welcome back. under intense pressure from private investigator, david marshburn, nick holbert had finally confessed to the murder of kelli bordeaux. he even agreed to take david to kelli s body. but after hours scouring the forest for her grave, their search was in vain. now, the unlikely pair was about to try, again. question was, could the admitted killer make good on his promise? and give kelli s family the peace they deserved. here s andrea canning with the conclusion of deep in the woods. reporter: it was a long night in north carolina. nick holbert was holed up in a hotel. while a few miles away, david marshburn was wide awake. wondering, worrying, hoping that tomorrow would be the day that he could, finally, bring kelli bordeaux home. i couldn t sleep that night. marcia couldn t sleep. i mean, we were just all excited
he believed it, to a point. but then, he threw it back at me, after looking at it for about-five minutes. said, no, they ll just take it back. reporter: marshburn thought that wasn t exactly the reaction of an innocent man. now, he was fully convinced nick holbert had killed kelli. but he needed to get holbert to reveal where he buried her body. how can i be his friend? and i had to do some things, say some crap that i just didn t believe. but i had to do it to play the part. reporter: marshburn bought holbert countless meals, beers, even hired him to do odd jobs. slowly, becoming a bff. or maybe, more of a frenemy. but marshburn said he paid a high price, as he practically abandoned his wife and young son. i didn t do any family stuff. if we were eating somewhere, and nick picked up the phone and called and said, hey, i need cigarettes, man. i need some money. i get up, and i d leave. and i d go straight to him and do what i had do and come back.
kelli close to the froggy bottom s bar. somewhere in the thick forest surrounding fayetteville. how daunting of a task was it? it s, like, i don t know, taking a rock no bigger than this and just throwing it out here. and saying, go find it. and you miss it by a inch, you might as well missed it by a mile. cause it s not that easy to find something. reporter: marshburn needed help. so, several months into his very private search, he added two new members to his team. an assistant named marcia ward and a specially-trained search dog with a keen sense of smell, named taz. he is trained on tracking, trailing, whatever you want. what odor you want. reporter: including, buried bodies. together, marshburn, marcia, and kaz, slogged through ponds, fields, forests. thousands of acres. and searched for months.
kelli. do you think this case ever would have been solved without you? no. i don t think that nick would have ever told anyone, unless they were his friend. but he did tell me. reporter: for the family of kelli bordeaux, the loss, the pain, the sorrow, never goes away. but david marshburn at least gave them a chance to heal. he ended a suffering for my family. where we re sitting here, agonizing for these last two years. he was the one that was able to come and end that for us. and to make it to where you can try to start rebuilding, and doing things that will make kelli proud. and and to live your life. reporter: the family, also, had something for david marshburn. a very special gift from kelli. kelli s dog tags, which that s a great honor, in itself. this is a very important thing. yeah. for a soldier.
investigator, david marshburn, had befriended nick holbert, the prime suspect in kelli disappearance. marshburn was working practically 24/7 to get a confession. chasing every clue holbert dropped. we d go talk to him. and then, we would go out and try and figure it out. we knew we were going on wild-goose chases. we had to do it. i mean, what else you got? reporter: marshburn needed to turn up the heat on holbert and had an idea. nick was always worried law enforcement s watching. that was his achilles heel? uh-huh. so i knew that was a weakness. reporter: which marshburn exploited by enlisting a friend who owned a vehicle that looked like an unmarked-police car. he had him park near holbert s house and conduct surveillance. fake surveillance. it worked like a charm. because he saw him right out the gate, when he come outside. and got paranoid.