very soon. he was given a bond and was about to bond out like 10:30 on monday night. reporter: the weekend was over. monday ticked by. it s a long process. it s not like a tv show where you can they do it in 40 minutes and you have a hit. so i knew it was going to take a while. i just kept praying that it would happen earlier. reporter: and then, just minutes before travis s release, a call from the cbi. we had a hit. wow. yes. reporter: the man who attacked lydia tillman was, the dna confirmed, travis forbes. it was the biggest adrenaline dump ever. and of course i called detective gurule in tears. we did it. he s charged. he s in jail. he s not getting out. i was relieved that now he s going to be in jail and he won t be able to hurt nobody. now we know where he s at, so i don t have to be searching for him.
to say detective gurule is imposing is perhaps an understatement. looks more like a character from the sopranos. but hates when children go missing. i wanted to find her. i wanted to give her family closure. i wanted to give the city of denver closure. i was determined to bring her home. i was determined to bring her home. reporter: carrie lombardi was the deputy d.a. assigned to the case. i felt a lot of pressure personally to give this family some closure. i couldn t stand the thought of having a child out there and not knowing if they were alive or where they were. and i really wanted to be able to give them that information. reporter: they focused first of course on the good samaritan, the guy who d given kenia a ride, travis forbes.
made any sense to me. reporter: tony called the denver police to report all that but was told, remember, that the cops couldn t open an investigation because kenia hadn t been missing long enough. i m pissed. i m sitting there, i m like i can t believe this. so i took matters into my own hands. i called travis back. and i said, travis, i ve got some questions i want to ask you. tell me again where you last saw her at. and he says, well, i was at this conoco station. tell you what, why don t you meet me there? i told him i m on my way. immediately i was so afraid. i said, oh, my god. i grabbed the 9-millimeter pistol. i packed it in my waist. and i told her, i m on my way to meet this guy. maria was down on her hands and knees literally begging me, tony, don t do this, don t go down there, this is dangerous, this don t sound right. i told her i ve got to go, they re not going to do
no death penalty, no sex crimes charges. and in exchange he would give them a complete confession. what he did to kenia and lydia. and one more thing. he would show them exactly where kenia was. and so on a humid morning in september 2011 forbes found himself in a procession of police cars on a country road northeast of denver. investigators had been here many times before, searching the fields near the farm town of keenesburg looking for kenia. but this day travis had solemnly promised he was going to show them. trailing a car behind travis was d.a. kerri lombardi, nervous, anxious, and pessimistic. i was worried he wouldn t follow through. because i felt like he sort of liked this game, i thought. so on the way what were you thinking? will he do this? will he not? will something spook him? will he change his mind? is this a big farce?
sending texts right after 11:00 p.m. but of course her phone kept receiving texts, practically all night. her boyfriend started texting her asking her, hey, where you at? you being good? hey, you re not contacting me. reporter: the next morning the texts continued from kenia s friends, all asking where was she. and then there was a dead area, and then the next text that came in was about 7:00 p.m. that night. reporter: but this one? this one jumped off the screen, was just plain weird. and the message said, hey, this is travis, the guy in the creepy white van, smiley face. did you get home okay? reporter: travis? who was travis? nobody in kenia s circle of friends and family had ever heard of anybody named travis. i kept calling him. i kept leaving these messages. reporter: no answer. no calls back. at this point the mysterious travis in the creepy white van was the only possible lead in their daughter s disappearance.