and it was like peeling, like, the scars away from my heart telling the whole story each time. rob stafford: but once the trail went cold, and the media tired of her story, michelle resigned herself to the probability mark weinberger was gone forever. michelle: i had hoped that he would be caught, but i thought there was a really good chance that he would die on the run in europe, and nobody would know where he was. rob stafford: then in september, 2008, four years after mark weinberger left her with nothing but her passport and 1,000 euros, michelle kramer got a call from the fbi asking her to do one more interview, this one with the crime show, america s most wanted. michelle: the fbi hoped that i would help them, because they weren t getting anywhere with the case. i had stopped doing a lot of media at that point. i was focusing on my career and trying to move forward, but i thought, ok, i ll help with the investigation. i felt like i really needed an answer from him. rob stafford
i would live here. monica: why not? for sure. rob stafford: these were the happy times, the moments when past burdens seemed to melt away like spring snow. but monica says there were also days when her lover seemed to be cracking under the weight of something unseen, and yet undeniable. monica: november, 2009, he was a little depressed, because it was cold, and the tent was alone. and so it was difficult, really difficult. one day, he began to cry. what s up, mark? what s up? stanco, i m tired. i m really tired. why, mark? forget, but i m tired. rob stafford: was mark stern just tired of living in a tent or tired of living a lie? whichever it was, as he settled in for another cold and lonely night on the mountain, he had no idea of how close his past
i m a surgeon. did he say anything about the charges against no, no. rob stafford: while at the police station, weinberger was given a cursory pat-down and offered lunch. colonel di vita: he had food with us at our same table. rob stafford: was he hungry? i think yes. also, because our food here is very, very i m want to say good. rob stafford: according to officers at the table, weinberger seemed to be enjoying himself, until the moment this bizarre story took an unexpected and desperate turn. what can you say about what happened next? we d better talk about that, please. rob stafford: coming up, mark weinberger had not yet given up on escaping his past. he did not want to go back. there was too much a trail of devastation. i don t think they have any idea of what s going to happen. he pulls a knife out that he has concealed. rob stafford: when dateline continues.
it makes perfect sense to me, because that s exactly what a narcissist does. mark: so this is base camp. rob stafford: monica recorded this video of her boyfriend s mountain campsite on her cell phone. mark: so the city is growing a little rob stafford: though his taste for having the very best gear money could buy is evidence, the new and improved alpine mark demonstrates that he has learned the value of improvisation. these are $8 gardening gloves, and i got sick of getting my hands wet with my expensive 100 euro high tech gore-tex gloves. rob stafford: in this clip, mark and monica have found an unoccupied shelter on the mountain. it s not as posh as that chicago townhouse he once owned, but after months of living alone in a tent, this shelter seems to suit him. if i owned this place, i would live here.
michelle thought, another pointless appeal broadcast into the ether. you know, he s probably living kind of the high life once again somewhere in the mediterranean. rob stafford: but this time was different. this time, the mark weinberger story found extended shelf life on the internet, where more than a year later, on december 9, 2009, the right pair of eyes finally found it. monica: so i received a strange call to my phone. it was a friend, and he told me, monica, mark is not what he claimed to be. what do you mean? trust me. rob stafford: the next day, that friend met with monica and showed her a picture of the man she knew as mark stern. it was a printout taken from the america s most wanted website. my entire world fall. my knees crack. what s up?