Establish a great deal. Something happened. A hidden crime and a sons heart pounding moment. This is a horrible crime. Im glad we know the truth. She was a restless young mom with two kids when she vanished from her Southern California home. Her loved ones assumed she left to start a new life but as the years passed, a nagging suspicion took hold. Was her disappearance the result of something more sinister . Before investigators could solve the mystery, her son would have to face a dark family secret but would it lead them to carol . Heres Keith Morrison with secrets in the mist. January 2013, the wet gray morning cold set in. The police boat sets off into the pea soup fog. A hail mary pass. Why out there . Why after all of the last 30 years . Maybe some cases are decembstino stay cold. Before they came along with their wild ideas about murder and facebook of all things and now this. Their doomed errand into the fog. Her name was carol jean myer. The night of the slamming doors and harsh words, the car roaring away. And pretty girl gets pregnant at 15. Marries the guy. Pretty soon shes 20 something with two kids and a hankering to live, really live for a change. And this particular pretty girl. She was fun. She was outgoing. She had a lot of friends. She had these two sisters. We were very close and made each other laugh all the time. But carol wasnt laughing at the end of march 81. For one thing, she wanted to be somebody. Her own somebody. I know that carol wanted to complete school and further her career and thats when she went back to study architecture. Sure her husband was a nice kid and she loved him with all the intensity of first love. The handsome Football Player that would hang out on the front porch. He stepped up and married her after the baby was born. He was a good father. Enjoyed his kids. Enjoys carols family too. Especially her dad. He brought young mike into the family house painting business. Took to him immediately. Always a very likable person. Friendly, loyal, but not exactly ambitious. He didnt seem to mind at all settling down to a modest existence. Them and the two kids all cramped up in a two bedroom one bath house in torrence but carol did mind it very much. She had a secret affair by then. Maybe more than one. She got herself a cute little red car, ordered personalized plates. The car is long gone now so we did this to look just like it and she would get in the little car alone and would go roaring off to school or to the red onion. I know she was going to the red onion. I never went there with her so i dont know what she was like. Then that night in march. Kids off to bed. Mike junior was just a boy. 10 years old. I had just got a new stereo for my tenth birthday and i was listening to the headphones. From his bed, he could see something happening out in the hallway. I remember them getting into an argument, which was unusual. Because they just didnt. Not that i knew of. I remember her marching past and going out the front door and slamming the door. You heard the slam. I heard the slam of the front door. I know that. And the next morning. We got up and she wasnt there. Mike senior told carols dad that carol had demanded he sign papers to sell their house and he didnt want to and she got mad and he went to bed and when he woke up in the morning she was just gone. So we just assumed she needed to get away for a few days but as the days went on we got extremely worried. Nearly a week after herrerd audi fox showed up in the parking lot of the red onion. Dusty as if it had been there for awhile. I remember being upset about it. She was gone and i didnt know where she went. They drove around looking for her. Went to bars. Carols picture in hand. Torrence Police Department opened a file but they couldnt answer any of the questions. She just finally gotten fed up with mike and this little place and gone off to start a new life somewhere else, or had she been in an accident or something worse . More than a week after carol disappeared, there was still absolutely no sign of her, and then something strange happened here at the house. Something very strange. Could it be that carol unbeannounced to anyone sneaked back in here when nobody else was around. Imagine what it was hike back then in that little house. Mike thinking things over. On a hunch he said he placed tape on her dresser drawers. A little trap. One day he took the kids to Universal Studios and sure enough when they returned he noticed the tape was broken and some mail on the counter was moved as well. A few weeks later, it happened again. Some of carols clothes went missing along with some money from a place no burglar would know to look. Under the butter dish in the refrigerator where they kept 100 in emergency cash and now 60 was missing. Just like carol. She would have not taken all of it. That was in her permnalty to be fair. Made since then. Then there were mysterious phone calls. Wed get the phone calls on special days. Her birthday. My birthday. My grandmother we would get calls. Sounds on the other end. What did you do . Wed say carol, we love you. We hope you come back. We felt like she was finding a happier life somewhere. And understood that to make that successful she might have to make a complete and total break. Yeah. Almost three months after she vanished the detective put it in the inactive file. In his report he wrote no foul play involve d. I remember thinking about her all the time and playing records over and over that she liked. Eventually mike started dating a 19yearold named carrie. Brought her into the fold. We were happy that mike was going on with life. So they did all go on with life and many years went by. Until the morning in a whole new my ly millenium. This didnt sound right to me. Detectives turned to a surprising source to help solve the mystery. Coming up. Why dont you establish a facebook account for carol. When dateline continues. Arol when dateline continues is skincare from around the world better than olay . To find out, olay faced the world. We tested our vitamin b3 formula and beat japans top moisturizers. And even the 400 french cream. Olay regenerist faced 131 Premium Products from 12 countries, over 10 years. Olays hydration was unbeaten every time. Olay. Face anything. Want a light as air feel . Try olay whips. So chantix can help you quit slow turkey. Along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. With chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, youll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. 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For that price . Absolutely. Its just right book your just right rental at thrifty. Com. In march of 1981 a young mother unhappy in her marriage vanished leaving behind not only her husband but her son mike junior. I never felt my mother abandoned me. I was never upset with her. Really. I never thought she did. I dont know why. I was just upset she wasnt there. I thought she would show up at a graduation or something. But she didnt and at family gatherings as the years went by, thanksgiving, christmass, that awful question, why would she leave them remained the unmentionable elephant in the room. When it came to my family i think they didnt talk about it because they figured it would upset me or my sister. My family is pretty closed to talking about heavy things. So Something Like that rarely talked about. Could you see it in your mothers eyes or your fathers . In my fathers for sure. What would you see there . A lot of emotion. A lot of sadness. Im going to cry thinking about it. In 1987 the Police Department revisited the case and time seemed to alter his memory. A few more details had come back to him. Remember soon after carol vanished mike said they argued and went to sleep alone and woke up in the morning early and she was gone . But in 1987 he remembered they argued and went to bed together and she got up at 5 30 in the morning to go to the bathroom. He woke up to the sound of a car engine starting and driving away. Odd. But memories do play tricks. Anyway. It didnt seem terribly significant so the case went back into the file and got colder. Mike took over the house painting business from carols dad and went on to marry carrie and have two more sons. Gail and terry raised their own families and having babies started to change terrys way of looking at her sisters disappearance. As unhappy as you might be in your life, you might leave your husband, youd take your kids with you. So when you began to suspect it she wouldnt leave her children, what did that mean to you . That something happened to her. In 1996, 15 years since they had heard from carol, the police came around again. This time they scanned the backyard with Ground Penetrating radar. Even dug up the ground didnt find a thing. Funny thing though, about four months later the daily breeze did a little story and interviewed mike and this time his memory was slightly different. He remembered that on that terrible morning when carol left he heard the garage door go up before she drove away. Just one more little detail though nothing profoundly different and of course no evidence whatsoever of any crime. And then one day in 2002, a detective was rummaging through some cabinets behind his sergeants desk. I was being nose y. I thought what was this . It was the case folder. More than 20 years old and cold as they come. I never heard about it before. I said this is interesting. I wonder if this lady is still missing. Of course she was so he read through the Police Report and couldnt help but notice the subtle changes in mikes story chl. And i thought thats strange. I wouldnt think youd forget the last time that you saw your wife. So he went to see carols parents. Her mom and her dad. And he looked up at me and he was starting to cry and im like milt, are you okay . And he said oh, im just so happy, i cant believe you guys are still interested in this case. How much did that have to do with you driving ahead on this case . That conversation . A lot. Im the father of three daughters as well and i thought what if this was my middle daughter. Milt died one month later. Never knowing what happened to his beautiful middle daughter. But when terry went to her fathers funeral and saw mike there, a private thought ate at her. Mike must know something. I didnt say anything. I tried to keep away. He was of course paying his respects to my family but i couldnt carry on a conversation with him. Meanwhile, walt had become a little obsessed. He had many other more pressing cases but something kept pulling him back to carol. I actually would shove some of my work away. I got in a little trouble for that sometimes. For years he chipped away until finally in 2010, 8 years after he found that musty old blue file, he decided to pay a surprise visit to mike. His colleagues thought he was nuts. Yeah, what do you think hes going to admit it to you . I said well i played enough sports in my time. I know youre not going to get anywhere if you dont try. You never know. Hi. I want to talk about carol. What story would mike tell this time . Dateline returns after the break. Dateline returns after t break. This time of year, thats really important. So were making it easier than ever to become part of our family. Thats why our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. 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Selfieing. And whatever this is. Available to the public. Never. Smartdogs are not the answer. But geico has a simple tip. Turn on do not disturb while driving mode. Brought to you by geico. Some things are too important to do yourself. Get customized security with 24 7 monitoring from xfinity home. Awarded the best professionally installed system by cnet. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, click or visit a store today. For 8 years Lawrence Police detective worried away at the file drawn by an irresistible hunch, that this young mother did not disappear voluntarily. But actual evidence of a crime . There just wasnt any. So in 2010, 29 years after carol supposedly walked out on her family and never came back. He decided it was time for a surprise visit to michael. He went over with his sergeant. He invited us in. We did catch him unexpectedly. That was the plan. But was mike upset or thrown off . Not at all. Very nice. Like i anticipated he would be because i have now heard from everybody how mike is a good guy. So together they went over again the details of that last night back in march 81. Right away mike remembered a little more about the night carol presented him with a real estate contract and demand they sell the tiny house. She came in and she just said you make my skin crawl. You make my skin crawl. And i thought ill bet you she did say that. So i pushed him some more for more details. And the details were once again a little different about when and where he last saw her for example. It wasnt when he went to bed around 10 00 p. M. As he said on one occasion or 5 30 the next morning as he also said. This time he last said he saw her about 10 30 or 11 00 p. M. In the bathtub chlts. I used the bathroom. Then he said he heard the garage door go up and he went to the door and actually saw carols car driving away. Taillights. You see taillights. Yeah. Youre sure it was her car. Yeah. Remember the story about putting tape on the dresser drawers and later he found it broken. Didnt remember that now. I dont know. You dont know what that is . No. But as he said in 2010 he did remember other traps he had set even more elaborate. I would take like baby powder and put it inside the door so if somebody stepped in id see it. Baby powder. What else . Anything else . I think that did that james bond thing with the paper on the door. Paper on the walls. Thats about it. By now, the detective was working with his colleague jim wallace and deputy d. A. He specializes in tackling the most difficult of cold cases. Do you remember when you saw the results of that interview what you thought . Yeah. I thought his memory had grown in areas where it shouldnt and in areas where he should be saying the same story was different and thats the ha hallmark of deception. But the mind plays tricks, the mind invents things and inserts them into your memory and you believe them. Thats an interesting theory. I dont think its really supported. Memories can be lost but memories dont increase in details over the years and they dont increase in different details and thats a sign of what we saw a lie. His version of what happened from the start made no sense to any of us. Why would mike lie . To the Cold Case Team it seemed obvious. He killed her that night. She stopped living that night and Everything Else that doesnt make sense is all because its a lie. If you know its a lie, then it all lines up. Remarkably he continued to talk to them, three more times of his own free will. Very frankly without an attorney. He even let the prosecutor take a crack at it chl. If you were me in my position, tell me what you would think. What youre thinking. Which is. That i did it. Well, mike, i can tell you, sometimes you know the kind of murder cases we get. We get cases where the husband finds out that his wife is cheating on him and he kills her. It had nothing to do with that. Did you catch what mike said . It had nothing to do with that. When you just look at sentence structure and how people talk and communicate, it wasnt about that. What is the it. You gave that great significance, didnt you . Oh, absolutely. So they kept at mike and at one point it seemed to them he was on the verge of confessing. Listen, why dont you give me a few days or something to think about all of it. Well come back. But when he came back, he didnt give them anything and they were right back where they started. Suspicion, sure, but no evidence of a crime. No way to even prove carol was dead. Jim wallace was a detective that finally hit on an idea. To use a tool that didnt even exist when she fought her husband on a march night in 1981. Coming up, a dramatic turn in the case and fresh heartbreak for carols family. Another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. When date line continues. Rst. When date line continues. You have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . Too shabby too much i can rent this . For that price . Absolutely. Its just right book your just right rental at thrifty. Com. President trump spoke at the Student Action summit on saturday and took the opportunity to lash out at democrats in the house that impeached him this week. North korea expanded a factory linked to the production of long range Nuclear Missiles according to nbc news. American officials are tracking the regimes moves and are bracing for a potential new test. Now back to dateline. Welcome back to dateline. Detectives believed he was on the verge of confessing to the murder of his wife carol but then he refused to talk and the investigation hit a wall. Without a body, how could they prove there was a murder at all . The answer would send investigators in an unexpected direction. Could Facebook Help them find out what really happened to carol . Here again is Keith Morrison with secrets in the mist. Deputy d. A. And the torrence Police DepartmentCold Case Team believed mike killed his wife carol back in 1981. But they had one big problem. They couldnt prove carol was dead. The biggest assumption is going to be well how do you know shes not just out of the country or across the country or changed her identity. Kind of an important question with no answer. And then in january 2011, jim wallace got the flu. Lucky break. No really. And i was laying in bed and my wife came in and unfortunately when you work these cases all you talk about is were a dedicated Cold Case Team. Youre talking about the case you were working. Im sure she was tired of hearing it. But she said why dont you establish a facebook account for carol . I thought that could actually accomplish a great deal. Of course back in 1981 is when carol disappeared facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg wasnt even born yet. But he knew social medias ability to connect people around the globe instantly could determine whether carol was alive or dead. We know that its a place where we say here i am. Its also a place where you could find people. Surely if carol was still alive, someone on facebook or twitter would know something. Of course he also knew carol would look fastly different so he found an age progression artist to create an image of what she might look like today and then he placed that photo and others like it on facebook or other sites. It was a great point of contact for me to contact 350 friends and family of carol. And we said has anybody seen carol . And we discovered immediately that nobody had seen carol since the night she disappeared. If he googled her own name she would find herself at his website. But that never happened which meant something very significant said the detective. Shes not looking for herself. Shes dead. Or a farmers wife in uruguay. Lots of people are not on facebook. Dont check or google things. It doesnt mean she is dead for sure. You just have a fairly good case for it. In this large cumulative thing were looking at its another piece that points to the same conclusion. If carol was dead, if mike killed her, taking the accusation to court would be risky. Circumstantial. No clear motive, a sympathetic defendant. But he decided to roll the dice. 30 years after carol vanished from her familys life on april 13th, 2011, mike was arrested for carols murder. When you went to the family and said were going to charge him, what was the reaction . Mixed at best. Mixed. Thats a mild word. How about upset, horrified, mist identified. In fact, most of carols family members believed the idea that mike could have murdered carol with you just ludicrous. He was a member of our family, you know . And nobody wanted to see him be arrested or him be the reason or any of that. Its like another nightmare on top of the first nightmare. This was a case where i think the family would have been more than happy to believe that carol is still out there somewhere. Shes not dead and their beloved soninlaw is not a killer. But of all mikes family members no one was as torn as his name sake first son mike junior who loved his father, unreservedly. Followed him into the family painting business and worked side by side with him for decades an confessed to detectives that like his aunt terry, he too had doubts about his father. Doubts that had taken route shortly after mike seniors second wife left him. He talked about my step mother constantly for years. It was nonstop. Why was that so significant to you. He never talked about my mother at all. Never. But mike never confronted his father. I just knew the back of my mind that this could be a possibility and i really honestly at that time, i never wanted my father to go to jail. I just wanted to know. It was so important to me to know the truth behind the evening. To get the truth and avoid the trial, the prosecutor was willing to make a deal. We had offered him voluntary manslaughter if he gave us carols body. And he turned you down flat. He did. Repeatedly. Mike pleaded not guilty. The case was going to trial and if members of carols own family didnt believe mike did it, what would a jury think . Coming up, being accused on the stand. Isnt it true that carol lived her last breath in that bathtub when you murdered her . When dateline continues. When dateline continues not actors, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin. And, had significantly less itch. 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Had you been contacted by anybody either by phone, email, in writing who says, you know what, ive seen carol after the day she disappeared . No. Though as he and his team also let the jury hear, family members like carols sister gail believed what mike told them, that carol had run off. Has it been hard for you to accept the possibility that she may be dead. Well, yes. Is it maybe even more difficult by the fact that you care deeply for the defendant . Yes. And younger sister terry, even though she had suspected mike for years. Do you still think of mike as a part of your family. Yes. But most anguished of all, mike and carols son mike junior. Is there anything about the way you remember your mom that would make you think or made you feel that she would leave you and never come back and never say goodbye. No. He loved his dad, but also secretly doubted him. Something he had never revealed until now. I was sweating so profusely during that whole trial. He never knew i had these feelings. So on the stand publicly i had to basically say yeah, im thinking maybe theres some weird things about your story and it was the first time that my father really would have known i felt that way. So i was really, really stressed out about that. How hard is it for you to be here today . Very. Do you want to believe that your dad is responsible for your mothers disappearance. Do i want to believe it . Yes. No. Lets assume that your dad, in fact, did kill your mom, would you want to see him punished for it . No, not particularly. He knew the ambivalence of the family members didnt help his case. In the end my job isnt to make sure that the family members get what they want. My job is to make sure that carols killer is held responsible. But was mike a killer . His attorney kevin donahue. I think the police are just wrong. No forensics, no witnesses, not even a body. The defense might have stopped right there. Instead they decided to gamble. Mike was a nice guy and the jury should see that. And if the details had been a little different each time he was asked to tell the story, here was his chance to straighten it all out for the jury. How odd then that mike under oath now amended his story, just a little again. Like when he added the detail that carol was in the bathtub when she said something mean to him. She said you make my skin crawl. Also slightly different, the way he discovered she was gone. I opened the front door and went out and the garage door was open and the car was gone. In earlier versions, didnt ma mike say he heard the garage door go up and saw tail heights. Why has his story changed again. Whats the deal with that . Did you hear the garage door . I dont think so. Why do you think that now . I think over the years i have thought about this night so many times and i had seen that car back out of that drive way many, many times when she was leavingment so i think i just thought immediately in my mind that thats what i thought happened. I saw the car. I can see it right now. He never thought for a moment it would be the last time he would see his wife. I thought she went out that night and had gone dancing and stayed the night with a friend. What did happen to her . Mike insisted he simply didnt know. Did you have anything to do with killing her . No. Did you have anything to do with her disappearance . No. Other than i didnt sign the papers and made her upset but thats it. Successful testimony, maybe . But now the down side. He would have to answer questions from john. Do you lie sometimes . No. You never lie. I wouldnt say never. A white lie. Who knows. Have you ever lied about something serious that wasnt a white lie in your life. No. In your entire life you have never lied once about anything that wasnt a white lie. Ill just say not that i can remember. In fact, mike had a hard time remembering a lot of things he asked about. I dont remember. I dont remember going to bed. I dont remember. I dont know. But how on earth could he not remember the last time he saw his wife. Would you agree that that would be one of the most significant events details of your entire life . Yes. But that doesnt mean i have to remember it. He wasnt buying it. Isnt it true that the last place that carol lived her last breath was taken in that bathtub when you murdered her. Why are you looking at the judge . Waiting for him to correct you, no. I didnt murder her. Im sorry. In the bathtub . And if you had murdered her, you would tell us today that you did. I would have admitted it. You would have admitted it on the stand today. Yes. Do you think that statement is believable . I think so. Im done. Of course, believeability was a question for the jury to decide and decide they did. Though as youll see, that wasnt the end of the story. Not by a mile. Coming up, a final push for the truth. Please for your family, your for kids, tell us what happened. When dateline continues. When dateline continues cat meows dark barks guess whos early . cat meows good thing walgreens is right around the corner with last minute holiday supplies. Get in. Get out. Get jolly. They have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again looking around here i see tablets, laptops, printers, smartphones. Theyre all connected to the internet. Theyre all connected. Can your network handle all those devices . Sometimes. Comcast business runs on the nations largest gigspeed network. So you can get the bandwidth you need to power all of your devices at peak performance. If all of my devices could have that kind of speed, i would be dancing get started with secure 35megabit internet and one voice line for just 64. 90 per month. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Okay, lets call the jurors out. There are few things in American Life as dramatic, as weighted with consequence, as the moment a jury, verdict in hand, files into a courtroom. Have they been persuaded that mike killed carol or even that she was dead . Mikes family held its collective breath. So did the prosecutor and the police. You know, you dont know what to expect. And now, here are mikes fate. We the jury in the aboveentitled action find the defendant, Michael Lubahn clark sr. Guilty of the crime guilty of seconddegree murder. Mike lubahn was going to prison. And longtime detective jim wallace felt surrounded by a very unfamiliar reaction. Ive had cases before where you get done, you know, and youll walk out of the courtroom and the family throws their arms around you. Theyre just so grateful, right . Thats not this case. I was just very surprised that the jury would convict him on such little evidence, and i dont think any of us are happy to see mike go to jail. And you still believe mike is a nice guy, believable guy. Yes. What the family wanted most were some answers. Its not so much that i want mike to pay for what he did. I just want to know what happened to my sister. And at the sentencing hearing in december 2012, mikes own son echoed those sentiments. Guilt or innocence aside, ive never wanted my father to go to prison. Ive only asked that if he knows anything to please let me know. And then, mike jr. Made a heartbreaking plea to the court. Hes been a good father and a good person. If hes sent to prison today, i want him to know im going to miss our time together. Its going to be hard to see the world change without him. I humbly stand before the court today to request leniency for my father when giving his sentence. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. After that, well, then the strange tale of the muchloved convicted killer took quite a remarkable turn. It happened that very day in court. Prosecutor lewin. Im asking right now as we sit here, mr. Lubahns going to have a chance. Please, for your family, for your kids, just let it go. Tell us what happened. Can i just have a moment . The judge granted a recess so mike could speak with his attorney privately. Did he actually have something to confess . He returned a few minutes later. And were asking to continue the sentencing. Time to think . The judge pushed back sentencing by a month. My hope was that he would tell us what happened, that he would tell us what he did with carol, and that he would be honest about both. For almost four weeks they waited, until january 7th, 2013. All eyes were on mike lubahn as he entered the courtroom. And then shifted as one to prosecutor lewin, who told the court that that very morning, mike finally revealed to him the secret hed been keeping almost 32 years. And so, now lewin did the talking, and mike, for once, said not a word. All of the information about them fighting about the selling of the house, he says that was truthful. That occurred. Then carol stormed out, and it might have blown over, as arguments do, but she came back at 1 30 a. M. And said the one thing that would not blow over, not ever. She told him that she was going to be taking somebody else, another man, to her sister, terrys upcoming wedding. He said he was very upset. She tried to comfort him. Then, he said. And she was telling him, dont worry, youll find somebody else, et cetera. And that was the last thing carol lubahn ever said. He didnt want to hear it, and he said that he pushed her. She fell and hit her head on a heavy end table in the living room. He said that she didnt bleed, but he knew instantly that she was dead. Detectives hooked lubahn up to a polygraph machine. How much of this was true . After the polygraph, the test was done, he confronts him and says you didnt pass. Now the defendant changes his story and he says, okay, i punched her in the head and i punched her hard, but he said only one time. Then he told lewin what he did with carols body. After he killed her, he put her in the garage behind some carpet. He took her car the next morning to the red onion parking lot, dumped it there. At some point, she was placed in the trunk of mr. Lubahns vehicle. And then he said he took her to the ocean, put her on a raft, paddled out to sea and dropped her down, a cinder block tied to her body. It was a shock, of course, a big shock. For so long, the family, or most of it, believed mike. And now in this very public way, they finally knew that carol was dead and he, their sweet mike, killed her. But the whole truth, was it actually out there somewhere . And so, on that cold and foggy january day, mike, surrounded by cops and lawyers, floated out into the midst to find carol, find whatever was left. If they find the cinder block in the ocean after the search, if they find that, that will give me half of the closure i need. She didnt get it, because after the boat ride, mike admitted his ocean tale was one more lie. And perhaps it was finally for the sake of his son, the son who never abandoned him, that he finally passed a polygraph and led investigators to the place he said mikes mother had actually been all these many years. Police searched the area, but once again were unable to locate carols remains and give the family what they hoped for most, the chance to say goodbye. I dont really know why getting her back is the ultimate bookend for me. I want to know that she is, you know, properly buried or cremated or whatever we will choose to do with her. Why is that so important . I think it just is the ultimate answer. This is it. Theres no more wondering. No, not about that, but his father in prison 15 to life . When we last spoke to mike, it was clear he had a good deal of wondering left to do about that man and what he took away. Do you still love him . Yeah, i do. I mean, i always will. Ive just got to figure out how im going to process these facts i know. I dont know yet. I kind of thought a perfect punishment for my father was i was going to ask him to write one sentence about my mother to me every week hes in prison, you know, just so he has to think about her and i have to i can remember her again. Thats all for this edition of dateline. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. Good morning. Im phillip mena at msnbc World Headquarters in new york. It is 6 00 in the east, 3 00 out west. Now heres whats happening. The white house a short time ago firing back after justreleased emails shedding light on details in the ukraine story. Hear what happened 90 minutes after president trumps controversial phone call. Witnesses or no witnesses at the senate trial, a new prediction from the president s former Communications Director about how bad it could get for the president. A sobering survey about Holiday Shopping and the one thing that worries parents the most. Plus