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 and certainly not adoption every time we started t broach the subject with her, she did get withdrawn.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
it all come out. about that night of sake and sex, when grace was conceived. yeah he had a little bi too. i was the only one that was. but yes, i was there yes, in the room. but of course she was, sai tanya. and almost casually. she revealed the heresy that should it ever become public would ruin them. was marie going to move i and she would be number two. for a wife or whatever you call them sister wife it was, in short, polygamy, or their homegrown version o it tanya told detectives sh understood the bargain ver well i ve always seen relationship as sex is not a relationship. a relationship is two people coming together. and sex is just a bonus. a very secret bonus, of course kept from almost everyone. but inside the bubble of their relationship, tanya said, they were happy she goes, you know what i am so glad that you are goin to be raising grace. she said, i m so glad that i m gonna be able to do that wit
yeah do you wonder whether tanya had more to do with this i think that will always be in the back of our minds but, you know. i think she may have known mor than she wants to see. but tanya was never charged at her defense attorney said she was truly shocked by james s confession. i can tell you as a matte of fact, i m having to tell he what happened, she did not know later that afternoon, nesli escorted james flanders into his former backyard, where h marked with a little flags, th spot where he buried marie carlson five years earlier and then he fell on the ground crying and told her, i m sorry. what an act, thought nesli it took hours, but finally almost five feet deep, wrapped in a blanket, they found wha was left of marie. i was shaking i was crying so much i don t think i ve ever crie so loud.