person. then she vanished. i called the police. something is wrong. and something was. days passed, then months, no leads, no clues, no progress. we ve got to get going. we ve got to get moving on this. enter the a-team. a band of tough guy privatize. yes something to hide. a brief encounter with the mysterious stranger. on the train coming home, she had met this woman. did that hold the answer? she s talking about how someone is trying to assume her identity. a chilling case of a daughter in danger. somebody was after her. welcome to dateline. i m lester holt. she was beautiful, talented, trusting, and sometimes troubled. a young woman from a prominent family finally grabbing the promise and life right up to the day she vanished. when the police seemed unable to find her, her family had to plan, and the usual strategy to solve the mystery. here is keith morrison. it began on the bright morning in may. slipped from its platform in washington stat
georgia, with her dog, ella. her roommate, julia karrenbauer, from college days had slept in that morning. julia karrenbauer: she had left me a note, just a little note on a chalkboard. took ella, went hiking. not where, not when, not when i m going to be back. so it wasn t really anything out of the ordinary. dennis murphy (voiceover): meredith, like roomie julia, was a dog person. she doted on ella, her black lab mix, since finding her at a rescue shelter. julia karrenbauer: she had two dogs growing up, and she wanted one of her own. and so she just kind of talked about it and researched what she wanted and definitely wanted to rescue a dog. and finally found one, went out, loved her, and brought her home. and it really was the light of her life. dennis murphy (voiceover): julia, the roommate, didn t know that meredith and ella were heading 40 miles north to blood mountain in the chattahoochee national forest. despite the creepy teen slasher movie name, blood mountain is one of the m
the famous appalachian trail to maine takes off from just south of here. back in buford, the roommate spent her new year s day with friends and didn t notice that meredith hadn t come home until the next morning, a back to work day. she would leave ella in my room. and i would take care of her in the morning. and i m like, oh, ella s not here. that was a little strange to me. and i called her cell phone, and it went straight to voicemail. and i kind of thought maybe she was at work. when did you become anxious, julia? when i got to work. she worked with a good friend of ours. and the friend called me and said meredith didn t show up for work. and meredith was always at work. she was the first one at work. dennis murphy (voiceover): reliable meredith wasn t where she was supposed to be. julia called the sheriff s office. then she and some of meredith s other friends assembled a search party. maybe she d twisted her ankle hiking and taken a tumble. they started with that note on the chal