Together. She mentioned going underground . Yes, she did. Reporter was she a woman on the run . Or had this script taken a more sinister turn . The dog told you that a dead body had been in the back of lyles car . Correct. Reporter to learn the truth, police would devise a trap. It paid off . Immediately. I was just floored by what was happening. Reporter in the movies and on tv, people can just disappear without a trace leaving family and friends with nothing more than memories, questions and worry. In real life, vanishing is more a magicians trick than an everyday occurrence. Which brings us to that crossroads where magic and entertainment collide. Hollywood. The cops who roll down these streets call it hollyweird because they know anything can happen here, and sometimes what does happen makes no sense. Hollywood is a real place but its also a myth, but the fantasy of what might be has always drawn the hopeful from every town in america with a bus station. For quite Different Reasons it drew these two sisters, lesley and aasha. Maybe you recognize aasha davis. Shes one of those lucky few for whom that hollywood fantasy came true. Within a few years of her move west, aashas star was rising first with small parts on tv. A College Student on the gilmore girls, a patient on house, a streetwise girl on the shield and in 2007 her big break on friday night lights. She was cast as waverly, the sharpasatack teenage preachers daughter. You asked me all your questions. We caught up. Blah, blah, blah, so just go score some goals. Reporter but just as aashas career was taking off, a real life drama began, one that would test her strength in a way the climb up the hollywood ladder never had. Hi, im here to plead for help to find my sister, lesley. Reporter aasha was used to facing the cameras, but this wasnt on a set or for a publicity tour. The scene was a News Conference where aasha begged for help from anyone who would listen. Were heartbroken and extremely concerned for her well being. Reporter any sister would be frantic with worry, but aasha and her big sister lesley were closer than most, despite their gap in age. Lesley was how much older . Um, she was nine years older than me. And so she was sort of a surrogate mom when your mom wasnt around . Yeah. She was almost like having another mom cause my mom was a single mom. So she worked day and night, double shifts. And lesley was in charge of us. She was a mama bear. Reporter lesley always wanted things a certain way. Her way. She was definitely typea. Everyone in the family knew that if lesley was in charge, everything would be just right. You know, my sister was the type that even when we were younger, she would take me on dates with her. Im sure they loved that. I know. Theyre like, little sister. Like but thats who she was. She made sure that we were taken care of. Lesley never stopped feeling responsible for aasha. And so a few months after aasha moved west in late 97, lesley followed. She found herself an office job that some of us would call boring, but in it lesley saw material for stories that kept her sister laughing. She was so charismatic and such a great storyteller. She could take a little tiny thing like, you know, a tape dispenser and create this amazing story. Reporter the move west had been good for both sisters. Especially for lesley after she met the right guy in an unlikely place, the 99 cent store. By the time we were checking out, he was giving her his number and i think they went to the movies afterwards. Inseparable after that. Reporter his name was lyle herring and he had a good job as a recruiter at a local university. Hed grown up in los angeles and his wooing of lesley was spent introducing her to her new city. It was a courtship at warp speed. She called me one day and she said, do you wanna be a witness in my at my wedding . And i was like, youre getting married . And shes like, yeah. Reporter married less than a year after they met, lesley and lyle were clearly happy together. They seemed a pretty good match. Yes. Reporter vivian telford, lesley and aashas mother, thought her oldest daughter had found for her the perfect man. Lesley and lyle even dressed alike. They had the same jackets. They had the same sweaters. They had the same caps and they were together all the time . All the time. Reporter it was funny about lyle. After the marriage, he became closer to lesleys family than he was to his own. Vivian felt it. He always told me he loved me more than he loved his own mother. And he told me that my family was better to him than his own family. You loved him like a son . I loved him like a son. Reporter as for lesley, she was the mama bear first to aasha and then after they got together, to her husband lyle. But it was her own mother who lived all the way across the country to whom lesley turned for comfort. And you talked to her almost every day . Every day. A quarter of 11 00 every morning on her way to work and sometimes in the afternoon. How old was she . 45. And she was still calling her mom every day . She called me in the morning so we could pray together. And then sometimes i say to her, where are you now . Shed say, im in the elevator. I said, youll make me pray all the way to the elevator . She said, uhhuh. Reporter they shared daily prayers and they shared confidences. In fact, lesley would talk to only her mother during those rare times when she was ticked off at lyle. Whenever she was unhappy, if i wanted her to laugh, i would always say to her, what do you expect . You met him in the 99 cent store. Reporter soon enough aasha was married too. And in 2008, she and her husband jesse found out she was pregnant with a boy. Lesley was so excited to have a nephew. And she was so supportive. She threw my baby shower. She was gonna get to see her, you know, little sister become a mom. Reporter the little boy named ever joined the family in january of 2009 and though aunt lesley was sick with a cold, she couldnt resist coming by to look through the window at her brand new nephew. Those should have been happy times for aasha and her sister. A time of the family bonding with its newest member. But then aasha got a phone call from lesleys boss that changed everything. He said, lesley didnt show up for work yesterday and shes not here today. And i just went [ gasps ] instantly felt wrong. Reporter the joy of new motherhood melted away. It was tuesday, february 10. Lesley had missed two days of work and she hadnt called in sick. Together, it was completely out of character for the alwaysresponsbile lesley. So i instantly call the two people who would know where she is. And thats the one shes always with, lyle herring, and my mom, who she talks to twice a day. Reporter aashas mom hadnt heard from lesley. And now they realized lyle couldnt be found either. But no one disappears without a trace. Do they . Lisle would briefly reappear. He got into the back seat, slides down in the seat and pulls my suit coat over his head. Hes hiding . Hes hiding. Hey amanda, sorry to bother you, but i gotta take a sick day. Moms dont take sick days, moms take dayquil. The non drowsy, coughing, aching, fever, sore throat, stuffy head, power through your day medicine. We think you shouldnt have to worry about adding up all the taxes and fees to your monthly bill. Thats why our plans start at just 35 bucks, after 5 auto pay credit, all in. Taxes and fees included. Cricket. Something to smile about. Then boom. What happened . Stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what . Lets build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. Introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiq™ technology. 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We were wondering if we had to file a missing persons for both of them. We were nervous about what, you know, what will we find in the apartment . Like, what if they got robbed . Reporter aashas sister lesley and her husband lyle were always together during their marriage. Now they were both suddenly gone. Lesleys missing and lyles missing. Yeah. Did you think that wherever they were, they were probably together . Yes. Reporter aasha and her husband jesse grabbed their newborn son and headed to the herrings condo complex in the Hollywood Hills to see what, if anything, they could find there. Lesleys cars there in her assigned parking spot. And that made it feel a little heavier. All of a sudden youre like, uhhhh, like, her cars here and shes not answering the phone. Reporter they went into the building to knock on lesley and lyles front door. Aasha wondered if lesley, who suffered from migraines, might be sick inside. But their knocking got no response. They waited and they waited. They returned to the garage where they saw a man parking in the spot next to lesleys. We both said, hey, have you seen the woman who owns this car . And its like, oh, i havent seen her. But i i saw her husband yesterday. Reporter that was strange, so aasha and jesse waited in their car by the front gate, because if that neighbor was right, maybe theyd find lyle when he came home from work. And i remember a few cars coming in like, oh no, no, no. And then all of a sudden a car that matched his description came in. Reporter but then the car turned away from lyle and lesleys building. And we said, oh, i i guess its its not him. Because it went in a different direction . Right. Thats what we thought. Reporter aasha and jesse probably would have waited all night, but they had a new baby with them so they headed home. It wasnt the last time aasha would have to balance being a sister and being a parent. During while all while all this was going on, you had a brand new baby. So im guessing you werent sleepin a whole lot anyway. But im thinkin maybe this made it just about impossible. Oh, i did not sleep at all. It was, like such an amalgamation of, you know, sadness and and fear and and love and excitement for this baby. It was, you know, what kept us going was him. Reporter a new life is always a reason for hope. But the situation with lesley and lyle both missing was leaving the family feeling hopeless. So they called the lapd. Aasha and jesse couldnt get into the herring condo. But police could. Officers went inside, and found nothing that looked unusual. They also found no lyle. And no lesley. Reporter aasha worked the phones. Friends and relatives knew nothing. Then she reached lyles boss who said he hadnt heard from lesley, but he thought hed seen lyle on tuesday, which was the day after lesley missed work. No less confused, aasha decided it was time to file that missing persons report. Reporter we went to the Police Station and we gave them, you know, a picture of lesley. And guy said thank you and he put her picture on a pile. In california, im sure, i dont know how many people go missing, especially in hollywood, a day. Reporter a lot of people come to hollywood from somewhere else, but their dreams of making it big here dont always work out. They lose touch with their families and suddenly the folks back home are calling the cops thinking theyre missing, when theyre really just lost in the meat grinder that is hollywood. Aasha desperately needed something that would make lesleys case stand out. We went back to the car and we thought, i i dont know where to go from here, you know . And the phone rang. And it was malcolm thomas. Reporter Malcom Thomas is lyle herrings cousin. He wanted to talk about a very distraught lyle, whom hed also seen in the days after lesley missed work. Malcom told aasha that lyle seemed almost suicidal. Did he mention lesley at all . He said, dont bring up her name anymore. He doesnt wanna hear about her anymore. Did you get the feeling that was because theyd had a fight . Or they were splitting up . Or shed dumped him . Well, i thought maybe there was a disagreement. People do have disagreements. People split up for short periods of time, and get back together. And i said, well, maybe shes just upset over something. Reporter lyle asked malcom to drive with him to his condo complex. Lyle led the way in his suv. Youre following lyle to his house . Yes, i am. But he doesnt go straight to his house, does he . No. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, he made a sharp left turn. And that was different. Away from his home . Away from his home. Reporter they ended up in a remote garage underneath the condo complex. He opens up my back passenger side door. He got into the back seat, he closes the door, slides down in the seat of the car and pulls my suit coat over his head. Hes hiding . Hes hiding. And i said, man, dont do that in my car. I said, whats going on . He said there are some people at the end of the driveway that he doesnt want to see or have them see us. Reporter some people near the end of the driveway . As she listened to malcoms story, aasha suddenly realized thats you. It was us. And so we ran back into the Police Station. Took the baby out back out the seat. Went back in. And we said, you know, we just talked to my sisters husbands cousin. And he had, you know, a really a really frantic interaction with him. The policeman said, wait a second, im gonna get you guys a detective. Reporter the next person aasha met was detective chris gable. Missing persons cases are not usually your department . No, theyre not. But this was different . This was different. 3 f2 dinero otro de la casa de i get a strange magic dad did you see that . got a strange magic hey dad wait up blacare here early which means its time to start saving on appliances at lowes. 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We went back to the detectives and we explained everything about lesley. And about how worried we were. We didnt know what was going on. Reporter lyle and lesley were both missing and unreachable. Maybe they were together, maybe they werent. Maybe they were safe. And maybe they werent. My instincts are that that theres something suspicious going on. I still dont know what it is. They couldve both taken off. I dont know these people. You know, they live a pretty isolated lifestyle. But from the things that id found so far, it seemed suspicious. Reporter gable checked hospitals, coroners offices, and the Highway Patrol and came up with exactly nothing. He put out a bolo, be on the lookout for, asking police throughout Southern California to look for lesley and lyle herring and he brought cousin malcolm in to hear first hand about lyles strange behavior. Most of the family is telling you that the relationship between lyle and lesley is terrific . Yeah. Malcolms the only one who sends up some sort of red flag . Based on his conversations with lyle that, previous days after she was missing, yes. Reporter whatever had happened was beginning to feel like foul play. Gable knew he had to move fast. And so at 3 am, some eleven hours after first meeting aasha, gable and his partner vicki bynum were in the herring condo. Warrant in hand. The apartment didnt appear to be a place where a murder had just been committed. It didnt but the apartment was real telling to me about the two people that lived there. We didnt know much about them. But it was almost like an apartment divided. The part of the apartment that was lesleys, for example, was very orderly and put together. Then there was a room that was lyles and it was just like a tornado had been through it. Reporter but still. No sign of a struggle . No. No blood . No visible blood the only thing that caught my attention that night was there was, large amount of towels hanging on the over the showers of both, in both bathrooms. I just made note of it, but it was i i i thought there was some sort of a flood or something that they sopped up. Reporter inside the apartment, he also saw spilled candle wax. If the ocdintensive lesley had seen that, shed have cleaned it up right away. So did it happen after she left . And gable and bynum found something else, a receipt from starbucks dated feb 9, at 9 17pm. That was the first day lesley missed work. Whered you find that receipt . That receipt was found inside of a purse, inside of lesleys purse, inside of her closet. So presumably, it was lesley who went to starbucks . Exactly. Reporter it was 6am when they finished collecting their evidence, and night turned to day in hollywood. And what had dawned on these detectives was that this may not have been the happy home of a happy couple. A visit with aasha and lesleys mother vivian gave them a glimpse behind the bright picture lesley had always painted. That weekend, they were feuding. Lyle cooked some food. And he put a certain spice in the food. And when she asked him what spice he had in the food, he couldnt tell her. Reporter vivian knew that certain spices triggered lesleys debilitating migraines. But vivian also knew, and was the only one who did know, that this fight over spices was just a symptom of so much that was going wrong between mr. And mrs lyle herring. Things had not been good between your daughter and lyle . No, they financial problems. Reporter to say these were financial problems is to understate what had been happening. Vivian said lesley had told her that lyle needed cash. Badly. So badly that he had committed Identity Theft against his own wife. He forged her signature, and he took money from her credit cards. And she found out about that . Yes. And, im guessing, was pretty furious . She w