here as you're sitting up all night -- >> gut-wrenching pain. >> big hole. >> praying that, "oh, please, please don't let this be true." >> reporter: before the sun came up, sharon called 911 again. and a new officer arrived. >> a woman deputy, i'll never forget that. and she came. and i remember saying to her, "please help me." and she did. she got the ball rolling. she listened to me. the deputy called in crime scene investigators. >> i remember my mother waking me and my brother up. and i remember seeing so many people there, and the crime scene van outside. >> reporter: now deputies were taking tara's disappearance seriously. mike gandy was a captain at the charlotte county sheriff's office back then. >> sometimes you'll respond to a scene or a call where someone's missing and you can tell from the family interaction that it's not a big deal. this was not the case with tara's mom.