>> -- >> and you are wearing a wire? >> yes. >> to solve that baffling case. a college student on a friday night out who vanished. >> she is a very shy girl. but she was something special. >> the possible suspects? just about everyone. the friend, the boyfriend. the mysterious older man. even her mom. >> i was shocked that they even suspected me. >> so why were police that a dead end? enter this guy. >> do you see things other cops don't say? >> phenomenal. >> they call him the evidence whisper. he was about to crack this case opened before your eyes. >> the answer was in the details? >> it was right there. >> and you won't believe how. >> i'm thinking, i spoke to. it worked. >> i hope, i'm not sure. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello. and welcome to dateline. 20 year old lynsie the told each other everything. or so her mother believed. when the college student vanished after a night out clubbing, nancy thought that she was at a sleep over with friends. and that wasn't the only thing that lynsie was hiding. it would take years for detectives to uncover the truth. in a pile of lies. but could they find lynsie? here's josh mankiewicz with the night lynsie disappeared. >> sometimes the facts are as clear as the southern california sky. but other times, you have to know where it will look. to see the truth. this man has made a career of noticing what others did not. >> what is his reputation? >> a meticulous investigator. just pours over volumes of audience. and finds things that other investigators do not find. >> correct. >> does this man act guilty? does he know more than he is saying? >> i didn't know anything was going on. >> what about this man? can you believe the story that he is telling? >> i was supposed to pick her up twice. and she -- she did not show up on either day. >> the evidence whisper was not present at any of those interviews. but watching them helped him solve the mystery of what happened to our vivaciously little woman. and bring answers to the mother who loved her. >> i was always proud of her, she was a real fighter. >> lynsie ekelund arrived on july 7th, 1980. she was the youngest of three. maybe that fighting spirit isn't visible in her photos. but her mother nancy said it was always there. lynsie had a passion for animals. she helped out in her spare time at a local shelter. kim davidson, who worked at the middle school, remembers young lynsie also had a sense of compassion. >> i was freezing cold, and i didn't bring a jacket that they. and i felt this little hands up my shoulder. and a sweater that turned around, and it was lynsie and she said i just can't stand watching you shiver. >> she gave back in other ways, her mother says that lynsie would lie about her age so she could give blood. remarkable in itself, because lynsie struggled with their own disabilities. her left arm was paralyzed, her left leg impaired. >> did she ever talk about how she came to -- >> she brought it up to me. and said that she was in a car accident and she was thrown. and when she was a little girl. but very, very matter-of-fact. >> growing up, lynsie needed so much care. her mother nancy was with lynsie. like her shadow. >> she was my only purpose. and my life, it's to make her as normal as she could be. >> by the time that kim met lynsie, her dad and brothers had moved away. kim remembers a very tight family unit of just two. >> how close were lynsie and nancy? >> unbelievably. extremely. >> but as lynsie reached adolescence, that started changing. like a lot of teens, she wanted her own identity. she changed the spelling of her name. from this, to this. by high school, there were girlfriends. even some boyfriends. and by the time that she was 20, after so many years of mom and daughter being each other's best friends and confidence, lynsie began to keep some things in her life to herself. like where she was really headed. one night in february, 2001. >> does it make any sense that she would lie to you about what she was going to do that night? >> i have never known her to lie to me. but you don't know what you don't know. >> it was a friday night, lynsie was in college part-time and working, but still living at home. she told her mom that instead of their usual friday night dinner. she was staying the night with a girlfriend name andrea. someone that nancy had never met. and then a young man named chris came to the door. to pick lynsie up. >> she introduces you to this guy, chris? did chris say hello to you? was he polite? >> but nancy says that something felt wrong. >> i had a feeling about him. >> what feeling? >> i don't know. >> but you put it aside? >> yes. >> of course, she was used to things feeling wrong. she had spent so many years worrying about lynsie. it was a struggle to get go. she did. >> the thing i said to her was remember your seatbelt. and she said, back at you mom, love you. that is the last thing that she said to me. >> nancy locked up the house and went to bed. the next day, lindsay was supposed to call after she was done tutoring two girls from the neighborhood. when the call never came, nancy drove over. and found out that lynsie never showed up at her job. >> all of a sudden, my daughter is not where she is supposed to be. she had taught these little girls for four months about. >> and you have no way of reaching her? >> i had no way. >> nancy ekelund was frantic. >> i started calling hospitals, i called the mark. i was desperate, i thought it was a jane doe in the morgue. >> there was no jane doe, and there was no lynsie ekelund. >> most people who disappear like that, they come back in a couple of days? >> if not 24 hours, yes. >> kareem was a detective with the police department. >> we had no and identified bodies. >> you check the er? >> we checked everything. which everybody. we checked everything. there was just no sign. >> coming up! >> when was the last time that you saw lynsie? >> a week ago. >> no, i don't think so. >> when dateline continues! t of breath, and often out of the picture. 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>> were not gonna work hard. and there was a little bit of that with nancy ekelund. >> they were working the case, they brought in the usual suspects. like the boyfriend. >> when you guys were dating, she hasn't been dating anyone else to your knowledge? >> no. >> his name is matthew ramirez, he had been at college with lynsie. they were on and off a bit. but then. >> when i went to her house, she was like, i want to break up. >> as can help in with young romance, what was awful is back on. lindsay and matt were back together in time for the weekend. but not in time for making plans for that friday night. >> she's like, maybe i'm going to san diego and visit with chris and everybody. i told her have fun, be careful, okay? she's like okay. >> then in came the last person known to have seen her. chris, 21 years old. out of school. he told the cops that he was unemployed. lindsay had met him through friends about four months prior. and it turns out, he had never drove lynsie to the house for a sleepover. chris said that that was a lie that lynsie made out for her mother. the plan was to go clubbing all night, in san diego. >> she said, don't tell my mom that we are going to san diego. because my mom won't let us go. or will let me go. or something like that. and definitely don't tell them that were club. >> chris told police that when the night of clubbing went bust, they head out earlier than expected. he dropped off the other girls, he said, and then headed to lindsay's house. chris said that it was after 4 am when he finally got back to lynsie neighborhood. and he said that lynsie was worried that the mom would hear the truck pull up at that hour. and lynsie she asked that he would have dropped her off a corner away. and it wasn't suspicious to police, until they heard from her friends that she would be dropped off right here. chris then went home, and police even found a photo of chris's truck heading home on the right street at the right time. so to the cops, his story added up. and that's when police learned that matthew and chris were not the only man in lynsie life. there was somebody else with both matthew and chris had mentioned to investigators. an older man who drove lynsie around. no one knew his name. they had heard lynsie referred to him as her friend. >> that's all anybody knows him by. as him. >> as her friend? >> yes. >> nancy had no idea that lynsie was friends with any older man. she was about to find out. >> two days after she vanished as you get a phone call? >> yes. >> you are at your wits ends? >> yes. >> and the phone rings, and it's marty. did you know marty? >> no. >> as far as you noted lynsie know marty? >> no. >> the plan was to pick up lynsie at school, but she wasn't there. he said he had money of lynsie that she needed for tuition. none of that made any sense to nancy. >> after lynsie goes missing, nancy, her mother, gets a phone call. a guy name marty. >> marty. >> and what is marty say to her? >> marty says that he has befriended lynsie, he is a friend of lynsie's and he is concerned because he had not heard from her. >> what did you learn about marty? >> marty was not marty. >> he was really marty per gensler, he did not have a criminal record. what he did have was a relationship with lynsie, that he did not tell his wife about. he told police that he would often pick lynsie up and give her rides. but that was about it. marty was 58. >> and she was 20? >> she was 20. >> and they were boyfriend and girlfriend? >> i don't think so. >> so police brought in marty. over two days, they recorded those interviews. at times, on video. and sometimes just an audiotape. >> when's the last time you saw lynsie? >> a week ago. >> i don't think so. >> absolutely. >> absolutely not. >> marty said that he had -- lynsie on the day that he had gone to san diego on a friday. >> did she see when? >> we really didn't believe him. >> they didn't believe him because a tip that they received, a clerk at a local clothing store had called to say that she had seen lynsie and a much older man that match marty's description together at her store. after the day that lynsie went missing. >> i, wasn't there on that day okay? i haven't been in that store. all right? and like i said, i'm like you. i mean, i'm easily identified. okay? i probably, every place i've been with her, would know that i was in there with her, okay? >> it was a very long, very long interview. >> friendly? >> no. no. i remember drilling down on him because i thought that he might know where she was. >> you're a parent? >> yes. >> how many kids? >> two. >> if you had a child, gone for eight days. vanished. vaporized in thin air. would your heart not be broken? >> oh, absolutely. >> do you not feel some compassion for nancy? >> unbelievable. i think that this is a nice girl and this family has had their share of hardships. and this is just, you know, i mean, i feel so, you know, helpless. >> i don't think you are helpless. i think you can help us. >> marty insisted that he could. not that he did not know what happened to lynsie. the detectives were not buying it. >> have you harmed her? >> no. never. >> even by accident? accidents happen? >> i never touched her. okay. you know, i never touched her. >> have you put her someplace where she's left? >> no. no. >> police searched his home, and found nothing. no proof that marty had anything to do with her disappearance. so they moved on to the new suspect. someone closer to lynsie than anyone else on earth. >> dateline returns after the break! you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? have we piqued your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. >> nancy and lynsie had been wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. josh mankiewicz (voiceover): nancy and lynsie had been it's happening. together all lynsie's life. now alone, nancy waited, ticking off the days, together all lynsie life. but now nancy waited, taking off the days. in the dark about where her daughter, was and about the piece of the investigation. police were not keeping her in the loop. so nancy was delighted when they called to say that they were coming to visit. >> look at the boyfriend, matthew. you look at marty. the older guy, the relationship no one knew about. he denies it. >> right. >> you look at chris, he says i dropped her off and never saw her again. >> right. >> and you look at lynsie's mother? >> you can look at lindsay's mother, you have to. >> so i made my cookies, and all this silly stuff that i always do. >> coffee, right? >> yeah. >> the cops were not coming for coffee. they arrived with a search warrant, shovels, and cadaver dogs. >> i was shocked, that they even suspected me. i did not know but even a search warrant was. >> the house that nancy and lynsie had one shared, was torn apart. >> how did you feel knowing that it was nancy? >> i know that nancy was on the radar for a long time. she had been on the radar enough, to set aside. >> having -- they did just that. they believe that her mother had nothing to do with the disseverance disappearance of her daughter. so they took her off the list. they also took off the boyfriend, matthew. and that he was someone else the time she went missing. that leftist too. marty, who police did not trust because of his secret relationship with lynsie and because he had lied about his identity. and the man who dropped lynsie off at the corner. the last person to see her before she vanished. christopher mcamis. >> do you remember it -- >> yes. >> april 2002, more than a year after lynsie went missing. detectives decided to start over. they brought christopher mcamis back to see if his story still held up. >> i definitely think that lynsie has been, like, either abducted or something happened to her. >> right, well like what? >> i'd really rather, really rather think that she is with friends or something like that. >> police turned up the heat. >> let's talk about the positive. and strip away the nitty-gritty. in my mind, like, in a perfect world. then i want to see if she's okay? >> it's a possibility that she is dead. >> right. >> police thought that chris seemed obviously calm, talking about a friend who may have been murdered. >> now, if it turns out someone should kill, or what do you think should happen? >> find them. >> when they find them then what? >> they go to jail. >> how long do you think they should go to jail? >> as long as it takes. >> like what? >> i don't know. i don't, go to jail for a while. >> that's a strong as you can get out of him? >> that's a strong as we could get out of him. >> not, go to hell. or i'd personally electrocute him? >> no i'd personally electrocute him, go to the gas chamber, she was my friend, she did deserve, that she would not heard of fly. >> the lack of emotion suggested that perhaps chris should move to the top of the list, but it was not evidence. after the interview, christopher mcamis was free to leave, and detectives weren't any closer to learn what happened to lynsie ekelund. and neither was nancy, who remained convinced that her daughter would one day just come home. >> you thought that one day that she would walk back through the door? >> yes. >> she believed it because she wanted to. and because over the years, several people had told her that they had seen lynsie. >> i never saw the front of her friends, they always saw the back of her. and i hung on to everywhere that they said. >> it was torture for nancy, no matter what version of events that you believe. and police still weren't telling them anything. >> nancy, during all this time. feels like she has been certainly caught out of the loop. >> yes, she was pretty angry. we work this case diligently for a long time. at some point you hit the wall. >> at that point there were nine detectives in -- , working drugs, gangs, murder, and cold cases. it was clear that the pd had hit that wall. they would need help on this one. and who they needed was a guy named larry. >> tell me about larry. >> larry is phenomenal. >> phenomenal because what, he sees things that other cops don't see? >> phenomenal, because he sees things that cops don't say. i don't know anybody who could have done a better job than larry. >> the evidence whisperer was about to listen to what the facts of this case were really saying. >> was there something that police had missed, you bet. >> coming up! that picture of the truck spotted on the night of the cri