you know the machine that spits out tickets when you enter an airport parking lot? that very ticket goes back to the tollbooth when you leave. keith and i went to the little toll booth where you give the your ticket. reporter: maybe, thought the detectives, the parking ticket for marie s mazda would tell them not just when it was dropped off but, a more important question, by whom. we were thinking let s get a thumbprint, or a fingerprint and went through every single one of them until we found the one that marie s car had received. reporter: and yes, they got a print. but no, it wasn t clear enough to tell whose it was. then, another thought. hey, let s go pull surveillance video. and of course reporter: you looked at all of it. well, no. the video didn t wor it wasn t working. reporter: oh. during the time that we needed. this case, for sure, was an investigator s worst nightmare. reporter: dead ends everywhere. yes. reporter: and weeks went by. no sign
and low and behold, they fled to arizona. they fled. reporter: like thieves in the night. with baby grace. it was a few days after they left when jason went to the police to tell his disturbing that they had a physical story. that they had a physical run-in the day that she went missing. reporter: then a piece of luck. before they left, marie s friend kay had asked the pastor and his wife for marie s belongings. they gave her marie s computer. the bad news was it had been erased but i brought it into the sheriff s department for them to take a look. we had our forensic tech reanalyze the computer, and it gave us a beautiful copy of her phone download that she had done when she backed her phone up. reporter: wow. but maybe it wasn t so lucky. there were thousands of text messages, but they were an unreadable jumble of symbols and words. this particular coin reporter: though look at this. marie shot this video that did survive.
with baby grace. it was a few days after they left when jason went to the police to tell his disturbing story. that they had a physical run-in the day that she went missing. then a piece of luck. before they left, marie s friend kay had asked the pastor and his wife for marie s belongings. they gave her marie s computer. the bad news was it had been erased but i brought it into the sheriff s department for them to take a look. we had our forensic tech reanalyze the computer and it gave us a beautiful copy of her phone download that she had done when she backed her phone up. wow. but maybe it wasn t so lucky. there were thousands of text messages, but they were an unreadable jumble of symbols and words. this particular coin though look at this, marie shot this video that did survive. showing the pastor hawking gold and silver online, apparently while running the church.
you know the machine that spits out tickets when you enter an airport parking lot? that very ticket goes back to the at toll both when you leave. keith and i went to the little toll booth where you give the maybe, thought the detectives, the parking ticket for marie s mazda would tell them not just when it was dropped off but, a more important question, by whom? we were thinking let s get a at thumbprint, or a fingerprint on one and went through every single one of them until we found the one at that marie s car had received. and yes, they got a print. but no, it wasn t clear enough to tell whose it was. then another thought hey, let s go pull surveillance video. and of course you looked at all of it. well, no. the video didn t wor
then, another thought. hey, let s go pull surveillance video. and of course reporter: you looked at all of it. well, no. the video didn t wor it wasn t working. reporter: oh. during the time that we needed. this case, for sure, was an investigator s worst nightmare. reporter: dead ends everywhere. yes. reporter: and weeks went by. no sign of marie anywhere. time to embrace the thought they d frankly, had all along. and it wasn t a good one. keith and i both no longer believed we had a missing person. we believed we were dealing with a homicide investigation. but what s the hardest homicide investigation you can be given? one without a body. reporter: yeah. and we didn t have marie. coming up, the startling secret that marie kept from just about everyone. i went up and i put my hand on her stomach and i said what s going on with this? when dateline continues.