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
of the sad case of another woman who d gone missing, cheryl dunlap, a nurse and mother. when cheryl didn t turn up for church one december sunday in 2007 and then missed her sunday school class, red flags went up. next door neighbor and friend tanya land. sunday morning at church, i turned around and looked at her usual spot, and she wasn t there. and she didn t teach her class. she didn t. and immediately, we knew something was wrong because that s just not like her. dennis murphy (voiceover): everyone who knew her agreed 46-year-old cheryl was reliable, a woman solid in her faith and set in her habits. her fellow nurse friend and prayer partner, laura walker. she always liked to hear what we call our praise reports, like something good that happened with a patient or a coworker. dennis murphy (voiceover): when monday morning rolled around and tanya still hadn t been able to reach cheryl, she walked next door. i went back down to her house and saw that the dog was at the house, but t
so that s a big break. yes, sir, and then upon viewing that video in leon county, it was clear it was not her. this was a male subject using her card. he was disguising his face. so we knew at that point definitely that it was probably not going to be a good outcome for ms. dunlap. dennis murphy (voiceover): the disguised man made three separate withdrawals of $700. the atm he tapped was in downtown tallahassee near the campus of the state u, miles from where cheryl s car was found. so you and the team stake out the atm machine. annie white: we stayed there several days, day and night, watching the atm. and he never came back to that one. dennis murphy (voiceover): the search for cheryl stretched on for weeks. tanya land: and a lot of us went out on our own and searched the woods and went to places we thought, you know, she could possibly be. dennis murphy: but the more time goes on, inevitably laura walker: i just remember just the fear sets in, huh? yeah, just sleepless dennis mu
dennis murphy (voiceover): cheryl s daughter-in-law tabitha called the sheriff s office to report her missing. when tanya said she didn t show up for work, i knew that there was a problem. dennis murphy (voiceover): after that missing persons report was filed, the friends heard about a car that looked like cheryl s spotted on the side of the highway leading into tallahassee. they headed up there. tanya land: it was cheryl s car and immediately, they sent a deputy up there and just took over from that point. are you apprehensive? yeah, i was very uneasy. i knew that there was something wrong. dennis murphy (voiceover): cheryl s car was parked well off the highway. florida department of law enforcement agent annie white. it was pretty clear from the beginning that that s not someplace that she would have parked it, as well as the tire looked like it had been purposely flattened on the vehicle. dennis murphy (voiceover): an abandoned car, a slashed tire. lord, where is she? dennis murphy