mess missing teen found dead >> his body was laying over a. cleaning we want answers. >> was it murder? >> who beat my baby? >> or was it something else? >> how do you get in a scuffle with someone, but? and then next thing you know you're being charged with murder? >> a trial -- >> heartbreak. >> nobody wins. >> and a twist that stunned everyone. >> it was the first time i ever had this happen, we had to stop and think. >> hello and welcome to deadline it's been fed there's been nothing more powerful than a mother's love for her child and no greater paying than losing a child both forces collide in a small midwestern town when i'm mysterious death sparked a search for justice but also divided a community and turned strangers into allies. >> the outcome less both sides real here is dennis murphy with at the edge of town >> yards from the chicken place is an unlikely scrap of wilderness in a southern illinois town. a thicket of vines and rumbles. acres of thorns that tear at the flush. four years, people just sped by without a second look. but something terrible happened there one cold night in the winter of 2014. that brought a stranger to town. a mother, looking for answers about her son. >> i knew one thing, i wasn't going to stop. >> no matter how painful the truth turned out to be. does it hurt you to be back here? >> yes. >> her heartbreak launched another mother's fight. >> i wanted to save my son. i'm a fighter. i'm a mom. >> and divided an entire community. >> no matter who you are, no matter where you came from, right is right and wrong is wrong. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> few people know this part of southern illinois better than monica's lucas. this mother of two children has spent most of her life in these parts. >> i think for the average a small town, america. >> who runs it? >> that's a hard question. until something goes wrong, we all do. >> welcome to reality with monica. >> and for years, she hosted a friday night radio show called reality check. did you check scandal or city hall, politics? >> oh, yeah. oh yeah. i like to push the envelope a little bit. >> so, it wasn't unusual for people to send her tips about stories to watch. that's how this all began in february, 2014. >> i had a random facebook message from somebody i've never heard of and it said, have you heard about this? and it was a link to a flyer for a missing person. >> 19-year-old pravin varughese. a college sophomore at southern illinois university in carbondale. last seen leaving a house party, stepping out into the bitter cold. >> and i was like, where did this kid go? >> why did you think maybe he took an early spring break to travel? >> the young man that contacted me was in distress. he said, this is abnormal, he would not do this. something is wrong. >> monica learned that pravin came from chicago, a six hour drive away. he was the adored middle child of two first generation immigrants from india. his dad was a respiratory therapist, his mom lovely, a nurse. >> thursday morning i walk up with this awful feeling of something heavy in my chest. >> when the phone rang that night, lovely expected to hear pravin's voice. he called whom most evenings. but it wasn't her son, it was a police officer. >> and he said, well, your son is reported missing by his cousin. i just screamed. everything changed that moment. everything changed. >> so, lovely and her husband drove to carbondale and met their daughter at pravin's student apartment. there was no sign of their boy. >> my parents are just so mentally out of it. it was just so hard. i felt like i had to be the one to step up, because this my brother. i wanted to find him more than anything in the world. i just wanted him back. >> pre-organize bus loads of volunteers who showed up from chicago to help the family search. they handed out flyers, posted them on telephone poles and investigations. desperate for clues. >> we had no idea what happened to pravin at that point. >> police were searching, to. >> jody is the former police chief. >> we had 14 canines to help search the areas for him. we had two helicopters out. we had the state police play. >> so you were doubling this thing off? >> no, not. >> and then the road right now. you didn't know where he was. >> we did not know where he was. >> lovely's family ask the public for help. they offered $15,000 in reward money. this is really the start of a very long journey for you. >> yes. >> a journey that began as a search for her son, but soon became something else. a search for truth and kindness. and finally, justice. >> coming up -- >> the statement was pravin seemed to be intoxicated and was unable to tell where it was he was going. >> a first clue and the last person to see a pravin life. >> now we have an area to look for. >> but what they discover will tear to families apart. >> and i thought, this just doesn't sound right though. >> when "dateline" continues. 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>> funny, always joking, smiling, never held a grudge. ever. >>reporter: but his real dream was to become an fbi agent. the criminal justice program at southern illinois university was well regarded. and or something else the university was known for. >> when we looked at the college, my husband said, that's a party college. >> party boys? >> which college is not a party college, he said. >>reporter: a party was the last place pravin had been seen. >> did he fit into this party crowd, by what you could tell? >> we had a lot of his friends that told us that he partied with them on a regular basis. >> drink until they get sloppy? how did they characterize it? >> he did drink until he got drunk, sometimes. >>reporter: including, witnesses told police, at the party the night of his disappearance. >> they were creating a disturbance and were asked to leave. >>reporter: pravin's expected him to meet up at a bar but he never showed. they never saw him the next day or the day after. four days after he was reported missing, someone came forward with a tip. pravin had scored a ride after the party. cops i tracked down the driver. >> he seemed to be intoxicated and unable to tell where he was going. >>reporter: there appeared to be a fight and police say pravin ran into the woods. -- >>reporter: teen stand out to search. it didn't take long. >> his body was laying in the middle of a clearing. he didn't have a shirt on. he had a cell phone nearby. >> temperature had been 14 degrees overnight? >> 14 degrees, yes. >>reporter: it looked as if praveen had frozen to death in the woods. >> so this was tough for the family. >> yes. >>reporter: a police officer showed up at lovely's hotel room door. >> he said that we found pravin. and i said, is he alive? they said no. >> and it turned out he was found some rough woods not far from your motel. >> not far from the motel, yes. >> all those days you are wondering where he was. >> it was hard for me, knowing that he was alone, and we weren't able to tell that we could love him. and he died alone in the middle of the woods. >>reporter: she wasn't just said, he was angry. priya thought she heard the police judging her brother. >> they said he was drunk. >> college guy, could couldn't handle his liquor, ended up dead. >>reporter: police had a news conference that afternoon. >> the difficult terrain and cold temperatures seem to have contributed to pravin's difficulty finding his way out of the woods. >> monica watched the professor at a friends. >> i thought, this doesn't sound right, though. she was struck by the sight of pravin's mother on tv. lovely had gone to the scene where her son died. >> when i first saw his mom, i remember thinking, she's obviously not from southern illinois. >> she's a stranger in a strange land. >> she does not know this town. i have so many questions and i'm from here. >>reporter: monica didn't know it, but lovely had questions to. when she got back to chicago, the funeral director, handling pravin's had disturbing news. >> he said, lovely, you are a nurse, right? i said yes. he said, you need to see him, this is not a frostbitten body. lovely had seen several dead bodies during her career as a nurse, but she never expected to see her own sons. she was shocked by what she saw. a massive bruise on pravin's and other bruises on his thigh. >> if a civilian had seen the body, would they say, i have seen an injury? >> yes. >>reporter: but lovely wanted and expert opinion and she wanted one and so she hired her own pathologist, dr. ben margolis. he noted injuries that were not seen, including a injury all the way to the bone, possibly a defensive injury. >> if you are stumbling around the woods in the dark, and you trip, and had a, rocket that closet? >> that's really not enough. >> so the more you became familiar with it, you thought, this boy suffered a terrible beating or you did not know what caused? >> if the body was found on a city street, you would think someone hurt him. >>reporter: but who? lovely was determined to find out. >> and she will have help. lovely forms of powerful bond with a radio host obsessed with her son's case. can they solve this mystery together? coming up -- she was completely shattered, she just said, this isn't my kid. something is wrong. >> i'm like, there is another mother asking the same questions i have. >> two mothers, united in a common cause. >> the mother said from the beginning, i just want answers. >>reporter: when "dateline" continues. take a moment to pause and ask, why did you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia? i help others. but i need to help protect myself. honestly? i couldn't afford to get sick. i want to be there for this one. i can't if i'm sick. pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease. you may be at risk if you're 19 to 64 with certain chronic conditions. or if you're 65 or older. don't pause a moment longer. ask your doctor or pharmacist about getting vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia today. 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(carolers) ♪ we tried to tell him but he paid us a lot... ♪ (husband) it was a lot... ♪ mhmmm ♪ (vo) this holiday turn any iphone, in any condition, into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium, apple tv 4k, and six months of apple one. all three on us. it's holiday everyday with verizon. ♪ today, my friend you did it, you did it, you did it... ♪ centrum silver is now clinically shown to support cognitive health in older adults. it's one more step towards taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say, ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver. dennis murphy: pravin varughese had been found dead >> pravin varughese had been in the heart of the woods. found dead in the heart of the woods. police suspected he'd gotten lost any drunken days and succumbed to the cold. his mother thought something far more sinister had happened. especially after reading the report of her own pathologist. he believed pravin had suffered blunt force trauma to the head. blunt force trauma? >> yes. >> lovely wasn't alone in her suspicions. >> we've had a situation in southern illinois that has been kind of disturbing. >> the same weekend, pravin's family and friends gathered for his funeral in chicago, was monica zukas on the radio 300 miles away, asking questions about his death. >> we have what we believe to be a healthy 19 year old, found dead in the woods. >> during her show, a mourner, who'd brain at pravin's open casket week, sent monica a text. >> i just got a text message from a dear friend of pravin. i went to pravin's the cetacean. his face looks like he was beat, bad. >> someone told lovely about's show. >> when i was listening to her, i'm like, boy, there is another mother that's asking the same questions that i have? >> the two women started talking on the phone every day. >> i just felt an automatic connection with her, and i thought, i can tell her anything. >> lovely confided in monica how hurt she was by all the talk of pravin drinking. >> she was completely shattered. she just said, this isn't my kid. something is wrong. >> pravin's cousin actually had already given lovely his version of events. was pravin drinking that? night >> he was. >> was he drinking too much? >> no. >> and one of those reports of pravin's rowdy behavior. >> that's kind of how pravin is in general. >> friends and family have posted videos of his boisterous behavior. >> if you didn't know him -- >> yeah, he's kind of energetic. you know what i mean? >> but it was hard for lovely not to wonder if ashley was just telling her what she wanted to hear. until monica interviewed three other students on her radio show who were at the party that night. >> this is our second show we've done on this particular issue. >> they explained that from what they had seen pravin hadn't been drinking all that much. >> he was standing, talking to me like i would talk to anybody else. it was that like he was leaning on me, or couldn't talk or think straight. >> so, if pravin listen that drunk, lovely wondered how had he ended up lost in the woods? police had found his body hundreds of yards from the road. you can see them try to retrace his steps in this video. lovely walked the route too. >> what's it like? >> very thick and full of thorns and vines. you have to kind of -- it. >> there was our -- too. fencing off some of the woods from the highway. and that's when they found a piece of his clothing? >> yes. this is where. >> a piece of pravin's t-shirts snagged on one of the barbs. so, the lore strand has a piece of its clothing? >> yes. >> lovely thought that the rough terrain and barbed wire media unlikely would pravin have wondered aimlessly in the whites and gotten lost. if he had been lost, why hadn't he just headed towards the cards? or used his phone to call for help? where with the phone? >> his phone was found just to his right side. >> lovely was more convinced than ever that pravin's death was the result of foul play. which is why she was so surprised when six weeks after pravin's death, the official autopsy report came to back and confirmed a police had originally said. pravin had died of hypothermia. the report did note some aberrations on his body, but said there was no significant trauma. so one report does that have so much of needed a mandate. and the other has a bunch force trauma? >> yes, that's one of the times that i thought, i'm in the twilight zone. >> but there was something else in the autopsy report. something big. no alcohol had been found in pravin's blood. didn't that undermine the theory that had pravin gotten lost because he was drunk? it certainly caught the attention of the police pathologist who wrote, strangely, tox is negative. no reason for pravin's ef0 behavior and hiding in the woods. did that say something about your attitude towards the investigation, because it throughout your theory that he was wrong? >> well, you know, surprisingly he's not drunk. it didn't change in my mind, the direction of the investigation. but it was definitely a surprise that there was it more of an alcohol component. >> police had a theory though. maybe pravin had metabolized alcohol as he lay dying in the woods. lovely didn't buy it. she went back to carbondale and staged a protest in the town square. >> we will not rest until we find the truth. >> it was the first time she and monica met in person. >> and we were just hugging and crying. hugging and crying. >> they started planning their next move. >> lovely said from the beginning, i don't want revenge. i just want answers. and if the answers are that somebody hurt my baby, i want justice. >> over the next few months, lovely and her supporters organized protests and press conferences demanding a new investigation. >> we are seeking justice at that every human being deserves. >> and a year passed. lovely went to pre-in the woods where pravin's body had been found, and she waited. and then suddenly -- >> he releases the report. he didn't call us. he gave it to the press. >> it turned out the local prosecutor had been investigating behind the scenes. he had consulted new pathologists and convened a grand jury. in his report, he wrote the evidence showed pravin's death was an accident caused by intoxication, frigid weather and poor judgment. >> he said, was pravin drunk, intoxicated, highly intoxicated -- >> what did the science say? >> he didn't mention that the tox screen was negative. >> lovely fell as the pravin's story was simply unheard. but monica had an idea about how to turn up the volume. >> monica, why did you invest so much of your personal capital for a young man you didn't know? for a mother you didn't know? >> i know. sounds cheesy and it sounds cliché, but i'm a mother and