woman dressed in darkish clothes, headed inside. she fit the description he'd been given of 25-year-old carter cervantez, a former co-worker of ashlea harris. the male driver stayed in the car. cedillo called his partner, ernie pate -- asked him to check up on the guy. >> when i approached the car, then the person identified themself as david mallory. >> reporter: david mallory was carter's live-in boyfriend. he too was a former employee of american eagle. >> i asked him, "what are you doing here at the mall?" he said that he had dropped his girlfriend off to pick up some papers at aeropostale where she was a manager. >> reporter: so perhaps it was just that. david giving carter a ride to pick up some paperwork at her new job at aeropostale. cedillo decided to go inside. the mall was open but the stores were still closed. >> and i happened to go up to aeropostale and there is a manager that's actually in there working. and i was able to confirm that