i m craig melvin. and i m natalie morales. and this is dateline. i just collapsed. she s dead because she was my friend. first melissa disappeared. where s melissa? that s the million dollar question. i knew right then she absolutely never made it into her house. left behind in her garage signs of a struggle and a strange orange mist, then her boss went missing too. who is he afraid of am. he might have been afraid he s next. he left behind a bigger mess. we three kings be stealing the gold. a missing fortune. ballpark a billion, billion and a half dollars. a missing woman. we have know clue, no leads. some wonder was there a link? this had a twist to it. two crimes, one for money, one supposedly for love, and behind both, a lingering mystery. it s just so ugly and so wrong, and i can t fix it. welcome to dateline. hotshot florida attorney melissa lewis was living large in fort lauderdale dale, but then her seemingly charged life ended
time was home to a high powered law firm, the boldest, brassiest bunch of politically connected lawyer players in south florida. it had a sweeping panoramic view all the way out to the ocean. to a juggernaut by the mid-2000s. he probably thinks i m king of inworld. and the firm is where melissa lewis, an earnest by the book attorney found great success for herself and her clients. she by all accounts was a work alcoholic that loved what she did. melissa loved those boozy office parties just as much as the other lawyers. she found herself a nice slice of the american pie. and that s the thing about 38-year-old melissa lewis. even as she raised her voice and
happened to melissa. here is dennis murphy with betrayed. reporter: if you ask someone in town where the buzziest part of ft. lauderdale lies, they ll probably steer you here. las olas boulevard. and way up there in this s rgheanand thou high-rent district is a penthouse office suite that once upon a time was home to a high-powered law firm. the boldest, brassiest bunch of politically-connected lawyer players in south florida. the rothstein law firm. it had a gorgeous, sweeping, panoramic view. all the way out to the ocean. reporter: from a few guys with law degrees to a juggernaut by the mid 2000s. with more than 70 attorneys led by scott rothstein. mike mayo was a columnist for the ft. lauderdale sun sentinel. he probably thinks, i m king of the world. reporter: and the firm is where melissa lewis, an earnest, by-the-book attorney, found great success for herself and her clients.d she was by all accounts a workaholic who loved what she
she had been murdered. but who would want her dead? with few clues, fewer suspects and the scandal involving her law firm, investigators had their work cut out for them to unravel the mystery of what had happened to melissa. here is dennis murphy with betrayed. if you ask someone in town where the buzziest part of ft. lauderdale lies, they ll probably steer you here, las olas boulevard. and way up there in this high-rent district is a penthouse office suite that once upon a time was home to a high-powered law firm. the boldest, brassiest bunch of politically connected lawyer players in south florida, the rothstein law firm. it had a gorgeous, sweeping, panoramic view all the way out to the ocean. from a few guys with law degrees to a juggernaut by the mid-2000s.
but who would want her dead? with few clues, fewer suspects, and a scandal involving her law firm, investigators had their work cut out for them to unravel the mystery of what had happened to melissa. investigators had to work it out to unravel the mystery of what had happened to melissa. here is dennis mur fif with betrayed. las olas boulevard. and way up there, in this high rent district, is a penthouse office suite that once upon a time was home to a high powered law firm. the boldest, brassiest bunch of politically connected lawyer players in south florida. the rothstein law firm. it had a gorgeous, sweeping panoramic view all the way out to the ocean. dennis murphy (voiceover): from a few guys with law degrees to a juggernaut by the mid-2000s, with more than 70 attorneys, led by scott rothstein. mike mayo was a columnist for the fort lauderdale sun-sentinel. he probably thinks, i m king of the world.