On the train coming home she had met this woman. Did that hold the answer . Shes talking about how someone has tried to assume her identity. A chilling case of a daughter in danger. Somebody was after her. Welcome to dateline. Im lester holt. She was beautiful, talented, trusting, sometimes trouble. A young woman from a prominent family finally grabbing the promise of life right up until the day she vanished. When the police seemed unable to find her, her family hatched a plan, an unusual strategy to solve the mystery. Heres keith morrison. It began on a bright morning in may. The palmetto slipped from its platform in Washington Union station and went down the eastern seaboard to charleston, south carolina. On board was a beautiful, tall, feisty red head named kate waring. Often troubled. Sitting on this train was on the brink of something very good. And what is it about trains . The ease there in that enclosed space of befriending perfect strangers . Somewhere along the line between a greeting and goodbye kate warings invisible fate jumped its track and quite unaware of the dark force unascending. Disembarked to a future utterly changed. Charleston, south carolina, it almost goes without saying is a show piece of American History and southern manors. Its charm is deeply embedded as the families who come seven, eight, ten generations here. Kate waring was born to one of those families. Grew up in a fine, big house along the historic waterfront called the battery. Dance lessons, birthday parties. Dad, if we catch a turtle can we keep it . Doting parents, janice and tom, who adored their only child. She had you wrapped essentially around your finger . She was the love of my life. Not stupidly so. I could not always tell when i was being manipulated, but some of the time. Sure. No, katie and i had a very special bond. Always. She was the middle child sandwiched between two brothers, older joe, younger richard. She was bright. Maybe too bright. School bored here. All animals enchanted her. She was naive, sweet. She could not turn away a stray animal or human. She was a very, very kind person, whereas, some people would dismiss someone who wasnt generally accepted by most, she would kind of try to help those people out. But somewhere in the course of an enchanted childhood something happened to katie. Outsiders saw a fearless tom boy morph into a sophisticated debutante. But at home kate struggled with eating disorder, depression. College was a frequently interrupted disaster. She sort of ran towards risk. I noticed that in a lot of things that she did. She seemed to court it. Her parents discovered she had been sexually abused when little by someone they knew. Years of therapy followed. Still, she drank to excess, lost her drivers license. She abused drugs. She sobered up. She fell off the wagon. She came home to live with her parents. Tried and failed at dozens of strategies to achieve the straight and narrow. And then finally out of desperation tom waring offered kate a trip with him anywhere she wanted to go. Anywhere on the planet. To see polar bears. That must have been an amazing trip. Oh, it was the trip of a lifetime. Im so happy that we shared that together. The photographs show how happy she was there. She saw a young man who with their families about her age who were happy and she said to me, dad, i dont have to settle for what ive settled for, do i . I said, no, honey, you dont. You can basically write your own script. And it was a bit of magic. The change seemed almost instant. Kate reborn. On board the ship was a russian crew man who was amazed how quickly kate picked up his language, which is why months after that trip the newly inspired kate traveled to moscow to meet him again, to explore the city, the culture, and to test drive both a budding relationship and her fledgling russian skills. The snapshots of kate here in moscow were far more than souvenirs, they were portraits of a young woman transformed. The kate who stood here on red square had a new passion of life. The depressions of the past had fallen away. She was consumed by all things russian. In fact, she was making plans, even here, to return to moscow in the summer to take up russian studies. Finally, her life was taking off. And thats why kate waring was in washington that fine may morning. She was on her way back to russia, but there was a problem with the visa. A paperwork mixup sort of thing that would have sent her into a tail spin once but now the new kate vowed to try again later. Voided the palmetto for charleston, and once home threw herself into College Class and a Childrens Book she had been writing. Big brother joe was, to say the least, encouraged. She when i talked to her was the happiest i can remember hearing her in the last ten years. Then it is june 2009. Heat rising in charlestons deepening green. On saturday morning, june 13th, tom waring at his summer house outside the city felt an absence. The cell phone hadnt rung. No call from kate. Kate who always called, texting her parents practically hourly. She always checked in. It was unusual. He drove home to check her room here in the big silent house on the battery. All the lights were on and it looked like obviously katie had planned to come back and she had left her medicine. She never went anywhere without her medicine. And then on sunday we came by the house also, no sign of her. Now there was dread. Was it possible that kate had slipped back into that old destructive life. We called the police station. We called the detention center. Wow. This is by the end of the weekend. Nobody had a jane doe in the hospital. Nobody had been brought in. We called some of her friends. Nobody had heard from her. What to do . Kate was 28 and though she lived at home, she was an adult. Her decision, bad or good, were hers. They elected to give it one more day. If she wasnt back by monday, theyd call the police. And then when monday came, there was worry. No, not from kate, from kates bank. Once i got off the phone with the Branch Manager i called the police. Yeah. What were you thinking then . I was thinking, something was wrong. Coming up something was wrong, but could they discover what . And would the police help . I thought, im not going to put up with this. Weve got to get going. Weve got to get moving on this. When dateline continues. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference. Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. It was monday morning the 15th of june, 2009. Kate waring had been missing for 48 hours when a surveillance camera captured a young man named ethan mack standing at the counter of a bank waiting to cash a check signed by kate waring. Problem was her account barely totalled 100, and this check was for 4500, and the signature seemed off. The teller called kates dad. He called police. I never met ethan, didnt know ethans last name. All i knew was the name ethan who was a friend. Its too strong to say that she had a secret life, but she certainly had friends and did things that we didnt know anything about. Of course she did. She was 28 years old. And even though she was financially and emotionally dependent on her parents, she had lots of friends. Some they knew, some they didnt. It was howard gatts, for example, a martial arts trainer in the midst of a contentious divorce with whom kate had been carrying on something of a romance. I felt that in my heart something was wrong. And i was i was concerned. Then there was jason locke, a young lawyer with whom she often shared lunch and a spirited debate. She was strongwilled. She was very energetic. She was rarely, rarely incorrect. Thats a her best friend, as she made clear to all the others, was ethan mack. She really liked ethan. She really trusted him. This is my best friend, jason. She put a lot of trust in him. Shes a lovable person, full of energy, always rambunctious. Ethan worked in a local hotel. A very different background than kate. But hed been her best buddy for years and in a way her protector. Everybody in ethans neighborhood knew you didnt mess with kate when ethan was around. They loved each other like well, siblings. I made sure no harm would come to her when certain little boyfriends would act like they got hand problems. I would put them in their place it wasnt a romance at all then . Never at all. She was like a little sister to me. It was a token of his familys regard for kate that she was godmother to ethans nephew, malachi. On her moscow trip, kate bought herself and ethan matching brass bulldog key chains. And on that monday morning in june, said ethan, he was very worried about kate, just as he had been for years as he helped her battle her demons. Calm her down and talking to her and understanding what was going on in the world of kate. But now he complained, here was kates dad sending the police to talk to him about a check kate told him to cash. Ethan explained to the cop, david osborne, about the money hed given kate for jewelry and other expenses and that the check was to pay him back. He was basically best friends with katherine, had been for several years. In fact, ethan told detective osborne he was very likely the last friend to see her before she disappeared. He said that he had saw her friday night, had dinner, had drinks, came back, dropped kate off back at her house. Did he say what time . Yeah. I think the time would have been probably around 11 30, 11 45 at that time. The detective checked, of course, and found Text Messages that confirmed what ethan told him. He even went to the house ethan shared with his mom. And they both let me in. And they both allowed me to search it. The mother and ethan both told me this is his room, this is where he stays. But to say that the instant suspicion on the part of the warings and the police was upsetting to ethan was probably an understatement. Good evening, mr. Waring and mrs. Waring. This is ethan mack calling this is the voicemail he left for the warings after that policeman poked around his place as if he was some murder suspect. I think you need really check that and go find out or go see what really happened and find the person who did something to her and stop harassing me. Cause the only thing i ever did was try to help her in a million ways. So dead end. The police moved past ethan, checked kates cell phone record, found shed made a call late that friday that pinged on a tower in a place called james island, several miles from her house. But phone pings can be funny that way sometimes, they told the warings. One towers busy, the next over picks it up. Probably made the call from home, they said. They also promised to keep looking for her. But really kate was known to have gotten herself in and out of trouble a time or two, and Police Resources were limited. And well, tom waring got the cops message. We do not know for a fact that a crime has been committed here. After all, the warings were reminded, kate was a world traveler. Could well have just picked up and gone back to russia. Might be aboard some tramp steamer even now. Or if something bad happened to her, could have been a drug overdose, even suicide. Impossible, thought kates parents. Even in her darkest times, shed never failed to call. If she spent the night out unexpectedly, wed get a call first thing the next morning because she knew that we would worry about where she was and was she safe. So the warings began picking apart that friday, the last day anyone saw kate, looking for something they may have missed. But it had been such a normal day. She had no drivers license, remember, so she asked howard gatts to give her a lift to her therapists office. Gave me a hug, said goodbye, thank you very much. She was in a real good mood. An hour and a half later, howard saw her again. This time at the gym. She said, is it okay i skip rope over here, howard . I said, sure, kate, thats fine. Mind you, there was an incident at the gym. Howards soontobe exwife came around. She and kate had words. But at 8 00 p. M. , a drugstore camera showed kate relaxed, talking on her cell, buying wine and snacks while waiting on her prescription refill. Ethan paid for dinner. Chicken, salmon teriyaki. She didnt drive, so he took her home. Dropped her off before midnight. Something earlier that friday that bothered the warings at first was terrifying them now. The more they thought about it, the worse it seemed. Just before she went to the drug store friday evening, she started telling her father about some problem. Saying that she felt like she perhaps had unintentionally got herself in trouble. And i said, well, why dont you tell me about that. And she wouldnt tell me any details. Was she clearly worried . She was concerned. Clearly worried. About something. Naturally they told the police about that. Nothing came of it. And as the air thickened into a steamy august, the weeks that passed brought no new leads. Just tourists clamoring for the cool shade of historic carriage rides. And kate waring, the urgency of finding her, began to fade. And that was driving me nuts. I thought, im not going to put up with this. Weve got to get going. Weve got to get moving on this. And in the hushed cool of his perch overlooking the city, someone was listening. Coming up a new investigation begins. But its not the police who are behind it. Were the cream of the crop, and our job was to find kate waring. Not finding kate was not an option. Who are these guys . When dateline continues. In our softest, smoothest fabric. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Your cells. Trillions of them. Shes confident, protected, her strength respected. Thats why centrum contains 14 key nutrients to help feed your cells, nourishing your body inside and out so you can focus on what matters most. Centrum. Feed your cells. Fuel your life. Dont bring that mess around here, evan whoo dont do it. Dont you dare. I dont think so [ sighs ] its okay, big fella. Were gonna get through this together. [ baseball bat cracks ] nice rip, robbie. Raaah when you bundle home and Auto Insurance through progressive, you get more than just a big discount. Im gonna need you to leave. You get relentless protection. [ baseball bat cracks ] take a little drive beyond the grand old homes and markets and churches at the Historic District center of charleston, south carolina. Enter quietly the hushed suite of rooms overlooking the city where an influential philanthropist flipped through his mental roledex and placed a call to his friend, the chief of police. I really need a favor. I really need some help with this situation. The caller was this man, john rivers. Happened to be a childhood friend of tom waring, watched kate waring grow up. John rivers told the police chief he was worried about kate, too. And he told me that, you know, they got a lot of stuff going on. Sure. But that he would assign his best and brightest to the case. And i felt pretty good about that. But now almost two months later, kate was still missing. And the investigation such as it was had accomplished nothing. And john rivers couldnt stand what it was doing to his best friend, tom waring. I could see that he really was having a hard time functioning. So rivers picked up the phone again and told this man, do what it takes. His name is andy savage, former prosecutor, now famously tenacious criminal defense attorney. Savage had heard about kate, too, and how police had no evidence of any crime. Really . As soon as we scratched the surface just a little bit, we were absolutely convinced that foul play was involved. Savage was given just two mandates find kate waring, tell Police Everything you find. That last part, keeping the police in the loop, should be easy, figured andy, given the team he assembled. A band of retired policementurnedprivate eyes. Each with a particular talent. Bobby minter. Bobby minter, human blood hound. Tracking people his specialty. Bill capps. Bill capps, techno geek. Tracks bad guys through cyberspace. Happens to be a crack shot. James randolph. James randolph. Expolice department rebel. Strategy his specialty. Shaking things up a particular skill. Were the cream of the crop. And our job was to find kate waring. Not finding kate was not an option. Experience told james the best place to start was with kate herself. If we listen to kate, shell tell us where she is. James went to the house on the battery, up the stairs, down the hall, and into kates bedroom. These type cases, you have to take on the personality, and you have to see this persons world through their eyes. He sat there for a bit, looked around. The russian notes in kates handwriting made sense, but why chinese paper money . And why was her brandnew prescription sitting there untouched . The medication in which she had gotten for a prescription was still on her dresser, unused. That medication was her lifeline. She needed it to counter depression, anxiety, insomnia. She never left home without it. Meanwhile, cybersleuth bill capps buried himself in social media sites. Kate used them. Bill scoured them all. If she was awake, she was facebooking, she was texting, she was calling people on the phone, she was emailing. And at the time she went missing, when everything immediately ceased, i mean, that was completely out of character for her. Using kates friends, capps built an electronic map of her communications the friday night she vanished. From kates friend jason locke, capps retrieved the weird voicemail left that evening. 10 06 p. M. , missed call. Voicemail. Voicemail said that someone had stolen her identity, and had obtained a couple of credit cards in her name. She wanted me to sue the person responsible. The gym trainer and kates romantic interest, howard gatts, told capps he heard from her about 10 30 p. M. , still at dinner with ethan then. There was another call. It was after midnight. Well after Police Believe she was dropped off at him. She told me she was at some friends house. They had already made it to the house. She sounded a little buzzed. And then a very last message from kate. A text. Very strange. Im off to greenville to pick up some lovely. Whatever lovely was i had no idea, you know, and, ill be back in a few days. Did that make sense to you . No. Be careful, he replied. But this time she did not text back. Silence from kate. Except the middle of the night, her cell phone pinged out on james island, miles from her home. The cops had surmised, remember, that a closer tower to her house may have been too busy to handle the call. But at 1 53 in the morning . Not a chance, thought andy savage. Just preposterous. They were looking for an explanation, plausible explanation, c