Gonna put a bullet in my head. He left behind a bigger mess. We three kings be stealing the gold. A missing fortune. Ballpark . 11. 5 billion. A missing woman. We have no clues, no leads. Some wondered, was there a link . This had a twist to it. Two crimes. One for money. One supposedly for love. And behind both, a lingering mystery. Its just ugly and so wrong. And i cant fix it. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres dennis murphy. Reporter if you ask someone in town where the buzziest part of ft. Lauderdale lies, theyll probably steer you here. Las olas boulevard. And way up there in this highrent district is a penthouse office suite that once upon a time was home to a highpowered law firm. The boldest, brassiest bunch of politicallyconnected lawyer players in south florida. The rothstein law firm. It had a gorgeous, sweeping, panoramic view. All the way out to the ocean. Reporter from a few guys with law degrees to a juggernaut by the mid 2000s. With more than 70 attorneys led by Scott Rothstein. Mike mayo is a columnist for the ft. Lauderdale sun sentinel. He probably thinks, im king of the world. Reporter and the firm is where Melissa Lewis, an earnest, bythebook attorney, found Great Success for herself and her clients. She was by all accounts a workaholic who loved what she did. No shrinking violet either. Melissa loved those boozy, splashy office parties just as much as the other lawyers. Shed found herself a nice slice of the american pie. Reporter and thats the thing about 38year old Melissa Lewis, even as she raised her voice and glass with the senior partners, her sad end wasnt far off. And her unexpected death would get caught up in a chain of events right out of a john grisham novel. Murder, betrayal, and billions of dollars in fraud. Melissa lewis at the start of everything awful that followed. It ended up being the beginning of the end. Reporter missy, as her family called her, had come so far. Penthouse lawyering wasnt likely for a restless, likely for a restless, high school dropout. Her mother lisa lapointe. Her mother lisa lapointe. Here was a kid who didnt really finish high school. She got the ged ticket correct. She didnt plan to be a high school dropout. She was in a hurry to get on with life. Reporter and focused enough, finally, to finish college and then in her late 20s go for a law degree. She breezed past the younger law students to become the prestigious editor of the law review. And she caught the eye of one of her professors, Scott Rothstein, who took her on as an intern. Office manager Debra Villegas met her on her first day of work. What did melissa bring to the party . She was smart and capable. You know, you she was everything you would want in in an an associate attorney. Reporter she was also one of the nicest people debra says she ever met. The two became fast friends. We were like sisters. She knew all my faults and flaws and and she loved me anyways. Reporter debra and melissa saw the firm grow tenfold in just a few years. Their gregarious boss, scott, was the front man. He hobnobbed with a whos who of bigdeal names in sports, politics and business. Even future president s. Fundraisers . Well, scott was your man. Once your name gets out there you truly cannot imagine how many people knock on your door. Reporter and the door scott knocked on was melissas. Melissa was the one that he knew she could handle it. He knew that she wouldnt let anything fall through the cracks. Reporter melissa specialized in employment law, but volunteered her time for battered women and victims rights. She also worked on building a Memorial Garden for crime victims. She was always a champion for the underdog. Reporter melissa eventually met a lawyer from a different firm and married. Debra was a bridesmaid. But after five years her best friends marriage had come undone and ended in a messy divorce. That divorce just devastated her. Reporter after melissas divorce, she took on a second full time job, best aunt ever. Carrie holmberg is her sister. Missy didnt have children herself. No. She didnt want to have children, she wanted her career. Reporter and when her best friend debras own marriage was in trouble and hitting the rocks. Separation. Melissa was there for her, too. Playing the same great aunt role for debras four kids. The two became inseparable at work and outside the office. Shes cooking for, you know, me and the kids. And we have movie nights on saturdays. Reporter after her divorce, a still shaky melissa started dating a little, but work, not relationships, would occupy her front and center. Eventually, her diligence paid off. In 2008, after seven years at the firm, the former intern was made the first female partner. She shared with me early on that she hoped to be a judge one day. Reporter and debra had done well for herself, too. After all those years working as a paralegal and keeper of the supply cabinet, her boss, scott, promoted her to chief operating officer. Not bad for someone who never finished college. Things were going really well at the rothstein law firm. Yes. Yes. Reporter then came march 5, 2008. Just one week after melissa had been made partner. It was a wednesday night. Debra tried to call her several times but got no answer. The next morning, though, when melissa was a noshow at work, debra called her friend repeatedly but to no avail. Then she got a hold of melissas sister, carrie. And carrie was like me, oh, no. No. Somethings wrong. Reporter debra told her boss, scott. Wellconnected attorney that he was, he called a Police Officer he knew in plantation, florida, where melissa lived. The officer agreed to meet debra and carrie at melissas house. When they got there, everything seemed to be normal inside the home. Nothing was tossed. Drawers werent open. Nothing, nothing, no. The only thing that was amiss was in her garage. Reporter melissas car, her caddy suv, was gone. And thats when they all clued to something bizarre. A fine mist of what looked like orange spray paint throughout the garage. Whatever this stuff was in the garage, affect you . Yes. I started coughing really bad. And i said, thats pepper spray. Reporter pepper spray. Like many women, melissa was known to carry a canister of it for self protection. Had she been attacked . Had she used it . I knew, right then, that she absolutely never made it into her house. Reporter something had happened in that garage. Something very disturbing and it wasnt looking good for rising attorney Melissa Lewis. When we come back, police find melissas car, but melissa isnt in it. Where is melissa in. Thats the Million Dollar question at this point. The answer comes all too soon. 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He was our union attorney, they knew him, they were friends of his. Reporter at melissas house the mysteries piled up. Her car was gone, and there was pepper spray all over her garage. Melissa also had a dog, and there was pepper spray on the dogs face as well. Youre in foul play country with this investigation. Our concern is raised greatly at this point that she is in some sort of danger. Reporter detectives wanted to know what melissa had been wearing the previous day at work. Debra knew exactly a new brown pants suit with pink pinstripes. Sure enough, there she was captured on security cameras in her office lobby talking with another lawyer at 7pm. After leaving work, her sister carrie said she then went to the supermarket. Howd you know shed gone to the supermarket . She actually called my daughter that night. She was the last one to speak to her. And she said, im going into publix. Reporter detective kendall checked store surveillance video. There was melissa in the cosmetics aisle reaching for something on the shelf. Later the cameras showed her leaving, documenting the start of her pathway to doom. You got a timeline and you know what shes wearing, huh . Now we have a time stamp on when we believe she arrived home, based on the distance to the publix, the distance of her her house. Reporter it was probably around 8 30. From the pepper spray on the walls and floor, it appeared melissa came home and was attacked inside the garage. Detectives also found a small button on the garage floor, perhaps ripped from that pantsuit. Then one detective had an idea use the gps and Security System in melissas vehicle to locate it. Its a cadillac. Cadillac has onstar. Theyre able to activate the onstar, tell us the location of the vehicle through gps, and brought us right to this parking lot. Reporter the car was about a half mile from melissas house in this medical Office Parking lot that melissa never visited. And through onstar, you could remotely open the vehicle, huh . They were able to unlock the vehicle for us. Reporter inside the suv, disturbing clues. What do you find . We find a suit jacket that she was wearing the night before and on the suit jacket, there was a missing button. And thats significant because the corresponding button was found on her garage floor. Reporter the jacket smelled of pepper spray, too. There were two shoes found in the car, but nothing else. Melissa had been wearing a sterling silver ring, diamond earrings and a five thousand dollar watch. She also had an expensive prada handbag and an iphone. Could very well be a target of some opportunistic grab and run. The point we find her vehicle, we have no clues, no leads, and we dont have any suspects identified. Reporter police did find a tiny drop of melissas blood in her car and on a tile in her house. But there were no fingerprints other than melissas in either place. Dna testing would take longer. Now the question is, wheres melissa . The Million Dollar question at this point. Reporter two days after she went missing, a worker made a gruesome discovery as he was clearing debris from a water pump at a nearby canal. Pokin around with his rake, huh . Guess the first thing that comes to his mind is, ah, its just a mannequin. Then he realizes its actually a body. Reporter it was 38yearold Melissa Lewis. The missing persons case was now a murder investigation. Still a whodunit. We have no idea. Reporter the news media quickly picked up on the story. My husband told me. He saw it on the News Reporter how did how did he tell you . What was the he came to my work and told me. And i just broke down. I couldnt believe it. Reporter Police Called the victims best friend, debra. When they told me that they had found her body. And i just i just collapsed to the ground. Reporter your friend melissa was dumped into a drainage canal. This beautiful, wonderful person who was nothing but kind. Reporter when the medical examiners report was completed, it showed she had been strangled. That is such a personal thing to do to somebody, to have to look them in the eyes and do that. Reporter an up close and personal killing. No question. But those timeless questions of all investigations went unanswered who and why . Coming up, a person of interest, very close to home. I said, no, he better not have done anything to her. A missing cell phone of great interest to police. Who is with that cell phone was most likely the last person that was with melissa. When dateline continues. If your sneezes are a force to be reckoned with. You may be muddling through allergies. Try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. And zyrtec® is different than claritin®. Because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. Try zyrtec®. Muddle no more®. Have you tried the tissue test . Question, are my teeth yellow . Ugh, yellow. What do you use . Crest whitestrips crest 3d whitestrips whiten. 25 times better than a leading whitening toothpaste i passed the tissue test. Oh yeah. Crest whitestrips are the way to whiten im ame is beauty blogger, and im from lovebrownsugar. Com this is a bar from a brand that i really trust. Its a bit pricier, and today we are gonna test it against dove. So we are using this test paper. That represents skin. Lets see what happens. The paper is dissolving. And dove is not dissolving. At all with < moisturizing cream dove is gentler on your skin. It made me a believer. When it comes to the beauty bar ill be using dove. From now on. Reporter the hunt was on for a suspect in the strangulation murder of Melissa Lewis. The lawyers body was found floating in a canal two days after she went missing. As they always do, detectives looked at the circles she moved in. Was there something in the background of my victim here that accounts for whats happened to them . We dont think so. She doesnt live a high high risk lifestyle. Shes a prominent attorney. Shes safety conscious, you know, she carries her pepper spray. Reporter melissa specialized in people with gripes employment lawsuits detectives couldnt find any history of bad blood between melissa and her clients or people she had sued. Detectives talked to the exhusband, but his alibi was solid. And then they looked at the current men in her life. What about boyfriends . She was a single woman who had been dating some guys. We assigned detectives to go out there, talk to them, and they were alibied out pretty quickly. Reporter of course, they also wanted to talk to melissas coworker and best friend, debra. Who better to talk to than someones best friend to find out what their habits are, what they like to do . Did she have strange men come to her home . Reporter far from it, debra told detectives. Most nights, melissa was either at debras house cooking dinner for her and her kids, or home with her dogs, george and gracie. Still, they continued to pick debras brain. Its just a million you just cant even imagine, like, the questions that they ask you. Reporter detectives also talked to melissas sister, carrie. When asked who she thought might have done this, her reaction was immediate. I said, oh, no. He better not have done anything to her. Reporter who was he . My exhusband. Because we had just gotten divorced. And he knew my sister. He got served by her firm. Reporter so you thought he if shes gone missing, he might have something to do with it. Yup. She said that he had come to her house. Just it kind of scared her. Reporter detectives found out he had a record so they checked out the sisters ex. He was a subject of interest early on in the investigation. He came in. He consented to any type of questions we asked of him. He voluntarily answered them. He had been released from prison in the past. Reporter so you havent ruled him out yet . Not yet. Reporter with the list of possible suspects shrinking, detectives shifted their focus to something that might provide their first break in the case. With melissas iphone missing, detectives put in an emergency request to the phone company to see if it could help track her cell. When he got the report, detective kendall couldnt believe what he saw. Melissas iphone had been active after the murder and someone had actually gone into her voicemail and played back messages, read texts. We try to make sense as to why he would want to do Something Like this. Reporter police were dumbfounded that someone wouldnt know that a smartphone was a detectives best friend and police could track them using cell towers. It was either bold or stupid or both. People know this concept of pinging off towers. Its the cell phone is telling the towers, here i am . Yeah. So its giving us, say a general vicinity and of an area, where that cell phone communicated. Reporter and the phone records showed that person had been on the move from the believed time of the murder into the next day. How important is the story told by the cell phone . Very important. Cell phones almost like someone dropping pieces of popcorn, leaving a trail. Reporter but the trail was a wide one. Cell phone towers dont pinpoint exact locations. We know from that cell tower there is maybe three to fourmile radius from that tower that were looking for to try to figure out where that phone is. Reporter investigators believed melissa was killed in her garage around 8 30pm wednesday. That night, her phone went south from her home in plantation, eventually stopping in an area in Miami Gardens. From midnight till about 5 00 am, the phones in one location. Reporter thursday morning, the phone went northeast to Fort Lauderdale then went further north to pompano beach. Shortly afterwards, it turned back towards