163
00:07:25,812 --> 00:07:27,613
 Could you bring                
yourself to think               

164
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 that she'd been                
 harmed somehow?                

165
00:07:29,615 --> 00:07:32,118
   - Yeah, so I thought maybe   
 somebody kidnapped my daughter.

166
00:07:33,619 --> 00:07:36,088
- So Diane made the call        
  she'd been dreading,          

167
00:07:36,189 --> 00:07:38,591
 to the Longmont Police.        

168
00:07:43,162 --> 00:07:44,864
 - The police were like,        
 "Sometimes people just,        

169
00:07:44,964 --> 00:07:46,499
  "you know, they just          
go off."                        

170
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   And I'm like, "Rita doesn't  
   ever just go off this long   

171
00:07:50,303 --> 00:07:52,038
  "without telling me,"         
you know?                       

172
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 Um, especially                 
 with her kids.                 

173
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   - That was enough.           

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 They assigned the case         
to detective Cody Clark.        

175
00:08:01,347 --> 00:08:03,282
- There were some things        
  that weren't quite adding up, 

176
00:08:03,382 --> 00:08:05,051
 some things that didn't        
   really make sense.           

177
00:08:07,353 --> 00:08:09,622
  - Oh, he had no idea.         

178
00:08:09,722 --> 00:08:12,625
 Making sense of things         
  would consume                 

179
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   the next four years          
  of his life,                  

180
00:08:15,228 --> 00:08:18,965
   and span two states          
   and two countries,           

181
00:08:19,065 --> 00:08:23,469
and at the center               
  of it all, two women.         

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00:08:29,842 --> 00:08:29,909
   ♪                            

183
00:08:29,909 --> 00:08:38,251
   ♪♪                           

184
00:08:38,351 --> 00:08:39,552
  - It was like                 
   some alien creature          

185
00:08:39,652 --> 00:08:41,187
had snatched her.               

186
00:08:41,287 --> 00:08:44,924
Two days                        
  and no Rita anywhere.         

187
00:08:45,024 --> 00:08:49,462
So, detective Cody Clark        
went about looking methodically.

188
00:08:49,562 --> 00:08:51,163
 - We were just getting         
  that first little bit         

189
00:08:51,264 --> 00:08:53,733
   of information and we were   
  trying to figure out,         

190
00:08:53,833 --> 00:08:55,468
   what are some of the places  
  that she could have gone to?  

191
00:08:55,568 --> 00:08:57,470
   Who might she have           
 reached out to?                

192
00:08:57,570 --> 00:08:59,138
   And just trying to kind of   
 piece together                 

193
00:08:59,238 --> 00:09:02,775
  those last few hours that we  
 absolutely knew where she was. 

194
00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:05,378
  - But to know what happened,  
 Detective Clark                

195
00:09:05,478 --> 00:09:10,349
 first had to know Rita,        
 her customs and habits,        

196
00:09:10,449 --> 00:09:13,119
past and present,               
any little detail               

197
00:09:13,219 --> 00:09:15,655
   that might put him           
   on the path to finding her.  

198
00:09:15,755 --> 00:09:17,657
- So I initially                
start looking up                

199
00:09:17,757 --> 00:09:19,825
   for some background          
  information on Rita,          

200
00:09:19,926 --> 00:09:20,993
 trying to learn                
  who she was,                  

201
00:09:21,093 --> 00:09:23,829
and figure out if               
   there was anything           

202
00:09:23,930 --> 00:09:25,364
that I needed to                
  be aware of.                  

203
00:09:25,464 --> 00:09:26,232
- Was she                       
   the sort of person           

204
00:09:26,332 --> 00:09:27,833
who would want to               
disappear or not?               

205
00:09:27,934 --> 00:09:29,001
- Exactly, right.               

206
00:09:29,101 --> 00:09:30,603
 Did she have a pattern         
  of doing those things, yeah.  

207
00:09:30,703 --> 00:09:32,405
 So that was a--                
   a huge part of it.           

208
00:09:32,505 --> 00:09:34,874
  [indistinct chatter]          

209
00:09:34,974 --> 00:09:36,976
  - And Detective Clark         
spoke with Rita's family,       

210
00:09:37,076 --> 00:09:40,780
who had a lot to tell him       
   about the woman they loved.  

211
00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,683
  Rita Gutierrez-Garcia         
   was smart and kind,          

212
00:09:43,783 --> 00:09:46,953
 and happy, someone who         
  embraced life                 

213
00:09:47,053 --> 00:09:49,455
  and those around her.         

214
00:09:49,555 --> 00:09:50,890
- She was funny.                

215
00:09:50,990 --> 00:09:54,660
  She had this little,          
you know-- she'd do this        

216
00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:59,532
  when she was joking with you  
  or just being a little silly. 

217
00:09:59,632 --> 00:10:01,100
   She loved fashion.           

218
00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,337
 Shoes, clothes,                
her hair.                       

219
00:10:04,437 --> 00:10:07,807
   Just always doing something  
 with her hair.                 

220
00:10:07,907 --> 00:10:09,542
 - How is she as a mom?         

221
00:10:09,642 --> 00:10:11,877
- I think she was               
   a fun mom.                   

222
00:10:11,978 --> 00:10:13,079
   She was a good mom.          

223
00:10:13,179 --> 00:10:17,450
  She liked taking her boys out 
  to dinner and movies,         

224
00:10:17,550 --> 00:10:20,353
  and she loved                 
to cook and bake.               

225
00:10:20,453 --> 00:10:21,687
There was always                
   something going on,          

226
00:10:21,787 --> 00:10:25,224
   but she didn't like          
 the disappointing part,        

227
00:10:25,324 --> 00:10:26,892
So she would say,               
   "I'm gonna tell--"           

228
00:10:26,993 --> 00:10:28,861
 - You have to do that.         
 - Yeah.                        

229
00:10:28,961 --> 00:10:30,630
 "I'm gonna tell                
 your grandma."                 

230
00:10:30,730 --> 00:10:33,432
 Then I would be the one        
to kinda, like, you know,       

231
00:10:33,532 --> 00:10:34,900
   get on them                  
  a little bit.                 

232
00:10:35,001 --> 00:10:38,204
 So I'd say, "You can't         
 always be the fun mom."        

233
00:10:38,304 --> 00:10:39,538
   [laughing]                   

234
00:10:39,639 --> 00:10:41,874
   ♪♪                           

235
00:10:41,974 --> 00:10:44,477
  - Rita was the eldest         
   of Diane's three daughters,  

236
00:10:44,577 --> 00:10:46,979
  big sister to Nicole          
  and Jessica.                  

237
00:10:47,079 --> 00:10:50,716
   - She had a really           
  great sense of humor.         

238
00:10:50,816 --> 00:10:53,252
 She was always                 
making us laugh.                

239
00:10:53,352 --> 00:10:57,089
We used to call ourselves       
   the Silly Sisters.           

240
00:10:57,189 --> 00:11:00,993
  Or Sissaroos.                 
   [laughing]                   

241
00:11:01,093 --> 00:11:04,930
  She was quite the character.  
She was very thoughtful.        

242
00:11:05,031 --> 00:11:08,367
  Sweet person,                 
   nurturing.                   

243
00:11:08,467 --> 00:11:11,904
  - She has a huge part         
  of my heart.                  

244
00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,610
  - Rita married early,         
   had her kids early.          

245
00:11:17,710 --> 00:11:19,679
 But by her 30s                 
she was divorced                

246
00:11:19,779 --> 00:11:22,181
  and raising the boys          
   on her own,                  

247
00:11:22,281 --> 00:11:25,217
   sometimes working two jobs,  
 often at night.                

248
00:11:25,317 --> 00:11:27,687
  - So she had to cram          
  a lot into her life.          

249
00:11:27,787 --> 00:11:29,655
   So I'd say she was           
a very productive               

250
00:11:29,755 --> 00:11:32,491
   and complex woman.           

251
00:11:32,591 --> 00:11:36,462
  - With plans,                 
   big plans.                   

252
00:11:36,562 --> 00:11:38,297
   - She was gonna be           
  a paralegal.                  

253
00:11:38,397 --> 00:11:39,999
   And she was already          
 job searching,                 

254
00:11:40,099 --> 00:11:42,301
 so she was very excited        
   about that.                  

255
00:11:42,401 --> 00:11:44,336
   She was like, "I just want   
  to have a better life         

256
00:11:44,437 --> 00:11:47,540
 "for my kids," and she's like, 
 "I know I can do this."        

257
00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,210
   And I said,                  
  "You're damn right you can."  

258
00:11:51,310 --> 00:11:54,246
 - She even got                 
 her very own first car.        

259
00:11:54,346 --> 00:11:56,048
   - She was so proud.          

260
00:11:56,148 --> 00:11:58,517
I, myself, was like, "Oh,       
  you could have got something  

261
00:11:58,617 --> 00:12:01,087
   "more economical."           
   [laughing]                   

262
00:12:01,187 --> 00:12:03,456
 But she's like,                
 "Just be proud of me."         

263
00:12:03,556 --> 00:12:06,025
   And I said, "I am."          
- What'd she buy?               

264
00:12:06,125 --> 00:12:10,262
 - Uh, she got a 2005 Mercedes. 

265
00:12:10,362 --> 00:12:14,066
[exhales]                       
 - Yeah.                        

266
00:12:14,166 --> 00:12:18,637
  - So would she leave all that 
   and just take off?           

267
00:12:18,738 --> 00:12:20,906
 - Didn't make any sense        
   right off the bat,           

268
00:12:21,006 --> 00:12:24,543
 but it wasn't anything         
   that pointed to us           

269
00:12:24,643 --> 00:12:26,112
 thinking that there was        
  any foul play                 

270
00:12:26,212 --> 00:12:29,815
  or anything nefarious         
going on either.                

271
00:12:29,915 --> 00:12:32,818
 - Never assume,                
  said Detective Clark.         

272
00:12:32,918 --> 00:12:35,321
Still, there was                
 an urgent task,                

273
00:12:35,421 --> 00:12:37,623
  and that was to take          
a closer look at the men        

274
00:12:37,723 --> 00:12:39,558
 in Rita's life.                

275
00:12:39,658 --> 00:12:41,026
 - We try to look for the people
   who are most likely          

276
00:12:41,127 --> 00:12:43,529
 to have been involved,         
 which would be former partners,

277
00:12:43,629 --> 00:12:45,164
  boyfriends, husbands,         
things like that.               

278
00:12:45,264 --> 00:12:46,599
 - Sure.                        
 - People who knew them         

279
00:12:46,699 --> 00:12:49,368
 and would have                 
  a reason why.                 

280
00:12:49,468 --> 00:12:52,838
   - And there was one person   
 who stood out to Clark.        

281
00:12:52,938 --> 00:12:54,874
  David Brehm.                  

282
00:12:54,974 --> 00:12:57,610
Diane told the cops about       
Rita's on again,                

283
00:12:57,710 --> 00:12:59,645
  off again boyfriend.          

284
00:12:59,745 --> 00:13:01,714
  - It sounded                  
   pretty tumultuous,           

285
00:13:01,814 --> 00:13:04,550
   that when things were good   
 they were really good,         

286
00:13:04,650 --> 00:13:07,820
 and when they were bad,        
  they were pretty bad.         

287
00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,790
  And yet, for whatever reason, 
   they would break up          

288
00:13:10,890 --> 00:13:12,191
   and then they'd get          
 back together,                 

289
00:13:12,291 --> 00:13:14,460
  and break up,                 
 and get back together.         

290
00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:16,128
- And even though               
  David himself                 

291
00:13:16,228 --> 00:13:19,131
   told Diane Rita was          
  not with him,                 

292
00:13:19,231 --> 00:13:21,934
   Longmont PD had to           
 check him out.                 

293
00:13:22,034 --> 00:13:23,369
   Of course they did.          

294
00:13:23,469 --> 00:13:24,637
   So they called him.          

295
00:13:24,737 --> 00:13:26,705
- When the officer tried        
  to speak with the boyfriend,  

296
00:13:26,806 --> 00:13:29,241
   he was very confrontational  
and didn't wanna provide        

297
00:13:29,341 --> 00:13:31,177
  a lot of information.         

298
00:13:31,277 --> 00:13:33,846
- David told the officer        
 that his last contact with Rita

299
00:13:33,946 --> 00:13:36,282
 was by email on                
   St. Patrick's Day,           

300
00:13:36,382 --> 00:13:38,651
   the night she disappeared.   

301
00:13:38,751 --> 00:13:41,754
   But when asked if he would   
   forward the email,           

302
00:13:41,854 --> 00:13:44,123
 David refused.                 

303
00:13:44,223 --> 00:13:48,127
   - And that kinda keyed, um,  
 some concerns for him,         

304
00:13:48,227 --> 00:13:49,495
  that, you know, maybe         
there was something else        

305
00:13:49,595 --> 00:13:51,363
that we needed to               
  look at here.                 

306
00:13:51,463 --> 00:13:53,165
- Wow, that's a red flag        
  right in front of you there.  

307
00:13:53,265 --> 00:13:56,402
- Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.       

308
00:13:56,502 --> 00:13:59,271
- So no more phone calls.       

309
00:13:59,371 --> 00:14:01,207
  Now they went to see          
David in person.                

310
00:14:03,475 --> 00:14:05,144
   - And this time...           

311
00:14:05,244 --> 00:14:07,580
  this time was                 
 a whole lot different.         

312
00:14:17,656 --> 00:14:17,723
   ♪                            

313
00:14:17,723 --> 00:14:23,362
   ♪♪                           

314
00:14:23,462 --> 00:14:26,599
- It was when the police        
  got involved,                 

315
00:14:26,699 --> 00:14:29,602
  that's when the cold reality  
   hit Rita's sisters.          

316
00:14:29,702 --> 00:14:30,736
 - When we were                 
being interviewed               

317
00:14:30,836 --> 00:14:34,840
by the police department,       

318
00:14:34,940 --> 00:14:38,777
  that was when it was          
  the realest and the scariest. 

319
00:14:38,878 --> 00:14:42,548
Like, I was just bawling,       
crying, sobbing, begging.       

320
00:14:42,648 --> 00:14:45,551
Find her for us.                

321
00:14:45,651 --> 00:14:48,621
  - Ex-boyfriend David          
   did not sob or beg           

322
00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:51,790
  when the police first         
   spoke to him on the phone.   

323
00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:54,360
He seemed angry,                
   defensive.                   

324
00:14:54,460 --> 00:14:56,695
 So detectives drove out        
to nearby boulder               

325
00:14:56,795 --> 00:14:58,330
   where David lived,           
 and this time,                 

326
00:14:58,430 --> 00:15:00,666
  they recorded                 
the conversation.               

327
00:15:03,602 --> 00:15:06,305
   And David,                   
 without being prompted,        

328
00:15:06,405 --> 00:15:09,108
   offered this about           
 his breakup with Rita.         

329
00:15:17,950 --> 00:15:20,819
 David admitted                 
   there were issues.           

330
00:15:29,094 --> 00:15:31,931
 He told the detectives         
  that a couple of weeks prior, 

331
00:15:32,031 --> 00:15:34,333
   he got into                  
 a pretty bad argument.         

332
00:15:45,477 --> 00:15:48,881
That, said David,               
 was the last time he saw Rita. 

333
00:15:48,981 --> 00:15:51,617
   And then, two weeks later,   
  on St. Patrick's Day,         

334
00:15:51,717 --> 00:15:54,086
 David sent Rita                
an email.                       

335
00:15:54,186 --> 00:15:55,988
  "Please talk to me."          

336
00:15:56,088 --> 00:15:58,824
And before Rita went out        
  that evening, she replied...  

337
00:16:15,274 --> 00:16:17,810
  - When we found out that she  
had sent him this email,        

338
00:16:17,910 --> 00:16:19,945
 basically, telling him         
 that, you know,                

339
00:16:20,045 --> 00:16:21,613
  she didn't want to be         
   around him anymore,          

340
00:16:21,714 --> 00:16:25,184
  and to enjoy the rest         
of your life without me,        

341
00:16:25,284 --> 00:16:27,653
  that obviously points         
  us in that direction          

342
00:16:27,753 --> 00:16:30,522
 of trying to figure out        
whether he was involved.        

343
00:16:30,622 --> 00:16:33,559
   - So they tried to pin down  
  where David had been          

344
00:16:33,659 --> 00:16:36,895
   and what he had been doing   
 that St. Patrick's Day.        

345
00:16:45,738 --> 00:16:48,507
  David let the detectives take 
  a look around his apartment.  

346
00:16:48,607 --> 00:16:50,442
   Nothing stood out.           

347
00:16:50,542 --> 00:16:52,945
He also agreed to               
   give them his DNA.           

348
00:16:55,948 --> 00:16:58,951
  But David's behavior,         
 though cooperative-ish,        

349
00:16:59,051 --> 00:17:00,753
   was still unusual.           

350
00:17:00,853 --> 00:17:04,957
   - He was very much           
  focused on telling us         

351
00:17:05,057 --> 00:17:06,859
 how to conduct                 
the investigation               

352
00:17:06,959 --> 00:17:10,129
 rather than telling us         
  what exactly he'd been doing. 

353
00:17:16,335 --> 00:17:18,570
  When a person                 
behaves that way,               

354
00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:19,805
   it doesn't make you          
   wanna say,                   

355
00:17:19,905 --> 00:17:21,306
"Okay, nevermind.               
  I don't want to talk to you." 

356
00:17:21,407 --> 00:17:22,608
   - Exactly.                   

357
00:17:22,708 --> 00:17:25,110
  It continued to kinda         
  stir up a lot                 

358
00:17:25,210 --> 00:17:27,913
of those feelings               
   of unease.                   

359
00:17:28,013 --> 00:17:30,149
   - Detective Clark tried to   
explain to David                

360
00:17:30,249 --> 00:17:31,917
 how the process worked.        

361
00:17:32,017 --> 00:17:33,786
 - My job was to                
   gather information           

362
00:17:33,886 --> 00:17:35,687
  and figure out whether or not 
 he had any involvement,        

363
00:17:35,788 --> 00:17:38,357
   and the sooner that          
I could determine               

364
00:17:38,457 --> 00:17:40,659
 that he wasn't involved        
like he claimed,                

365
00:17:40,759 --> 00:17:44,296
  then the sooner I could start 
 focusing my efforts elsewhere. 

366
00:17:44,396 --> 00:17:46,865
  - So was David trying         
   to hide something?           

367
00:17:46,965 --> 00:17:49,368
Or was he                       
genuinely upset?                

368
00:17:49,468 --> 00:17:50,769
 - He agreed to come to         
  the police department         

369
00:17:50,869 --> 00:17:53,105
   and-and do                   
 a polygraph examination        

370
00:17:53,205 --> 00:17:55,741
   in order to kind of          
 alleviate some of my concerns. 

371
00:18:05,851 --> 00:18:07,686
- David showed up               
  at the police station         

372
00:18:07,786 --> 00:18:09,855
without a lawyer.               

373
00:18:09,955 --> 00:18:12,991
  And even before the CBI agent 
 got started...                 

374
00:18:18,397 --> 00:18:20,232
David fell apart.               

375
00:18:27,873 --> 00:18:29,308
   He answered                  
 every question.                

376
00:18:36,748 --> 00:18:38,584
  But could not                 
  hold back the tears.          

377
00:18:51,563 --> 00:18:54,500
 After two hours                
 and five tests,                

378
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:55,968
  the results were in,          

379
00:18:56,068 --> 00:18:59,371
  summarized in                 
 just one word.                 

380
00:18:59,471 --> 00:19:01,273
  Inconclusive.                 

381
00:19:01,373 --> 00:19:04,877
 - The examiner told me         
   that ultimately the results  

382
00:19:04,977 --> 00:19:06,912
were inconclusive               
  just due to the fact          

383
00:19:07,012 --> 00:19:09,381
of how emotional he was.        
 - Yeah.                        

384
00:19:09,481 --> 00:19:12,651
- He said, "I don't think       
   this is your guy."           

385
00:19:12,751 --> 00:19:15,687
- By now, detectives had        
   also spoken to David's mom   

386
00:19:15,787 --> 00:19:20,092
   and confirmed his alibi for  
  the night Rita went missing.  

387
00:19:20,192 --> 00:19:22,728
- We were able to               
   pretty conclusively confirm  

388
00:19:22,828 --> 00:19:25,230
   that he had been at          
  his mom's house all evening,  

389
00:19:25,330 --> 00:19:28,167
 and that he didn't know        
 what Rita's plans were,        

390
00:19:28,267 --> 00:19:31,303
and that nobody else had        
 seen him that evening.         

391
00:19:31,403 --> 00:19:33,505
   - So how to explain          
   David's emotional,           

392
00:19:33,605 --> 00:19:35,974
defiant demeanor.               

393
00:19:36,074 --> 00:19:37,543
  - There was all kinds         
of misinformation               

394
00:19:37,643 --> 00:19:39,912
going around town               
about what had happened,        

395
00:19:40,012 --> 00:19:43,482
  and it was making him         
   more upset                   

396
00:19:43,582 --> 00:19:45,484
 about what was                 
going on.                       

397
00:19:45,584 --> 00:19:47,085
- Why would that make him       
   more upset?                  

398
00:19:47,186 --> 00:19:48,887
 - There was allegations        
  that he was involved,         

399
00:19:48,987 --> 00:19:52,491
which, I guess, was just        
  making it even harder for him 

400
00:19:52,591 --> 00:19:56,662
  to kind of focus on--         
  on helping the investigation. 

401
00:19:56,762 --> 00:20:00,532
 - Perhaps, but when we         
  sat down with David,          

402
00:20:00,632 --> 00:20:04,436
   he told us that was          
   the least of his concerns.   

403
00:20:04,536 --> 00:20:07,439
   - I knew that I had          
 no involvement with it,        

404
00:20:07,539 --> 00:20:10,676
  so why concern myself         
   with that.                   

405
00:20:10,776 --> 00:20:14,112
 To concern myself with         
 what people may                

406
00:20:14,213 --> 00:20:16,348
or may not think,               
  that's the last thing         

407
00:20:16,448 --> 00:20:18,083
   I could care about.          

408
00:20:18,183 --> 00:20:21,687
- No, he said his mission       
was simply finding Rita.        

409
00:20:21,787 --> 00:20:24,556
- And if not finding her,       
   finding out what--           

410
00:20:24,656 --> 00:20:27,659
 who knows what                 
   and how to find out          

411
00:20:27,759 --> 00:20:29,695
  what happened                 
or where she is.                

412
00:20:29,795 --> 00:20:34,333
  But that's where 100%         
 of my attention was dedicated. 

413
00:20:34,433 --> 00:20:36,902
 - As it was for                
Detective Clark,                

414
00:20:37,002 --> 00:20:42,641
 who, by now, had learned about 
   another man in Rita's life.  

415
00:20:42,741 --> 00:20:44,243
   - There was                  
   a domestic violence charge   

416
00:20:44,343 --> 00:20:46,345
where her husband               
   had been arrested.           

417
00:20:46,445 --> 00:20:49,615
Obviously, that's a huge        
  piece of information.         

418
00:20:49,715 --> 00:20:52,718
 - That is, if he could         
 only find him.                 

419
00:20:58,023 --> 00:20:58,090
   ♪                            

420
00:20:58,090 --> 00:21:02,361
   ♪♪                           

421
00:21:02,461 --> 00:21:05,564
- Welcome back to               
 "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 

422
00:21:05,664 --> 00:21:06,632
I'm Craig Melvin.               

423
00:21:06,732 --> 00:21:09,268
   When Rita Gutierrez-Garcia   
  went missing,                 

424
00:21:09,368 --> 00:21:12,237
   detectives focused           
  on her ex-boyfriend,          

425
00:21:12,337 --> 00:21:13,872
  David Brehm.                  

426
00:21:13,972 --> 00:21:15,407
 The couple had                 
 just broken up,                

427
00:21:15,507 --> 00:21:17,509
 but David had an alibi.        

428
00:21:17,609 --> 00:21:21,647
 Now, investigators were        
digging deeper into Rita's past,

429
00:21:21,747 --> 00:21:24,783
and they found something        
she kept hidden,                

430
00:21:24,883 --> 00:21:28,920
a secret that would send        
  this case in a new direction. 

431
00:21:29,021 --> 00:21:32,357
 Back to Keith Morrison         
  with "Finding Rita."          

432
00:21:35,327 --> 00:21:38,297
 - They found it buried         
 in an old crime report.        

433
00:21:38,397 --> 00:21:41,366
It practically leapt out        
at Detective Cody Clark,        

434
00:21:41,466 --> 00:21:44,469
something in Rita's past        
  he could not ignore.          

435
00:21:44,569 --> 00:21:47,205
She was a battered wife,        

436
00:21:47,306 --> 00:21:51,176
  beaten and bruised repeatedly 
by the father of her three boys,

437
00:21:51,276 --> 00:21:52,744
 her ex-husband.                

438
00:21:52,844 --> 00:21:54,346
 The guy's name                 
 was Gutierrez.                 

439
00:21:54,446 --> 00:21:56,682
Royce Gutierrez.                

440
00:21:56,782 --> 00:21:59,318
For years, Rita had kept        
the abuse secret                

441
00:21:59,418 --> 00:22:02,354
  from her own mother,          
 Diane.                         

442
00:22:02,454 --> 00:22:03,789
- I found out that, uh--        

443
00:22:03,889 --> 00:22:07,392
  later on that                 
  he was being abusive.         

444
00:22:07,492 --> 00:22:08,360
  - She didn't want you         
to know at first.               

445
00:22:08,460 --> 00:22:10,162
- She didn't-- she didn't       
want me to know.                

446
00:22:10,262 --> 00:22:12,497
 And they got separated         
 a couple times,                

447
00:22:12,597 --> 00:22:14,800
   and she, you know,           
 would go back,                 

448
00:22:14,900 --> 00:22:17,636
  and then, um, finally         
  one day I just said,          

449
00:22:17,736 --> 00:22:19,571
"When you are completely        
   ready to walk away,          

450
00:22:19,671 --> 00:22:21,640
"you will know."                

451
00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:23,442
  - And Rita did know,          

452
00:22:23,542 --> 00:22:26,545
   after one terrifying night   
when Royce held her down        

453
00:22:26,645 --> 00:22:29,281
 on the bed and covered         
   her mouth and nose           

454
00:22:29,381 --> 00:22:31,350
so she couldn't breathe.        

455
00:22:31,450 --> 00:22:33,652
   And then he yelled           
and he beat her,                

456
00:22:33,752 --> 00:22:37,456
   and when he finally let up,  
 she sneaked a text to her mom, 

457
00:22:37,556 --> 00:22:38,924
 "Help."                        

458
00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:40,926
Diane called 911.               

459
00:22:41,026 --> 00:22:42,894
 You've rescued her from        
  a situation in a way,         

460
00:22:42,994 --> 00:22:44,896
  or at least she has--         
 she's rescued herself,         

461
00:22:44,996 --> 00:22:46,531
  but you were there watching.  
 - She rescued herself.         

462
00:22:46,631 --> 00:22:49,134
 But I helped her, yeah.        

463
00:22:49,234 --> 00:22:51,203
  - Royce was arrested          
and was convicted               

464
00:22:51,303 --> 00:22:52,771
  for assaulting Rita.          

465
00:22:52,871 --> 00:22:55,574
 She filed for divorce.         

466
00:22:55,674 --> 00:22:56,641
   And then there was           
  trouble again                 

467
00:22:56,742 --> 00:23:00,112
   when Royce violated          
Rita's protection order.        

468
00:23:00,212 --> 00:23:02,781
   And he was deported          
   to Mexico.                   

469
00:23:02,881 --> 00:23:07,419
 So, an angry ex-husband        
with unfinished business?       

470
00:23:07,519 --> 00:23:10,155
 - It was somebody that         
  I wanted to look into         

471
00:23:10,255 --> 00:23:11,656
  and learn more about.         
- I mean,                       

472
00:23:11,757 --> 00:23:14,459
   that's the obvious suspect   
 in many cases.                 

473
00:23:14,559 --> 00:23:15,961
  - Absolutely.                 

474
00:23:16,061 --> 00:23:17,763
   Absolutely.                  

475
00:23:17,863 --> 00:23:21,700
  - Was it possible that Royce  
 secretly returned to Longmont? 

476
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,302
  - Maybe something, you know,  
  happened between them         

477
00:23:24,403 --> 00:23:27,773
   and he wanted to do          
 something else to her.         

478
00:23:27,873 --> 00:23:30,809
  - Clark tracked down          
his Mexican phone number        

479
00:23:30,909 --> 00:23:34,212
 and called him                 
and asked him about Rita.       

480
00:23:34,312 --> 00:23:37,582
   - He explained that he very  
  rarely ever spoke with Rita.  

481
00:23:37,682 --> 00:23:41,620
  Um, they had a decent         
relationship as parents,        

482
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,890
um, but that the majority       
 of their conversations         

483
00:23:44,990 --> 00:23:47,893
  were focused                  
  on the boys.                  

484
00:23:47,993 --> 00:23:50,562
- So where was he               
   when Rita vanished?          

485
00:23:50,662 --> 00:23:54,900
Well, he certainly wasn't       
 in Longmont, Colorado.         

486
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,101
 No way.                        

487
00:23:56,201 --> 00:23:58,970
- I was able to confirm,        
   uh, through                  

488
00:23:59,070 --> 00:24:01,673
 Department of Homeland Security
  that he had not been          

489
00:24:01,773 --> 00:24:04,176
 in the country                 
for years at that point,        

490
00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:05,710
 and there was no record        
   of him coming back           

491
00:24:05,811 --> 00:24:08,914
 over the border                
 into the United States.        

492
00:24:09,014 --> 00:24:10,515
   - Dead end.                  

493
00:24:10,615 --> 00:24:13,685
So Diane                        
   and Rita's sisters,          

494
00:24:13,785 --> 00:24:16,154
 worried, upset,                
   frustrated,                  

495
00:24:16,254 --> 00:24:18,557
 had a press conference.        

496
00:24:18,657 --> 00:24:21,259
   NBC affiliate KUSA           
   was there.                   

497
00:24:22,661 --> 00:24:24,663
  - Rita's my soulmate.         

498
00:24:24,763 --> 00:24:27,399
 She's my older sister.         

499
00:24:27,499 --> 00:24:30,502
  And I've never had to         
  go a day without her          

500
00:24:30,602 --> 00:24:33,972
   in my entire life.           

501
00:24:34,072 --> 00:24:37,709
- Rita...                       

502
00:24:37,809 --> 00:24:39,244
You're my oldest.               

503
00:24:39,344 --> 00:24:41,813
 Um, and you are                
   Jessica's soulmate.          

504
00:24:41,913 --> 00:24:44,516
[sobbing]                       
   Nicole walked away           

505
00:24:44,616 --> 00:24:46,618
 because she was                
 really hurting,                

506
00:24:46,718 --> 00:24:49,254
and, um, we just                
 want you to come home.         

507
00:24:49,354 --> 00:24:51,256
- Rita...                       
  - The boys need you.          

508
00:24:51,356 --> 00:24:53,758
And, um, please,                
   if anybody,                  

509
00:24:53,859 --> 00:24:56,928
   Rita, or anyone out there,   
   anyone seeing this,          

510
00:24:57,028 --> 00:25:00,065
 please contact                 
 the Longmont Police Department.

511
00:25:00,165 --> 00:25:02,601
 - And she told them all        
  just what it was like         

512
00:25:02,701 --> 00:25:05,770
  to be her in                  
that awful time.                

513
00:25:05,871 --> 00:25:08,507
 - I just wanna                 
 scream inside.                 

514
00:25:10,809 --> 00:25:12,978
She's my daughter, and...       

515
00:25:15,380 --> 00:25:17,449
 I just need her                
back home. Um...                

516
00:25:19,518 --> 00:25:21,653
- Watching it all               
 on a livestream                

517
00:25:21,753 --> 00:25:24,289
were Rita's boys.               

518
00:25:24,389 --> 00:25:26,224
  - When they actually          
went on the news                

519
00:25:26,324 --> 00:25:28,326
   for the first time,          
   that's when, like,           

520
00:25:28,426 --> 00:25:29,794
   the worry of it all          
 set in.                        

521
00:25:29,895 --> 00:25:31,196
- It hit you with               
 a wallop at that point.        

522
00:25:31,296 --> 00:25:32,397
 - Yeah.                        

523
00:25:32,497 --> 00:25:34,366
 Because we didn't know         
they were gonna do that.        

524
00:25:34,466 --> 00:25:36,301
   And then, "Hey, they're on   
  the news right now."          

525
00:25:36,401 --> 00:25:39,404
  And that's for me when I get, 
   oh, hey, this is for real.   

526
00:25:39,504 --> 00:25:41,673
   This is happening.           

527
00:25:41,773 --> 00:25:45,143
 - Suddenly, Rita's case        
was big news in Colorado.       

528
00:25:45,243 --> 00:25:47,078
- The search for                
  a missing mother in Longmont. 

529
00:25:47,178 --> 00:25:48,947
  - 34-year-old                 
 Rita Gutierrez-Garcia.         

530
00:25:49,047 --> 00:25:50,982
 - Rita Gutierrez-Garcia        
   left a Longmont bar          

531
00:25:51,082 --> 00:25:51,917
 on St. Patrick's Day--         
  - ...just how worried         

532
00:25:52,017 --> 00:25:53,652
 and devastated                 
  her family really is.         

533
00:25:53,752 --> 00:25:55,387
  - She's been missing          
since March 18th.               

534
00:25:55,487 --> 00:25:58,323
- The search for answers        
 is still going strong.         

535
00:25:58,423 --> 00:26:01,927
   - Rita's story was           
so prevalent in the media       

536
00:26:02,027 --> 00:26:04,396
and out in the community,       
   that-that everybody wanted   

537
00:26:04,496 --> 00:26:07,065
to know what had happened       
and were willing to help.       

538
00:26:07,165 --> 00:26:09,501
  - Volunteers quickly          
mobilized and fanned out        

539
00:26:09,601 --> 00:26:12,404
  across Boulder County         
 to post fliers                 

540
00:26:12,504 --> 00:26:16,007
and look for Rita               
  anywhere they could think of. 

541
00:26:16,107 --> 00:26:19,911
 One of those searching         
was David Brehm.                

542
00:26:20,011 --> 00:26:22,247
 - I don't want anybody         
 to understand the pain,        

543
00:26:22,347 --> 00:26:23,882
   what it feels like           
 to be searching                

544
00:26:23,982 --> 00:26:26,017
   for your loved one.          

545
00:26:26,117 --> 00:26:28,853
  It's a horrible circumstance  
 to have to go through.         

546
00:26:28,954 --> 00:26:32,557
  - With, in his case,          
   suffocating guilt,           

547
00:26:32,657 --> 00:26:34,092
 David told us.                 

548
00:26:34,192 --> 00:26:36,695
   Guilt for starting           
  that awful argument,          

549
00:26:36,795 --> 00:26:39,064
  the one that finally          
 drove her away                 

550
00:26:39,164 --> 00:26:41,299
   just before                  
   St. Patrick's Day.           

551
00:26:41,399 --> 00:26:42,901
   - If I didn't drink          
   that beer that day,          

552
00:26:43,001 --> 00:26:44,903
 she might still                
be here.                        

553
00:26:47,272 --> 00:26:49,841
   That day could have          
been the catalyst               

554
00:26:49,941 --> 00:26:51,810
  to whatever happened,         

555
00:26:51,910 --> 00:26:53,445
  but if it would have          
went differently,               

556
00:26:53,545 --> 00:26:55,780
 we wouldn't be                 
   sitting here today.          

557
00:26:58,016 --> 00:27:00,385
   - Nothing to do now          
   but keep searching,          

558
00:27:00,485 --> 00:27:03,488
   and very early on,           
  Detective Clark encountered-- 

559
00:27:03,588 --> 00:27:07,692
uh, was it a clue               
 or just a coincidence?         

560
00:27:07,792 --> 00:27:10,362
   Something like this          
   had happened before          

561
00:27:10,462 --> 00:27:12,831
 to another young woman         
  who met a man                 

562
00:27:12,931 --> 00:27:15,700
   in the very                  
   same bar district.           

563
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,870
 - The immediacy                
  of finding that out,          

564
00:27:18,970 --> 00:27:22,641
 um, kinda made my heart        
  skip a beat.                  

565
00:27:22,741 --> 00:27:25,243
  - Who was this woman?         

566
00:27:25,343 --> 00:27:27,946
And what happened to her?       

567
00:27:28,046 --> 00:27:31,950
  - He had, um, begun,          
   uh, strangling me.           

568
00:27:36,087 --> 00:27:36,154
   ♪                            

569
00:27:36,154 --> 00:27:42,661
   ♪♪                           

570
00:27:42,761 --> 00:27:45,263
- Detective Clark               
  was stymied.                  

571
00:27:45,363 --> 00:27:48,767
It seemed the whole town        
  was looking for Rita.         

572
00:27:48,867 --> 00:27:50,935
 But neither the search         
  nor his investigation         

573
00:27:51,036 --> 00:27:53,104
  had produced                  
 any real leads,                

574
00:27:53,204 --> 00:27:56,341
except there was                
 this one clue.                 

575
00:27:56,441 --> 00:27:58,843
   In fact, it walked           
 right over to find him.        

576
00:28:00,311 --> 00:28:01,880
A colleague thought Clark       
should know about               

577
00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:05,784
   another active case          
  about a woman named Kaylene,  

578
00:28:05,884 --> 00:28:07,719
   KK to her friends,           

579
00:28:07,819 --> 00:28:11,289
   and the hair-raising story   
 of what happened to her        

580
00:28:11,389 --> 00:28:13,491
  after a night at one          
  of the very same bars         

581
00:28:13,591 --> 00:28:16,127
 where Rita went                
 before she disappeared.        

582
00:28:16,227 --> 00:28:21,900
   It was four months earlier   
  on Thanksgiving night, 2017.  

583
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,236
   Here is KK to tell           
   the story.                   

584
00:28:25,336 --> 00:28:27,238
  - It was a good time          
 just to get out                

585
00:28:27,338 --> 00:28:29,974
   and listen to music          
with my friends.                

586
00:28:30,075 --> 00:28:32,577
 - A casual meet-up for         
a group of 20-somethings        

587
00:28:32,677 --> 00:28:35,480
   to let loose a bit           
  after family dinner.          

588
00:28:35,580 --> 00:28:36,981
  - You didn't want it          
 to end.                        

589
00:28:37,082 --> 00:28:40,952
   - So that's why we ended up  
going to the afterparty.        

590
00:28:41,052 --> 00:28:43,021
  - She and some of her friends 
  kept the party going          

591
00:28:43,121 --> 00:28:45,990
   at a house nearby,           
   and then...                  

592
00:28:46,091 --> 00:28:49,094
Was it the booze                
   or something in it?          

593
00:28:49,194 --> 00:28:51,229
She began to feel unwell.       

594
00:28:51,329 --> 00:28:54,699
  - Confused, nauseous,         
  intoxicated.                  

595
00:28:54,799 --> 00:28:56,768
I just wanted to go home.       

596
00:28:56,868 --> 00:29:00,338
   - She'd arranged beforehand  
  to call a friend for a ride.  

597
00:29:00,438 --> 00:29:02,941
  But her phone                 
was dead.                       

598
00:29:03,041 --> 00:29:06,177
   - So I plugged my phone in,  
   trying to get it to charge,  

599
00:29:06,277 --> 00:29:10,181
and then that's where everything
 went to, like, a blur.         

600
00:29:11,716 --> 00:29:13,284
   - She went outside           
to get some air,                

601
00:29:13,384 --> 00:29:14,786
 and a guy followed her,        

602
00:29:14,886 --> 00:29:17,789
 a guy she'd met                
   earlier at the bar.          

603
00:29:17,889 --> 00:29:20,358
  Now he'd unplugged her phone  
 before it could charge         

604
00:29:20,458 --> 00:29:23,194
   and handed to her,           
  along with her purse,         

605
00:29:23,294 --> 00:29:25,697
 told her something bad         
  was happening inside.         

606
00:29:25,797 --> 00:29:28,066
They had to leave               
   right away.                  

607
00:29:28,166 --> 00:29:29,634
- He picked me up               
and just started walking        

608
00:29:29,734 --> 00:29:32,203
   with me, arm around          
 my waist and was, like,        

609
00:29:32,303 --> 00:29:36,007
   carrying me because I could  
  hardly walk or stand.         

610
00:29:36,107 --> 00:29:37,876
 I was starting                 
 to get scared.                 

611
00:29:37,976 --> 00:29:40,712
  Um, but I didn't know         
   what to do.                  

612
00:29:42,847 --> 00:29:45,550
  - The guy brought her         
 to this house.                 

613
00:29:45,650 --> 00:29:48,586
  - It was really cold outside. 
   It was, like, dead winter.   

614
00:29:48,686 --> 00:29:51,856
   And I went inside,           
   and-and that's kinda where   

615
00:29:51,956 --> 00:29:54,459
   everything flipped.          

616
00:29:56,427 --> 00:29:58,463
 - He told her she could        
plug in her phone               

617
00:29:58,563 --> 00:30:00,732
  at the top of                 
   a flight of stairs.          

618
00:30:00,832 --> 00:30:03,168
  It turned out                 
to be a bedroom.                

619
00:30:03,268 --> 00:30:04,502
- He just started               
   pushing me,                  

620
00:30:04,602 --> 00:30:06,237
 throwing me on the bed.        

621
00:30:06,337 --> 00:30:08,473
   It's like your mind          
is going,                       

622
00:30:08,573 --> 00:30:10,441
"What can I do to               
   get out of the situation,"   

623
00:30:10,542 --> 00:30:13,144
 but it's like,                 
 my body can't do that.         

624
00:30:13,244 --> 00:30:15,180
 - Do you recall                
what happened after that?       

625
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:19,317
  - He had, um, begun,          
  uh, strangling in me,         

626
00:30:19,417 --> 00:30:21,719
  and then kinda, like,         
slapped me awake,               

627
00:30:21,820 --> 00:30:23,721
  and then do it again,         
 and...                         

628
00:30:23,822 --> 00:30:24,923
  - You can't breathe.          

629
00:30:25,023 --> 00:30:26,491
 - No, you can't                
  even swallow.                 

630
00:30:26,591 --> 00:30:29,394
   You can't breathe.           
  You can't make sound.         

631
00:30:29,494 --> 00:30:32,096
 And it just goes black.        

632
00:30:32,197 --> 00:30:34,999
   - Again and again,           
 she struggled,                 

633
00:30:35,099 --> 00:30:38,636
tried to breathe,               
  blacked out.                  

634
00:30:38,736 --> 00:30:41,673
  - I was fully clothed         
  when he had started,          

635
00:30:41,773 --> 00:30:44,676
and I wasn't when               
  I woke back up at some point. 

636
00:30:44,776 --> 00:30:47,812
- Did he tell you               
  what he was gonna do to you?  

637
00:30:47,912 --> 00:30:49,747
- He said he was                
 gonna kill me.                 

638
00:30:49,848 --> 00:30:52,150
   And he just laughed          
   in my face.                  

639
00:30:52,250 --> 00:30:56,821
 You know, you go from,         
   like, panic to fight mode,   

640
00:30:56,921 --> 00:30:59,624
 to, um-- sorry.                

641
00:31:01,526 --> 00:31:04,696
   - It's a hard thing          
  to remember.                  

642
00:31:04,796 --> 00:31:07,966
  - But you go to where         
  you're thinking in your head  

643
00:31:08,066 --> 00:31:10,068
  about people                  
 that you love.                 

644
00:31:10,168 --> 00:31:12,971
 And you're never gonna         
 see them again.                

645
00:31:13,071 --> 00:31:15,874
 I think my last thought        
was I just wanted               

646
00:31:15,974 --> 00:31:18,076
 to tell my mom                 
   I love her                   

647
00:31:18,176 --> 00:31:22,046
  and that I was sorry          
 that I was such a brat.        

648
00:31:22,146 --> 00:31:24,649
- Then, finally,                
  he turned away for a moment.  

649
00:31:24,749 --> 00:31:26,684
  - And I just                  
started running,                

650
00:31:26,784 --> 00:31:28,152
you know,                       
   screaming for help           

651
00:31:28,253 --> 00:31:31,756
   and banging                  
  on the walls.                 

652
00:31:31,856 --> 00:31:33,291
   - She ran down the stairs,   

653
00:31:33,391 --> 00:31:34,692
  and with her attacker         
  chasing her,                  

654
00:31:34,792 --> 00:31:36,594
 she made it to                 
 the front door.                

655
00:31:36,694 --> 00:31:38,696
 It was locked.                 

656
00:31:38,796 --> 00:31:41,599
 And that's when she saw        
   in the living room           

657
00:31:41,699 --> 00:31:44,669
 a man, a woman,                
and kids.                       

658
00:31:44,769 --> 00:31:46,838
  - I was like,                 
"I won't call the cops."        

659
00:31:46,938 --> 00:31:49,073
Um, "I just wanna               
go home.                        

660
00:31:49,173 --> 00:31:52,010
"Please let me go home."        

661
00:31:52,110 --> 00:31:54,746
   - At that, she said          
her attacker backed off.        

662
00:31:54,846 --> 00:31:57,315
  And living room man,          
 the one with the woman         

663
00:31:57,415 --> 00:32:00,051
 and the kids, told her         
  he'd drive her home,          

664
00:32:00,151 --> 00:32:03,755
  gave her a shirt to partially 
  cover her nakedness.          

665
00:32:05,690 --> 00:32:08,793
   - And we had been driving,   
 and we stopped                 

666
00:32:08,893 --> 00:32:10,962
 at a stoplight                 
 or a stop sign,                

667
00:32:11,062 --> 00:32:12,397
 and I got out.                 

668
00:32:12,497 --> 00:32:13,231
  - You just jumped out         
   of the car.                  

669
00:32:13,331 --> 00:32:15,333
 - Yeah, I just got out         
and ran,                        

670
00:32:15,433 --> 00:32:18,236
  and I ran to                  
 my mom's house.                

671
00:32:18,336 --> 00:32:20,104
- Four blocks in                
the winter cold,                

672
00:32:20,204 --> 00:32:24,442
barefoot, all but naked,        
and she fell on the floor       

673
00:32:24,542 --> 00:32:26,844
  at her mother's feet.         

674
00:32:33,551 --> 00:32:36,087
   - A Longmont police officer  
  drove Kaylene to the hospital 

675
00:32:36,187 --> 00:32:40,224
   where Detective Sandy Jones  
  met Kaylene.                  

676
00:32:40,325 --> 00:32:41,592
   - It was the worst           
 I'd ever seen.                 

677
00:32:41,693 --> 00:32:43,394
Her eyes had hemorrhaged        
and she had marks               

678
00:32:43,494 --> 00:32:45,029
on the back of her neck.        

679
00:32:45,129 --> 00:32:48,066
   Um, she had bruises          
on her arms and her legs.       

680
00:32:50,268 --> 00:32:51,836
- The nurses took photos        

681
00:32:51,936 --> 00:32:54,439
  and collected                 
  the evidence of rape.         

682
00:32:54,539 --> 00:32:56,307
 - This was a horrible,         
 horrible crime,                

683
00:32:56,407 --> 00:32:59,644
  and I wanted                  
  to find him.                  

684
00:32:59,744 --> 00:33:04,115
  - So first she found the host 
 of that afterparty KK attended.

685
00:33:04,215 --> 00:33:07,018
  And, what are                 
  the chances?                  

686
00:33:07,118 --> 00:33:10,989
 The house just happened        
   to have a security camera,   

687
00:33:11,089 --> 00:33:14,559
which captured the moment       
  handed KK her purse,          

688
00:33:14,659 --> 00:33:16,227
 and her phone,                 
 and her charger                

689
00:33:16,327 --> 00:33:18,262
   as she sat outside.          

690
00:33:18,363 --> 00:33:22,633
 And then, here they are        
  walking away.                 

691
00:33:22,734 --> 00:33:24,268
 The party host                 
  didn't know the guy,          

692
00:33:24,369 --> 00:33:28,206
so asked around,                
   got a name.                  

693
00:33:28,306 --> 00:33:34,112
  Juan Figueroa, a name         
   Detective Jones recognized.  

694
00:33:34,212 --> 00:33:36,981
  - I knew that he was          
   one of our cadets.           

695
00:33:37,081 --> 00:33:40,785
  - Juan had once been enrolled 
 in the explorer program        

696
00:33:40,885 --> 00:33:43,021
 at Longmont PD.                

697
00:33:43,121 --> 00:33:45,490
 He wanted to be                
a police officer.               

698
00:33:45,590 --> 00:33:48,459
  - He did a ride-along with me 
 when I was in the traffic unit.

699
00:33:48,559 --> 00:33:51,496
 - Chris Merkle,                
   with the Longmont PD then.   

700
00:33:51,596 --> 00:33:54,932
 - I remembered him, um,        
   hanging out with me          

701
00:33:55,033 --> 00:33:58,903
  being very talkative,         
  and being, um, very gung-ho.  

702
00:34:00,738 --> 00:34:03,741
  - But then Juan stole         
   a police department taser,   

703
00:34:03,841 --> 00:34:06,778
  and they caught him,          
 and he was out.                

704
00:34:06,878 --> 00:34:08,746
 And now he was                 
  a person of interest          

705
00:34:08,846 --> 00:34:10,815
in a sexual assault case.       

706
00:34:10,915 --> 00:34:13,484
   - And we were going          
to family members               

707
00:34:13,584 --> 00:34:15,920
  and talking with his friends  
 and trying to find out         

708
00:34:16,020 --> 00:34:18,589
  where he was                  
   or where he lived.           

709
00:34:18,689 --> 00:34:20,124
   - No luck.                   

710
00:34:20,224 --> 00:34:23,327
But then a break,               
   a huge one.                  

711
00:34:24,328 --> 00:34:27,065
 A woman called                 
  Longmont PD.                  

712
00:34:38,142 --> 00:34:40,311
It was Juan's housemate.        

713
00:34:40,411 --> 00:34:42,146
 She gave police                
  the address.                  

714
00:34:42,246 --> 00:34:44,048
  So Jones got                  
a search warrant,               

715
00:34:44,148 --> 00:34:47,852
went to the house, and collected
what evidence she could.        

716
00:34:47,952 --> 00:34:50,221
   But what you really needed   
was a DNA sample                

717
00:34:50,321 --> 00:34:53,591
 to compare with results        
of that rape kit.               

718
00:34:53,691 --> 00:34:57,995
  The trouble was, Juan seemed  
to have gone underground.       

719
00:34:58,096 --> 00:34:59,497
   Oh, he just wasn't           
 around at all.                 

720
00:34:59,597 --> 00:35:01,999
   - No, I couldn't find him.   

721
00:35:02,700 --> 00:35:06,904
But what was around town,       
  spread, apparently, by Juan,  

722
00:35:07,004 --> 00:35:09,607
  was a poisonous story         
 about Kaylene.                 

723
00:35:09,707 --> 00:35:13,277
  The story completely at odds  
   with what she experienced.   

724
00:35:13,377 --> 00:35:14,779
   What was his story?          

725
00:35:14,879 --> 00:35:17,081
   - That I was drunk,          
 and I wanted to hook up        

726
00:35:17,181 --> 00:35:21,419
  and, um, I got upset          
 because my ex-boyfriend        

727
00:35:21,519 --> 00:35:23,888
 was going to find out,         
  and so I cried rape.          

728
00:35:25,590 --> 00:35:27,959
- It was like she'd been        
attacked all over again.        

729
00:35:28,059 --> 00:35:30,361
   She'd been injured,          
   humiliated,                  

730
00:35:30,461 --> 00:35:32,063
   now desperately frightened.  

731
00:35:32,163 --> 00:35:35,533
   And her attacker was still   
  out there somewhere.          

732
00:35:35,633 --> 00:35:38,736
- I understand the police       
   had to make a case           

733
00:35:38,836 --> 00:35:40,338
 to arrest him.                 

734
00:35:40,438 --> 00:35:41,506
They had to get evidence.       

735
00:35:41,606 --> 00:35:44,041
 So then it made people         
 be like, you're a liar,        

736
00:35:44,142 --> 00:35:45,676
or else he'd be in jail.        

737
00:35:45,776 --> 00:35:47,145
  He would have                 
  been charged.                 

738
00:35:48,679 --> 00:35:51,082
- She felt like everybody       
was judging her.                

739
00:35:51,182 --> 00:35:54,886
And she hid away.               
She tried to end it all.        

740
00:35:54,986 --> 00:35:56,120
What did you do?                

741
00:35:56,220 --> 00:36:00,224
 - Um, I ate a bottle of pills, 
  and I cut my wrists.          

742
00:36:00,324 --> 00:36:02,226
  - She just felt like          
  she was underground,          

743
00:36:02,326 --> 00:36:03,461
 five feet underground,         

744
00:36:03,561 --> 00:36:06,397
 um, and that there was         
  no coming out of it.          

745
00:36:06,497 --> 00:36:08,299
   - Kaylene's sister,          
Jasmine.                        

746
00:36:08,399 --> 00:36:09,333
 - It was hard.                 

747
00:36:09,433 --> 00:36:11,169
   It was like we were          
   living a nightmare.          

748
00:36:11,269 --> 00:36:15,873
   And it just broke my heart   
  that she'd been hurt.         

749
00:36:15,973 --> 00:36:18,609
 And what-- in our town         
   that we call home.           

750
00:36:20,044 --> 00:36:22,380
 And now, in March 2018,        
 Detective Clark                

751
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,216
   and Detective Jones          
 compared notes.                

752
00:36:25,316 --> 00:36:26,584
  - So here's Kaylene.          

753
00:36:26,684 --> 00:36:30,521
   - One woman brutally raped,  
   the other missing.           

754
00:36:30,621 --> 00:36:33,691
Both had been at                
the same cluster of bars        

755
00:36:33,791 --> 00:36:35,726
   just months apart.           

756
00:36:35,826 --> 00:36:38,396
 Could they be related?         

757
00:36:38,496 --> 00:36:41,465
Security cameras captured       
  Rita on Saint Patrick's Day,  

758
00:36:41,566 --> 00:36:44,702
  talking with someone.         

759
00:36:44,802 --> 00:36:47,071
  Was it Juan Figueroa?         

760
00:36:51,876 --> 00:36:51,943
   ♪                            

761
00:36:51,943 --> 00:36:58,549
   ♪♪                           

762
00:36:58,649 --> 00:37:00,017
 - Where is she?                

763
00:37:00,117 --> 00:37:02,620
She's never gone                
 for this long.                 

764
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:04,589
   - Days had gone by,          

765
00:37:04,689 --> 00:37:08,593
 and Rita had still not         
made it home to her boys.       

766
00:37:08,693 --> 00:37:11,262
   But Roman,                   
  Rita's middle child,          

767
00:37:11,362 --> 00:37:14,031
held on to hope,                
  or tried to.                  

768
00:37:14,131 --> 00:37:16,734
- I tried to stay               
 as positive as I could         

769
00:37:16,834 --> 00:37:19,937
  and just think, like I never  
wanted to say the phrase,       

770
00:37:20,037 --> 00:37:22,073
   what if she                  
   doesn't come home?           

771
00:37:22,173 --> 00:37:24,742
Because then I feel like        
 that'd be me giving up.        

772
00:37:24,842 --> 00:37:26,244
- Detective Sandy Jones,        

773
00:37:26,344 --> 00:37:28,879
investigating the assault       
   on Kaylene,                  

774
00:37:28,980 --> 00:37:30,281
   was worried                  
  that the same thing,          

775
00:37:30,381 --> 00:37:33,017
  or worse, might have          
happened to Rita.               

776
00:37:33,117 --> 00:37:35,453
 - What on Earth                
happened to her?                

777
00:37:35,553 --> 00:37:38,489
 And if he had anything         
to do with this?                

778
00:37:38,589 --> 00:37:40,024
   It was very scary.           

779
00:37:40,124 --> 00:37:42,126
Very, very scary.               

780
00:37:42,226 --> 00:37:44,495
   - Well, in fact, according   
 to reader's companions,        

781
00:37:44,595 --> 00:37:48,399
just before she vanished,       
  a guy did try to hit on Rita. 

782
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,870
  - They specifically mentioned 
 that there was a person        

783
00:37:52,970 --> 00:37:54,739
 who had walked                 
   up to Rita                   

784
00:37:54,839 --> 00:37:57,375
  and tried striking up         
a conversation with her.        

785
00:37:57,475 --> 00:37:59,810
   And they just kind           
  of told him to leave          

786
00:37:59,910 --> 00:38:01,479
 and to leave her alone.        

787
00:38:02,613 --> 00:38:04,515
  - Rita's cousin said the guy  
   introduced himself           

788
00:38:04,615 --> 00:38:06,851
as Juan,                        

789
00:38:06,951 --> 00:38:09,453
 Juan Figueroa.                 

790
00:38:09,553 --> 00:38:12,256
   And he did go away,          
   but later,                   

791
00:38:12,356 --> 00:38:14,525
said the cousin,                
 sometime after 2:00 AM,        

792
00:38:14,625 --> 00:38:18,195
   there he was again,          
   outside in the parking lot   

793
00:38:18,296 --> 00:38:21,932
 where Rita was waiting         
   for her ride home.           

794
00:38:22,033 --> 00:38:24,168
 Juan Figueroa.                 
 Did you know that name?        

795
00:38:24,268 --> 00:38:25,336
   - I didn't.                  

796
00:38:25,436 --> 00:38:28,639
He was not somebody that        
   I was really familiar with.  

797
00:38:28,739 --> 00:38:32,410
   - Until, of course,          
  Clark spoke to Jones.         

798
00:38:32,510 --> 00:38:36,480
 - He had been convicted        
 of a few different, uh,        

799
00:38:36,580 --> 00:38:39,717
minor thefts and had been       
 in jail numerous times.        

800
00:38:39,817 --> 00:38:43,721
  - So you're looking for a guy 
   who has shown a propensity   

801
00:38:43,821 --> 00:38:45,956
for making bad decisions?       

802
00:38:46,057 --> 00:38:48,225
 - Yeah.                        

803
00:38:48,326 --> 00:38:51,896
- Even so, there was no evidence
 that he was responsible        

804
00:38:51,996 --> 00:38:53,664
for Rita's disappearance.       

805
00:38:53,764 --> 00:38:55,633
   Just because he was          
 the last person                

806
00:38:55,733 --> 00:38:56,534
 seen in the parking lot        

807
00:38:56,634 --> 00:38:58,536
doesn't mean that               
he was involved.                

808
00:38:59,503 --> 00:39:02,039
- No, but maybe,                
  they figured,                 

809
00:39:02,139 --> 00:39:03,908
maybe they could see him,       

810
00:39:04,008 --> 00:39:07,645
   or even see him approaching  
 Rita in the bar                

811
00:39:07,745 --> 00:39:11,882
  or in the parking lot         
 the night she vanished.        

812
00:39:11,982 --> 00:39:15,086
- Up and down the streets       
 and alleys of downtown Longmont

813
00:39:15,186 --> 00:39:19,156
 were dozens of privately owned 
security cameras.               

814
00:39:20,024 --> 00:39:22,226
 - We did a canvass of,         
 I want to say,                 

815
00:39:22,326 --> 00:39:24,995
  ten or fifteen blocks         
  of the downtown area          

816
00:39:25,096 --> 00:39:27,665
   of every business,           
every, you know,                

817
00:39:27,765 --> 00:39:30,334
resident that had               
  cameras in that area.         

818
00:39:30,434 --> 00:39:32,570
   - How many hours of          
  footage did you have?         

819
00:39:32,670 --> 00:39:33,537
  - Oh, dozens.                 

820
00:39:33,637 --> 00:39:35,039
  One business may have         
 several cameras                

821
00:39:35,139 --> 00:39:37,041
 with different angles.         

822
00:39:37,141 --> 00:39:39,877
 You know, over this, you know, 
several hour time period        

823
00:39:39,977 --> 00:39:42,747
 that we had to look at.        

824
00:39:42,847 --> 00:39:44,482
   - It was chaotic at first.   

825
00:39:44,582 --> 00:39:46,751
   Like tearing apart           
   the haystack inch by inch,   

826
00:39:46,851 --> 00:39:51,355
  looking for some grainy image 
   that might be Juan or Rita.  

827
00:39:53,157 --> 00:39:55,960
And then finally,               
 just a glimpse.                

828
00:39:56,060 --> 00:39:57,762
 But it was her.                

829
00:39:57,862 --> 00:40:01,999
  It was Rita entering          
   a bar in downtown Longmont   

830
00:40:02,099 --> 00:40:06,570
   at 1:08 AM with her cousin   
   and her cousin's boyfriend.  

831
00:40:06,670 --> 00:40:09,707
   - It kinda helped start to   
  fill in some of those pieces. 

832
00:40:09,807 --> 00:40:10,741
You know,                       
 because we knew                

833
00:40:10,841 --> 00:40:13,844
that they were at               
  the bar that evening.         

834
00:40:13,944 --> 00:40:15,112
  But what does                 
 that look like?                

835
00:40:15,212 --> 00:40:15,913
  What were they doing?         

836
00:40:16,013 --> 00:40:17,548
  Who else were                 
they talking to?                

837
00:40:17,648 --> 00:40:18,883
   Was there a fight?           

838
00:40:18,983 --> 00:40:21,652
   There were so many           
 questions that we had.         

839
00:40:21,752 --> 00:40:25,222
  - Like, for example,          
 could they prove Juan Figueroa 

840
00:40:25,322 --> 00:40:27,458
 was at the bar                 
   that night?                  

841
00:40:27,558 --> 00:40:29,393
Did Rita's cousin               
   have the right name          

842
00:40:29,493 --> 00:40:31,228
the right person?               

843
00:40:31,328 --> 00:40:34,899
And yes, Juan was there.        

844
00:40:34,999 --> 00:40:36,734
  Cameras captured him          
entering the bar                

845
00:40:36,834 --> 00:40:39,203
about 20 minutes                
   after Rita.                  

846
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:46,510
 And then minutes later,        
   here he was again,           

847
00:40:46,610 --> 00:40:48,446
   talking to someone           
   off screen.                  

848
00:40:48,546 --> 00:40:50,815
And pay close attention.        

849
00:40:50,915 --> 00:40:54,685
   The person he's talking to   
briefly comes into frame.       

850
00:40:54,785 --> 00:40:56,487
   It's Rita.                   

851
00:40:56,587 --> 00:40:59,690
  - And so now we want to know  
 who else saw that conversation.

852
00:40:59,790 --> 00:41:01,292
  what was that                 
   conversation about.          

853
00:41:01,392 --> 00:41:03,594
Again, it just--                
   it opened up so many doors   

854
00:41:03,694 --> 00:41:05,930
   because it finally           
   started to focus us          

855
00:41:06,030 --> 00:41:08,732
a little bit more on what       
we needed to figure out.        

856
00:41:10,634 --> 00:41:14,505
   And then, 1:52 AM,           
   Rita walked out of the bar.  

857
00:41:14,605 --> 00:41:17,641
   - That same person           
 was seen waving at her,        

858
00:41:17,741 --> 00:41:20,411
  trying to get                 
 her attention,                 

859
00:41:20,511 --> 00:41:22,580
   but she ignored him          
 when she left the bar.         

860
00:41:29,386 --> 00:41:33,390
   - A minute later, Juan made  
  his way toward the same exit. 

861
00:41:34,124 --> 00:41:36,460
   And eventually Rita          
  ended up in the parking lot,  

862
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,363
  where the cousin said         
 she saw Juan Figueroa.         

863
00:41:40,831 --> 00:41:43,601
 Had he followed                
   her there?                   

864
00:41:43,701 --> 00:41:47,471
 Trouble was, there was no video
 from that parking lot.         

865
00:41:47,571 --> 00:41:49,273
So what happened?               

866
00:41:49,373 --> 00:41:53,077
   Did Juan assault her there?  
   Did he take her somewhere?   

867
00:41:53,177 --> 00:41:56,714
  Or had Rita,                  
like KK, escaped?               

868
00:41:56,814 --> 00:41:59,483
   Now, two detectives          
   working two separate cases   

869
00:41:59,583 --> 00:42:01,585
were looking for                
  the same man.                 

870
00:42:01,685 --> 00:42:05,523
 And once again,                
   he was in the wind.          

871
00:42:05,623 --> 00:42:07,057
- We were trying                
   to track him down,           

872
00:42:07,157 --> 00:42:09,994
 but it always felt like        
 we were a step behind.         

873
00:42:10,094 --> 00:42:12,730
   - Oh, no, not just           
  steps behind,                 

874
00:42:12,830 --> 00:42:18,002
 but miles across states        
 and beyond the border.         

875
00:42:18,102 --> 00:42:19,737
Well, back home,                
 they discovered a last,        

876
00:42:19,837 --> 00:42:23,574
 perhaps desperate, call        
 made from Rita's phone.        

877
00:42:23,674 --> 00:42:27,344
 It was to 911.                 

878
00:42:31,982 --> 00:42:32,049
   ♪                            

879
00:42:32,049 --> 00:42:36,654
   ♪♪                           

880
00:42:36,754 --> 00:42:39,523
- Welcome back to               
 "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 

881
00:42:39,623 --> 00:42:40,591
I'm Craig Melvin.               

882
00:42:40,691 --> 00:42:43,427
  Surveillance footage          
  placed Juan Figueroa          

883
00:42:43,527 --> 00:42:46,230
 with Kaylene the night         
she was attacked                

884
00:42:46,330 --> 00:42:50,334
and Rita Gutierrez-Garcia       
   right before she vanished.   

885
00:42:50,434 --> 00:42:53,504
 Now, detectives                
  wanted to find Juan.          

886
00:42:53,604 --> 00:42:55,773
   But they also needed proof   
 he was involved                

887
00:42:55,873 --> 00:42:57,875
in Rita's disappearance,        

888
00:42:57,975 --> 00:43:00,244
   and they were about          
   to get chilling new details  

889
00:43:00,344 --> 00:43:02,846
 about the night                
she went missing.               

890
00:43:02,947 --> 00:43:06,517
  Here again is Keith Morrison  
  with "Finding Rita."          

891
00:43:10,721 --> 00:43:13,624
 - Spring, 2018.                

892
00:43:13,724 --> 00:43:15,926
   - I felt like I failed her.  

893
00:43:16,026 --> 00:43:19,897
 I couldn't do anything         
for my daughter.                

894
00:43:19,997 --> 00:43:22,399
   - Diane Romero was broken.   

895
00:43:22,499 --> 00:43:25,603
 No sign of her daughter, Rita, 
since St. Patrick's Day.        

896
00:43:25,703 --> 00:43:29,239
  Feeling helpless, she placed  
   every shred of hope she had  

897
00:43:29,340 --> 00:43:33,143
 in Detective Cody Clark        
  and the Longmont PD.          

898
00:43:33,243 --> 00:43:34,912
- They told us that they        
 were going to take care of us. 

899
00:43:35,012 --> 00:43:36,313
 They were going                
   to help us.                  

900
00:43:36,413 --> 00:43:40,017
 - For me, it was about         
  giving the family that answer 

901
00:43:40,117 --> 00:43:41,518
   of where Rita was,           

902
00:43:41,619 --> 00:43:43,554
that they deserve               
  that closure                  

903
00:43:43,654 --> 00:43:47,558
 of knowing what                
happened to her.                

904
00:43:47,658 --> 00:43:49,393
  - To do that,                 
 investigators dug into         

905
00:43:49,493 --> 00:43:51,428
the bar's                       
  security camera video         

906
00:43:51,528 --> 00:43:54,131
   where they saw Rita          
  heading out the door.         

907
00:43:54,231 --> 00:43:57,835
 And the guy watching her leave 
   was Juan Figueroa,           

908
00:43:57,935 --> 00:44:00,437
 the suspect in                 
  Kaylene's rape case.          

909
00:44:00,537 --> 00:44:02,873
 But there was no video         
  to show what happened         

910
00:44:02,973 --> 00:44:05,309
 after she left the bar.        

911
00:44:05,409 --> 00:44:09,446
 Except, Detective Clark        
 got her phone records,         

912
00:44:09,546 --> 00:44:12,216
   and there she was, eerily.   

913
00:44:12,316 --> 00:44:15,519
Not actually her,               
of course, but her phone.       

914
00:44:15,619 --> 00:44:17,187
  He could see                  
 where it went,                 

915
00:44:17,287 --> 00:44:19,189
  middle of the night.          

916
00:44:19,289 --> 00:44:21,158
 The phone put her near         
this parking lot                

917
00:44:21,258 --> 00:44:24,561
  just behind the bars          
   around 2:30 in the morning,  

918
00:44:24,662 --> 00:44:28,532
 after which it                 
  slowly moved.                 

919
00:44:28,632 --> 00:44:30,768
- So she ends up walking        
a few blocks to the north       

920
00:44:30,868 --> 00:44:32,836
   and then her phone           
 is stationary.                 

921
00:44:32,936 --> 00:44:34,038
It's not moving.                

922
00:44:34,138 --> 00:44:36,607
 It's not going anywhere        
   for about 20 minutes or so.  

923
00:44:36,707 --> 00:44:38,108
  And when we went back         
  and reviewed                  

924
00:44:38,208 --> 00:44:40,310
some of the other footage       
   that we had found,           

925
00:44:40,411 --> 00:44:44,648
 we found a vehicle that        
 went into the same area        

926
00:44:44,748 --> 00:44:46,316
 where her phone                
 was stationary.                

927
00:44:46,417 --> 00:44:47,217
 - What was the vehicle?        

928
00:44:47,317 --> 00:44:48,485
 - It was a white pickup truck, 

929
00:44:48,585 --> 00:44:51,655
and it had orange               
   construction marker lights   

930
00:44:51,755 --> 00:44:54,958
 across the top,                
which is pretty distinct.       

931
00:44:55,059 --> 00:44:58,095
But one of those specific lights
was actually out.               

932
00:44:58,195 --> 00:45:01,031
 So it made it even more        
distinctive on the video.       

933
00:45:01,131 --> 00:45:05,269
 - At 3:03 a.m.,                
  Rita's phone traveled again.  

934
00:45:05,369 --> 00:45:06,970
  - But it's not moving         
 like somebody walking.         

935
00:45:07,071 --> 00:45:09,206
 It's moving so quickly,        
like somebody's driving.        

936
00:45:09,306 --> 00:45:10,941
- It's in a car.                
- Right.                        

937
00:45:11,041 --> 00:45:14,278
 - And right at                 
   that same time, 3:03 a.m.,   

938
00:45:14,378 --> 00:45:17,247
there was                       
the truck, again.               

939
00:45:17,347 --> 00:45:19,149
 - Her phone pings again        
  in that area                  

940
00:45:19,249 --> 00:45:21,885
  and that same vehicle travels 
 right through that area        

941
00:45:21,985 --> 00:45:24,388
   at that exact time.          

942
00:45:24,488 --> 00:45:26,857
- A minute later,               
 another security camera        

943
00:45:26,957 --> 00:45:29,193
 caught the same truck.         

944
00:45:29,293 --> 00:45:30,994
  And it wasn't                 
 just any truck.                

945
00:45:31,095 --> 00:45:33,197
 Detective Jones                
  confirmed it.                 

946
00:45:33,297 --> 00:45:35,365
   That was the truck           
Juan was driving                

947
00:45:35,466 --> 00:45:38,469
   when she worked on           
 Kaylene's case.                

948
00:45:38,569 --> 00:45:40,971
 - It just continued to kind of 
push us in the direction        

949
00:45:41,071 --> 00:45:44,675
 that he knew a lot more        
 than-than we initially thought,

950
00:45:44,775 --> 00:45:47,811
   that he wasn't just          
  the last person seen with her 

951
00:45:47,911 --> 00:45:49,847
before she left,                
but that he may have been       

952
00:45:49,947 --> 00:45:52,783
 the last person                
with her period.                

953
00:45:52,883 --> 00:45:55,252
  - And there was more          
 Detective Clark gleaned        

954
00:45:55,352 --> 00:45:58,155
   from Rita's                  
   cell phone records.          

955
00:45:58,255 --> 00:46:00,090
 - At about 3:07                
 in the morning,                

956
00:46:00,190 --> 00:46:01,592
  her phone dialed 911.         

957
00:46:01,692 --> 00:46:04,795
   When the operator answered,  
 there was nobody there.        

958
00:46:04,895 --> 00:46:07,531
 It had already hung up.        

959
00:46:07,631 --> 00:46:10,300
- Dispatch called               
 the number back twice.         

960
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:10,534
 [phone ringing]                

961
00:46:16,006 --> 00:46:17,908
But there was no answer.        

962
00:46:18,008 --> 00:46:19,643
  They tried to                 
 trace the call                 

963
00:46:19,743 --> 00:46:22,579
  but couldn't pinpoint         
  its location.                 

964
00:46:22,679 --> 00:46:26,583
   A 911 call for help          
and then nothing,               

965
00:46:26,683 --> 00:46:29,887
 just an awful,                 
deathly silence.                

966
00:46:29,987 --> 00:46:32,422
- My heart sank,                
 and that's when I knew         

967
00:46:32,523 --> 00:46:34,792
that this wasn't                
 just a missing person,         

968
00:46:34,892 --> 00:46:36,627
 that something horrible        
  had happened.                 

969
00:46:38,262 --> 00:46:40,864
  - And so he called her family 
 into the police station        

970
00:46:40,964 --> 00:46:44,401
and sat them down               
 and delivered the news.        

971
00:46:44,501 --> 00:46:47,237
Rita wasn't coming home.        

972
00:46:47,337 --> 00:46:48,238
 - It was awful.                

973
00:46:48,338 --> 00:46:51,675
  It was horrible to...         

974
00:46:51,775 --> 00:46:53,143
   tear away that hope          
from them                       

975
00:46:53,243 --> 00:46:54,711
   that they had been           
 holding on to,                 

976
00:46:54,812 --> 00:46:56,046
and telling them                
 to now prepare                 

977
00:46:56,146 --> 00:46:59,249
for the absolute                
 worst thing imaginable.        

978
00:46:59,349 --> 00:47:00,884
- But the family?               

979
00:47:00,984 --> 00:47:02,519
 - I didn't want                
 to accept that.                

980
00:47:02,619 --> 00:47:05,789
  I still had some hope         
 and some faith.                

981
00:47:05,889 --> 00:47:09,593
   that she was still           
   going to come back.          

982
00:47:09,693 --> 00:47:13,564
- And maybe it was hope,        
or simply denial,               

983
00:47:13,664 --> 00:47:15,833
  but Rita's family was         
  not about to give up.         

984
00:47:15,933 --> 00:47:18,035
   In fact, they were           
  just getting started.         

985
00:47:18,135 --> 00:47:21,538
 They began meeting at this park
   not far from Rita's house,   

986
00:47:21,638 --> 00:47:24,908
 holding vigils,                
  strategizing about searches,  

987
00:47:25,008 --> 00:47:27,077
  distributing fliers.          

988
00:47:27,177 --> 00:47:29,079
That's when Diane               
noticed something               

989
00:47:29,179 --> 00:47:31,048
  that gave her                 
a little comfort.               

990
00:47:31,148 --> 00:47:34,117
 - There was this tree,         
and it was small,               

991
00:47:34,218 --> 00:47:35,719
   and it was                   
   in March, you know,          

992
00:47:35,819 --> 00:47:38,088
so things aren't                
 quite blooming.                

993
00:47:38,188 --> 00:47:40,524
   It was kind of bare          
  and it looked lonely.         

994
00:47:40,624 --> 00:47:44,161
So we started decorating        
   this tree for Rita.          

995
00:47:44,261 --> 00:47:46,630
Then we just kind               
  of made it our tree.          

996
00:47:48,932 --> 00:47:50,734
  - But though                  
the searching continued,        

997
00:47:50,834 --> 00:47:53,370
 a harsh reality                
  hovered like a cloud.         

998
00:47:53,470 --> 00:47:56,807
  It was surely a body          
 they were looking for.         

999
00:47:56,907 --> 00:48:01,111
- There was a part of me        
that wanted to find her,        

1000
00:48:01,211 --> 00:48:02,279
   more than anything.          

1001
00:48:02,379 --> 00:48:04,448
 And in the back                
of my mind like.                

1002
00:48:04,548 --> 00:48:07,084
But can you deal with it        
 if you find her, Diane?        

1003
00:48:07,184 --> 00:48:09,186
   You know, what are           
you going to do?                

1004
00:48:12,656 --> 00:48:14,992
- Why was it so important       
   to you to find her,          

1005
00:48:15,092 --> 00:48:16,426
find her remains?               

1006
00:48:16,526 --> 00:48:19,129
   - Because she's our sister   
  and we want her home.         

1007
00:48:19,229 --> 00:48:20,097
 - When you have                
 a loved one pass away,         

1008
00:48:20,197 --> 00:48:20,898
  you lay them to rest.         

1009
00:48:20,998 --> 00:48:23,867
You cremate them,               
 you bury them.                 

1010
00:48:23,967 --> 00:48:26,103
   We didn't get that.          

1011
00:48:29,773 --> 00:48:31,675
   - Imagine the task.          

1012
00:48:31,775 --> 00:48:34,811
Find her,                       
  find her body                 

1013
00:48:34,912 --> 00:48:37,614
somewhere around                
   Longmont, Colorado.          

1014
00:48:39,016 --> 00:48:42,352
The trouble was,                
 she could be anywhere.         

1015
00:48:42,452 --> 00:48:46,456
Five miles away,                
fifty miles away.               

1016
00:48:46,556 --> 00:48:48,458
   Could be that way,           
  or that way.                  

1017
00:48:48,558 --> 00:48:50,861
   Or in the mountains          
   behind me.                   

1018
00:48:50,961 --> 00:48:53,163
 Back that way.                 

1019
00:48:53,263 --> 00:48:56,233
  The task was                  
  virtually impossible.         

1020
00:48:56,333 --> 00:49:00,170
   Of course,                   
 we had to try,                 

1021
00:49:00,270 --> 00:49:04,942
 and they certainly did,        
 but not just for Rita.         

1022
00:49:05,042 --> 00:49:07,344
   Detectives Clark and Jones   
  knew the key to finding Rita  

1023
00:49:07,444 --> 00:49:11,715
  and solving KK's case         
   was finding Juan Figueroa.   

1024
00:49:11,815 --> 00:49:14,484
By now, they had                
   an arrest warrant for him,   

1025
00:49:14,584 --> 00:49:16,119
   for assaulting KK.           

1026
00:49:16,219 --> 00:49:18,822
A virtually Colorado-wide       
  search was on for him         

1027
00:49:18,922 --> 00:49:20,791
 and that truck of his.         

1028
00:49:20,891 --> 00:49:22,459
- We started back talking       
 the same thing                 

1029
00:49:22,559 --> 00:49:23,460
   we had done before.          

1030
00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:26,363
   We went to                   
   his sister's house,          

1031
00:49:26,463 --> 00:49:28,565
  the two sisters that          
live in Longmont.               

1032
00:49:28,665 --> 00:49:32,102
   We went to his mom's house   
 and I spoke to his mom,        

1033
00:49:32,202 --> 00:49:35,472
   and she had no idea          
   where-where he was.          

1034
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:38,575
  - They also contacted         
law enforcement agencies        

1035
00:49:38,675 --> 00:49:39,910
   around the country           
  and told them                 

1036
00:49:40,010 --> 00:49:43,447
  to be on the lookout          
for a white pickup truck.       

1037
00:49:43,547 --> 00:49:44,848
What do you know?               

1038
00:49:44,948 --> 00:49:47,784
   Within a few days,           
they got a call.                

1039
00:49:47,884 --> 00:49:49,419
  Juan's truck                  
had been spotted.               

1040
00:49:49,519 --> 00:49:53,991
Not in Colorado,                
   but a thousand miles away.   

1041
00:49:54,091 --> 00:49:56,293
 - When we learned that,        
  it was like,                  

1042
00:49:56,393 --> 00:49:58,028
did he get away?                
   Is this it?                  

1043
00:49:58,128 --> 00:50:00,263
  Is this where                 
 the story ends?                

1044
00:50:06,136 --> 00:50:06,203
   ♪                            

1045
00:50:06,203 --> 00:50:13,710
   ♪♪                           

1046
00:50:13,810 --> 00:50:15,879
  - It was infuriating.         

1047
00:50:15,979 --> 00:50:18,582
The man suspected               
   of raping one woman          

1048
00:50:18,682 --> 00:50:23,186
 and possibly murdering a second
was like a ghost.               

1049
00:50:24,554 --> 00:50:26,523
  And Rita was                  
 still missing.                 

1050
00:50:26,623 --> 00:50:30,260
And KK, Kaylene,                
   was living in fear.          

1051
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:32,229
Where was Juan Figueroa?        

1052
00:50:33,764 --> 00:50:34,664
 - It was a lot                 
   of anxiety.                  

1053
00:50:34,765 --> 00:50:36,233
  I wouldn't go                 
grocery shopping.               

1054
00:50:36,333 --> 00:50:38,435
   I wouldn't go to the store   
  for anything.                 

1055
00:50:38,535 --> 00:50:39,302
 - You're always                
   looking around you           

1056
00:50:39,403 --> 00:50:40,237
  to see if he's there?         
 - Yeah.                        

1057
00:50:40,337 --> 00:50:41,338
   I didn't know where he was.  

1058
00:50:41,438 --> 00:50:44,174
- If he'd done it twice,        
  he could do it again.         

1059
00:50:44,274 --> 00:50:46,209
 - Right. At any moment.        
 - Yeah.                        

1060
00:50:46,309 --> 00:50:49,980
  - And so trying to track him  
 down became a priority.        

1061
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:51,882
   - And then,                  
 investigators got word         

1062
00:50:51,982 --> 00:50:54,451
 the Department                 
  of Homeland Security          

1063
00:50:54,551 --> 00:50:57,421
 had a video they might         
  want to see.                  

1064
00:50:57,521 --> 00:51:01,224
   A white vehicle with plates  
   matching Figueroa's truck--  

1065
00:51:01,324 --> 00:51:03,460
 and surely that                
   was him inside it--          

1066
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:05,762
had just crossed                
  into Mexico,                  

1067
00:51:05,862 --> 00:51:09,199
   1,000 miles from Longmont.   

1068
00:51:09,299 --> 00:51:11,535
 - When we learned that         
he had gone into Mexico,        

1069
00:51:11,635 --> 00:51:14,971
 it was really deflating        
  to kind of feel like,         

1070
00:51:15,072 --> 00:51:16,807
did he get away?                
   Is this it?                  

1071
00:51:16,907 --> 00:51:20,043
  Is this where                 
 the story ends?                

1072
00:51:20,143 --> 00:51:22,312
   - Maybe not quite.           

1073
00:51:22,412 --> 00:51:24,815
   Detectives discovered he'd   
   gotten himself a new phone,  

1074
00:51:24,915 --> 00:51:26,850
   and they were able           
   to get the number.           

1075
00:51:26,950 --> 00:51:29,853
   They traced it to the town   
   of Piedras Negras,           

1076
00:51:29,953 --> 00:51:31,922
   just across                  
the Texas border.               

1077
00:51:32,022 --> 00:51:33,423
 - So we're kind                
of watching that                

1078
00:51:33,523 --> 00:51:35,725
  as we're trying to figure out 
what exactly he's doing,        

1079
00:51:35,826 --> 00:51:39,162
where he's going,               
  all of those things.          

1080
00:51:39,262 --> 00:51:40,030
 And for the most part,         

1081
00:51:40,130 --> 00:51:41,832
 that phone was                 
super stationary.               

1082
00:51:43,133 --> 00:51:45,335
   - Somewhere here in          
 Piedras Negras,                

1083
00:51:45,435 --> 00:51:49,506
 Figueroa was lying low,        
apparently being careful.       

1084
00:51:49,606 --> 00:51:52,375
  But if he got a whiff         
   police were getting close,   

1085
00:51:52,476 --> 00:51:53,643
   then surely                  
he'd flee again.                

1086
00:51:53,743 --> 00:51:56,446
  So how to catch him?          

1087
00:51:56,546 --> 00:51:58,381
   - Somehow they had           
   to figure out a way          

1088
00:51:58,482 --> 00:52:01,485
  to get him to emerge          
  from wherever he was.         

1089
00:52:01,585 --> 00:52:03,320
  And they had an idea.         

1090
00:52:05,522 --> 00:52:07,390
- While he was in Mexico,       
Juan was actually talking       

1091
00:52:07,491 --> 00:52:10,760
  with several people,          
 and was asking them for money. 

1092
00:52:10,861 --> 00:52:14,030
 - Well, if he's short of money,
  that might be a hook.         

1093
00:52:14,131 --> 00:52:16,133
   - Which is exactly           
  what we did.                  

1094
00:52:18,268 --> 00:52:20,103
  See, he wanted money          
by wire transfer.               

1095
00:52:20,203 --> 00:52:21,972
   So that was                  
the first thing we knew.        

1096
00:52:22,072 --> 00:52:23,974
 If he's getting                
 money that way,                

1097
00:52:24,074 --> 00:52:25,475
 then we can figure out         
pretty darn close               

1098
00:52:25,575 --> 00:52:27,244
 where he's at.                 

1099
00:52:27,344 --> 00:52:30,180
  - A female friend of Juan's,  
 once reluctant,                

1100
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:31,581
  agreed to cooperate.          

1101
00:52:31,681 --> 00:52:34,417
 Call it                        
   an attempted sting.          

1102
00:52:34,518 --> 00:52:36,419
   First this,                  
from the friend.                

1103
00:52:38,788 --> 00:52:41,458
  Hours later, Juan...          

1104
00:52:42,325 --> 00:52:44,427
  The next day,                 
  Juan again...                 

1105
00:52:51,902 --> 00:52:54,504
Figueroa told his friend        
to wire the money               

1106
00:52:54,604 --> 00:52:55,872
   to Piedras Negras.           

1107
00:52:55,972 --> 00:52:58,175
  So the cops gave her          
the money to use                

1108
00:52:58,275 --> 00:53:01,978
 and she sent it                
   and Figueroa picked it up.   

1109
00:53:02,078 --> 00:53:04,414
Which gave the detectives       
a better idea, at least,        

1110
00:53:04,514 --> 00:53:08,585
of where he was,                
  but getting an exact address, 

1111
00:53:08,685 --> 00:53:10,687
  arresting him                 
in a foreign car,               

1112
00:53:10,787 --> 00:53:12,489
  extraditing him back.         

1113
00:53:12,589 --> 00:53:14,758
  Not so easy.                  

1114
00:53:14,858 --> 00:53:17,360
And then,                       
   totally unexpected,          

1115
00:53:17,460 --> 00:53:19,162
 they got lucky.                

1116
00:53:19,262 --> 00:53:23,900
 - We end up getting a call from
  a former employer of Juan's.  

1117
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:27,737
   - Who told them he'd fired   
 Figueroa for stealing.         

1118
00:53:27,837 --> 00:53:30,640
 So now he was more than        
happy to help catch him,        

1119
00:53:30,740 --> 00:53:33,643
   and he had                   
   an idea of his own.          

1120
00:53:33,743 --> 00:53:36,146
   - He told them that          
  he had a job for him.         

1121
00:53:36,246 --> 00:53:37,380
  The job wasn't real.          

1122
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:40,717
 It was made up,                
and he told Juan                

1123
00:53:40,817 --> 00:53:41,918
that he was going               
   to pay him                   

1124
00:53:42,018 --> 00:53:44,154
 some exorbitant                
amount of money.                

1125
00:53:44,254 --> 00:53:47,657
 - The catch was                
   that this premo job          

1126
00:53:47,757 --> 00:53:49,226
was in Colorado.                

1127
00:53:49,326 --> 00:53:51,161
  It's like you've got          
   voluntary deputies           

1128
00:53:51,261 --> 00:53:52,495
working for you.                
   [laughing]                   

1129
00:53:52,596 --> 00:53:53,597
 - Yeah.                        

1130
00:53:53,697 --> 00:53:56,600
   It was-- it was definitely   
   a community effort.          

1131
00:53:56,700 --> 00:53:59,302
   - And Figueroa, apparently   
desperate for the money,        

1132
00:53:59,402 --> 00:54:00,937
 took the bait.                 

1133
00:54:01,037 --> 00:54:04,341
  Remember, detectives had been 
  monitoring his phone.         

1134
00:54:04,441 --> 00:54:07,811
One day without warning,        
   it started to move,          

1135
00:54:08,945 --> 00:54:11,281
 - And all of a sudden,         
it jumps over the border.       

1136
00:54:11,381 --> 00:54:13,383
  He was driving back.          

1137
00:54:13,483 --> 00:54:15,085
   The border crossing          
  was in a little place         

1138
00:54:15,185 --> 00:54:17,220
called Eagle Pass, Texas,       

1139
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:19,856
 where a Customs                
 and Border Protection officer, 

1140
00:54:19,956 --> 00:54:21,725
just following procedure,       

1141
00:54:21,825 --> 00:54:25,095
  asked him what he had         
  been doing in Mexico.         

1142
00:54:25,195 --> 00:54:28,398
  - He explained that he was at 
 a funeral for his grandmother, 

1143
00:54:28,498 --> 00:54:31,368
 and the agent told him         
   he was sorry to hear that.   

1144
00:54:31,468 --> 00:54:33,670
  Uh, when did                  
 she pass away?                 

1145
00:54:33,770 --> 00:54:35,538
 And he couldn't                
  answer that question.         

1146
00:54:35,639 --> 00:54:36,740
 - Oh...                        
  - And then he asked,          

1147
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:38,608
"Well, where was                
  she buried?"                  

1148
00:54:38,708 --> 00:54:40,143
 And he couldn't answer         
  that question either.         

1149
00:54:40,243 --> 00:54:42,145
   And all of a sudden          
  he started to sweat.          

1150
00:54:42,245 --> 00:54:43,813
   That kind of clued           
 them in pretty quickly         

1151
00:54:43,913 --> 00:54:46,683
that something was amiss.       

1152
00:54:46,783 --> 00:54:49,452
  The officer looked up         
Figueroa's name,                

1153
00:54:49,552 --> 00:54:51,488
   and that's when he saw it.   

1154
00:54:51,588 --> 00:54:53,757
An arrest warrant               
   for Kaylene's case,          

1155
00:54:53,857 --> 00:54:57,160
wanted for sexual assault       
  in Colorado.                  

1156
00:54:57,260 --> 00:54:58,828
 A sergeant from                
   the local sheriff's office   

1157
00:54:58,928 --> 00:55:00,230
went to meet him,               

1158
00:55:00,330 --> 00:55:04,034
but when he told Figueroa       
what the warrant was for,       

1159
00:55:04,134 --> 00:55:05,935
Juan didn't seem                
  too worried.                  

1160
00:55:10,407 --> 00:55:12,909
 He was cuffed and taken        
  into custody.                 

1161
00:55:16,479 --> 00:55:18,348
 - Chris Merkle,                
   the very detective           

1162
00:55:18,448 --> 00:55:21,518
 who'd met Juan Figueroa        
as a young police cadet,        

1163
00:55:21,618 --> 00:55:23,486
  went to Texas                 
 to pick him up,                

1164
00:55:23,586 --> 00:55:25,922
   and drove all the way back   
  to Colorado,                  

1165
00:55:26,022 --> 00:55:28,124
  19 hours on the road,         

1166
00:55:28,224 --> 00:55:31,328
during which Juan               
 talked almost nonstop,         

1167
00:55:31,428 --> 00:55:33,797
his chatter picked up by        
the detective's recorder.       

1168
00:55:42,072 --> 00:55:43,373
 - Knowing that                 
 the person next to you,        

1169
00:55:43,473 --> 00:55:45,342
 on the warrant                 
  with Kaylene,                 

1170
00:55:45,442 --> 00:55:47,977
 you know, raped                
 and almost killed her,         

1171
00:55:48,078 --> 00:55:50,680
and then knowing that we        
  are pretty much sure          

1172
00:55:50,780 --> 00:55:52,615
  that he was involved          
 in Rita's disappearance        

1173
00:55:52,716 --> 00:55:55,352
   and probably did something   
  very similar                  

1174
00:55:55,452 --> 00:55:57,721
made for                        
   a really long ride.          

1175
00:55:57,821 --> 00:56:01,324
  - They towed Figueroa's truck 
 back to Colorado, too.         

1176
00:56:01,424 --> 00:56:03,259
- We knew that there was        
   potential evidence           

1177
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:04,961
 in that truck.                 

1178
00:56:05,061 --> 00:56:07,330
   And so that                  
was a big thing.                

1179
00:56:07,430 --> 00:56:09,999
We really wanted                
   that truck.                  

1180
00:56:10,100 --> 00:56:13,136
  - Kaylene heard about         
 the arrest, of course.         

1181
00:56:13,236 --> 00:56:15,004
 What were your thoughts        
  right at that moment?         

1182
00:56:15,105 --> 00:56:15,839
 - It was mixed.                

1183
00:56:15,939 --> 00:56:17,674
It was happiness,               
 but also like,                 

1184
00:56:17,774 --> 00:56:19,976
okay, here we go.               

1185
00:56:20,076 --> 00:56:24,147
- Relief, yes, and dread        
  about having to face that man 

1186
00:56:24,247 --> 00:56:26,316
in the courtroom.               

1187
00:56:26,416 --> 00:56:31,087
  And Rita's family thought now 
 surely they'd find her,        

1188
00:56:31,187 --> 00:56:33,790
   or at least                  
 find out what happened.        

1189
00:56:33,890 --> 00:56:36,793
  - I personally thought maybe  
 he'll just speak up right away.

1190
00:56:36,893 --> 00:56:38,328
   You know, he'll say          
where Rita's at.                

1191
00:56:38,428 --> 00:56:40,363
He'll say what happened.        

1192
00:56:40,463 --> 00:56:42,165
   - If only.                   

1193
00:56:42,265 --> 00:56:45,802
   What they really wanted was  
   it be some kind of answer,   

1194
00:56:45,902 --> 00:56:48,138
   any answer.                  

1195
00:56:48,238 --> 00:56:50,340
   And they were about          
   to get it.                   

1196
00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:52,242
   That tied the knot.          
   - That did.                  

1197
00:56:56,146 --> 00:56:56,212
   ♪                            

1198
00:56:56,212 --> 00:57:02,619
   ♪♪                           

1199
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:05,321
   - Four months after          
 Kaylene was assaulted,         

1200
00:57:05,422 --> 00:57:08,158
Juan Figueroa was sitting       
in a Boulder County jail        

1201
00:57:08,258 --> 00:57:11,428
  on rape and attempted         
 murder charges.                

1202
00:57:11,528 --> 00:57:13,630
 But detectives                 
   were far from done.          

1203
00:57:13,730 --> 00:57:16,232
They were still trying to       
   build the case against him   

1204
00:57:16,332 --> 00:57:18,968
for Rita's disappearance.       

1205
00:57:19,068 --> 00:57:20,303
  One thing was                 
painfully clear,                

1206
00:57:20,403 --> 00:57:22,572
what started out                
   as a missing person's case   

1207
00:57:22,672 --> 00:57:25,408
 was now                        
a homicide investigation.       

1208
00:57:28,111 --> 00:57:31,147
   Is it possible for anybody   
  to understand what it's like  

1209
00:57:31,247 --> 00:57:34,584
  if your daughter is missing,  
 presumed dead,                 

1210
00:57:34,684 --> 00:57:37,420
 that police are                
  investigating it as a murder, 

1211
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:40,690
   and you don't know           
  what happened to her?         

1212
00:57:40,790 --> 00:57:41,991
 - You don't know what's        
   going to feel like           

1213
00:57:42,091 --> 00:57:44,093
   until it actually happens.   

1214
00:57:44,194 --> 00:57:47,630
And I had people                
  who I know who said,          

1215
00:57:47,730 --> 00:57:48,898
  "I know what it feels like."  

1216
00:57:48,998 --> 00:57:52,769
  You know, "I lost my child,"  
  and I'm like,                 

1217
00:57:52,869 --> 00:57:55,205
"You got to bury                
   your child.                  

1218
00:57:55,305 --> 00:57:58,308
  "I don't know                 
   where my child is."          

1219
00:57:58,408 --> 00:58:00,910
- In desperation,               
   Rita's ex-boyfriend, David,  

1220
00:58:01,010 --> 00:58:04,047
even reached out                
   to us back in 2018           

1221
00:58:04,147 --> 00:58:05,648
to spotlight Rita's case        

1222
00:58:05,748 --> 00:58:09,152
 for Dateline's                 
   Missing in America series.   

1223
00:58:09,252 --> 00:58:12,188
   - Find information to lead   
  to an arrest,                 

1224
00:58:12,288 --> 00:58:13,456
  to her body.                  

1225
00:58:13,556 --> 00:58:15,825
   Anything that would          
   help bring justice           

1226
00:58:15,925 --> 00:58:17,861
   or bring her home.           

1227
00:58:19,262 --> 00:58:21,164
  That was my mission,          
   every day.                   

1228
00:58:22,632 --> 00:58:24,801
- But over time,                
the hope of finding Rita,       

1229
00:58:24,901 --> 00:58:27,170
 or at least finding out        
  what happened to her,         

1230
00:58:27,270 --> 00:58:29,906
was slowly slipping away.       

1231
00:58:30,006 --> 00:58:32,208
- Just searching,               
endless searching               

1232
00:58:32,308 --> 00:58:33,610
   to come to                   
 know fruition.                 

1233
00:58:33,710 --> 00:58:36,379
 And no, it was-- it was        
 a very difficult time.         

1234
00:58:37,580 --> 00:58:39,015
   - There was                  
   one thing, though.           

1235
00:58:39,115 --> 00:58:40,683
 Investigators have been        
 bothered by it                 

1236
00:58:40,783 --> 00:58:43,920
 ever since they seized         
Figueroa's pickup truck.        

1237
00:58:44,020 --> 00:58:46,122
- A lot of people               
had told us that                

1238
00:58:46,222 --> 00:58:48,491
  that truck is                 
  a dump all the time.          

1239
00:58:48,591 --> 00:58:52,295
 - But now? Messy, yes,         
   but clear to investigators   

1240
00:58:52,395 --> 00:58:55,398
it had been scrubbed down       
many times over.                

1241
00:58:55,498 --> 00:58:56,933
 - Juan had done                
 a very good job                

1242
00:58:57,033 --> 00:58:59,869
   of trying to clean           
 that truck up.                 

1243
00:58:59,969 --> 00:59:04,274
   - Still, if he cleaned it,   
   maybe he missed something.   

1244
00:59:04,374 --> 00:59:08,778
 So they tore it apart,         
 swabbed every surface,         

1245
00:59:08,878 --> 00:59:11,915
 and that's when                
they noticed, very faint,       

1246
00:59:12,015 --> 00:59:14,684
a mark on                       
   the passenger seat.          

1247
00:59:14,784 --> 00:59:19,055
- A stained area where it       
   almost looked like somebody  

1248
00:59:19,155 --> 00:59:21,324
had tried to clean that.        

1249
00:59:21,424 --> 00:59:25,094
- They swabbed it anyway,       
   sent it off to the DNA lab.  

1250
00:59:25,194 --> 00:59:26,396
 But...                         

1251
00:59:26,496 --> 00:59:30,300
   - It came back as a mixture  
   of numerous people.          

1252
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:32,569
 So basically there were several
  different DNA profiles there, 

1253
00:59:32,669 --> 00:59:36,272
   and we couldn't figure out   
   which one belonged to who,   

1254
00:59:36,372 --> 00:59:38,374
  essentially.                  
- Had to be frustrating.        

1255
00:59:38,474 --> 00:59:41,344
  - Oh, it was                  
 incredibly frustrating.        

1256
00:59:41,444 --> 00:59:45,214
- At dead end, they just        
   couldn't tie Juan Figueroa   

1257
00:59:45,315 --> 00:59:47,784
to Rita's disappearance.        

1258
00:59:47,884 --> 00:59:50,486
   But then the lab sent back   
   another set of test results  

1259
00:59:50,587 --> 00:59:53,623
  from Kaylene's case.          

1260
00:59:53,723 --> 00:59:56,893
They compared a sample of       
   Juan's DNA to her rape kit,  

1261
00:59:56,993 --> 00:59:59,929
   and it was                   
a perfect match.                

1262
01:00:01,464 --> 01:00:05,068
   - They were able to confirm  
  that his DNA was on Kaylene.  

1263
01:00:05,168 --> 01:00:07,904
  - That tied the knot.         
   - That did.                  

1264
01:00:08,004 --> 01:00:11,507
- They set a trial date,        
  2019,                         

1265
01:00:11,608 --> 01:00:14,410
and Kaylene would               
  be the star witness.          

1266
01:00:14,510 --> 01:00:16,379
 But the thought                
  of having to testify          

1267
01:00:16,479 --> 01:00:18,381
   about the worst day          
   of her life                  

1268
01:00:18,481 --> 01:00:20,850
  in front of the man on trial  
 for raping her,                

1269
01:00:20,950 --> 01:00:23,720
 and the people who said        
   she lied about it?           

1270
01:00:23,820 --> 01:00:26,189
 She wasn't sure                
she could do it.                

1271
01:00:26,289 --> 01:00:28,591
   - I was like, I'm tired of   
 people thinking, like,         

1272
01:00:28,691 --> 01:00:31,294
 I'm-I'm trash,                 
   and I'm this skank           

1273
01:00:31,394 --> 01:00:35,331
or something, and I just        
   want it to go away.          

1274
01:00:35,431 --> 01:00:39,235
   - And even though the trial  
was still months away...        

1275
01:00:39,335 --> 01:00:43,039
- I was getting messages        
  after messages daily.         

1276
01:00:44,240 --> 01:00:45,808
  - Facebook messages,          

1277
01:00:45,908 --> 01:00:50,279
  calls and texts from numbers  
  she didn't recognize.         

1278
01:00:50,380 --> 01:00:52,181
   What did they say,           
 these messages?                

1279
01:00:52,281 --> 01:00:55,284
   - That they were going to,   
 like, hurt my family and stuff,

1280
01:00:55,385 --> 01:00:59,989
and make sure they know,        
  like, that I'm a liar         

1281
01:01:00,089 --> 01:01:02,992
 and I'm a slut                 
 and just very hateful,         

1282
01:01:03,092 --> 01:01:05,461
 hateful things.                

1283
01:01:05,561 --> 01:01:09,032
 - It got so bad, said Kaylene, 
 that she fled Longmont         

1284
01:01:09,132 --> 01:01:11,567
and secretly moved to the       
town of Greeley,                

1285
01:01:11,668 --> 01:01:15,805
35 miles away, to lay low       
   and try, at least,           

1286
01:01:15,905 --> 01:01:18,374
to leave the past               
   behind her.                  

1287
01:01:18,474 --> 01:01:21,477
A trial was months away,        
 was quick for the law,         

1288
01:01:21,577 --> 01:01:24,380
but torture for Kaylene.        

1289
01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:27,517
   And Diane,                   
   still searching for Rita...  

1290
01:01:27,617 --> 01:01:30,319
  When they went ahead          
 with KK's case,                

1291
01:01:30,420 --> 01:01:32,889
sort of full speed ahead,       
  were you feeling like         

1292
01:01:32,989 --> 01:01:35,358
  they were abandoning          
  Rita at all?                  

1293
01:01:35,458 --> 01:01:37,960
- No, no.                       

1294
01:01:38,061 --> 01:01:41,564
We knew that it was going       
  to help Rita's case.          

1295
01:01:41,664 --> 01:01:45,835
She's only gonna make it        
stronger for us.                

1296
01:01:45,935 --> 01:01:47,403
- Christmas came,               

1297
01:01:47,503 --> 01:01:49,806
   the first Christmas          
  without Rita.                 

1298
01:01:49,906 --> 01:01:51,240
For boys without                
  their mother,                 

1299
01:01:51,340 --> 01:01:53,576
there was really                
  nothing to celebrate.         

1300
01:01:53,676 --> 01:01:57,647
 So Detective Cody Clark        
decided to help.                

1301
01:01:57,747 --> 01:02:02,118
- Thinking about her kids       
not having a mom                

1302
01:02:02,218 --> 01:02:05,421
around for Christmas, uh,       

1303
01:02:05,521 --> 01:02:07,623
  hit a nerve with me.          

1304
01:02:07,724 --> 01:02:09,592
   I brought her boys           
   Christmas presents.          

1305
01:02:09,692 --> 01:02:12,962
I had really come to care       
 about them as a family.        

1306
01:02:14,363 --> 01:02:16,365
   - When you think about her,  
 is there anything in particular

1307
01:02:16,466 --> 01:02:18,367
 that you miss?                 

1308
01:02:18,468 --> 01:02:20,503
 - Her.                         
   - Just her.                  

1309
01:02:22,271 --> 01:02:24,107
  - On Rita's birthday,         
  they went to the little park  

1310
01:02:24,207 --> 01:02:28,010
  to decorate the tree          
  that seemed to stand for her. 

1311
01:02:29,078 --> 01:02:33,683
 - I don't have her here        
   to nurture and to--          

1312
01:02:33,783 --> 01:02:37,453
 to hold, but I'll just,        
 like, touch the leaves,        

1313
01:02:37,553 --> 01:02:41,357
   you know, and the branches   
 and just talk to Rita.         

1314
01:02:41,457 --> 01:02:43,159
 - She's there.                 
   - I just feel she's there.   

1315
01:02:43,259 --> 01:02:45,027
  Yeah.                         

1316
01:02:45,128 --> 01:02:46,829
  - And through                 
 all the grief,                 

1317
01:02:46,929 --> 01:02:50,266
it was Diane who                
  kept them all going.          

1318
01:02:50,366 --> 01:02:53,102
  - She's like                  
  the log of the tree,          

1319
01:02:53,202 --> 01:02:55,171
  and we're all                 
  the branches.                 

1320
01:02:55,271 --> 01:02:58,641
   - My grandma encouraged us   
 to just never give up.         

1321
01:02:58,741 --> 01:02:59,942
  Pray as hard                  
   as you can.                  

1322
01:03:00,042 --> 01:03:01,010
   She will be found.           

1323
01:03:01,110 --> 01:03:02,945
 No matter what                 
   she will be found.           

1324
01:03:03,946 --> 01:03:05,948
   - But when and how?          

1325
01:03:06,048 --> 01:03:07,784
 It would take a miracle        
   to find her                  

1326
01:03:07,884 --> 01:03:10,353
   somewhere out here.          

1327
01:03:10,453 --> 01:03:13,122
 Or maybe Juan Figueroa         
   would talk,                  

1328
01:03:13,222 --> 01:03:16,359
   though it seemed unlikely.   
   He had lawyered up.          

1329
01:03:16,459 --> 01:03:19,929
   No, Figueroa wasn't          
  talking to the cops,          

1330
01:03:20,029 --> 01:03:22,265
   but he was talking.          

1331
01:03:22,365 --> 01:03:24,433
 Maybe too much.                

1332
01:03:34,210 --> 01:03:34,277
   ♪                            

1333
01:03:34,277 --> 01:03:38,648
   ♪♪                           

1334
01:03:38,748 --> 01:03:40,917
 - Welcome back.                
Detectives investigating        

1335
01:03:41,017 --> 01:03:44,453
 Rita Gutierrez-Garcia's        
  disappearance were convinced  

1336
01:03:44,554 --> 01:03:46,856
  Juan Figueroa                 
  was involved.                 

1337
01:03:46,956 --> 01:03:48,925
They just needed                
 more time to prove it.         

1338
01:03:49,025 --> 01:03:52,128
  But there was                 
hard evidence linking him       

1339
01:03:52,228 --> 01:03:54,197
 to the assault                 
   on Kaylene.                  

1340
01:03:54,297 --> 01:03:57,533
  Soon, Juan would face         
   trial in that case,          

1341
01:03:57,633 --> 01:04:00,203
  and for investigators         
   determined to find justice   

1342
01:04:00,303 --> 01:04:04,640
  for both young women,         
a conviction was crucial.       

1343
01:04:04,740 --> 01:04:07,743
 Back to Keith Morrison         
  with "Finding Rita."          

1344
01:04:10,546 --> 01:04:12,014
  - While Juan Figueroa         
 sat behind bars                

1345
01:04:12,114 --> 01:04:15,117
   awaiting trial for           
   Kaylene's sex assault case.  

1346
01:04:15,218 --> 01:04:18,387
   He talked,                   
  talk nonstop,                 

1347
01:04:18,487 --> 01:04:21,524
   just not to police.          

1348
01:04:21,624 --> 01:04:25,261
  Juan did his talking          
to his cellmates.               

1349
01:04:25,361 --> 01:04:27,597
  - I knew that he was telling  
 them what was going on,        

1350
01:04:27,697 --> 01:04:28,598
 so it was just                 
 a matter of hearing it         

1351
01:04:28,698 --> 01:04:30,032
   from his own mouth.          

1352
01:04:30,132 --> 01:04:33,269
And we eventually               
   figured out how to           

1353
01:04:33,369 --> 01:04:36,339
   get that-hat bug in there.   

1354
01:04:36,806 --> 01:04:38,641
 - Meaning a hidden wire        
to record                       

1355
01:04:38,741 --> 01:04:41,544
whatever Figueroa               
   was blabbing about.          

1356
01:04:41,644 --> 01:04:43,312
  The hope was                  
   he'd say something,          

1357
01:04:43,412 --> 01:04:45,781
  anything about Rita.          

1358
01:04:45,882 --> 01:04:48,384
And sure enough,                
it took a while,                

1359
01:04:48,484 --> 01:04:52,588
  but here was-- well,          
it was something, anyway.       

1360
01:04:57,360 --> 01:04:59,662
 - He was trying to say         
   that somebody else           

1361
01:04:59,762 --> 01:05:01,664
had committed the murder,       
  but that he was there         

1362
01:05:01,764 --> 01:05:02,765
when it happened.               
   - Oh, okay.                  

1363
01:05:02,865 --> 01:05:04,533
  - Was-was what he was         
  alluding to,                  

1364
01:05:04,634 --> 01:05:07,203
  but that he had been          
   the one who was responsible  

1365
01:05:07,303 --> 01:05:08,638
  for burying her body.         

1366
01:05:08,738 --> 01:05:10,873
This cellmate was               
  trying to kind of pry         

1367
01:05:10,973 --> 01:05:14,277
  a little bit more information 
 out of him on his own,         

1368
01:05:14,377 --> 01:05:16,979
  and asked him                 
where it was at.                

1369
01:05:36,632 --> 01:05:40,136
  - That statement, it kind of  
   sent shivers down my spine   

1370
01:05:40,236 --> 01:05:42,571
   just because again,          
it clearly showed               

1371
01:05:42,672 --> 01:05:44,173
  that he was involved.         

1372
01:05:44,273 --> 01:05:46,842
   - Still, they wanted more,   

1373
01:05:46,943 --> 01:05:49,011
  said then prosecutor          
Michelle Sudano.                

1374
01:05:49,111 --> 01:05:50,613
   - We hadn't                  
located her body.               

1375
01:05:50,713 --> 01:05:53,849
  We didn't have a crime scene  
  or anything to go on.         

1376
01:05:53,950 --> 01:05:55,818
And so, there was               
  so much work that had         

1377
01:05:55,918 --> 01:05:57,687
   to go into building          
   that case,                   

1378
01:05:57,787 --> 01:05:59,722
because not only                
 were we proving                

1379
01:05:59,822 --> 01:06:02,124
   that Juan Figueroa           
was her murderer,               

1380
01:06:02,224 --> 01:06:05,261
  but we also had to prove that 
 she had, in fact, been killed. 

1381
01:06:05,361 --> 01:06:06,796
- This is really                
   bothersome to me...          

1382
01:06:06,896 --> 01:06:09,632
 - And to prove murder,         
  they had to buy time,         

1383
01:06:09,732 --> 01:06:11,600
  and the way to do it,         
they had decided,               

1384
01:06:11,701 --> 01:06:15,604
   was to a conviction          
   in Kaylene's assault case.   

1385
01:06:15,705 --> 01:06:18,874
   That was the job of          
  Sudano's co-counsel,          

1386
01:06:18,975 --> 01:06:20,776
Katharina Booth.                

1387
01:06:20,876 --> 01:06:22,578
   - It's very high pressure.   

1388
01:06:22,678 --> 01:06:25,715
We knew, it was extremely       
  essential, obviously,         

1389
01:06:25,815 --> 01:06:30,753
to keep them in custody,        
 to be able to get a conviction.

1390
01:06:30,853 --> 01:06:32,755
- In March 2019,                

1391
01:06:32,855 --> 01:06:35,524
over a year since               
 the attack on Kaylene,         

1392
01:06:35,624 --> 01:06:37,994
prosecutor Booth                
  got her shot                  

1393
01:06:38,094 --> 01:06:41,330
when the trial opened at        
 the Boulder County Courthouse. 

1394
01:06:41,430 --> 01:06:43,699
   What kind of person          
  were you up against?          

1395
01:06:43,799 --> 01:06:48,304
   - Someone who, uh,           
  craves the power and control  

1396
01:06:48,404 --> 01:06:51,507
   of abusing others,           
especially women.               

1397
01:06:51,607 --> 01:06:54,910
   - Prosecutor Booth           
  laid it all out for the jury. 

1398
01:06:55,011 --> 01:06:56,746
 There was the rape kit,        
   of course,                   

1399
01:06:56,846 --> 01:07:00,883
with the crucial DNA link       
to Juan Figueroa,               

1400
01:07:00,983 --> 01:07:05,121
  but also evidence of          
 Kaylene's near-fatal injuries, 

1401
01:07:05,221 --> 01:07:08,357
   which were well documented   
 and shown to the jury.         

1402
01:07:08,457 --> 01:07:10,993
- This was clearly a rape       
  and attempted murder.         

1403
01:07:11,093 --> 01:07:12,228
   - I can see                  
  some defense attorney         

1404
01:07:12,328 --> 01:07:14,397
 saying, "Well, you can         
  say that if you want,         

1405
01:07:14,497 --> 01:07:16,065
   "but lots of people          
 like rough sex                 

1406
01:07:16,165 --> 01:07:18,901
 "and like to be choked         
when they're having sex.        

1407
01:07:19,001 --> 01:07:21,504
  "So how can you prove it was  
   anything other than that?"   

1408
01:07:21,604 --> 01:07:22,705
 - You're right.                

1409
01:07:22,805 --> 01:07:25,441
And, uh, those were some        
of the arguments that were made,

1410
01:07:25,541 --> 01:07:27,376
 but there were a lot--         
 a lot of other evidence        

1411
01:07:27,476 --> 01:07:30,279
 that showed his guilt.         

1412
01:07:30,379 --> 01:07:32,281
 - For example,                 
 said prosecutor Booth,         

1413
01:07:32,381 --> 01:07:34,917
video shot inside               
 the party house                

1414
01:07:35,017 --> 01:07:37,353
   where Kaylene went           
 after the bars.                

1415
01:07:37,453 --> 01:07:38,888
  Remember when Kaylene         
 stepped outside                

1416
01:07:38,988 --> 01:07:41,557
  to get some fresh air         
   at the after party?          

1417
01:07:41,657 --> 01:07:44,994
   She said she left her phone  
   charging inside the house.   

1418
01:07:46,495 --> 01:07:50,032
   Well, here it is on          
the home security system,       

1419
01:07:50,132 --> 01:07:52,835
 plugged into the wall.         

1420
01:07:52,935 --> 01:07:55,271
 And then moments later,        

1421
01:07:55,371 --> 01:07:58,441
  Juan Figueroa                 
comes into frame,               

1422
01:07:58,541 --> 01:08:02,411
 sits down with his arm         
   oddly tucked away,           

1423
01:08:02,511 --> 01:08:08,250
  stands up and tosses          
   the phone under the couch.   

1424
01:08:09,385 --> 01:08:12,421
  - That part stands out to me, 
 to just really reflect         

1425
01:08:12,521 --> 01:08:14,657
   how premeditated this was,   

1426
01:08:14,757 --> 01:08:17,693
 making sure she didn't         
  have a charged phone.         

1427
01:08:17,793 --> 01:08:19,662
   - The prosecution's          
 key witness, of course,        

1428
01:08:19,762 --> 01:08:21,397
  was Kaylene herself,          

1429
01:08:21,497 --> 01:08:23,732
who lived                       
   to tell the story,           

1430
01:08:23,833 --> 01:08:27,169
 and now steeled herself        
 to face Juan Figueroa.         

1431
01:08:27,269 --> 01:08:30,873
- It was a very emotional trial,
 and he was disgusting.         

1432
01:08:30,973 --> 01:08:32,875
He laughed. He laughed--        
 - In the trial?                

1433
01:08:32,975 --> 01:08:36,445
   - Yeah, he-- it was a joke   
to him, the whole trial.        

1434
01:08:37,346 --> 01:08:39,782
   So he just laughed.          

1435
01:08:39,882 --> 01:08:42,017
 - When Kaylene                 
 took the stand,                

1436
01:08:42,118 --> 01:08:45,754
 the defense challenged         
 every bit of her story         

1437
01:08:45,855 --> 01:08:48,724
   and focused                  
 on this video.                 

1438
01:08:48,824 --> 01:08:50,926
Kaylene,                        
   going up the stairs          

1439
01:08:51,026 --> 01:08:53,462
   to what turned out           
to be a bedroom,                

1440
01:08:53,562 --> 01:08:56,899
   willingly,                   
said the defense.               

1441
01:08:56,999 --> 01:08:59,502
- Nonsense, said                
 the prosecutor.                

1442
01:08:59,602 --> 01:09:01,370
  - Yes, she walked up          
  those stairs,                 

1443
01:09:01,470 --> 01:09:04,673
 but he had, uh,                
contrived an entire story       

1444
01:09:04,773 --> 01:09:06,909
to get her there,               
starting all the way back       

1445
01:09:07,009 --> 01:09:08,544
 at the party that they         
   had been at                  

1446
01:09:08,644 --> 01:09:11,680
in order to get her away        
and lure her away               

1447
01:09:11,780 --> 01:09:13,682
   from the safety of others.   

1448
01:09:18,521 --> 01:09:20,856
- And then, for more than       
  a year, said Kaylene,         

1449
01:09:20,956 --> 01:09:22,091
 she'd been threatened,         

1450
01:09:22,191 --> 01:09:24,360
had been accused                
  of making it all up,          

1451
01:09:24,460 --> 01:09:26,695
   had been surrounded          
 by doubts and whispers         

1452
01:09:26,795 --> 01:09:30,065
  and malicious gossip.         

1453
01:09:30,166 --> 01:09:31,901
And now,                        
 after a ten day trial,         

1454
01:09:32,001 --> 01:09:35,704
twelve strangers                
  would judge.                  

1455
01:09:35,804 --> 01:09:37,940
 Would they believe her?        

1456
01:09:38,040 --> 01:09:40,142
  - I was just scared,          
because I'm like,               

1457
01:09:40,242 --> 01:09:43,045
 that was very important        
   to me for the fact           

1458
01:09:43,145 --> 01:09:46,649
 everybody said                 
  I was a liar.                 

1459
01:09:46,749 --> 01:09:50,286
- There she sat in court        
  only a few feet away          

1460
01:09:50,386 --> 01:09:53,055
 from the man who nearly        
 took her life,                 

1461
01:09:53,155 --> 01:09:54,523
 and she waited,                

1462
01:09:54,623 --> 01:09:57,359
   waited for                   
  that jury to decide,          

1463
01:09:57,459 --> 01:10:02,698
   unaware of what was          
waiting for her outside.        

1464
01:10:07,169 --> 01:10:07,236
   ♪                            

1465
01:10:07,236 --> 01:10:13,342
   ♪♪                           

1466
01:10:13,442 --> 01:10:17,313
 - After a 11 and a half hours, 
   the wait was finally over.   

1467
01:10:17,413 --> 01:10:20,449
The jury had made               
 their decision.                

1468
01:10:20,549 --> 01:10:22,585
Kaylene's family                
and Rita's family               

1469
01:10:22,685 --> 01:10:25,754
 took their seats inside        
  a crowded courtroom.          

1470
01:10:25,854 --> 01:10:30,025
Kaylene herself, nerves as tight
 as they had ever been.         

1471
01:10:30,125 --> 01:10:32,728
 And the verdict was...         

1472
01:10:32,828 --> 01:10:34,196
 guilty.                        

1473
01:10:34,296 --> 01:10:35,397
  - I just broke down.          

1474
01:10:35,497 --> 01:10:38,167
- Because it was somebody       
   recognizing you were right?  

1475
01:10:38,267 --> 01:10:39,602
 - Yeah.                        

1476
01:10:39,702 --> 01:10:41,237
  - All along.                  
- Mm-hmm.                       

1477
01:10:41,337 --> 01:10:42,938
  - Those other people          
   were wrong.                  

1478
01:10:43,038 --> 01:10:45,307
That finally was a moment       
 of vindication                 

1479
01:10:45,407 --> 01:10:47,576
  that you desperately needed.  
- Mm-hmm.                       

1480
01:10:47,676 --> 01:10:50,379
  I just wanted                 
  everyone to hear it.          

1481
01:10:50,479 --> 01:10:54,083
- Relieved, yes.                
 But...                         

1482
01:10:54,183 --> 01:10:56,552
 - It felt like a weight        
had been lifted.                

1483
01:10:56,652 --> 01:10:58,454
   But in the back of my head   
 I knew it wasn't over.         

1484
01:10:58,554 --> 01:11:00,289
 And now we have                
to start Rita's.                

1485
01:11:00,389 --> 01:11:02,625
   - You felt that as           
   a responsibility yourself?   

1486
01:11:02,725 --> 01:11:04,827
I felt like I had               
a responsibility                

1487
01:11:04,927 --> 01:11:09,431
   to do what I could           
after that point to help.       

1488
01:11:09,531 --> 01:11:13,102
 And I'm like, you know,        
let's focus on Rita now.        

1489
01:11:13,202 --> 01:11:15,771
 Where is Rita?                 

1490
01:11:15,871 --> 01:11:18,807
  - Maybe not so easy,          
  because within hours,         

1491
01:11:18,907 --> 01:11:22,111
   Kaylene's life was           
in danger again.                

1492
01:11:22,211 --> 01:11:24,280
 She and friends                
 and family had gathered        

1493
01:11:24,380 --> 01:11:26,915
  at a local restaurant         
  to celebrate.                 

1494
01:11:27,016 --> 01:11:29,685
   - Within the first           
five minutes I was there,       

1495
01:11:29,785 --> 01:11:34,223
  I had gotten a very gruesome, 
   like, death threat           

1496
01:11:34,323 --> 01:11:37,459
 sent to me from                
   a Facebook account           

1497
01:11:37,559 --> 01:11:40,629
   and saying                   
   really nasty stuff,          

1498
01:11:40,729 --> 01:11:43,999
calling me, like,               
 the B word, and saying,        

1499
01:11:44,099 --> 01:11:46,869
  "We're going to set your body 
  on fire while you're alive."  

1500
01:11:47,803 --> 01:11:49,905
  - And there was more          
in that message.                

1501
01:11:56,378 --> 01:11:58,280
   What was that like,          
  to get that?                  

1502
01:11:58,380 --> 01:11:59,848
 - I shut down.                 

1503
01:11:59,948 --> 01:12:01,917
 I completely shut down.        

1504
01:12:02,017 --> 01:12:03,752
   - Kaylene told the police,   

1505
01:12:03,852 --> 01:12:06,188
but they couldn't               
 track down the sender.         

1506
01:12:06,288 --> 01:12:09,591
 And Jasmine saw                
   her sister unravel.          

1507
01:12:09,692 --> 01:12:13,128
- I just remember saying,       
   this is never going to end.  

1508
01:12:13,228 --> 01:12:16,732
  - The very next day,          
  Kaylene left.                 

1509
01:12:16,832 --> 01:12:20,202
  Left town, moved all          
   the way to Kansas.           

1510
01:12:20,302 --> 01:12:21,603
- That's what she               
  needed to do in order         

1511
01:12:21,704 --> 01:12:24,306
  to keep herself safe.         

1512
01:12:24,406 --> 01:12:25,974
  - Meanwhile,                  
back in Longmont,               

1513
01:12:26,075 --> 01:12:29,478
  Detective Cody Clark          
   was still looking every day  

1514
01:12:29,578 --> 01:12:30,746
for Rita.                       

1515
01:12:30,846 --> 01:12:33,549
  - There was a lot of pressure 
 from the community of,         

1516
01:12:33,649 --> 01:12:35,784
  you know, why hasn't          
Rita been found?                

1517
01:12:35,884 --> 01:12:37,653
  What are you                  
   doing to find her?           

1518
01:12:37,753 --> 01:12:40,356
   What are you doing to bring  
  somebody to justice?          

1519
01:12:40,456 --> 01:12:43,092
   And, um...                   
 - Sure.                        

1520
01:12:43,192 --> 01:12:45,461
- I think there's an expectation
 that these, you know--         

1521
01:12:45,561 --> 01:12:46,795
   anybody who                  
   watches television,          

1522
01:12:46,895 --> 01:12:48,697
 these things get solved        
 in 45 minutes.                 

1523
01:12:48,797 --> 01:12:49,798
   [laughing]                   

1524
01:12:49,898 --> 01:12:51,500
And this is going               
 on for months, and then years. 

1525
01:12:51,600 --> 01:12:52,434
 - Yeah.                        

1526
01:12:52,534 --> 01:12:55,237
You know, it just               
  added to the anxiety          

1527
01:12:55,337 --> 01:12:57,673
   from the community,          
  feeling like,                 

1528
01:12:57,773 --> 01:13:00,342
you know, the police had        
  forgotten about this.         

1529
01:13:00,442 --> 01:13:01,710
- They hadn't, of course,       

1530
01:13:01,810 --> 01:13:04,646
  but... time.                  

1531
01:13:04,747 --> 01:13:08,550
 Every day, every month of days 
   somehow made it feel worse.  

1532
01:13:09,485 --> 01:13:10,819
   - It's extremely difficult.  

1533
01:13:10,919 --> 01:13:12,287
I mean, how do you prove        
somebody is dead                

1534
01:13:12,388 --> 01:13:14,356
if you don't have a body?       

1535
01:13:14,456 --> 01:13:15,924
 - He was stuck.                

1536
01:13:16,024 --> 01:13:18,494
  Rita's family                 
felt stuck, too.                

1537
01:13:18,594 --> 01:13:21,296
   - It's just stagnant there   
  for such a long time.         

1538
01:13:21,397 --> 01:13:22,498
   - So you were sure           
   it was him,                  

1539
01:13:22,598 --> 01:13:23,565
but you couldn't                
  do anything.                  

1540
01:13:23,665 --> 01:13:25,501
 - Yeah.                        

1541
01:13:25,601 --> 01:13:28,137
  - Then, a very big surprise.  

1542
01:13:31,507 --> 01:13:33,142
   Remember that stain          
   investigators found          

1543
01:13:33,242 --> 01:13:36,578
on the passenger seat of        
Figueroa's pickup truck?        

1544
01:13:36,678 --> 01:13:38,981
   They extracted DNA           
   back then,                   

1545
01:13:39,081 --> 01:13:42,851
   but the best they could get  
  was a jumble.                 

1546
01:13:42,951 --> 01:13:46,588
   Several humans, but no way   
 to ID any one of them.         

1547
01:13:46,688 --> 01:13:49,758
   But almost                   
   three years later,           

1548
01:13:49,858 --> 01:13:51,693
   the Colorado Bureau          
of Investigation                

1549
01:13:51,794 --> 01:13:54,563
 called Detective Clark         
 and...                         

1550
01:13:54,663 --> 01:13:56,231
 - Told us about                
   some new technology          

1551
01:13:56,331 --> 01:13:59,768
  that would be able to         
   look at that stain,          

1552
01:13:59,868 --> 01:14:01,737
 and be able to tell us         

1553
01:14:01,837 --> 01:14:05,541
not just that there were        
 several people's DNA patterns, 

1554
01:14:05,641 --> 01:14:07,876
 but who they belong to.        

1555
01:14:07,976 --> 01:14:10,279
- So they                       
   retested the stain           

1556
01:14:10,379 --> 01:14:14,917
and sent Detective Clark        
  the results.                  

1557
01:14:15,017 --> 01:14:16,852
   When they sent back          
  those results saying          

1558
01:14:16,952 --> 01:14:21,256
 that it was Rita's DNA         
in that stain...                

1559
01:14:22,691 --> 01:14:24,226
I don't even know               
   how to describe it.          

1560
01:14:24,326 --> 01:14:26,662
Um, I was elated,               
you know, like...               

1561
01:14:26,762 --> 01:14:27,696
  - My goodness, yeah.          
   - It was--                   

1562
01:14:27,796 --> 01:14:29,398
  it was, like,                 
  that one final piece,         

1563
01:14:29,498 --> 01:14:30,999
   that physical piece          
  of evidence.                  

1564
01:14:31,099 --> 01:14:32,768
She was in there.               
 - She was in his truck.        

1565
01:14:34,603 --> 01:14:36,505
- In the summer of 2021,        

1566
01:14:36,605 --> 01:14:40,242
  a grand jury indicted         
  Juan Figueroa                 

1567
01:14:40,342 --> 01:14:44,680
  for the murder and kidnapping 
of Rita Gutierrez-Garcia.       

1568
01:14:45,581 --> 01:14:47,850
  Wasn't an easy case,          
mind you.                       

1569
01:14:47,950 --> 01:14:50,486
 Even with that                 
  precious bit of DNA.          

1570
01:14:50,586 --> 01:14:53,589
 Still, it was the best         
 they were going to get.        

1571
01:14:53,689 --> 01:14:56,592
   So we had certainly          
  not all the evidence          

1572
01:14:56,692 --> 01:14:59,528
   that we needed, but we were  
 confident in the case.         

1573
01:14:59,628 --> 01:15:02,164
Figueroa, already               
  sentenced to 93 years         

1574
01:15:02,264 --> 01:15:05,634
   for assaulting KK,           
   was confident, too,          

1575
01:15:05,734 --> 01:15:09,471
  told cellmates he thought he  
  could beat the murder charge. 

1576
01:15:09,571 --> 01:15:11,440
 Rita's mother,                 
Diane, meanwhile,               

1577
01:15:11,540 --> 01:15:14,409
   though glad he was going to  
   face some kind of justice,   

1578
01:15:14,510 --> 01:15:17,980
had about giving up hope        
of actually finding Rita.       

1579
01:15:18,080 --> 01:15:21,416
  - It was hurting me.          
 It was frustrating me.         

1580
01:15:21,517 --> 01:15:25,420
   It was depressing,           

1581
01:15:25,521 --> 01:15:29,658
  to come home                  
   and not-- nothing.           

1582
01:15:29,758 --> 01:15:30,926
  - This was the stuff          
that she sent...                

1583
01:15:31,026 --> 01:15:34,429
  - And then prosecutors Booth  
 and Sudano's trial prep        

1584
01:15:34,530 --> 01:15:36,231
was interrupted.                

1585
01:15:36,331 --> 01:15:37,799
- We were really                
 close to trial.                

1586
01:15:37,900 --> 01:15:39,835
 We were within                 
a couple of weeks               

1587
01:15:39,935 --> 01:15:41,670
  before the defense attorneys  
reached out to us               

1588
01:15:41,770 --> 01:15:44,773
and said that-that maybe        
  it was worth talking.         

1589
01:15:46,108 --> 01:15:49,811
 - Figueroa's attorneys         
 wanted to make a deal.         

1590
01:15:49,912 --> 01:15:52,214
   - We said to them,           
you know,                       

1591
01:15:52,314 --> 01:15:54,249
 before we ever                 
   entertain anything,          

1592
01:15:54,349 --> 01:15:56,952
he has to give us               
   Rita back.                   

1593
01:15:57,052 --> 01:15:58,854
   - And they said...           

1594
01:15:58,954 --> 01:16:00,322
  yes.                          

1595
01:16:00,422 --> 01:16:01,623
  - What did you think          
  when you heard that?          

1596
01:16:01,723 --> 01:16:02,958
 - We didn't believe it.        

1597
01:16:03,058 --> 01:16:04,226
 We thought it was going        
  to fall apart                 

1598
01:16:04,326 --> 01:16:06,461
at every possible moment.       
 - Yeah.                        

1599
01:16:08,497 --> 01:16:11,333
   - But, what                  
   actually happened?           

1600
01:16:11,433 --> 01:16:15,037
 Well, what a surprise.         

1601
01:16:20,108 --> 01:16:20,175
   ♪                            

1602
01:16:20,175 --> 01:16:27,249
   ♪♪                           

1603
01:16:27,349 --> 01:16:29,518
 - Juan Figueroa                
  had a choice.                 

1604
01:16:29,618 --> 01:16:31,653
Take his chances                
in a murder trial               

1605
01:16:31,753 --> 01:16:34,122
 or bargain for a deal.         

1606
01:16:34,222 --> 01:16:36,525
  The price of getting          
  such a deal?                  

1607
01:16:36,625 --> 01:16:37,726
   Two things.                  

1608
01:16:37,826 --> 01:16:41,463
   Figueroa would have to tell  
them what he did to Rita,       

1609
01:16:41,563 --> 01:16:45,534
 and he'd have to reveal        
where he dumped her body.       

1610
01:16:45,634 --> 01:16:47,302
 Would he do it?                

1611
01:16:47,402 --> 01:16:49,605
Prosecutor Booth                
  didn't know.                  

1612
01:16:49,705 --> 01:16:52,274
  Detective Cody Clark          
  didn't know.                  

1613
01:16:52,374 --> 01:16:54,076
  - I wanna say it was,         
   like, a day or two           

1614
01:16:54,176 --> 01:16:57,079
 of just sitting                
  on pins and needles.          

1615
01:16:57,179 --> 01:17:00,916
  - And then an email arrived,  
and here it was.                

1616
01:17:01,016 --> 01:17:02,317
   Six words.                   

1617
01:17:09,291 --> 01:17:11,360
 But there was something        
else in that email, too,        

1618
01:17:11,460 --> 01:17:13,228
   something kind of amazing.   

1619
01:17:13,328 --> 01:17:14,830
Because who would               
think of keeping                

1620
01:17:14,930 --> 01:17:18,266
 a specific bit                 
of information like this?       

1621
01:17:18,367 --> 01:17:22,204
- It had GPS coordinates        
 for us to locate Rita.         

1622
01:17:22,304 --> 01:17:24,706
- Uh, we never expected.        
 - It was more than you thought.

1623
01:17:24,806 --> 01:17:26,308
 - Oh, it's more                
than we thought.                

1624
01:17:27,643 --> 01:17:28,810
- As the sun rose               
the next morning,               

1625
01:17:28,910 --> 01:17:32,280
  the cops were there,          
   the lawyers all were there.  

1626
01:17:32,381 --> 01:17:34,716
   Maybe he was lying,          
sitting back in his cell,       

1627
01:17:34,816 --> 01:17:36,551
 enjoying this.                 

1628
01:17:36,652 --> 01:17:38,954
  Or maybe not.                 
But this was it.                

1629
01:17:39,054 --> 01:17:42,457
  Their best and maybe          
  last chance of finding Rita.  

1630
01:17:42,557 --> 01:17:45,293
   They stared out at           
that wide vista.                

1631
01:17:45,394 --> 01:17:48,830
 Even with coordinates,         
  this wasn't going to be easy. 

1632
01:17:50,165 --> 01:17:53,068
 - I was really starting        
   to get disappointed          

1633
01:17:53,168 --> 01:17:54,670
 because of the terrain,        

1634
01:17:54,770 --> 01:17:57,205
 and we were in                 
   super high cattails          

1635
01:17:57,305 --> 01:17:59,808
   and it was so thick          
   and I remember I was like,   

1636
01:17:59,908 --> 01:18:02,344
this is going to be like        
 finding a needle in a haystack.

1637
01:18:03,445 --> 01:18:05,947
 - They slogged around,         
  ten minutes,                  

1638
01:18:06,048 --> 01:18:09,351
 twenty minutes,                
 forty minutes.                 

1639
01:18:09,451 --> 01:18:11,987
   And then suddenly,           
a shout.                        

1640
01:18:12,087 --> 01:18:14,723
It was prosecutor               
 Michele Sudano.                

1641
01:18:14,823 --> 01:18:19,594
  - And I saw what looked like  
 a white piece of bone.         

1642
01:18:21,930 --> 01:18:24,266
 - There it was,                
what was left of a body,        

1643
01:18:24,366 --> 01:18:27,903
 no doubt human remains         
  under a thicket of cattails.  

1644
01:18:28,003 --> 01:18:31,206
 - We were really lucky         
  because a lot of the cattails 

1645
01:18:31,306 --> 01:18:34,009
  in this area weren't          
up to your chest,               

1646
01:18:34,109 --> 01:18:35,944
 which they were                
everywhere else.                

1647
01:18:36,044 --> 01:18:39,414
  - Eventually they got         
DNA confirmation.               

1648
01:18:39,514 --> 01:18:43,518
  Rita Gutierrez-Garcia         
 was missing no longer.         

1649
01:18:46,221 --> 01:18:48,690
- You found her?                
 - We found her.                

1650
01:18:51,059 --> 01:18:54,396
   - Detective Clarke dreaded   
 telling Rita's family.         

1651
01:18:54,496 --> 01:18:57,065
   I knew that                  
   it was going to be           

1652
01:18:57,165 --> 01:18:59,668
one of the hardest conversations
  that I had with them,         

1653
01:18:59,768 --> 01:19:03,238
 because it was                 
  that finality                 

1654
01:19:03,338 --> 01:19:06,775
 that she wasn't coming         
back home alive.                

1655
01:19:06,875 --> 01:19:09,745
 - He met Diane                 
   and Rita's sisters           

1656
01:19:09,845 --> 01:19:11,546
 at the police station.         

1657
01:19:11,646 --> 01:19:14,583
  - Everyone was there,         
you know, Rita's A-Team.        

1658
01:19:14,683 --> 01:19:17,185
 We all started crying.         

1659
01:19:17,285 --> 01:19:19,087
We're just like, "What?"        

1660
01:19:19,187 --> 01:19:21,056
 You know, like,                
  "Oh my God."                  

1661
01:19:21,156 --> 01:19:23,058
 They did what they said        
 they would do.                 

1662
01:19:23,158 --> 01:19:26,628
   And, um...                   

1663
01:19:26,728 --> 01:19:30,699
   I am so grateful that they   
gave me my daughter back.       

1664
01:19:32,033 --> 01:19:34,369
 Cody kept his promise.         

1665
01:19:34,469 --> 01:19:36,138
 - But remember,                
as part of his plea deal,       

1666
01:19:36,238 --> 01:19:37,572
 Juan agreed to                 
   tell investigators           

1667
01:19:37,672 --> 01:19:40,342
 and prosecutors exactly        
 what happened to Rita.         

1668
01:19:40,442 --> 01:19:42,377
   - Uh, my truck was           
 parked in the front...         

1669
01:19:42,477 --> 01:19:44,246
 - When we went                 
  into that interview,          

1670
01:19:44,346 --> 01:19:47,916
   we had not told his          
  defense counsel or--          

1671
01:19:48,016 --> 01:19:49,451
 obviously then,                
 nor did he know                

1672
01:19:49,551 --> 01:19:51,520
  that we had actually          
 recovered Rita                 

1673
01:19:51,620 --> 01:19:52,654
 at that point.                 

1674
01:19:52,754 --> 01:19:55,557
 So some of the details         
   he provided we could match   

1675
01:19:55,657 --> 01:19:58,226
 and know was consistent        
with what we had located        

1676
01:19:58,326 --> 01:19:59,895
   at the crime scene.          

1677
01:20:00,529 --> 01:20:03,331
- For nearly four hours,        
   Juan told his story          

1678
01:20:03,431 --> 01:20:06,434
as investigators                
listened intently to see        

1679
01:20:06,535 --> 01:20:09,104
if it rang true.                

1680
01:20:09,204 --> 01:20:12,107
 Juan claimed that after        
  meeting Rita,                 

1681
01:20:12,207 --> 01:20:14,109
 he offered her                 
  a ride home.                  

1682
01:20:47,843 --> 01:20:49,878
   He said he panicked          
   after punching her           

1683
01:20:49,978 --> 01:20:51,713
and put her in his truck.       

1684
01:21:13,235 --> 01:21:14,936
   He started                   
driving around, he said,        

1685
01:21:15,036 --> 01:21:17,239
  trying to figure out          
 what to do next                

1686
01:21:17,339 --> 01:21:19,274
 when he noticed                
  Rita's phone.                 

1687
01:21:19,374 --> 01:21:22,410
 Remember that last call        
 from her phone to 911?         

1688
01:21:30,118 --> 01:21:33,955
  It was Juan who made          
   the call, not Rita.          

1689
01:21:34,055 --> 01:21:36,224
   Of course,                   
   investigators had to ask...  

1690
01:21:40,462 --> 01:21:42,364
  Did you ever believe          
   that he was telling          

1691
01:21:42,464 --> 01:21:43,665
  the whole truth here?         

1692
01:21:43,765 --> 01:21:47,269
  - No, I think there's         
   always been some suspicion   

1693
01:21:47,369 --> 01:21:49,137
   that more happened,          
   just knowing what happened   

1694
01:21:49,237 --> 01:21:50,538
  with Kaylene.                 

1695
01:21:50,639 --> 01:21:53,108
  That's not something          
  that we could prove.          

1696
01:21:53,208 --> 01:21:56,244
   - They couldn't prove Juan   
sexually assaulted Rita.        

1697
01:21:56,344 --> 01:21:57,579
   But Detective Clark          
  is convinced                  

1698
01:21:57,679 --> 01:21:59,848
 that is exactly                
  what happened                 

1699
01:21:59,948 --> 01:22:02,284
 before he strangled her        
to death.                       

1700
01:22:04,019 --> 01:22:07,022
- With Juan's confession,       
there would be no trial,        

1701
01:22:07,122 --> 01:22:09,357
   and in June 2022...          

1702
01:22:09,457 --> 01:22:10,926
- You understand                
   what that charge--           

1703
01:22:11,026 --> 01:22:11,993
 - ...he was sentenced.         

1704
01:22:12,093 --> 01:22:13,595
 - Then how do you plead        
  to added count four,          

1705
01:22:13,695 --> 01:22:15,063
murder in                       
   the second degree?           

1706
01:22:15,163 --> 01:22:17,332
- Guilty.                       

1707
01:22:17,432 --> 01:22:21,236
- The judge you gave him        
48 years                        

1708
01:22:21,336 --> 01:22:22,737
 on top of the 93 years         
   he was serving for the rape  

1709
01:22:22,837 --> 01:22:25,740
  and attempted murder          
   of Kaylene.                  

1710
01:22:25,840 --> 01:22:26,741
  After the sentencing,         

1711
01:22:26,841 --> 01:22:29,611
   Rita's family spoke          
  to the media.                 

1712
01:22:29,711 --> 01:22:32,647
 - We have this victory,        
   and we cannot wait           

1713
01:22:32,747 --> 01:22:36,985
 to be able to give Rita        
 the peace and the rest         

1714
01:22:37,085 --> 01:22:39,988
 her body needs.                

1715
01:22:40,088 --> 01:22:42,157
- At a memorial service,        
  months later,                 

1716
01:22:42,257 --> 01:22:44,659
Rita's friends and family       
were finally able               

1717
01:22:44,759 --> 01:22:48,029
 to celebrate her life,         
and Diane invited               

1718
01:22:48,129 --> 01:22:51,366
   all the detectives           
and the prosecutors, too.       

1719
01:22:51,466 --> 01:22:53,501
 She called you                 
   the A-Team, right?           

1720
01:22:53,601 --> 01:22:55,337
  - They're the A-Team.         

1721
01:22:55,437 --> 01:22:56,471
   They really                  
 were fabulous.                 

1722
01:22:56,571 --> 01:23:00,141
  We worked as a team.          
   Team Rita.                   

1723
01:23:00,241 --> 01:23:03,645
  - They asked Detective Clark  
   to give the eulogy.          

1724
01:23:03,745 --> 01:23:05,647
Not an easy thing to do.        

1725
01:23:05,747 --> 01:23:07,082
- How do I write                
  a eulogy for somebody         

1726
01:23:07,182 --> 01:23:09,751
   that I didn't know,          
  that I had never met?         

1727
01:23:09,851 --> 01:23:11,820
  So I tried to just do         
  the best that I could         

1728
01:23:11,920 --> 01:23:16,291
 to kind of memorialize         
  what I knew about her         

1729
01:23:16,391 --> 01:23:18,827
and how much of an impact       
   she had had on me,           

1730
01:23:18,927 --> 01:23:19,995
   even though                  
  I'd never known her.          

1731
01:23:20,095 --> 01:23:22,697
Over the last four years,       
 I've learned about Rita        

1732
01:23:22,797 --> 01:23:26,201
  from dozens,                  
   if not hundreds of people.   

1733
01:23:26,301 --> 01:23:29,971
  What I saw was a brave woman, 
a strong mother.                

1734
01:23:30,071 --> 01:23:32,240
Her sons lives are proof        
  that a mother's love          

1735
01:23:32,340 --> 01:23:35,677
   is a powerful force          
  to be reckoned with.          

1736
01:23:35,777 --> 01:23:38,313
   - And right there,           
  listening to it all,          

1737
01:23:38,413 --> 01:23:40,515
  was Kaylene,                  
 the young woman                

1738
01:23:40,615 --> 01:23:43,852
   who will be forever          
   connected to Rita.           

1739
01:23:43,952 --> 01:23:46,087
   I don't know that they ever  
   would have solved her case   

1740
01:23:46,187 --> 01:23:47,655
  if it hadn't                  
  been for you.                 

1741
01:23:47,756 --> 01:23:49,024
- Everything played out.        

1742
01:23:49,124 --> 01:23:52,093
  It played out the way         
  it did for a reason.          

1743
01:23:52,193 --> 01:23:53,962
You know?                       
 - What was the reason?         

1744
01:23:54,062 --> 01:23:55,864
   - Like, so I could get him,  
and he was there,               

1745
01:23:55,964 --> 01:23:58,500
and they could hold him,        
 and, you know,                 

1746
01:23:58,600 --> 01:24:00,969
then they could find her,       
  and they could get the truth. 

1747
01:24:03,471 --> 01:24:06,441
 - And Diane, she likes         
to visit the park               

1748
01:24:06,541 --> 01:24:09,444
where Rita's tree               
  still stands.                 

1749
01:24:09,544 --> 01:24:11,513
- It just blooms                
 so beautifully.                

1750
01:24:11,613 --> 01:24:12,680
   It's green.                  

1751
01:24:12,781 --> 01:24:15,750
  And the vines, they kind of,  
 like, twine, you know,         

1752
01:24:15,850 --> 01:24:18,219
 and it just spirals up,        

1753
01:24:18,319 --> 01:24:20,355
  and it's just                 
growing so much.                

1754
01:24:20,455 --> 01:24:21,656
   It's so beautiful.           

1755
01:24:21,756 --> 01:24:23,491
 - You light up when you        
  talk about the tree.          

1756
01:24:23,591 --> 01:24:26,361
   - I love that tree because   
 it just reminds me of--        

1757
01:24:26,461 --> 01:24:28,363
of Rita.                        

1758
01:24:28,463 --> 01:24:30,398
 - And she sits                 
  on the bench                  

1759
01:24:30,498 --> 01:24:33,201
that Cody Clarke                
 helped raise money for         

1760
01:24:33,301 --> 01:24:35,203
in Rita's memory.               

1761
01:24:35,303 --> 01:24:36,771
 There's a plaque on it,        

1762
01:24:36,871 --> 01:24:39,174
  "For the rest                 
  of our lives,                 

1763
01:24:39,274 --> 01:24:42,677
   "we will search for moments  
  full of you."                 

1764
01:24:42,777 --> 01:24:45,580
- I didn't get Rita back        
   as a person                  

1765
01:24:45,680 --> 01:24:48,850
 and as a body,                 
  but I got Rita back.          

1766
01:24:48,950 --> 01:24:51,820
   I won't let no one           
   take that from me.           

1767
01:24:56,257 --> 01:24:57,492
- That's all for                
  this edition                  

1768
01:24:57,592 --> 01:24:59,928
  of "Dateline:                 
   Secrets Uncovered."          

1769
01:25:00,028 --> 01:25:03,264
I'm Craig Melvin.               
 Thank you for watching.