and the veteran who d seen just about everything. and who soon learned from friends and family that marie was deeply attached to both her daughters. she had a heart of gold and loved her paris more than anything in the world. reporter: but what happened in her life? and how did she end up with another baby? from esta the detectives learned about the divorce and how marie had lost her job, and how the pastor and his wife offered her a place to stay. but the questions about baby grace? esta said her relationship with marie was always supportive, and not judgmental. and when marie didn t tell her who the father was, she didn t push the subject. i ve never questioned her because marie will tell me in her own time if she wants to tell me. i ve learned with my sister i never pry. reporter: but that was the job of the detectives, nesli and keith, to pry, and hopefully, to find marie. and one of their first calls was
about it and talking to paris. reporter: she d been gone a week when the sheriff asked detective keith matz to look into it. that text message. something off, said her family. this doesn t sound like marie. reporter: huh, so when you got that one the antenna must have gone up, huh? the antennas did go up. reporter: detective nesli suhi-moore didn t hear about the case then. because i was on leave. reporter: on maternity leave. correct. so and i came back, two weeks after she was initially reported missing. reporter: and that s when nesli heard from other detectives about the case keith was working on. poor keith had no idea that i was going to come bully my way into that investigation. reporter: and why did you want to bully your way into the investigation? i think the connection of just having a child i just knew that she didn t leave on her own. reporter: so here they were. partners. the young detective who happened to be a brand-new mother.
be connected with her, there it s my fault. i m sure it s the way people would look at it, it s james. do you know where marie is? no, i do not. if i did, i would go get her. did you kill marie carlson? no. reporter: and that was that. they were stalled. marie was missing. and the case was getting very cold. coming up, new revelations from the pastor. they were sending pornographic photos back and forth from the church. and an answer at last to the biggest mystery of all. where was marie? nesli passed me a note that said, i missed her. i was pretty devastated. the guilt. the feeling of, i could have found her six months after she was reported missing. when dateline continues.
reporter: though look at this. marie shot this video that did survive. showing the pastor hawking gold and silver online, apparently while running the church. valuing this coin at over $500. lemme tell you, that s exciting stuff. reporter: was james just a pastor? or part time flim-flam man? so this is where things stood when an anonymous tip came in. crimestoppers. reporter: startling. if true, it would solve the case. and in the tip, it says that james buried her in the backyard. reporter: that s some tip. yeah. i can remember getting that tip and thinking, no way. like, who would who would kill somebody and bury them in their own backyard? reporter: could be bogus, of course. just another false lead. but nesli was hopeful. we brought cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar and we didn t find anything. reporter: nothing? nothing. reporter: no body. so what happened to marie? more months went by.
reporter: she would ve never have left without talkin to me about it. and talkin to paris. she d been gone a week when the sheriff asked detective keith matz to look into it. that text message. something off, said her family. this doesn t sound like marie. reporter: huh, so when you got that one the antenna must have gone up, huh? the antennas did go up. reporter: detective nesli suhi-moore didn t hear about the case then. because i was on leave. reporter: on maternity leave. correct. so and i came back, two weeks after she was initially reported missing. reporter: and that s when nesli heard from other detectives about the case keith was working on. and poor keith had no idea that i was gonna come bully my way into that investigation. reporter: and why did you wanna bully your way into the investigation? i think the connection of just having a child i just knew that she didn t leave on her own. reporter: so here they were. partners.