their best friends offered moral support and came to the house. and one of them noticed something on the floor. >> we just said, oh my god. we walked in and she was bending over pulling it out of the carpet. we knew it was embedded in the carpet. >> it wasn't just laying there. >> she pulled out and said, sharon isn't this one of her earrings. >> so then? >> then eventually we found the another one. >> and then the third one. >> ground into the carpet? >> oh yes, we had to pull them out. >> they also notice swamp the small palm tree in the front yard had been damaged along with the decorative bricks surrounded. >> and then there were tire tracks. >> across the line? >> yes. >> how close did those tire tracks come to the house? >> it was in a big yard but it went up to the --
got on with their day. she said she thought about reporting the card to police but -- >> i think i thought my imagination was getting the better of me and somebody had probably parked it out there with good reason. >> so there it sat until two days later. 9 a.m., monday, june 30th, her family was eating breakfast went to their surprised, they heard choppers overhead. >> i think it dawned on me that i probably should've called the police because you could tell there was something big going on there. >> someone else had called police who quickly determined the abandoned vehicle was erin core winds. debbie's photos showed it it had been there for two days since the morning erin disappeared. what's more, next to erin's car, detectives noticed tire tracks and shoe prints. >> those tire impressions appealed to be allowed back towards the vehicle, erin's vehicle. and they were shoe impressions that appeared to walk from the driver side of erin's vehicle to those tire impressions that came through that area. >> it appeared to detectives that erin had driven to the spot and possibly switched into another car and gone off. >> i realized at that point we
piece of information. erin had told her friend back in tennessee that she was supposed to meet up with someone the day she vanished. her neighbor and lover, chris lee. deputies first knocked on prices door the day erin was reported missing. >> christopher lee told the extent of any contact he had ever had with erin corps wind was waving high in passing in the hallway of the pargman complex. >> apparently that wasn't true. but it wasn't necessarily incriminating either. he had every reason to downplay's relationship with erin. nevertheless, detectives knew it was time to talk to chris lee again. >> coming up -- >> we found her car. >> oh did you? >> yeah, it was partked in that area. >> he seemed surprised that we found the car. >> did he start to tense up after this reveal? >> yes. i could see definitely him more tense and his body. >> marine corporal to sleep prepares for battle. >> your tire tracks are there
as well as her tire tracks. >> i was aware that if i told you guys i saw her car, because of my previous relationship with her, you would've automatically assumed i did something. >> it was just a very unusual wild story that was telling me. >> when dateline continues. rsv is in for a surprise. meet arexvy. ( ♪♪ ) the first fda-approved rsv vaccine.
>> he seemed surprised that we had found the car. >> did he start to tense up after this revealed? >> yes. i could see definitely him more tense and his body. >> and then hanky tried bluffing. >> your tire tracks are there, as well as her tire tracks. and your tire tracks drove over hers showing that you met her. there but >> you did know for sure. >> i did know for sure but i had a suspicion. >> under pressure now, chris changed his story slightly. saying that while he didn't see erin the day she disappeared, he did see her car. >> i was aware that if i told you guys i saw her car, because of my previous relationship with her, you would've automatically assumed i did something. >> that didn't ring true to hanky and his ears perked up even more when chris said this. >> did you make any other phone calls, when you are? out >> no i couldn't. i literally like the ability to because of the area we were in. >> you heard that word. we. >> yes. that was a big deal for me. he was tell me this entire time whose by him self.
waiting. >> but where was she now? >> it was just a mystery. an absolute mystery. and nobody could come up with any answers. >> they didn't wait long to call the police. >> she was reported to us missing on the friday. >> cory was then chief of the belleville police service. >> and with the information that the family provided, us we realize that it had the potential to be very serious case. >> when the police arrived, along with the forensics people. andy lloyd said that he and his cousin went outside. with police permission, to scout the grounds around the house. no idea that what he was about to discover would not just break the case. but sends a shockwave right across the country. the first thing, says andy, the footprints. >> there was a couple of different ones in the block here. >> he called into the cops working into the house. >> i just said, there's footprints in the backyard. might want to go look at it. and they told us they might want to stay away from it. >> so andy in his cousin handed over to the field by just his house. took a walk around. and that's when they found them. the tire tracks.
something on the floor. >> we just heard, "oh, my god! " and we walked in and she was bending over, pulling it out of the carpet like it was embedded in the carpet. >> yeah, it wasn't just laying there. >> she pulled it out and she said, "sharon, isn't this one of her earrings? " and she said, "yeah. " >> so then? >> then eventually we found the -- >> we found -- >> -- another one. >> yeah. >> and -- >> and then the third one. >> like, grounded into the carpet? >> yeah, right -- >> oh, yeah, just-- >> -- we had to pull them out. >> they also noticed a small palm tree in their front yard had been damaged along with the decorative bricks around it. >> and then there was tire tracks. >> what, across the lawn? >> across the lawn. >> how close do those tire tracks come to the house? >> it wasn't a big yard, but -- >> no, it wasn't a big yard. >> they went up to the door. >> and they found two ribbons, the kind tara wore in her hair, outside their front door, and scuff marks on their bedroom