and i m natalie morales and this is dateline . marie was a very loving person she had a heart of gold. what happened to this woman? my job is to be a truth teller and seek out the truth i wanted to solve it her case was a mystery fo years. the mom with a tender heart an tough as nails career. she was part of the sheriff s department. her ultimate goal was to try t get into the fbi she found a new sense o purpose in the church. her pastor and his wife, lik family they had taken her in they were helping her out. it s like, i m proud of you you re finding god then, one baffling text and she was gone i go, i know, i probabl watch a lot of law & order but i have this really gut feeling. because i was a mom, i just knew she didn t leave on her own. there was no way she left that baby two moms at opposite ends o a mystery. could one get justice for th other? this case for sure was an investigator s worst nightmare soon, clues to a hidden life a very
few lines that suggest polygamy? that s correct. we if it was one and the very practical polygamy in the home of th pastor was carefully under wraps. so did tanya worry about wha might happen that s what she was coverin up she had to protect james and protect their world. did she do something to marie to protect james two months after marie she disappeared, the detectives go permission to look at the cell phone records of all three o them would they prove tanya was wit marie when she vanished and, thus, did something to her cell phone tower informatio from the area no. nowhere near marie so, they check the cell towers for james s phone, and what do you know when marie sent that last text message saying she was leaving town both her phone and the pasture
you. and i thought, you know, how cool is that but then. then marie gave birth, and i wasn t cool for marie, not anymore. and certainly not adoption every time we started t broach the subject with her, she did get withdrawn. so, maybe tanya would not get baby grace maybe marie wanted it all, the baby and james, all fo herself. that s what this member of the inner circle believed. but i - did i hear that from marie that marie wanted james. did tanya strike back somehow, fight for her marriag by getting rid of marie? listen to how church members quote tanya s words. she s basically like, james
man named james flanders, wh preached the bible four square preached in jeans, sneakers. lived streamed and youtubed hi sermons. it was a very happening place. jason anderson was the yout pastor i fell asleep listening t his sermons. [laughs] but more than that, the pastor and his wife, james and tanya flanders were known fo their big hearts, thei charity. and that s when for a thir time, a family took in marie she saying that she was there until she got on her feet but a whole year went by. and then, what was comin couldn t be hidden the story floating around? there had been an abusiv boyfriend who abandoned her an left her pregnant. and in july, 2011, marie gav birth to a baby girl and named her grace. the pastor and his wife took care of both of them it was explained to me that they were helping her out. that she was down on her luck.
what he said i can t tell. you he never once had anything to me else but, it s bad james seemed suicidal, said the elder. so he called a doctor friend and the doctor committed the preacher to a psychiatric ward for ten days during which time, jason too over preacher duties but then, jason hurd things, not about what happened to marie, but about the polygamy. another church leaders confronted him and tanya this was a come to jesus moment this was the hardest thing ever had to do was to confront my pastor your mentor sure. and james admitted it he had been sleeping with tw women in the same house. and then, youth pastor jason told the detectives, in that cloistered setting, james kept talking. and told a terrible story. him and marie have had physical or to caution befor