Deborah what brought you here in the investigation . The disappearance of beloved mother and air force veteran tricia todd is still unsolved with no leads. I love you love you everyone was going through the woods, everyone was going up and down through every street. We had posters put up, we had flyers. It was a massive effort. Deborah all kinds of possibilities are on the table . Absolutely. I feel like im living a tv drama right now, oh, the husband comes to town, all of a sudden the exwife goes missing. Great, thats freaking awesome. Weve investigated the exhusband. Weve investigated a pastor. To have her stop, and she did. She stopped. Weve investigated a ventriloquist. How you doing, man . She had dreams that she was going to marry him. Whoa, didnt see that one coming. As we started digging a little deeper, we can see another side of tricia, that maybe she didnt exactly express to her family. She liked to walk on the beach. She liked to go late at night. We could pray. Okay, go ahead and pray, sir, please. I pray, lord, wherever shes at, if shes still alive, be with her. Deborah where do you go at that point . Deborah hobe sound, florida, just north of glamorous palm beach. Here, folks enjoy a quieter get their feet in the sand of life, good weather, a chance to get their feet in the sand of this local beach. But for one family here, that tranquil life was interrupted in the worst possible way back in the spring of 2016. Hobe sound is not a place that we typically have murders or missing people. Generally speaking, its an aberration. We dont get highlevel homicides. It just doesnt happen. Its unheard of. Hobe sound is a very quiet place. Its smalltown america. Its really centered around the Bible College there. People, for the most part, kind of know who belongs, who doesnt belong. Its just a really wonderful place to live. Theres still room to breathe. On april 27th of 2016, the Sheriffs Office here in Martin County, we got a call of a missing person. There was a woman named tricia todd who had gone missing. Deborah tricia todd is a single mom whos recently been divorced. Her 2yearold daughter faith had been left with her regular babysitter, denise toffanello. Couldnt get in touch with her, couldnt get in touch with her. Somethings not right. The babysitter called me or chasity, my wife, and just said, hey, no ones come and got the child. I said, i have faith. I havent been able to get in touch with your sister. I said, what do you want me to do . Tricias just not answering her phone. I knew something was wrong right there, because tricia, wherever she was, if she had to crawl to get there, she wouldve picked up faith. Deborah so thats a major red flag for you . Oh, yeah. We just stopped by the babysitters house on the way home, picked up faith, had no idea what was going on. We were just in full speculation mode of, what in the world could cause this . Like, whats going on . And then we called the police and told them shes a missing person. Tricias other brother, joshua, found her car parked out in front of their shared residence down in hobe sound, but it was parked in the wrong spot. It was parked in joshuas neighbors spot, and i knew she would never do that and make trouble for her brother. I went to open the door and the door opened right up, and then there were keys in it. And i was like, thats so weird. Missing from her purse was her wallet. And there was no cell phone in the car, and that was very odd. In her home, we noticed that her groceries had been left in the kitchen area. Deborah not put away . Not put away. So led us to believe that she left soon after coming home from the grocery store. So tricia grew up about a mile north of where i live in hobe sound. She has a large family. Shes the only daughter of multiple brothers. Deborah tell me about tricia. Well, when i had tricia, i had to tell myself in the hospital, you have a girl. You have a girl. We were raised in a family with seven boys and one girl, so we were really rough. She was pretty tough. She was always up for adventure, and being the only girl with a bunch of boys, you pretty much had to be up for an adventure all the time. She would keep up with the boys. When she got bigger, they had motorcycles. Okay. She had a motorcycle. Deborah did she talk about her hopes and dreams in life . She wanted to be a nurse. I made her a nurses outfit for christmas and she doctored the dog, and doctored her dolls, and that was her dream. Deborah she came from a churchgoing family in a town where thats pretty common. One of my favorite stories about tricia, theres a man who pulled a gun on her, opened her car door at the stop light, said, get out, give me your car. And she said, you should be ashamed of yourself. And she said, i will pray for you. And he started crying and he got in the car and she drove him home. Deborah what a sweet little story of her and the way she approaches life. Yes. There was one Christian Private School in that little area, Hobe Sound Christian Academy, that my sister and i and several other of my siblings went to. Deborah in that high school, she would meet another student by the name of Steven Williams. Tell me about steven. He was one of the few africanamerican students in the school. He was super funny, always had a laugh, always had a smile on his face. He was super smart. Deborah steven was raised by a single mom in nearby west palm beach. According to his mother, she moved him into the Hobe Sound Christian Academy after a troubled stretch in public school. Steven was really just smooth and cool and collected. I would always see his name on the honor roll as a straighta student. Deborah what was the connection between tricia and steven, do you think . He was a big personality. He seemed fun, and tricia gravitated towards it, like everybody else. They started to get more serious right after high school. They would walk around Holding Hands and laugh and flirt with each other. And i just like, okay, theyre together. Deborah after high school, steven would go on to join the air force. He was working up presently at an air force base in North Carolina as an aircraft mechanic. Deborah then when tricia graduated, she signed up too. It was kind of a means to an end. She knew that she could get nurse training, and then i think it was also the adventure of joining the air force. One of our mutual friends called me and said, youre not going to believe this. And he said that steve and tricia got married. Well, i immediately called steve and said, listen, youre not going to believe what the gossip train is saying now. He just laughed and said, no, we got married. Deborah and when you heard that it was a sudden marriage, no big ceremony did that strike you as odd . She was always going to do what she wanted, and that just seemed very tricialike. Deborah impulsive . Yeah. Deborah hes black, shes white. Was that an issue for you or the family . It wouldnt have been an issue for me if i wouldve been happy with him. But whats done is done. And i will learn to know him and hopefully like him. I think more the fact that he wasnt associated with the church that she was associated with, that was mostly the issue that came about, especially with her family. Deborah tricia went on to serve time in iraq and then came home and began nursing school, where she graduated in 2011. That was a big moment for her. She finally reached her dream, her pinning. Deborah how sweet. I was the same deborah went from here to here. Yep. She would go on Mission Trips to haiti. She loved helping ailing people. People that were suffering, she loved to bring relief. Deborah she wanted to be a mom . Yes. Yeah, that was the most important thing to her, along with becoming a nurse, was being a mom. She ended up getting pregnant with faith. That was, for her, the best thing that ever could have possibly happened. Her world revolved around motherhood at that point. She seemed over the moon. She was so thrilled. Every time faith did something new, giggle or roll over or smile or anything, she would call me. I love you love you just ooh and aah about how perfect faith was. Deborah so she seemed to be a good mom . Very much so. Love you. Deborah but by the time faith was 2, the marriage was over. Tricia took her daughter and moved out of their home in raleigh, North Carolina. In speaking with tricias family, it sounded like the divorce was fairly amicable. She did not want any alimony, and she only wanted Child Support. Deborah so she wanted to make a clean break . Yes. Deborah other than visitation . Right. She decided to move back down here to hobe sound because her family and his family were still in the area. Deborah how did she handle coming down here as a single mom with her daughter and starting over . She had a place to stay. She had a loving family that were very supportive of her. The first thing she did was get a job with hospice, and she absolutely loved that job. She had started a new job. She became a nurse. She was living with her brother at the time. She was happy. Deborah but now the 30yearold mom is suddenly missing. It made no sense that trish just vanished into thin air. Deborah and a massive search is now under way. Was it an accident . Is she injured somewhere . Is it foul play . People dont simply vanish. They are either removed or they remove themselves. They had to explore the possibility that she simply left. Left on her own. I was hoping and praying every day that she would just show up at somebodys door and say, listen, it was a crazy adventure. 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Hey dave, dont knock it til you smell it. New gain relax flings. Depend keeps you drier than ever, so you can say yes to more than ever. Yesss yes. Yes mixed shouts, laughter no. Depend. The only thing stronger than us is you. woman ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. tony hale i wasnt eavesdropping, yes i was. You need verizon. Get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them and it is all good. vo thats right, stream on the go, with six months of disney bundle on us. All your favorite content from hulu, disney plus and espn plus is all yours, and watch it all on the new galaxy s24 , also on us. Only on verizon. Deputies began to search area ponds like this one, looking for any evidence that can point one way or another, if todd disappeared on her own or because of someones intended crime. Everyone wanted to know, where is tricia . How did this girl just vanish in thin air from hobe sound . Deborah a fullscale search is now under way for tricia todd, with dozens of local volunteers. But it wont be easy, because this is an area that is filled with woods, wetlands, even alligatorinfested swamps. She might be out there somewhere, not able to contact anyone. So time became of the essence. This was an allhandsondeck operation. Mothers pushing babies in strollers were handing out flyers. Hundreds of people were stepping up saying, we want to help. So we would put them to work, hey, search this block of woods. And you had the whole small town of hobe sound coming together. That was a really encouraging thing for the family. Deborah whats that search like for you . We were thinking to ourselves, okay, tricia, shes been in the military, shes been overseas, and shes tough. Shes a nurse. If anybody could survive, she would survive. Deborah it turns out one of the last people to see tricia the night she went missing was chief deputy john budenseik. So ive known trisha todd since she was a baby. I ran it to her in publix as she was checking out. I exchanged pleasantries with her. Have a nice day. And she went her way. So i relayed that to our detectives, and they started pulling videos. So we see the last image of her is checking out some groceries at the publix. And it looked like nothing was out of the ordinary. It didnt look like she was in any kind of distress. Despite searching miles by foot and atv, the disappearance of beloved mother and airforce veteran tricia todd is still unsolved with no leads. People dont simply vanish. They are either removed or they remove themselves. This is not Rocket Science what we do, okay . So they had to explore the possibility that she simply left on her own. You got to live, you got to eat, you got to have money. So are you drawing money out of your bank . Are you using a credit card . We check financials. We check phone records. We look to see, is there any abnormal activity . And we didnt really find anything. Time is 19 09, april 28th. Present is detective lac, detective oliver to interview the mother. We have to ask these types of things, but did you ever have any suspicions that tricia was maybe thinking about hurting herself . No, shes not. Okay. From what i understand, theres no drug abuse or anything like that . Yes. She only drank a glass of wine a year or something. Deborah this is a young mom, shes got a 2yearold daughter. Did the idea that she just disappeared strike you as unusual for these parts . Just talking to her family and her friends, this was absolutely out of the norm for her. There was theories that she had maybe at some point had snapped and maybe just left town. But that seemed very unlikely to the family, because she wouldve made arrangements for faith. She would not have just left her with steven or the babysitter. Deborah you know that shes been divorced. Do you begin to ask questions about her exhusband . Yes. Immediately, we focused on the exhusband. He was the last one to see her alive. And look, the primary person of interest is always going to be somebody whos close. I almost feel like thats a cliche. As far as what we knew about Steven Williams, we knew nothing. And so you really have a blank slate there. Deborah tricias ex, Steven Williams, had been in florida, spending time with their daughter, faith. By the time tricia was reported missing, hed already driven back to North Carolina. So you asked the Raleigh Police department to question him . Yes. I know its not glamourous its what weve got to work with. He was cooperative with them. He was kind. He answering all their questions. So, im just going to come in here and do the right thing, and hopefully it gets us closer to finding her. Because at the end of the day, i want my daughter to have her mother. Deborah so he seemed genuinely concerned about her . Yes, he did. Weve known each other for a long time. And like i said, yeah, we were married for a good bit and it didnt work. And thats fine. Marriage is tough. But in the end, like said, i dont wish her ill. We werent good together obviously, we got divorced, but it doesnt mean i want anything to happen to her. My mom never approved of us getting divorced. She always felt like i should stay and fight harder for it and things like that. And im like, no, im done. Im not doing this. I tried. Wed argue about everything. Im like, im tired of arguing, so i dont want to argue with you anymore. I dont want to fight with you anymore. I feel like im living a tv drama right now, like, oh, the exhusband comes to town and all of a sudden the exwife goes missing, and im like, great, thats freaking awesome. Im not stupid. I get it. But its like, i dont wish the woman any ill will. Shes the mother of our child, and my daughter needs her mother, as far as im concerned. Now, the most important thing is lets get a timeline. And so he gave us detailed events that transpired during the period of time that was here. Deborah stevens account of that night focused on his time at this menlgts rental house in hobe sound. What did steven tell you had happened . He had come here to stay, to visit his daughter. Steven brought his daughter here. He had picked this residence. Its only three miles from tricias house. And he brought her back here with him. Deborah the night before tricia went missing, he called her here . About midnight, steven texts tricia and says faith is fussy and asked her to come over to help. She got more fussy because shes getting tired, but she wont go to sleep. And she really wants mommy, she wants mommy. What kind of father can deny his daughter to see his own mother . Right . So i text her, i know its late, but if youre up, kind of thing. Would you mind coming and calming her, or whatever. And then she would text back, on my way. It was shortly after midnight where tricia left her residence and came to meet steven here. From stevens account, he stood by while tricia helped faith go to sleep. However, when she went to go leave, she didnt have any gas in her car. Shes like, yeah, i didnt Pay Attention to it. I really dont have any gas. Im like, okay, no gas in your car. Great. That really frustrates me. Thats her thing. Her car never has gas in it. So what steven did was he took his car to the gas station and filled up a small gas tank and brought the gas tank back, filled up tricias car, and then she left. Tell her good night, basically. Ill contact you tomorrow or you can call me or whatever. Thats it. And so what they did is went out to local gas stations and looked for video. And sure enough, there he is showing up, and he buys a twogallon can of gasoline and fills it up. And as part of stevens statement to us initially was that he the next morning had taken faith to several different places. I take her to walmart and buy her a couple outfits and some shoes. We pulled surveillance cameras and we confirmed, there he is at walmart with faith. Deborah steven says his plan was to drop faith off with tricia, and then he would head back home. But once i called and multiple times just went straight to voicemail. I was like, well, thats odd and not like her. So i called denise and say, hey, cant really get ahold of trish. Im not sure if shes took another shift today or something. Denise is that babysitter who typically took care of faith while tricia worked. So everything hes told us in his statement is checking out. Everything lines up exactly with what he just told us. He spoke to Law Enforcement and freely and voluntarily gave a full statement, and then authorized the search of his possessions. Your cellphone . Yes. Would you give us permission to examine it . Yeah. Can we look in your car . Yeah, sure. Just go in there and open the doors, look in . Deborah and they didnt just check his car and his phone. Investigators also searched his florida rental house. Nothing serious turned up. Youre just making everything a lot easier, and i appreciate that. Well yeah, i mean i just want to help. And so you had somebody who was gainfully employed in the United States military. In my mind, that gave him a little bit of boost of credibility. And he hasnt lied to us. And so yes, hes you know, i wouldnt rule him out, but now youre going to start looking at alternative suspects. Deborah so police ask steven if he has any theories. What do you think happened to her . She likes to go on latenight walks. And i was like, oh my gosh, shes still doing those. Its like, at 2 00 in the morning, youre just going to be walking the neighborhood by yourself . You dont even have some pepper spray, you dont have your phone, youre just walking the neighborhood. Is she that kind of person thats oblivious to that stuff . Shes always had that like god will protect me thing going on. Like, nothing will happen to me. But it gets to a point where, lets be reasonable here, good people still die every day. So the theory at this point in the investigation is that something happened to tricia after she left stevens home. As we started digging a little deeper, there was when we can see another side of tricia that maybe she didnt exactly express to her family. Deborah such as . Going through her journals, we saw that she had an infatuation for someone in the community that she didnt really express to her family. And this name came up as the ventriloquist as somebody that tricia had taken an interest in. And we should talk to him because what is he . Hes potentially a boyfriend. Deborah out of all the stories weve reported on for 20 20, its not often that you run across a ventriloquist as a person of interest. Obviously that made me very nervous to be a person of interest. 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I just want to tell you all and probably a lot of you know this sam really is just a puppet, okay . And so i thought that briefly sam might be willing to show you some things. He kind of seemed like a hobe sound celebrity. When i went to Hobe Sound Christian Academy, they would have him come in and make all the kids, including myself, just die laughing. Most of my presentations are in churches like this. Ive got an extensive repertoire. Thats a fancy word, isnt it . Anytime i try to say that word, your mouth moves worse than it usually does. In talking with tricias friends, we found out very quickly that she was enamored with brent vernon. And she even told some of her Close Friends that she had dreams that she was going to marry him. We were just talking about a crush on this guy that she had and that she kind of thought it was going to be going somewhere soon. And she was excited that maybe things were going to finally start looking up. Because he was a really nice guy. She was absolutely in love with him. But there was concerns that he didnt feel the same about her. Deborah brent tells investigators that he had a passing acquaintance with tricia and that hed recently bumped into her at one of his events. I had not seen tricia for so long, and i was so happy to see her. It was just me like, what are you doing . And we chatted for a few minutes, and that was that. Deborah he says tricia approached him again at another event, and then she followed up with a facebook message that caught him off guard. What she was telling me was that maybe god was bringing us together somehow in this mystical way. And so she kind of admitted that that was a lot to consume. And shes like, sorry about that. Deborah then several weeks after that message, he says he got an alarming call from a friend in the sheriffs department. And he said, brent, tricia thought very highly of you. Shes missing. Do you know anything . Deborah are you suspicious that he could be involved . We were initially suspicious. Obviously that made me very nervous to be, i guess, sort of a person of interest. Was like, whoa, didnt see that one coming. And we watched him for a couple of days. There was nothing concerning. He was extremely cooperative with our investigators. Deborah detectives are no longer suspicious of brent in tricias disappearance, but it turns out hes able to offer some help in their investigation. I was scheduled to be share a presentation up at a church in stuart, florida. Apparently tricia was planning to be there. Was planning to surprise me. I guess she had gone out and got a dress. So our hope was that she was going to try to disappear and then make some dramatic reentrance. And in her mind, she was going to wear this dress, walk in midsong, and he was going to see her and it was going to be like an ahha moment, and they just would lock eyes and fall in love and ride off into the sunset together. Deborah seems a little quirky. Yeah. Deborah was that her style . But thats tricia, yeah. He was actually performing that week. So deborah here at this location . Performing here at covenant fellowship. At that point, she hadnt shown up to work and she still hadnt called her family. Deborah and your hope was that, if she was alive, you might find her here . Absolutely. That was our last lead. Would just be happy that she was found. Thats all we wanted, was her to be found safe. So we had set up surveillance at the church and came the night of the performance. Some of the todd family came that night, and you know, hoping. Oh thats just heartbreaking, you know . They were hoping that she would show. We sat there. We were in plainclothes. We were in the back. And we watched the whole show. And it was a pretty good show, actually. I was expecting tricia at any moment to come through the door wearing that blue dress. We had a detective out in the parking lot. We were looking for any sign of tricia to show up. People would come and go, and the door would open, but tricia never came through it. We were here for a couple hours, and unfortunately, she did not turn up. Deborah this was your last hope of finding her . This was the last location, last tip that we had where she might actually show up. We knew that brent vernon wasnt involved in her disappearance and that this lead was dried up. I knew that something very bad had happened to tricia. Now to the latest in that urgent search for a missing florida mom gone for more than a week now. Times ticking away, and time is your most valuable asset in a missing persons investigation. The longer it takes, the higher probability that this is going to have a bad outcome. Deborah now they need a new lead, and soon they get one. Remember those latenight walks that tricia liked to take . She likes to walk on the beach and pray. And all of her brothers and i have gotten after her if she likes to go to walks on the beach by herself in the early morning, and we tell her shes insane, that thats dangerous, thats stupid. She does it anyway. She liked to go for hours sometimes. So theres the potential that something may have happened. Deborah well, it turns out she met somebody along the way. A man investigators now want to talk to. Nobody seemed to know who this man was. He was a mystery man. Deborah but he doesnt remain a mystery for long. Whered you meet her . She was walking by herself at on the night she went missing you were down on the beach about 1 30 in the morning. What were you doing down there . Oh no. [scratching] with chewy, get flea meds delivered before the itching begins. Or after, but before is definitely better. Good job. Save 20 on your first pharmacy order and get it delivered right on time. Tacos. Can billy come out to play . yesss wooohooo the allnew tacoma. Toyota. Lets go places. 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Police are calling her disappearance suspicious. Officers, even marine units, are searching the woods where the young mother liked to walk, using dogs and heatseeking cameras. I was hoping and praying every day that she would just show up at somebodys door and say, listen, this is what happened. It was a crazy adventure. But the longer it went, then it just didnt look good. The whole county was on edge. People had legitimate fears that there was a killer on the loose, and we could not rebut that. Deborah then a tip comes in. A woman has discovered what appears to be blood on the beach and in a parking lot nearby. Detectives secure the area. But upon closer inspection, they discover it isnt human blood. There were so many leads. Every piece of trash, every piece of clothing, every time somebody came across a deceased animal out in the woods, we would get a call. We hoped that one of those leads would finally point us to where tricia was. One of the leads that we had was that tricia like to go on walks. She liked to walk on the beach. She liked to go for hours sometimes. She liked to go late at night. The beach is about, from where we lived, i think you could walk there in about 15 minutes. She would process things, and she would do that by walking. She would get alone with god, she would say, where she was able just to think and not have distractions. Some people would be like, youre a young, attractive woman walking alone at night in these places. I know its a small town, hobe sound, but still there might be danger there. And those walks were something tricias exhusband steven told detectives worried him too. It would be 1 00 in the morning, or 3 00 in the morning, and shed be like, oh, i wanted to go for a walk. Like, you dont even have like some pepper spray, you dont have your phone. We had gotten a call that there was a man that would frequently walk hobe sound beach. And tricia had confided in one of her friends that she would stop and talk to him. And nobody seemed to know who this man was. He was a mystery man. We had gone to the beaches, we were watching surveillance cameras, and we came across douglas purchase. Deborah a pastor . Yes. He had actually stopped and asked one of the local Police Officers in that jurisdiction about tricia. Thats how we came into contact with mr. Purchase. We wanted him to come in and give us an account of where he was the night that tricia went missing did he have any contact with her . And he agreed. He was cooperative. He came in for an interview. He initially agreed to do a polygraph. Is this this chair can be positioned, or do i have to sit like this, always looking at you . The chair i can do nothing about. Its actually thats fine. Its a 5,000 polygraph chair. Deborah douglas purchase tells detectives that he met tricia at the beach twice. Whered you meet her . She was walking by herself at 6 00 in the morning at north beach. I felt compelled to speak to her. I said, lord, if you want me to speak to her, have her stop, and she did. She stopped. On the night she went missing, you were down at the beach, about 1 30 in the morning. That was the night she went missing . What were you doing down there . I was having my devotions and i i got out of the car and i was going to walk the beach, walk down the beach for a while. His statement was that he did not see tricia and had no involvement with her. Why 1 30 on this night . I dont know. I just i felt restless that night. Have you traveled there before at 1 30 in the morning . No, that was the first time. The first time . First time. Were not playing games here, doug. I im not going to play games because thats not my job. Well, im not playing games either. No, i i realize that. But let me cut to the chase. 1 30 in the morning, you know, thats about the time tricia went missing. While the detectives doing the interview, he does make some concerning comments. Let me ask you this. On a personal level, on an intimate level. And were men here all right. Were you attracted to her . Um, maybe somewhat. Okay. He seemed to be indicating that he had some romantic interest in tricia. So for him to start saying those things about tricia piqued our interest. Would you have liked to have met up with her again, doug . I would have for the what i just explained . No. No, no, not for sexual reasons, for the spiritual connection. Yeah, to talk to her . Sure, i wouldve. So doug, weve got to talk about those things that youve not shared with the detectives. This is getting to the point where this is serious. I want this cleared up. And its serious. It is. You get to the point where youre taking polygraphs, its serious. It is. Deborah with the pastor ready to be hooked up and polygraphed, suddenly theres an unexpected turn. The first test that youre going to take is, its basically a pseudo test. I want you to lie, because what im doing is the machine now is going to calibrate itself. Wait a minute. Go ahead. Wait a minute. Go ahead. You said youre gonna want me to lie . Under no circumstances will i lie for anybody i get it. Or anything. He refused. He refused to do that, and that basically shut down the polygraph. Based on the bible and the commandments, im not supposed to lie to you. I wont lie. Deborah the sudden refusal to take a polygraph is another red flag for investigators, but the pastor says hes got an alibi. I want this cleared out. Sir, i see that. Deborah yet it does little to ease their suspicions. It seemed odd, a little farfetched. Caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. Unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. And in clinical trials, Movement Disorders and weight gain were not common. 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We learned that tricia had previous encounters with an individual named douglas purchase. With tricia, you had contact with her, correct . Yeah, i talked to her. Let me ask you a very poignant question. You understand what dna is, right . Is there any reason at any point if when her body is discovered, that your dna would be absolutely not. You said as soon as were done with the paperwork, we could pray. Okay. Go ahead and pray, sir. Please. We pray that thou would undertake for the todd family. Help her, dear lord, wherever shes at. If shes still alive, be with her. Deborah the pastor tells detectives he was on this beach the very night tricia disappeared. Now they want to know just exactly what he was doing out here. You were down at the beach about 1 30 in the morning. That was the night she went missing . What were you doing down there . There was a turtle laying eggs. And so, you know, all my concentration and everything was on the turtle. I didnt even know that was the night she came up missing. And that seemed odd, a little farfetched. But he was adamant that he did not see tricia that night and that he had only been looking at the sea turtle. How long were you actually there . Till i stayed there all night. You stayed on the beach all night . Oh, yeah. Deborah the pastor says he even called a police unit. I said, theres a big turtle out here laying eggs, and i just wanted to make sure that they got the location of this turtle. Deborah that must have sounded a little strange to you. Were you able to confirm that . We were able to confirm that he was actually on the beach that morning through surveillance cameras. We can see him pull in and that he was there all night watching sea turtles. And at no point do we see tricia pull in with her car or walk through that area or anything like that. Deborah he let you search his home and his car . Yes, and there was nothing that wouldve led us to believe that he had any involvement. Deborah so the pastor is ruled out. At this point in the investigation, we were starting to get a little frustrated. Because we had investigated the exhusband. Weve investigated a pastor. Weve investigated a ventriloquist. There was all these different possibilities, but nothing was leading anywhere. Deborah where do you go at that point . We already had a team of investigators out in the area getting Surveillance Footage from around where her residence was, where her vehicle was left, and just up and down federal highway, just to see if we can see her, if somebody was following her. We were extremely concerned that something really bad had happened to her. Deborah are you holding on to hope that youre going to find her alive . At this point, there was concern that she wasnt alive. Deborah detectives carde and dulac were processing tricias car, combing it for fingerprints, hairs, fibers. Even bringing in a cadaver dog. Hop up. Hop up. As of this moment, we have forensically examined tricias car. We have forensically examined her home. And there is not one scintilla of evidence of a crime. None. Deborah investigators now have to go back to the beginning, reexamining tricias last known steps and that story her ex, Steven Williams, told them. Something happened to tricia after she left stevens home. The last account that we have is her getting in her car and driving away from the rental home that steven and faith were in. Deborah in this video, tricias 2yearold daughter, faith, is being interviewed by a Child Protection team to try to figure out if she might have seen anything happen to her mom. Did mommy hurt her arm . No. She face. Her face . Mmhmm. Oh, how did she do that . I dont know. Deborah nothing the 2yearold says gives them any reason to think steven was involved in tricias disappearance. From the beginning, he was always very cooperative with us. There was nothing solid saying, hey, this is your guy. I remember coming to the Sheriffs Office, telling them, get on a [ bleep ] airplane and fly to North Carolina and have a facetoface with this guy yourself. We sent a team up to go talk to steven, and it was three of our investigators. Steven again was cooperative. I dont have anything to hide, and thats thats why ive done everything, like if they want fingerprints, dna, search, i [ bleep ]. Please do, you know. Okay. Ask all the questions in the world. I care about trisha, you know. Like, i would never want anything to happen to the woman, you know. But unfortunately something has. He gives essentially the same account of tricia coming over to the house and the car being out of gas. Put the gas in her car, put the gas can in her trunk. Okay. And then, you know, give her her keys, obviously. And im like, well good night, basically. After you put the gas in the car, did you hug . No, i just told her, good night, you know, and that, you know, appreciate her kind of coming over. I know it was late. The whole story is exactly the same. He was consistent with everything. Deborah and while detectives are questioning Steven Williams, in the next room over, theyve brought in somebody else. There was another person we wanted to interview. Stevens livein girlfriend named laura. Hey, laura. Hey. I dont think weve met. Im detective oliver. We were concerned that maybe laura was somehow involved. So i was not there. I have nothing to do with this. And now i feel kind of like a suspect. Deborah as theyre digging, investigators are about to discover something unexpected, something that will break this case wide open. The detectives going through video eventually see a shadowy figure walking up the street. Deborah how big was that for you . That was groundbreaking. We had no idea what we were fixing to find. We interrupt programming right now to bring you breaking news in the case of tricia todd. I got sick to my stomach. I dont even think you can make a movie script with what had happened. It was just so surreal. If youre taking an antidepressant, but youre still masking your depression, you could be experiencing a partial response to your antidepressant. Partial response happens when your antidepressant alone isnt enough. Lets try adding rexulti. When added to an antidepressant, rexulti significantly reduced depression symptoms more than an antidepressant alone. So you can build on your progress. Rexulti can cause serious side effects. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Antidepressants may increase suicidal thoughts and actions and worsen depression in children and young adults. Report new or sudden changes in mood, behavior, thoughts, or feelings, or if you develop suicidal thoughts or actions. 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My ex is unfortunately missing, and i cant explain any of that. I dont know anything. Im stuck in this room, and i dont know anything. We had investigated the exhusband, weve investigated a pastor, weve investigated a ventriloquist, but nothing was leading anywhere. Deborah how critical were these cameras along this way . They were key. They were pretty much what broke the case. Okay, thats a big deal. No one suspected anything like this. This was way beyond or wildest imagination. Deborah and the neighbor was here and saw all of this after midnight . It was all designed not out of just some blind rage, but it was like, i want to get away with it. No idea that we were dealing with a sick cowho had watched these shows about how to kill people. I just made a deal with the devil. In the allout search for a missing florida mother, authorities tonight have now released this last known photo of 30yearold tricia todd, a nurse and air force veteran. Tricia todd didnt show up to pick up her daughter, which was completely out of character for her. She would not do that. That says something happened. The mystery disappearance of a mother in florida. An intense search under way. I made a video. Say goodbye to the video, sassy cat. Bye, bye. Mommymommy. Deborah tricia has been missing for nearly two weeks. Her 2yearold daughter, faith, is staying with tricias brother. It made no sense that trish just vanished into thin air. We were just in full speculation mode of, what in the world could cause this . Like whats going on . The last person to actually interact with tricia was her exhusband, Steven Williams. Deborah investigators here in Martin County, florida, are running down every lead in the disappearance of tricia todd. Now theyve headed back to North Carolina to again question her exhusband Steven Williams, and this time theyre bringing in his current girlfriend too. You want anything to drink, maam . Im okay. Thank you. Water . Coffee . Im good. Thank you. Okay. Deborah laura has been waiting nearly five hours. Then, detectives finally step into the room. Hey, laura. Hey. I dont think weve met. Im detective oliver. Weve talked on the phone. Deborah while laura is in one Interview Room, her boyfriend steven is being questioned in another. There you go. Im getting that coffee. You want it just black . Cream and a little bit of sugar. Deborah steven tells detectives that he met laura while he was still married to tricia. I messed up, and i found someone else, and i was dating someone else. I mentally just checked out of the relationship. Did she find out about the other girl . Yes. And that was pretty much like the straw on the camels back. Is it the girlfriend youre with now . Yeah. Okay. Laura was definitely someone we needed to talk to. We thought, okay, did she come down here . Did she have any part in this . You never took a trip down to florida . Never helped him with anything . Ive never met the woman. Ive never been to that part of florida. Have you ever talked to her on the phone or anything like that . Tricia . Yeah. I talked to her one time, and one time only on the phone. And that was over a year and a half ago. I was not there. I have nothing to do with this. And i only came down here to help clear stevens name, and now i feel kind of like a suspect. Deborah steven was the last person to see tricia. So detectives are curious about whether he said anything to laura once he got home to North Carolina. You mind if i sit . How old are you, laura . 24. Okay. You love steven . Yes, i do. I think he probably loves you too, and if he did something horrible, generally we do tell somebody close to us what we did. Right. Trust me. I would love for her to be found. I mean, we both would love for her to be found. This is a nightmare in both of our accounts. Did steven tell you anything as far as he done, they got into a fight or anything like that . No, not at all. I dont care if you inspect my car. I dont care if you come inspect my home. I dont care if you look through my phone and my emails, or my computer. I dont care. Thats fine. Do that. Like, if that helps clear me, fine. His demeanor stayed the same. He was always very calm, very cooperative. He wanted to help. He was trying to be helpful to us. I cared about her. I feel bad that i cant do anything. I cant be down there searching. Laura seemed to be really on his side. Youre asking me why he wouldnt do it . Yeah. I mean, honestly, he enjoys being a parttime dad. He enjoys having to just skype for 15, 20 minutes a day, going down there when he can. Right. Why would he get rid of his ex when now he has to take care of her full time . I know he loves his daughter, dont get me wrong. He loves her, but he enjoys the lifestyle that he has up here. Hes always been more than willing to try to get her checks and the money. He never complained about having to pay Child Support . No, he never complained. Deborah laura is cooperating with police, even willingly turning over her cell phone. Im just trying to figure out also where im fitting in, in this situation. Even if theres video of me working while he was down there. That would be great. Deborah laura tells the detective she has an alibi for the time tricia went missing. She was working at a restaurant. I was there a double sunday, monday night, tuesday night. Not this week. Last week . Yeah. Okay. Very quickly we were able to determine that laura was never down in florida during any of this time period, and it didnt seem that she had any involvement whatsoever in tricias disappearance. Laura is ruled out. Deborah as for steven, hes being asked if hell take a polygraph. Hey steven, we brought up our polygrapher, our polygraph guy. Oh. Will you be willing to take one for us today . I actually dont, i really dont want to. Because you consented last time when raleigh talked to you. To a polygraph . Yeah. No. He wasnt too excited about the idea. I i just have a i dont like the idea of polygraphs. They why . They scare the hell out of me. Do they really . Yeah. A polygraph just scares me so much more than anything. All right, so wed let them know, okay . Mmhm. Any time someone refuses or is hesitant to take a polygraph, it starts to raise some concerns. He asked a lot of questions about it, and he was not going to agree to do it. Lieutenant dougherty explained to steven, when we tell the family and the media that you refused to take a polygraph, theyre going to be at your air force base, theyre going to be at your residence questioning you. And steven didnt want that type of attention. He then agreed to take one. Deborah how did he do . He was very calm and he answered all the questions, but unfortunately the polygraph came back inconclusive. It couldnt say if he was telling the truth or not. We couldnt really prove anything with that polygraph. But his story stayed consistent as to his last sighting of her, his last conversation with her. But we had to keep looking. There was something we were missing. Deborah the dogged persistence is about to pay off when detectives carde and dulac get the big break theyve been waiting for. How critical were these cameras along this way . They were key. They are pretty much what broke the case. I have moderate to severe crohns disease. Now, theres skyrizi. Things are looking up, ive got symptom relief. Control of my crohns means everything to me. Control is everything to me. Feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. Skyrizi is the first il23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. And the majority of people experienced longlasting remission at one year. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. 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Fainting can also happen. The most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. Tonight, a community desperate to find a missing mother in florida. I would say this to anyone who is out there watching who knows where she is or has any type of clue, to please come forward with the information. We went back through and followed up on interviews. And through that process, we started to find little bits of threads that we could pick up on. And the biggest one was a neighbor who was mentioned in Steven Williams initial story. Deborah so, how did you wind up back here . What were you hoping to discover . When we found out tricia was missing, steven had told us the address where he was actually staying. We found that it was a rental property. So, the neighbor here next door happened to be outside one of the times when steven came out to the car. The account that they gave us was that they saw steven. The last time that he saw the white car, thats the second time when the guy drove away. Reporter neighbors next to the rental property where steven was saying say they saw him drive off in tricias car around 1 00 a. M. And that didnt make sense, because steven had told us tricia had left in the white car. Deborah and the neighbor was here and saw all of this . Neighbor was standing in his front patio there smoking a cigarette. After learning that steven was the one who drove the car away, there was a lot of concern that something was left out of his story. Deborah so that changed your theory altogether . That changed it. And the times that the neighbor gave us, we were able to confirm with the Surveillance Footage outside of the community here. First, i just tracked the car coming and going. And then this is the the last time that i can see the dodge neon leaving. I know it has to be the dodge neon because its the only car thats leaving after the timeframe that we know that they left the house. No, it was steven that left in that car, it wasnt tricia. Our thought process is that if steven was the one who had put tricias car at the home in the wrong position, like we learned at the very beginning of this investigation, that he wouldve had to have gotten back to that rental home. If he was going to get back to that rental home, he would have to walk. There really was only one road that would take steven from tricias home back to the neighborhood that he had rented a home in. Deborah that stretch of road is about three miles long, so investigators scour it, searching for any business that might have a surveillance camera pointing toward the road. Now, where are we going . We are going to one of the businesses where we obtained Surveillance Footage. Deborah how did you wind up here . Did you just canvass this entire area . We had teams dedicated to just hitting up all the businesses along federal highway. We were able to come across some businesses that actually still had footage from the timeframe we were looking at. Deborah surveillance cameras . Surveillance cameras. Deborah and this is one . This business fortunately was one of the ones that had that still had the footage. Deborah investigators soon find two more surveillance cameras. We had collected video, and it was hours and hours and hours of video. And actually one of the other detectives, he was just like, hey, i got somebody walking on this camera. So here is somebody walking at 4 30 in the morning away from where tricias house is. So that was our first indication that maybe this was somebody that we needed to look at. So we sort of guessed how long it would take to walk from here to the next video source we had, which was the trailer. And sure enough, we can see him continuing to walk by. Deborah three different cameras capturing the same figure walking on that stretch of road. And detectives are pretty sure they know who that man is. Grainy video, but enough to be able to tell it was a male . Grainy video, but still, with all the footage we got, you could tell it was the same male walking from the area of tricias residence back northbound. We could tell its a male wearing a beanie cap and a militarystyle rucksack. Deborah the camera caught him walking right here . Walking on that sidewalk right there up to the community. At this point in the investigation, there was no doubt in my mind this had to be Steven Williams. Lets not lose sight of the fact that he is the last human being on the face of the earth to have seen tricia alive, okay . Thats a big deal. Deborah but because of the lack of high quality of that video, they know that proving it is going to be a big challenge. Was that enough for you to make an arrest . It was all circumstantial evidence. There was no jury in the world that wouldve bought that grainy footage as solid evidence, so we had to dig further. And then an urgent phone Call Sends Police scrambling in a race against the clock. I remember eventually we got the call that we were dreading. We were extremely concerned for faiths wellbeing, for her safety. We had to ramp up and change our strategy. Bipolar 1, i got help to push back. I got help to push back. We got help to push back with lybalvi. Oncedaily prescription lybalvi is proven to treat manic or mixed episodes of bipolar 1 in adults to help you push back. Elderly patients with dementia have increased risk of death or stroke. Do not take lybalvi if you are taking opioids or are in Opioid Withdrawal. The samidorphan in lybalvi can cause severe Opioid Withdrawal that can lead to hospitalization or increase risk of life threatening overdose. 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We had somebody walking from the area of tricias residence and back to where steven was staying. Deborah they need more time and more solid evidence to build their case. But then theres an urgent phone call. We had received a call from jonathan todd, he expressed major concern. They had heard from steven. We were in communication with steven because we had his daughter, taking care of her while he was making arrangements back in North Carolina to integrate her into his life, into his work schedule, into all that. We got the call which was, hey, ive made all the plans i need to make. Ive got everything situated up here for faith. Im gonna come get her from you guys. And we were extremely concerned for faiths wellbeing, for her safety. At that point we had to ramp up and change our strategy, and thats when we had to go to North Carolina, beat him to his trip down here. Deborah you want to somehow confront him, smoke him out . So we had to, lets say, bluff him. We know something happened. Im going to show you the first place real quick that we got video. And we explained to him, the witnesses saw you leaving at this hour with her vehicle. You didnt tell us that. So we just started presenting him with that evidence. As were reviewing more video, and more video, and more video, and connecting all the dots, it still comes back to you. Youre the last person to see her. Deborah and how was he responding . He was calm throughout the whole interview and he tried to say, well, thats when she left. Her car makes the uturn, right here. Okay . And back. And comes back. We see the car coming back in here. So literally went towards her house, came back. Why is that . She went home and then didnt go home. You said she never left between midnight and 2 00. Not that im aware of, no. Like i said, i left to go get gas, and then i came back, and then she left. Thats all i know. There was no way we can show him the pictures. He would know immediately, they dont have anything on me, you cant tell thats me. But we also told him that there was surveillance cameras along the route. He became very nervous. You know that camera gets footage of the sidewalk all the way up us1, and into poinciana also. And people on foot also. Pedestrians around 4 00 in the morning. Have you ever driven up close enough to where you can see the cameras up here . No, i know theres some sort of business there. I dont know what it is. Its a computer place. Hes probably got one of the best camera systems in hd. You can almost see his heart pounding through his chest, and he started to bead up with sweat. So we knew at that point we got him. Deborah detective carde isnt about to let up. She takes the lead. You were taking a tack with him that was gentle. You were trying to almost soothe him a little bit. Okay. Okay. Youre still tense. Just relax, okay . In order to be compassionate with him and empathize with him on that situation, i had to let him play the victim. We had to play that tactic where, you know, tricia was the villain. I dont know her, but i could see her doing something to set somebody off. Like i think if i know her, id probably lose my [ bleep ] because she was just all sorts of crazy. Deborah the tactic seems to work. Im straightup asking, do you remember taking her car and leaving, yes or no . Yes. Deborah and for the first time in the investigation, detective carde gets Steven Williams to crack. I came back, she was lying on the floor, and she wasnt very responsive. And i kind of freaked out because im like, oh, my god, now shes lying on the floor and shes not responsive, and this looks really bad because i cant explain this. We kept pressing for a couple more hours, and i just kept telling him, this is her fault. Tell me what happened. We need to bring peace to her family. I just kept saying, do this for your daughter. Deborah and whats his demeanor at this point . Hes crocodile tears. Hes got his head down. Hes acting like hes crying, but not one single tear came from that mans eye. Deborah how long have you been going on at this point . We had been going for several hours. And so i just put her in the car, i put the gas in, i leave. And im still freaking out because i dont know what to do, and im just driving, and thinking, and driving, and thinking. And youre telling me you left her lying somewhere out in the open . Yes. I just let her lay there. So you left her lying. Was she close to the main road . It didnt seem very far down a ways. Even though hes changed his story and we know he lied, its still not enough to charge him with anything. Hes not admitted to a crime. Hes not admitted to hurting tricia in any way. All hes admitted to is moving her, and hes even claiming she wasnt even deceased at that point. I knew his intention was still to come back to florida to get faith. So i offered him a free trip back to florida to help us. Were inviting you back with us. Well pay for your ticket. You show us where shes at. You didnt kill her. You say you didnt hurt her, she fell. And so he was going along with that. You ready . Yes. Lets go. Deborah desperate to find tricia, they are hoping that her exhusband Steven Williams will finally bring the search to an end. The only reason that you would not take us to her is if Something Else happened at that house and youre not telling me. Target manager hailee listen, i wanted you to be the first to know. Target now has unlimited sameday delivery with target circle 360 . Howd you know that . Lets just say a little bird told me. Hey lady, did you hear the news . Get the fastest delivery to your door, with target circle 360. These new menu items at panera are perfect tens. Theyre also each under 10. More new sandwiches and salads, more in every bite and more new options under 10. Come taste the new era at panera. And cache in, at cache creek casino resort, to rock and to roll. To go all out or. Go all in. With four stars and rising stars, northern californias premier casino resort is the perfect place. To do as much or as little as you want. Make your get away now and cache in at cache creek casino resort. Deborah the lead investigators in the tricia todd case have talked Steven Williams into leaving North Carolina and coming back to florida to help them locate his exwife. I knew we needed some more time with him. I knew we needed to get him back here to florida. Deborah williams new story to police is that he found tricia unresponsive, he panicked, then put her in the car and left her by the side of the road. Take me to where shes at. You got to know where shes at, steven. I dont know. I just, i dont know. Do you remember coming to a stop sign . I dont remember any of this. None of this looks like anything ive ever seen. We were driving in circles. And at this point, we knew he was toying with us. Youve got to take me to her. I dont know. None of this what would look familiar . This is a long, dusty road thats very dark at night. What wouldnt look familiar about this road . cause i dont recognize it. I just, i dont recognize. All i remember, it was just dark. Thats a pretty significant event in someones life. How do you forget where you put your exwife, the mother of your child . Deborah you look him in the eye at one point in the car and try to get him to come clean with you . The only reason that you would not take us to her is if Something Else happened at that house and youre not telling me. And i got out. I dont know. And i opened the front door, and i just kept begging him, this is for your daughter. Do you love your daughter . Of course i do. Of course i do. Okay, you need to give her mother back to her. And i cant, and thats okay . The problem i told you shes going to need some type of stability, and youre all shes got. Because i have no idea. The next step was to take him back to the house. We took him to the rental home, lets get out. And we asked him to do a walkthrough. Where was she lying . In there. Just lying on the floor. In the hallway here . No. Where was she . She was in here, and she was laying this way. It was over here. She was laying on the floor. I didnt even touch her initially. I didnt even know what to do. I just kind of paced and tried to figure out what i was supposed to do. Deborah detectives have had it with the cat and mouse ive game, but they know an arrest for tricias disappearance still wont stick. So they come up with Something Else to detain him. Its okay. At this point, we were looking at the child neglect because he had already told us that he had left faith unattended while he went to go leave tricias body on the side of the road. So we get him back to the office, and i proceeded to interview him along with the prosecutor, tom bakkedahl. Come on in. Thank you. Please. Tom bakkedahl. Hi. Oh, we havent met yet. Whats your name . Steven williams. Its risky, number one, cause now hes in custody. You have always present the fear that what hes going to do is invoke his constitutional rights. But he continued to talk. I had no way to explain how i come back and shes on the floor other than them just assuming i did it. And i i would never do that to her. I would never hurt her. Its just not me. Essentially, your story is complete b. S. No jury in the world is ever going to believe it. It didnt get him to budge. He stuck to his story. We all know this is not a question of whether or not tricia is dead. Tricia is dead, right . Tricias dead. Yes . I dont know. You know. Come on. When i left her, it was just a matter of, i hope im wrong. Okay. I hope that shes not. Okay. Now, though, 20 some odd months later, lets not [ bleep ] each other. Shes dead. You know that, right . We know that. No. For all i know, she could have came to and wandered for all i know. Everyone was sitting there talking and they said, look, weve had all of the detectives who were involved in the case, everybodys talked to him. And so i raised my hand and said, i havent talked to him yet. They looked at me and said, why not . Hi, steven. How are you doing . Good. Do you remember talking to me earlier . Yes. Im dan. And i tried to get him on almost a friendly level to see if he would then open up to me. I mean, i talked to your earlier. Youre a nice guy, i like you. I mean, i think we could be friends you know in different circumstances. I started just pressing him on the details that didnt line up. So, you need to explain to us how it was she became injured. Because this whole thing where you came back from the gas station, and you just found her like that, i know thats not true, and i can prove thats not true. The Interview Room is wired for sound and audio, and were sitting in another room watching a screen. So were watching live. I need you to tell me the truth about what happened. I know you were there. I want to give you the opportunity to tell me what happened. During the interview, steven became very emotional. I didnt want it to happen. I didnt want it to happen. I know you didnt. Everybody just became quiet. You could have heard a pin drop in the room. And thats when he reported that they had gotten into an argument over money. He had pushed her when she had gotten aggressive with him and got in his face. It just escalated. And then i just moved her away, and then she slipped, and thats when she freaking fell. And im like, oh, [ bleep ]. I asked her if she was okay. It was like a weird sound. She didnt say anything, though. And then i freaking panicked. I knew now we had him. Do you know what she hit her head on . Was it the floor or i dont know. She just fell. And then she wasnt responsive after that. I didnt know what to do. I thought then i call the police now, and she says i freaking pushed her and im going to jail. Now that i had a confession that he was involved in tricias murder, he was under arrest. Deborah but without tricias body, prosecutors know getting a jury to convict Steven Williams of murder is going to be a long shot. Then they get a shocking phone call. Like a bolt out of the blue. Steven williams will take us to the body of tricia in exchange for a plea to the seconddegree murder charge. Deborah but investigators arent prepared for what theyre about to hear. Our heart just sunk. We knew he had done something horrific. I just made a deal with the devil. Peaker 2 blue buffalo, huh . speaker 1 yeah. Purina one. speaker 2 yeah. speaker 1 i used to feed purina one, but then i read the ingredients. speaker 2 oh, yeah . speaker 1 yeah, its right there. speaker 2 chicken, rice flour, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, chicken byproduct meal. Whats in blue . speaker 1 deboned chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, barley, oatmeal. speaker 2 yeah, but those ingredients cost a lot more. speaker 1 blue is only about 50 cents more a day. Thats not too much for my chester. Whered you go . I cant find you. Were in home, surrounded by vases. These prices. Im gonna get all of these. Wait. I like abstract art. I dont get it, but i like it. Lets never leave. Introducing a new home collection. Discover it all at kohls. We got a call a couple days after we filed the charges saying, Steven Williams will take you to the body. And then said, hell plea. We met with the family telling them, look, we know he killed her. Were trying to bring closure their ultimate goal was to get their daughter back. So, two days after hes arrested, were in court, arranging a plea deal. That was unheard of. Guilty of seconddegree murder. Sentence him to 35 years in the department of corrections. As soon as the judge banged the gavel and accepted the plea, the defense attorney went out in the hall with lieutenant dougherty and carde. And i remember turning around and watching whoever it was from Law Enforcement walk into the room, and they were sheet white. And when he said we were going to need a hazmat team, our heart just sunk. We knew he had done something horrific to her body. Deborah he said you will need a hazmat team to retrieve her body . You will need a hazmat team to retrieve her body from the ground. Deborah after a month of searching, a month of wondering what happened to 30yearold tricia todd, its time for Steven Williams to hold up his end of the deal. Yes, sir, were waiting at the entrance. He took us to the area, which is called hungryland preserve. Its about 16,000 acres and its all woodlands, swamp. Theres not a lot of traffic in there. Its kind of a secluded rural area. And it was actually one of the areas we had searched at the beginning. One of those things that just gnaws at your soul is, they were out there. Hundreds of hours of overtime was expended by the Sheriffs Office on air, on land, on sea, to include hungryland. Yeah, were here. You can just park here. Steven, is it too far for you to walk in that . Now, when we get there, i need you to put this, place it where shes at so we have, uh, some type of marker, okay . Steven did not hesitate. He walked in a Straight Line directly to where the storage bin was buried. He had planned this out. He knew where it was. So, where you placed the flag is where shes okay. And about how far down are we going . Its not much off the surface. Okay. Its about two and a half feet down. Okay. Yeah, its going to be a plastic barrel. A plastic barrel. Okay. We videotaped the entire thing because we wanted it preserved. We didnt know what we were going to find when we actually dug up this storage bin. Deborah the full reality of what steven did to tricia isnt clear until her remains are uncovered from that shallow grave. We had no idea that we were dealing with a sicko who had googled acid and how to get rid of a body. And when they lifted it, all you can see was a portion of her torso. The rest of her was gone. And immediately we thought, what do we do . How do i explain this to her family . Deborah you get a call from lieutenant carde. What did she tell you . I really appreciate her. She called me and she said, i dont want you to hear this from the media, so im going to tell you this myself. And she told me what he did and how they found her. So i just i can remember, i just kind of froze. Had we stumbled on that burial location in hungryland before this deal went down, this guys on a oneway trip to death row without question, in my mind. I just made a deal with the devil, and theres nothing i can do about it. Deborah prosecutors may have one more play, a hail mary pass of sorts. One that they hope will keep Steven Williams from ever walking free again. Because Steven Williams was still active air force during the investigation, the air force osi investigators were able to get involved. Steven williams was an activeduty military officer. They are responsible for him. They let him into my community where he committed the most horrendous murder. The way the laws work at the federal level for military court martialing, they can potentially charge someone even if theyve been charged at the local level. And so as soon as this deal got done, i called them and i said, look, everybodys in agreement. 35 years is not enough. Youve got to come in and prosecute him. And so not only did they look into it, they interviewed him, and he confirmed the full truth finally. Deborah Authorities Say air force officials came to the prison where williams was being held, to speak with him alone. But this was one conversation that Martin County detectives were not about to miss. I mean, it had to look like something out of a comic book. We were leaned up against the door listening to what we could hear through the crack, and im taking notes the whole time. Deborah during that interview, Martin County investigators say they overhear graphic, disturbing details. The day prior to meeting up with tricia and getting faith, he had left his hotel and went out to that area to sight out where he was going to actually bury her. He did dig a hole, and he did this all in the middle of the night. He drove all the way down here for 10 hours thinking about this with the equipment in hand. Hed gone online, hed ordered the acid, hed ordered the barrel, hed ordered the bags. He had chopped her body up into small pieces and covered it in acid. No one suspected anything like this. This was way beyond our wildest imagination. Williams had done his homework and realized that we do dental work to identify bodies. So, he had pulled all of her teeth out and then thrown them in the canal. That created a whole different dynamic for us. Now were dealing with the florida alligators, which were there. So we had our s. W. A. T. Guys standing there with rifles while were now diving this canal to retrieve a pair of pliers he had used to take her teeth out. Its the essence of cold, calculated, and premeditated. It almost belies explanation. Thats actually completely consistent with how steven would do it, because it was meticulous, it was calculated. It was all designed, not out of just some blind rage, but it was like, i want to get away with it. I dont know who the person was that i was friends with, its something i wonder every day. There was some issues with the marriage, Domestic Violence issues, verbal abuse. There was constant infidelity as well. Tricia had mentioned when they first were separated that he was a true sociopath. And then when everything came out, it clicked. She was right. She saw him for what he was. Dencht the question so many are asking why . Why would Steven Williams commit such a grisly crime . As it turns out, he may have answered that question himself. Shes just going on and on and on. Now i owe her more money and back Child Support. And now shes talking about how shes going to go to court and all this other stuff, and its my fault. Deborah if money was a motive behind tricia todds murder, will the air force step in now to keep Steven Williams behind bars . I mean, lets bring the full weight to the federal government to bear on this guy. 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Jardiance is really swell the little pill with a big story to tell depend keeps you drier than ever, so you can say yes to more than ever. Yesss yes. Yes mixed shouts, laughter no. Depend. The only thing stronger than us is you. [ em beiholds good day begins ] meet the new no. Target circle, the easiest way to get more target. That means automatic deals when you join for free. Thats the new target circle. gasp more cookies yeah [ good day ends ] well i havent even told you the best part of the story. They met at the club. The book club . No like, the club. Like. Untz untz untz untz untz oh no, immediately no. Ohhhh. Veto, veto. Thats a hard pass. Yea, i am good with this club. What would you even wear to a club . Comfortable footwear. David its been eight long years since tricia todds death. Investigators who worked so hard to bring her home say theyll never forget this case. Youve been at this a long time. Have you ever encountered a case like this . Doing this for 22 years, i can say i never came across someone like him. It was very surreal. And i explained to him. I said, you had more hatred in your heart for tricia than you did love for your daughter. Really, looking back on it now, he wouldve tortured her forever. He wouldve tortured her with her daughter, which is the worst way you can torture a mom. Deborah are you content with the time that hes going to serve . Deep down, i dont think any of us that were involved in this case were content with 35 years. Thats not enough time. We got partial justice for her and partial justice for her family. We were sure that the United States air force would come and take him and federally prosecute him. They were very engaged and very interested and willing to take the case. And then they simply called us back and said that the decision has been a nogo. Deborah we reached out to the air force about Steven Williams case. They tell us, while the air force has jurisdiction over any daf member for crimes committed while on active duty, if crimes occur off base, then civil authorities can claim jurisdiction over the crime. As of now, the air force says it has no plans to prosecute Steven Williams. And thats a bad call. Im sitting here on National Television saying, i take responsibility for what happened in this case. That sometimes you just eat it and do the right thing. Deborah the murder of tricia todd had a Ripple Effect throughout the community of hobe sound and beyond. Tricias friend marnie has a permanent reminder of their friendship. The day she went missing, there was a cardinal that kept pecking at the window. I got the cardinal tattoo on me, and i have the wings opened up, so shes flying, so shes free. Deborah and tricias mom rebecca says she draws strength from a particular song. One thing that really helped me a lot, Lauren Daigles song. I will trust i will trust i will trust in you i must have listened to it a thousand times. I will trust in you deborah what does the song say that gets to you . What it says is that i will trust you forever, god. Yeah, that song makes me cry, sorry. Deborah faith, now 10 years old, was adopted by tricias brother, jonathan. He says steven wrote him a letter asking if hed bring faith to visit him in prison. Its just totally inappropriate, totally narcissistic that youre going to put that on little child after what youve already done. Hes the one that threw his future of parenting faith down the tubes. Hes the one that made all the choices. And then instead of being remorseful about it, its, how can i still get what i want . Faith was already friends with her cousins. And now shes went from being a cousin to a sibling. Deborah remarkably, the todd family says that today, theyve found the grace to forgive Steven Williams. I can forgive him. I dont have angry thoughts all the time. I actually pray for him. Deborah you forgive him . But forgiveness does not include trust, necessarily. I wouldnt trust him at all. He doesnt ever need to get out. We encourage faith to forgive, to not let that be something that she gets angry about, that she holds a grudge on. And then also, we just tell her about what a great mom that trisha was and how trisha loved her so much. How are you . Theyll never forget, but they forgive him. They were very happy that tricia left faith for them. Tricia lives through faith. Deborah faith indeed, which has a double meaning, david, for this family. Theyre still hoping that the u. S. Air force will reconsider its decision not to prosecute Steven Williams. David by the way, hes scheduled to be released from prison in january of 2049 when he is 63. Thats our program for tonight. Im david muir. Deborah im deborah roberts. From all of us here at abc news and 20 20, good night. Wild chase through multiple bay area counties as a shooting suspect avoids several attempts by police to spike the cars tires. It led to an hours long standoff that shut down interstate 80. Good evening. Thank you for joining us. Im ama daetz the whole thing. Finally came to an end just before seven this evening in fairfield. It shut down the freeway at green valley road, creating a massive backup. The chp says the suspect was wanted for shooting at someone this morning along highway