sister's husband disappear. >> they said lesley didn't show up for work. >> lesley's life had seemed perfect but maybe that was an illusion. >> she mentioned going underground. >> yes, she did. >> had something driven her to leave town or had something very different happened? >> they told you a dead body was in the back of the car? >> correct. >> but with few clues, hollywood would stage a dramatic press conference hoping to bring out the killer. >> i was just floored by what was happening. >> hello and welcome to "dateline. " aasha davis moved to hollywood with big dreams and her sister lesley. in a town built on deception, the police came one a plan. it was a dramatic stunt scripted to smoke out a suspect and the stakes were high. here's josh mankiewicz with "a sister's search." >> in the movies and on tv, people can disappear without a trace leaving family and friends with nothing more than memories and worry. in real life, vanishing is more a magician's trick than an everyday occurrence. which brings us to that cross roads where magic and entertainment collide. hollywood. the cops who roll down these streets call it holly weird because they know anything can happen here and sometimes what does happen makes no sense. hollywood is a real place but it is also a myth. and the fantasy of what might be has always drawn the hopeful from every town in the america with a bus station. for quite different reasons, it drew these two sisters, lesley and aasha. may be you recognize aasha davis. she's one of the few for whom the hollywood fantasy came true. within a few years of their move west, her star was rising. in 2007 she caught her big break on "friday night lights. " she was cast as waverly. the sharp as a tack preacher's daughter. just as aasha's career was taking off, a real life drama began. one that would test her strength in a way the climb up the hollywood ladder never had. >> hi, i'm here to plead for help to find my sister lesley. >> aasha was used to facing the cameras but this wasn't on the set or for a publicity tour. the scene was a news conference where aasha begged for help from anyone who would listen. >> we are heart broken and extremely concerned for her well being. >> any sister would be frantic with worry. but she and her big sister lesley were closer than most despite their gap in age. >> she was how much older? >> she was nine years older than me. >> so she was sort of a surrogate mom? >> yeah. she was almost like having another mom. my mom was a single mom so she she worked day and night, double shifts and lesley was in charge of us. she was a mama bear. >> lesley always wanted things a certain way, her way. she was definitely type a. everyone in the family knew if lesley was in charge, everything would be just right. >> my sister was the type, even when we were younger, she would take me on dates with her. >> i'm sure they loved that. >> that's who she was. she made sure we were taken care of. >> lesley never stopped feeling responsible for aasha. so a few months after aasha moved wet in late 1997, lesley followed. she found herself an office job that some of us would call boring. but in it lesley saw material for stories that kept her sister laughing. >> she was so charismatic and such a great story teller. she could take a little tiny thing like a tape dispenser and create this amazing story. >> the move west had been good for both sisters. especially for lesley after she met the right guy in an unlikely place. the 99 cent store. >> by the time we were checking out, he was giving her his number and i think they went to the movies afterwards. they were inseparable after that. >> his name was lyle herring. he had a good job as a recruiter at a local university. he had grown up in los angeles and his wooing lesley was spent on a courtship at warp speed. >> she called me and said do you want to be a witness at my wedding? and i'm like, you're getting married? she's like, yeah. >> married less than a year after they met, lesley and lyle were clearly happy together. >> they seemed a pretty good match. >> yes. >> vivian tellford thought her oldest daughter had found for her the perfect man. >> lesley and lyle even dressed alike. they had the same jackets, they had the same sweaters, they had the same caps. >> and they were together all the time? >> all the time. >> it was funny about lyle. after the marriage, he became closer to lesley's family than he was to his own. vivian felt it. >> he always told me he loved me more than he loved his own mother, and he told me that my family was better to him than his own family. >> you loved him like a son. >> i loved him like a son. >> as for lesley, she was the mama bear. first to aasha and then after they got together, to her husband lyle. but it was her own mother who lived across the country to whom lesley turned for comfort. >> and you talked to her almost every day? >> every day. 10:45 every morning on her way to work and sometimes in the afternoon. >> how old was she? >> 45. >> and she was still calling her mom every day. >> she called me in the morning so we could pray together. >> they shared daily prayers and they shared confidences. in fact, lesley would talk to only her mother during those rare times when she was ticked off at lyle. >> whenever she was unhappy, if i wanted her to laugh, i would always say to her, what do you expect? you met him in the 99 cent store? >> soon enough, aasha was married, too, in 2008 she and her husband jesse found out she was pregnant with a boy. >> lesley was so excited to have a nephew and she was so supportive. she threw my baby shower. she was going to get to see her little sister become a mom. >> the little boy named everett joined the family in january 2009 and though aunt lesley was sick with a cold, she couldn't resist coming by to look through the window at her brand new nephew. those should have been happy times for aasha and her sister. a time of the family bonding with its newest member. but then aasha got a phone call from lesley's boss that changed everything. >> he said she didn't show up for work yesterday and she's not here today. and i instantly felt wrong. >> the joy of new motherhood melted away. it was tuesday, february 10th. lesley had missed two days of work and she hadn't called in sick. together, it was completely out of character for the always responsible lesley. >> i instantly called the two people who would know where she is. that's the one she's always with, lyle herring, and my mom, who she talks to twice a day. >> aasha's mom had not heard from lesley and now they realized, lyle couldn't be found either. but no one disappears without a trace. do they? >> remember, this is hollywood where pretty much anything can happen. and like a special effect, lyle would briefly reappear. coming up -- >> he got into the back seat, slides down in the seat and pulls my suit coat over his head. >> he's hiding. >> he's hiding. >> when "dateline" continues. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help you get back in it. oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! my zone... lowering my a1c, cv risk, and losing some weight... now, back to the game! ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? 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what if they got robbed? >> they were always together during their marriage. now they were both suddenly gone. lesley is missing and lyle is missing. did you think wherever they were, they were probably together? >> yes. >> aasha and her husband jesse grabbed their newborn son and headed to the condo complex in the hollywood hills to see what if anything they could find there. >> lesley's car is there in her assigned parking spot. that made it feel heavier. like her car is here and she's not answering the phone. >> they went into the building to knock on the door. they wondered if lesley who suffered from migraines might be sick inside. their knocking got no response. they waited and waited. they returned to the garage where they saw a man parking in the spot next on lesley's. >> we said hey, have you seen the woman who owns this car? he said i haven't seen her, but i saw her husband yesterday. >> that was strange. so aasha and jesse waited in the car by the front gate. if that neighbor was right, maybe they would find lyle when he came home from work. >> i remember a few cars coming in, no, no, no of the then all of a sudden, a car that matched his description came in. >> then the car turned away from lyle and lesley's building. >> and we said oh, i guess it's not him. >> because it went in a different direction. >> that's what we thought. >> aasha and jesse probably would have waited all night but they had a new baby with them. so they headed home. it wasn't the last time aasha would have to balance being a sister and being a parent. while all this was going on you had a brand new baby. i'm guessing you weren't sleeping a whole lot anyway. i'm thinking maybe this made it just about impossible. >> i did not sleep at all. it was like such an it was like such an amalgamation of sadness and fear and love and excitement. what kept us going was the baby. >> a new life is always a reason for hope. the situation with lesley and lyle both missing was leaving the family feeling hopeless. so they called the lapd. aasha and jesse couldn't get into the herring condo but police could. officers went inside and found nothing that looked unusual. they also found no lyle and no lesley. aasha worked the phones, friends and relatives knew nothing. then she reached lyle's boss who said he hadn't heard from lesley but he thought he had seen lyle on tuesday which was the day after lesley missed work. no less confused, aasha decided it was time to file miss thing persons report. we went to the police station and we gave them a picture of lesley and the guy. said thank you and put her picture on a pile. in california, i'm sure, i don't know how many people go missing, especially in hollywood, in a day. >> a lot of people come to hollywood from somewhere else but their dreams of making it big here don't always work out. they can lose touch with their families. suddenly the folks back home are calling the cops thinking they're missing. really they're just lost in the meat grinder that is hollywood. aasha desperately needed something that would make lesley's case stand out. >> we went back to the car and we thought, i don't know where to go from here. and the phone rang. and it was malcolm thomas. >> malcolm thomas is lyle herring's cousin. he wanted to talk about a very distraught lyle who he had also seen in the days after lesley missed work. malcolm told aasha that lyle seemed almost suicidal. >> did he mention lesley at all? >> he said don't bring up her name anymore. he doesn't want to hear about her anymore. >> did you get feeling it was because of a fight or something? >> i thought maybe there was a disagreement. people do have disagreements. people split up for short periods of time and get back together. and i said, well, maybe he's just upset over something. >> lyle asked malcolm drive with him to his condo complex. lyle led the way in his suv. >> you're following lyle to his house. >> yes, i am. >> but he doesn't go straight there. >> he made a sharp left turn and that was different. >> away from his home. >> away from his home. >> they ended up in a remote garage underneath the complex. >> he opens up my back passenger side door. he got into the back seat. closes the door. slides down in the seat of the car and pulls my suit coat over his head. >> he's hiding. >> and i said don't do that in my car. what's going on? >> he said there are some people at the end of the driveway that he doesn't want to see or have them see us. >> some people near the end of the driveway? as she listened to malcolm's story, she sudden realized -- >> that's you. >> it was us. we ran back into the police station. took baby back out of seat, went back in and said we just talked to my sister's husband's cousin. and he had a really frantic interaction with him. the policeman said, wait a second. i'm going to get you a detective. >> the next person aasha met was detective chris gable. >> missing persons cases are not usually your department. >> no, they're not. >> but this was different? >> this one different. coming up, inside their home, a strange clue buried in a closet. and then inside their marriage, something buried there too. >> she found out about it and she was furious. >> she was furious. >> when "dateline" continues. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. big whoop! mine gives me a 4k streaming box. -for free! that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? ever wonder how san francisco became the greenest big city in america? just ask the employee owners of recology. we built the recycling system from the ground up, helping san francisco become the first city in the country to have a universal recycling and composting program for residents and businesses. but it all starts with you. let's keep making a differene together. >> wednesday, february 11th, 2009. detective chris gable was working the homicide table that night at the lapd's hollywood station. when the officer from the front desk walked aasha, jesse and their baby back to detectives. >> we went back to the detectives and we explained everything about lesley and about how worried we were. we didn't know what was going on. >> lyle and lesley were both missing and unreachable. maybe they were together. may be they weren't. may be they were safe and maybe they weren't. >> my instincts are that there's something suspicious going on. i still don't know what it is. they could have both taken off. i don't know these people. they live a pretty isolated lifestyle. but from the things i've found so far, it seems suspicious. >> gable checked hospitals, coroner's offices and the highway patrol and came one exactly nothing. he put out a bolo, be on the look out for, asking police throughout southern california to look for lesley and lyle herring. and he brought cousin malcolm in to hear firsthand about lyle's strange behavior. most of the family is telling you the relationship between lyle and lesley is terrific. malcolm is the only one that sends out a red flag. >> based on the previous days after she was missing, yes. >> whatever had happened was beginning to feel like foul play. gable knew he had to move fast. so at 11:00 a. m., they were in the herring condo search warrant in hand. >> the apartment didn't appear to be a place where a murder was committed. >> it didn't. but the apartment was telling to me about the people who lived there. we didn't know much about them but it was almost like an apartment divided. the part of the apartment that was lesley's, for example, was very orderly and put together. then there was a room that was lyle's and it was like a tornado had been through it. >> but still -- no sign of a struggle. >> no. >> no blood. >> no visible blood. the only thing that caught my attention was there was a large amount of towels hanging over the showers of both bathrooms. i just made note of it but i thought there was a flood or something that they sopped up. >> inside the apartment he also saw spilled candle wax. if the ocd lesley had seen that, she would have cleaned it up right away. so did it happen after she left? and they found something else. a receipt from starbucks dated february 9th at 9:17 p. m. that was the first day lesley missed work. where did you find that receipt? >> that receipt was found inside of a purse, inside of lesley's purse. inside of her closet. >> so presumably it was lesley that went to starbucks? >> exactly. >> it was 6am when they finished collecting their evidence and night turned to day in hollywood. what had dawned on these detectives was that this may not have been the happy home of a happy couple. a visit with aasha's mother vivian gave them a glance. >> lyle put a certain spice in the food. when she asked him what spice he had in the food, he couldn't tell her. >> vivian knew certain spices triggered lesley's debilitating migraines but vivian also knew, and was the only one who did know, this fight over spices was a symptom of so much going on between mr. and mrs. lyle herring. things had not been good between your daughter-in-law. >> no. they had financial problems. >> to say these were financial problems is to understate what had been happening. vivian said lesley had told her that lyle needed cash badly. so badly that he had committed identity theft against his own wife. >> he forged her signature and took money from her credit cards. >> and she found out about that? >> yes. >> and i'm guessing she was pretty furious. >> yes, she was furious. >> it turned out that for months, lesley had been telling her mother she was nearing the end of her rope. vivian cautioned lesley not to tell lyle she was thinking of leaving him. >> i said if you want to leave, you cannot let him know what your plans are. just leave. >> so don't tell in advance? >> no. >> don't leave a note? >> no. >> was this mother trying to hold on to anything that might mean her missing daughter was still alive? or did she know more than she was saying? >> coming up -- a new clue pushes the investigation into high gear. >> i'm guessing you watched that video will several times. >> oh, yeah. >> when "dateline" continues. when a truck hit my car, the insurance company wasn't fair. i didn't know what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. i was hit by a car and needed help. i called the barnes firm, that was the best call i could've made. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to know how much their accident case is worth. let our injury attorneys help you get the best result possible. working conditions and better ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ health and pension plans for the lines of motion picture producers. i judged in i'd dismissals for josie smollett's case. he's accused of lying to police about being the victim of racist novel phobic hate crimes in 2019, he's denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty. and now back to dateline. >> welcome back to "dateline. " lesley and lyle both vanished and a search of the couple's apartment left investigators with more questions than answers. there were no signs of a struggle but detectives did find suspicious items including a starbucks receipt in lesley's purse which would soon lead them to a telling clue. once again, here's josh mankiewicz " a sister's search. " >> no one seemed to know where lesley herring was. her husband lyle had been seen but wasn't returning anyone's calls. not even those from the lapd. had lesley simply left her husband without a word to anyone? it seemed unlikely but then her sister aasha was still in the process of learning about lesley's marriage. how bad it really was. how unhappy lesley was. things lesley was apparently telling only their mother. >> the thing about my sister, i think she wanted people to believe she had it all together. she wouldn't tell us about the problems she was having with lyle. >> she had always taken care of you. you're on tv. and doing great and maybe she thought, you know what? i'm not going to break aasha's concentration for a minute. >> definitely. yeah. out of protection. a little bit of pride. >> so perhaps lesley was still alive somewhere and just keeping her head down. it is what vivian was hoping. >> i believed that lesley would come home. i went to sleep every night and imagined i could hear the doorbell ring. i could imagine that there were knocks on the door. i imagined the phone would ring. >> she believed it because vivian knew something that aasha didn't know. something vivian didn't tell detectives right away. that lesley had spoken openly to her mother months earlier about some people who could help her just vanish. underground. >> she mentioned going underground. >> yes, she did. >> did she seem serious? >> she wanted to leave. >> as much as he knew her family wanted to believe that, detective chris gable knew, it didn't make sense. >> you would bring something. she had a lot of cash she left behind. she would have her migraine medication. for all intents and purposes, there was nothing. she took nothing with her. >> and one week after lesley was a no show at work, their investigation changed course. remember that starbucks receipt police found in lesley's hand bag? gable and his partner vicky bynum got their first look at the security video from starbucks showing the cash register at the exact time the purchase was made. >> i'm guessing you watched that video several times. >> oh, yeah. >> it's pretty clear video and it is pretty clear that it isn't lesley. >> lo and behold, it is lyle herring. lyle herring by himself, no wife, with his long dread lock hair and he purchases a single item. >> he didn't buy another cup for someone waiting outside. >> no. and we're looking for that, obviously. >> you're thinking you were meant to find it in lesley's purse? >> i suspected so. as the investigation moved forward, i knew that we were expected to find it there. >> three more days passed. an instant in hollywood. an eternity for aasha and her family. then the bolo got a hit. lyle herring had been stopped at the mexican border. not fleeing but returning to the united states. the detectives dropped everything and headed south. >> you don't want to wait until the next day. >> oh, no. our spidy senses were up thinking something could be awry. we needed to get down there and talk to him. and we needed to find put to lesley was with him. if not, where is she? and what does he know? >> finally the detectives heard a story from lyle that explained just about everything. he confirmed what his mother-in-law had told the cops. that he and lesley had been fighting that weekend. they'd been fighting a lot but this time he said was different. lesley had apparently had about enough of him and lyle said when he woke up in their apartment that sunday morning, lesley was gone. >> did she just leave to go to the store and never came back? what happened? >> she just got up and left. >> the detectives were surprised to hear all this from a closely cropped lyle herring. a man who had been known for years for his long dreadlocks. he explained that he owed money to some gang members. that when he couldn't pay them back, they held him down and cut off his hair. >> you used to work the gang unit. >> yes. >> have you ever heard of a gang holding someone down and giving them a haircut as a way of getting money they wanted. >> not only have i not heard that. but the shave was a little added touch that i had never heard. a little hard to keep a straight face when i heard that. >> lyle said before she dumped him, he and lesley had planned a valentines vacation in mexico and he had gone there to look for her a week after she disappeared. >> so part of it was to look for hear? >> stupid, right? >> it's not stupid at all. if it was me, i would be looking for my wife wherever i could. >> but lyle had come up empty. >> do you have any idea where your wife is? >> i do not. >> then gable asked lyle if during his search, he had tried to phone or email his wife. listen to lyle's answer. >> i called her, i believe, i can't verify it. in my mind, i'm so tired. but this can be verified from my cell phone to hers. you can check my cell phone records. >> he volunteered, check my cell phone records. >> yes. >> did you think he wants me to see his cell phone records the same as the starbucks receipt? >> yes. >> suspicious? yes. but proof of a crime, not even close. lyle herring was not under arrest for anything. but gable was able to seize lyle's suv. he then brought in indiana bones from the l. a. county coroner's office. a german shepherd trained to sniff out the scent of human decomposition. they sent the dog through lyle's suv and also through a classic cadillac he owned. in both vehicles, she stopped in her tracks and alerted. >> the dog told you that at one time a dead body had been in the back of lyle's car. >> correct. >> that's when you knew she was dead. >> yes. >> gable did not share that with lesley's family because he wasn't close to closing the case. there was still so much he. didn't have, a crime scene, a witness, or the one thing most homicide investigations begin with, a body. had you ever done a murder case in which you didn't have a dead body? >> no. this is the first one. >> you never did that before. >> no, i never have. >> the herring case wasn't going to be easy so detective gable said he needed a little help from the media. he held a press conference. but this would be a press conference unlike any you've ever seen. it would be pure theater. worthy of hollywood. everyone would be there. detectives, family, even the prime suspect. >> coming up -- lesley's husband center stage in a command performance. >> he didn't want to speak. >> i would like the introduce lyle herring. >> when "dateline" continues. ide. it's true, with diabetic retinopathy, excess sugar can damage blood vessels, causing vision loss or even blindness. so remember this: now is the time to get your eyes checked. eye care is important to your long-term diabetes management. see a path forward with actions and treatments that may help your eyes— and protect against vision loss. visit noweyesee.com and take control of your sight. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ it's a new dawn... ♪ if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help. with original medicare, you're covered for hospital stays and doctor office visits but you'll have to pay a deductible for each. a medicare supplement plan can cover your deductibles and co-insurance, but you may pay higher premiums and still not get prescription drug coverage. but with an all-in-one humana medicare advantage plan, you could get all that coverage plus part d prescription drug benefits. you get all this coverage for as low as a $0 monthly plan premium in many areas. humana has a large network of doctors and hospitals, and telehealth coverage with a $0 copay. so call or go online today and get your free decision guide. discover how an all-in-one humana medicare advantage plan could save you money. humana - a more human way to healthcare. >> lesley herring was still missing. she hadn't turned up dead or alive. now the detectives turned to the family with a request. it wasn't an easy one. >> you and your mom all give police a dna sample. >> uh-huh. >> now, you know when police get to that point -- >> yeah. >> they're probably not looking for a live person anymore. >> that was -- >> hard to do? >> yeah. it is like you end up talking about all these morbid things. talking about finding bodies, where is she, what kind of ending did she have? >> those were questions detective gable had, too. questions he wasn't close to answering. so 44 days after lesley went missing, the lapd held what started as a press conference and ended as something quite different. >> i thank you all for being here this morning. >> gable hoped getting lesley's story in the news might jog someone's memory in a way that would roll the investigation forward. aasha and her entire family were there. and so was lyle. did you think he was going to speak? >> he didn't want to speak. >> i would like to introduce lyle herring, the husband of lesley at this time. >> our captain just went ahead and said the next person to speak is lyle herring. i think he had no choice at that point. if lesley is out there listening to us, please come home. let us know what's going on. >> then it was aasha's turn it is very unusual for her to not be in touch with her family. she is a creature of habit. this is why her disappearance is so alarming to us. >> for aasha the actress, this day played out more strangely than any script she had ever followed. >> the press conference was really difficult because it was the first time i would see lyle since it happened. >> how did you not run up to him and start shaking him? >> to me, approach everything with love i didn't think shaking him would get an answer. i hugged him like i always do when i see him. >> that didn't work either? >> no. >> she did not run away. >> unlike his sister, aasha and lesley's brother did not approach lyle with love. >> i would like you, lyle, to tell me what's going on here. we came a long way to know what's going on. this is killing our family. >> through it all stood lyle herring. either a husband worried about his wife or a killer worried about being caught. >> i'm the lead investigator for this case -- >> when detective gable began to speak, a reporter asked if lyle was being helpful in the search for his missing wife. >> i would describe his cooperation as fragmented and less than helpful. >> at one point, reporters asked detective gable, is lyle cooperating? and with lyle standing right there, detective gable says not really. >> i was, you know, just floored by what was happening. >> and gable wasn't done laying out the inconsistencies in lyle's story. to an audience of eager listeners that included lyle. >> he left the condominium on tuesday and went to san diego to apply for a job at colleges down there. following that, he went down to mexico for a day. >> then reporters turned on lyle. >> he said you're less than cooperative? >> lyle told gable, he did not want to answer. >> this is your opportunity to speak. >> and lyle took it. >> let me clarify one thing. we are taking things out of context, okay? i had an opportunity to take a trip -- we had an opportunity to take a trip to mexico, to celebrate for valentine's day. i went down to look for her to all the places i thought she would be. that was one of the places we had planned to go. so for detective gable to take it out of context and throw it out there, he went to mexico, yes, to look for my wife. >> but gable had never believed that lyle went to mexico to look for lesley. >> obviously he's lying and i can see it. >> seeing through lyle's lies was one thing. what gable really needed was a break. >> i kind of get the feeling what you were hoping for with that press conference was not someone who had seen lesley alive but maybe somebody who had seen lyle in the process of moving her or disposing of her body. >> yes. that's what i was hoping for. >> somebody maybe you hadn't talked to before. >> yes. >> and it paid off. >> it paid off immediately. >> coming up -- what a new witness claims he saw. a stunning revelation. >> you think that was lesley? >> absolutely. >> when "dateline" continues. after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised quiet and think about her. it ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ is all about her today. >> in the weeks after that surreal press conference, aasha davis continued getting the word out about her sister lesley herring. lyle herring continued to play the part of the grieving husband. inside hollywood station, the detectives were continuing to put the case together against lyle. one no dna, no blood and no body. but there was evidence that came in tiny little pieces. they found an undated dear john type letter that lesley had written to lyle saying she was leaving him. that she was broken. and detectives finally got the cell phone records that lyle was so eager for them to see. >> here we have february 7th and this is their condominium here. >> it turns out lyle did call lesley after the time he said she had run off. but the records had more details than lyle expected. >> there was activity between both phones. that part is true. >> but? >> the problem was where the phones were located. based off the cell towers, we were able to show the phones were in the same location. >> so suggesting that lyle was holding his phone and dialing lesley's phone in his other hand? >> exactly. >> then came the lead spawned by that press conference. >> thank you very much for coming down. >> a neighbor from the condo complex had seen lyle herring getting into the elevator around 12:30 a. m. sunday on that weekend that lesley disappeared. lyle was moving what looked like a big rolled up carpet. >> what was the diameter, would you say? >> it was pretty thick. it was round. round enough for a body to be inside it. >> you think that was lesley inside that carpet? >> absolutely. >> would it take more than a year but in 2010, lyle herring was finally arrested and charged with the murder of his wife lesley. it would take three more years to get to trial. >> over the next few weeks, my colleague here and i are going to present to you the layered web of evidence that caught him. put him in this courtroom and proves beyond a reasonable doubt that that man, that calculating husband, that killer is the defendant, lyle herring. >> what do you think happened? >> i learned throughout the investigation that one of the things lyle does when they're having arguments is that he washes lesley's hair. >> as a way of what? >> getting back into her good graces. >> he believes the bathtub was the real crime scene. >> i believe they were talking about the letter that he had already received. and she was likely adamant that she was leaving. he was going to have no part of that. and i think he just pushed her under. drowned her right there. >> remember all those towels gable saw? he believes lyle used those to mop up the bathroom. then he wrapped up lesley, put her on the dolley and had the bad luck to run into a neighbor in the elevator later that night. lyle said he wasn't guilty because lesley isn't murdered. she wasn't even dead. >> i don't want to you hold me to a promise that there will be a perry mason moment and lesley will walk through the door and say here i am. i will tell you at the conclusion of this trial, there will be more than sufficient evidence to believe that she in fact could. >> i wish they were right. let me say that. >> i would love to be hugging my sister and i wish that were true. but i know who she is and i know she's not alive. >> we are on the record. >> after a three and a half week trial, a jury agreed with aasha. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find defendant guilty of the crime of murder. >> june 2013, lyle herring was sentenced to 15 years to life for murder in the second-degree. it's not quite the end because lyle is holding on to one last secret from a marriage that apparently had a lot of them. he's never told anyone where lesley's body is. >> lyle is probably going to see this program. >> i know. >> anything you want to say to him? >> yes. we pray that you will tell us where lesley is so we can have closure in our life. we know that you know exactly where she is. >> through her pain and loss, aasha is trying to find a lesson. >> it is so important to me that women or anyone who is fearful about what other people will think about the way they're living their life, it is hard to not live up to what we think is successful but it is so much more important that you share even your sadness with people of the. >> you wish lesley had talked to you. >> i really, really wish she had. i do. i don't think i would be here right now. >> take one mark. >> but aasha also had an opportunity to bring some laughter back into this family. >> hi. >> she started in a web series called the unwritten rules. a comedy about a black woman working one of those deathly dull jobs in a mostly white office. it was a little like lesley's life. >> i read those scripts. and lesley, i felt her in my heart. i laughed the way she used to make me laugh. >> so soft and real. >> so one sister paid homage to another. it won't bring lesley back but it makes her loss a little less painful. in this hollywood story, it is the only happy ending that's available. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline. " thank you for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline. " >> it sucks the life out of you and tells you that dream life isn't going to happen. that wedding you're planning, you don't get to have it. evil exists. >> evil dwells in people. >> it was a night like this, just before halloween. a killing that still hau

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