the missing person, did not see any signs of all. play it's like what, i know i'm just different. i'll just feel like something's lost. i very, very much believe that my friend was in danger. >> did you get the impression you were a list of possibles? >> definitely. >> the husband, he was under suspicion, basically immediately. there were searches of his own >> the husband was cooperative. the boyfriend was not. got a warrant for his home, his phone, his computer. >> this was a very complicated case. elizabeth mattered. she -- >> i had gotten a call saying, you'll never believe this. you're like, this is it. >> it was just a picture, shut up one they on social media back in 2014. it was an early offering on our missing america series. and that bright, open face, the questions that begged for answers. who was elisabeth sullivan? >> completely brilliant. she was almost an unacknowledged genius. >> i don't even know how to describe it, it was like this tornado mom that was disheveled, she was fighting, she will talk here in here and go all over the place. >> they knew her well, these two. and so they knew in october of 2014 something very serious was going on. >> i had never seen her so nervous. she didn't know what to do. >> their best friend seem to be on the verge of doing something drastic. >> she was angry. i don't want to call it frantic, but, you know, it gives you cold sweats. >> we needed to know. what happened to her? was she alive? was she dead? couldn't know that. there was a story here that we could see, we didn't know then. the following, the mysteries surrounding this woman, all these years, would take us to places a strange as fiction. then again, from the very beginning, ordinary was not the sort of word you would use to describe-less sullivan, smart, maybe, funny perhaps, well read. a little ocd. >> when i first sarr i thought she was beautiful. and i thought she was a fashionista and we started talking and it was -- i just needed to know more. >> she was in her twenties when she met this person. soon they were like teenagers. >> it was infectious. keith i will tell you, there were oftentimes where we spend three for hours maybe a bottle of wine, getting ready to go out to never make it anywhere. >> the thing was there was something else about liz, her friend knew and understood. >> i think that if the world in itself for a little more introspective we would figure out that we all have a little something and we wouldn't judge others for their little something. >> her little something was that she had trouble regulating her emotions which might help explain how tangled her love life eventually became. it might have explain her unique flair, her manic enthusiasms. >> she was exploring being a dancer, she wasn't wearing being a writer. >> and it made her unpredictable or anxious. she wasn't so different, said her friend. >> sometimes you can have a perfectionist personality that leads people to think you are disorganized. >> and in her case? >> in her case she was very infectious. elizabeth had a very eclectic personality. >> they lived near north of virginia, biggest naval station in the country, in the whole world in fact. and somewhere, in that big cauldron of romantic possibilities. liz encountered him. her perfect guy matthew sullivan. minnesota kid in the navy, night and shining armor. so than it became a love story. could you see the sparkle in the eyes that she was, you know, infatuated with the guy? >> you could see it when they were around each other. they sparked up very quickly. i think she saw so much potential. she saw a lot of potential in everything, everything had potential. >> that seemed to promise permanence, stability. it wasn't just a handsome face, he was a ticket to something better. what did she see that he could do for him? >> stability an opportunity. and then, possibly a stable loving relationship like her grandparents. the long haul. >> it's a story as old as more. the navy loves love as much as any institution does but maybe not so much where it comes to personal matters like actually spending time with the one you love. he was reassigned across the country to san diego california, but he just wasn't ready to say goodbye to the most exciting woman he had ever known. and so, a couple of months after they met, matt proposed. and liz said yes. >> i think they got married too fast because he was having a good time, she was having a good time it seemed like a perfect match, perfect opportunity. >> so then things were very busy indeed as they bustled around to get ready for their move out to the naval base in san diego. right in the middle of the preparation, surprise, surprise. >> she called me and excuse my french she was like holy [bleep], i think there's a kid in here. >> liz was pregnant. a bit overwhelmed. >> there was an entire period where we could not say stroller, because she could not breathe. >> couldn't believe it was actually happening to her? >> could not believe it. >> terrified! >> couldn't believe it, she was our permanent rock star, she did not see that coming. >> no, she did not. a new town to deal with, a new husband, a new baby. but also, some old demons that weren't done with her. just yet. coming up -- sudden news liz's husband matt. >> it put her on brett alert and freaked her out like nothing. >> and a concerned call to the police. >> i was like, i know i am just a friend but she should have checked in with me. i feel like something is wrong. >> when dateline continues. start with a round brush head. add power. and you've got oral-b. round cleans better by surrounding each tooth to remove 100% more plaque. for a superior clean. oral-b. brush like a pro. icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪ so you can rise from pain. icy hot. ♪ bosch dishwashers use water less ♪ ♪ add finish tabs more success ♪ ♪♪ ♪ work well together every time ♪ ♪ burnt on stains, get outshined ♪ ♪♪ in order for small businesses to thrive, ♪ burnt on stains, they need to bed ♪ smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. >> elizabeth sullivan's story elizabeth sullivan's story was like that was like that of many military wives, smashed out of immaturity, leaving everything behind to follow her husband across the country. the newlyweds left north vic moved to san diego but barely had time to unpack before matt was deployed overseas. >> she was still pregnant, so it was a struggle being alone. >> matt was far, far away when their daughter was born. he came home for a long enough for liz to get pregnant a second time, but soon was away again. raising her kids in a town and state completely foreign to her. liz felt isolated. her only contact with friends and family was on the phone. >> she was by herself, you know, so there came a time when she got jobs so that she could meet people. be out in the public, you know. >> then one day, liz walked into an eye where store where nathan caracter worked. >> she had this plaid shirt on that was two sizes too big and she was carrying this double stroller. and i was just like, oh no, what does this woman want. and she came in and she was a flurry, saying i'm sorry, i don't normally look like this, and we started talking and told the store closed. >> she was a little force of nature. >> not a little force of nature, she was a huge force of nature. >> yes, she was. and complicated. for reasons nathan would understand soon off. why did you like her as much as you did? >> the first thing that drew me to her was her sense of humor. she was smart, you know, she went to school. but eventually, a ventral air really began to love liz because i didn't feel like i had to hide anything about myself from her. and she wouldn't judge me. we both knew that we had our flaws, and it was the first person i felt really comfortable admitting stuff like that to, you know? >> it's a pretty rare thing. >> yes. >> so liz and nathan confided things, very personal things, to each other, like liz's marriage. matt was back but wasn't going well. >> she and matt had moved to liberty station, a residential district and what used to be san diego's naval training center. >> she got settled into a routine where she was basically a single mother. matt didn't know the kids, she had a particular routine and way and that really got disrupted -- >> when she came back? >> when he came back and was back for a while, you know? all of a sudden she had to integrate this new aspect into her life. that was jarring. >> it's pretty common these days. people coming back from deployments and trying to re-enter a life, it's hard for them, hard for the family. no one can quite figure out what to do. >> yes, especially since there was no past with liz and matt, there wasn't the foundation of getting to know and being with you -- >> they weren't friends? >> exactly. >> the more liz and matt got to know each other, the more they seem to be leagues apart said calandra when we first interviewed her back in 2020. >> i remember a very prevalent issue was that matt did not have a drivers license, so if something needed to be done, or someone needed to get somewhere including him to work, it was liz waking up early, taking him to work. she would have to do the grocery shopping. if they had appointments, that was her also. honestly i think that matt was also disappointed that he lost his good time wife that he thought he was taking to california with him. they both walked slam into a bunch of responsibilities. >> but it wasn't just the weight of daily life driving a wedge. >> she would try to excite him about things, let's do this, let's go out here, with their two daughters, she saw all these opportunities for her and them and he was content where he was in life. he didn't want to explore or do much outside of work, go home, work, go home. >> sit in front of the television? have a beer? that's? that >> pretty much, yeah. and that wasn't cutting it for liz. >> well, you ask a guy to step up and he doesn't step up, must have made her mad? >> i can't say mad, it was frustrating, i think it was more disappointing, well, now what? i came out here because you're so responsible and we're about to be responsible together, build this life, and it is me building. >> and you not doing much of what you need to do? >> right. >> on top of that? matt had just announced that his family, her in laws, we're about to move in with them. he had already made the arrangement. they were on their way. >> it put her on red alert and freaked her out like nothing. i had never seen her so nervous. >> matt mother was coming. and not just her, her partner, and matt sister to. and liz did not like them one bit. liz told nathan matt's mom did not approve of her or her marriage to matt. >> there were qualities in the family members that liz did not want around her daughters, definitely. >> when liz called nathan she sounded desperate for a way out of that arrangement. did she ask if she could talk to you? >> yeah, it wasn't an ask it was i am in the car over now. >> liz spent the night at nathan's venting. and the next day, feeling somewhat better, but still wary, went back home. but when they send spoke to her the following day, she sounded tense. >> she was very her to get off the phone, she was like i have to go, by. done. >> before she hung up, liz told nathan she would call him the next day. on monday. but monday came, and went. >> it wasn't until i went to work on tuesday around lunchtime and i still hadn't heard from her, and i knew the plane was gonna land with her in laws -- >> oh boy. >> that's when i thought it was weird. >> so he called matt. has he heard from liz? no, no he hasn't heard from her since yesterday. >> matt knew liz was upset about his family moving in. they had just arrived that morning and figured she was trying to put off dealing with them. wouldn't be the first time liz had gone off on her own without saying where, where we can. she could be impulsive, as matt and nathan both new. but nathan couldn't shake a nagging feeling that this time there was more to it. and somewhat reluctantly, he made one more call. >> i called the police. i stress the fact i said look, i know i am just a friend, but she should have checked in with me. i just feel like something is wrong. and, the officer kind of blew it off. but then another day went by and then a third. liz's daughter's waited, matt waited, the in-laws settled in, everybody wondered, where is she? that is when san diego police put the word out, the young mother of two was officially missing. coming up -- >> i feel like she's in trouble. we aren't going to let this go. >> a public plea from liz's dad. >> the missing persons unit did not see any signs of foul play. >> was she missing, or hiding? >> she was spotted in a soccer field 1000 feet from her house. >> when dateline continues. air wick. air wick's limited edition fragrances are infused with natural essential oils for authentic seasonal scents that fill your home with warmth and cheer. new emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? [sfx: video game] emergen-c crystals. want luxury hair repair that doesn't cost $50? pantene's pro-vitamin formula repairs hair. as well as the leading luxury bonding treatment. for softness and resilience, without the price tag. if you know... you know it's pantene. >> three days after nathan fothree days after nathance, caracter called the police character called the police to report his friend liz sullivan as missing, investigators job by liz's house, they met matt and the kids. the in laws. and took a police type tour of the place. eyes wide open. >> the missing persons unit had looked over it fairly well and did not see any signs of foul play. >> that is detective kim collier, she didn't know back then how much this case would mean to her, wasn't even there the day missing persons took their four. and what did they find? nothing, very illuminating. liz hadn't taken her car, it was parked in the garage. some trash and a parking receipt were inside. next to her car, the usual garage stuff, a big broken mirror and a stand-alone freezer like this one, which they opened. it was empty. did they search her room in the house that she shared with matt? >> yes, outside of it being a little messy there was nothing of note. >> except, said matt, one of their suitcases was missing. >> he felt like she might have left with her computer and her laptop and a phone, but he wasn't sure, but he couldn't find those items. >> seem cooperative though. >> yes. >> matt told the detectives he had found her private journals, and he turned those over. something else, it was a pretty big deal. he had discovered that liz had transferred all the money in their joint checking account, $1,072 to her individual account before she disappeared. so the cops called liz's credit union, and the people there confirmed. there was activity on her debit card after she was reported missing. what did you think when you heard that? >> i was very hopeful, i was very excited, because that means that liz was somewhere, she wasn't dead. >> still they posted flyers around town. her photo was all over the news. >> 31-year-old elizabeth sullivan went missing on october 13th 2014. >> and that produced a response. people thought they recognize the woman on tv. >> she was spotted twice, so she has gone a week and she was spotted in a soccer field 1000 feet from her house. >> who saw her? >> it was an off-duty police officer. >> in fact, an off-duty sheriff's deputy and his wife said they saw and talk to liz six days after she went missing. they said she appeared disoriented. was looking for her phone. and told them she had slept in the park the night before. and then days later another reported sighting, this one near the san diego airport. but after that, a month passed with no sign of liz. matt gave an interview to people magazine saying he was at the end of his rope. i'm running on fumes right now, i don't know where to look. >> liz had gone off before but those times it was just for a little bit, not like this. liz's dad came from virginia to help look for his daughter, and be with matt and the girls. he was interviewed by nbc station and pleaded with the public for help. >> i feel like she is in trouble. it can happen to you and when it does it gets very personal. and you get a strength like you never had before because that is my daughter. i'm gonna bring her home. >> i san diego detectives dove into their investigations, they wondered if some people knew more about's whereabouts than they were letting on. they questioned her friend nathan, for one, nathan who had called in the missing persons report. did you get the impression that they, you know, that you were on the list of possibles? >> definitely. >> how did they make that apparent? >> they showed up at my job, very awkward, very, very awkward, and i was short with them and said that i couldn't meet them at this time. and we met and it was very in territory. >> did they ask you to take a polygraph? >> yes. >> what did you say? >> well, i wanted to think about it first. >> mason wasn't the only one police leaned on. they questioned matt to, of course, repeatedly. >> i never heard of him getting a lawyer, in fact it seemed like he was helpful, you know, to the police. >> matt told them go ahead, search his house, which they did, several times and he consented to having both of his daughter's dna collected just in case, the worst happened, and they needed to ideal body. did you ask him to take a polygraph by any chance? >> yes. >> how did he score? >> he did well. >> what was his suggestion about what happened to her? >> he ended up saying that she had just left and walked out with a bag and he didn't know where she was going. >> by now, detectives had an idea or two to follow, they had been looking over those journals matt had given them. and, well, the things people right when they think no one will look. maybe liz sullivan's life was more complicated than anyone knew. maybe she didn't want to be found. coming up -- secrets spill out. liz on a dating app. >> one day she had tinder. >> and private writings. >> it was a story about somebody that is missing. >> leaves her kids and runs and leaves it all behind? >> right. >> fiction or fact? >> it had some real actual events. >> when dateline continues. >> hi i'm jessica layton with a look at your top stories. president biden addressed the release of positives by hamas saying. the deal was rage after a quote, extensive u.s. diplomacy. the president cautioned that hamas is still holding some american citizens and it is unclear when they will be released. he also talked about the children who are released. and the second exchange between israel and hamas is expected sometime later today. and now back to dateline! and now back to dateline! >> >> it didn't take very long, when san diego investigators asked family, friends to tell them about the missing liz sullivan. they ran into it right away. she was a complicated person right? >> oh, yes. yes. very complicated. >> complicated? liz had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which may sound like a big deal but it isn't so uncommon. millions of people deal with it. in liz's case, her journals, private, sometimes tortured thoughts of made it clear that for all her spunk and lust for life she had been battling deep-seated issues for years. liz opened up to friends about her drug use both recreational and prescribed. she took prescription medication like adderall, but at times she was over medicated. did she talk much about that? >> oh, yes. she talked freely about that. liz had always been under the care psychiatrists. she had her stash of prescription medication that she needed, but that she also liked as well. and she knew how to work the system to get the medication she wanted. >> so, kind of partially self medicated? >> yes, exactly. >> which is when people start running into trouble? >> yeah, that's when people start wanting more or, you know, try to skew would so they get refills early, that kind of thing. taking more than she should have. >> and when medication wasn't enough, liz sometimes resorted to alternate ways of finding relief. >> she was a cutter, so it was a way for her to kind of release any type of anxiety. >> what type of cutting are we talking about? with a deep cut, little scratches, what? >> for the most part superficial. cause you little pain, have you bleed a little but nothing that would send you to the hospital. >> she knew that she had problems and she did whatever she could and she tried so hard to circumvented those issues that she had -- >> more hurdles and most people? >> yeah. >> when things were going wrong in her marriage, liz did what she would often do, she wrote about it, as if writing fiction. she showed it to nathan. >> it had some very real actual events in the story. >> the woman in liz a story had been rescued from her life trouble by a man named brooks, her white night, they moved to california, had a little girl. and then things went bad. i'm a failure. a lifetime movie, a lifetime movie that retains such sweet predictability that i left. i left brooks. i left my little girl and walked out of that nightmare. i walked out of my life. the parallels to liz's real life as nathan told the detectives were so obvious. what did you think when you read it? >> it made it hard because it was a story about what we were dealing with. somebody who is missing and if she acted out that story in realtime that it would have aligned. >> leave her kids, runs, leaves it all behind. >> right. >> maybe. but liz's story also offered a second possibility. i am so sick of everyone! but mostly, completely an entirely sick of myself. maybe everyone is better off in my absence. did you ever think that suicide was a possibility? >> it was something that unfortunately was in the back of my mind. >> and, to those possibilities at yet another one. months before she disappeared, liz created an online dating profile. >> when she got on the app it wasn't, you know, to be taken seriously at all. >> she told calandra all about it. >> it was an escape path for a couple of hours. >> more of a fantasy thing? >> sure. >> i'm in a bad spot, let me see what is out there? >> sure. i believe when you get in, certain situations that affect yourself esteem, sometimes it,, is easier to have someone else tell you, you know, the things that you need to hear in that moment. just for that moment. >> nathan thought it was more, serious than that. ,, >> i don't know if i introduced, her to this app on the phone or if she found it on her own, i,,, can't remember, but one day, she had tinder. , and i didn't judge him for it. ,, >> maybe not but suddenly the investigators were dealing with, a big problem, was she seeing someone? ,, had she taken off with him? whoever it was? or did some man do something, to make liz sullivan disappear? , coming up -- a new man in her life. >> stephen was the boyfriend. he had aspirations and goals, he was all the things that matt wasn't. >> investigators thought matt had one thing going for him over stephen -- >> the husband was cooperative and the boyfriend was not. >> when dateline continues. teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. >> elizabeth sullivan had been gone about two months when the missing persons unit as detective kim collier and her partners to get involved. the thing was, detective collier worked homicide cases, and this one, they didn't know exactly what it was. >> it really made them worry that this was more than just somebody that had walked away from their lives. >> but that missing person had done their searches and talk to the husband, matt, who told them about liz's psychiatric issues, told them she could be unpredictable, impulsive. and they had interviewed people who reported seeing her after she went missing. and people who said they were just worried. like for example her friend, nathan. was he ever considered a suspect, idol? >> i think the missing persons unit in the beginning might have wanted to bring him in and talk to him a little bit more about what he knew. i never felt like he was a suspect. no. >> you had a feeling about it, and instinct? >> yeah, it comes with the job. >> what made you feel like nathan was beyond reproach? >> he was the one that reported her, that's the big thing. he contacted the police. because he was concerned. that is a friend. >> in fact nathan had turned out was a kind of encyclopedia when it came to liz. to him she had confided just about everything. >> i heard all her life story, everything. and i think she needed somebody to tell it to. she was a full-time mom. so she didn't have anyone to talk to, to lead all of this out. >> over the course of their friendship, nathan became very familiar with the problems plaguing liz's relationship with matt. but he had also seen them both make a real effort to mentor marriage. >> she was raised catholic and i remember one instance, or one period, she said nathan i'm really gonna focus on my family, i'm gonna make this work, you know, i've been hard on my husband but he provides for me in the children and i need to be more appreciative and respectful of that. i remember her really, really, putting her all into it. >> that was about the time nathan had them over for thanksgiving, the year before she disappeared. how are they then? >> they were doing great. i had never seen them so happy, and talking, conversing. it was like, it was like they were a real family. >> must of been nice? >> it really was. no bickering, they complemented each other. it was the only time i had ever really seen that together. and then come christmas, it was in the same. she came over to the house with the girls with no math. you could see the dynamic change already. it didn't take long. >> and by summer, liz was spending time with other men she met on tinder. now, investigators had to expand their list of potential suspects. who was marquise hodges? >> he was one of the individuals who we know had connected with. >> they pulled his record. he had been arrested for choking his then wife during an argument. the charges were later dropped. did that factor into your thinking at all? >> it was part of the reason we were more concerned. it played a factor in us paying a little more attention to him. >> but the marcus and liz's relationship turned out to have been brief and casual. it was a dead end. except? marcus wasn't the only one. there was another man a guy named steve sutton, and maybe he was the real deal. >> i think when she found steve, steve was kind of it for her. whatever other contact she had made during that time were not important to her anymore. >> as liz confided to nathan. >> stephen, yes. stephen was the boyfriend. >> what did you say about stephen? >> she showed me his picture, a good-looking guy, he had aspirations, goals, he wanted to better himself. he was educated and they could talk. it was all the things that matt wasn't. >> perhaps he was. he was also the last person liz dated before she disappeared. so naturally detectives wanted to talk to him. but they had a problem. steve did not want to talk to them. >> the husband was cooperative and the boyfriend was not. >> coming up -- >> list felt bad, she did. >> true confessions. liz is forced to reveal her affair. she's about to be caught? >> yeah, so she called me up. and she said what am i going to do? >> when dateline continues. a powerhouse lotion that moisturizes, heals, and smooths dry skin. with 7 moisturizers & 3 vitamins. and... new gold bond healing sensitive. clinically shown to heal & moisturize dry, sensitive skin. gold bond. we're travelling all across america, talking to people about their hearts. ooh, take this exit. how's the heart? 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it was a homicide unit detective collier and her partner's who wanted to speak with stephen sutton, the man -less starting before she disappeared. steve did not want to talk to them. >> he ended up getting an attorney, so we were kind of done at that point being able to talk to him without more information. >> so they tried to piece together that part of liz's life without his help. they discovered that by the month before she disappeared her affair with steve imploded in spectacular fashion. >> i do know that liz enjoyed being over there with stephen and his roommate and they enjoyed having her over. >> roommates girlfriend, however, not so much. she saw child seats in the car, and assumed, incorrectly, that liz had left the kids home alone. and so she called cps. >> i don't want to disparage the young ladies actions because those actions to save someone's life, it just then apply to the situation. >> too late now. >> that's what sparked everything, that phone call to child protective services. >> that's getting real now. >> yes. >> cvs turned up at liz's house, asked some difficult questions, but found nothing to indicate she was an unfit mother. except. >> and then cps ed well, as part of procedure we have to notify that would have this call to the other parent. >> she's about to get caught? >> yes. matt was at work at the times she called me up and she said this is what happened, you know, what am i going to do? >> nothing left to do, said nathan. but tell math the truth. so that night, liz told her husband everything. any idea how he reacted in the moment? >> based on his interview -- well surprised, i don't think -- he didn't come across as that bothered by it because they had been living separate lives in their own homes for a couple of years. >> separate lives? matt told the detectives, he and liz slept in separate bedrooms. so he was presenting a marriage where they were both moving on, they just happen to live in the same house? >> right. >> would that be fair? >> yes. >> liz on the other hand was wrecked with guilt according to matt who said she cut herself using a piece of that broken mirror. it's the one investigator saw when they conducted that first search of his house in the garage. liz had cut herself before but nathan was afraid this time might be different. >> liz felt bad, she did. she said it's bad with matthew and she had cut herself and she thought she had gone a little too deep. and when i saw her, i mean, her arms were bandaged. i didn't see the wound but i was really concerned about it. >> steve's reaction to the whole thing? hard to say because he wasn't talking. when investigators asked him to take a polygraph he refused. that only heightened detective suspicions so they kept digging. why did you conduct a search at a lake? >> there was a surge that was done by search and rescue, and we had them go out to a place where we knew was close to his home. >> close to steve's home and a place they knew he had once taken liz. a team of more than 50 searched in and around the area and they found something. something very interesting. a shallow grave. and in place of a headstone, someone had left a high heel shoe. it was like something out of a movie. maybe they have finally found liz sullivan. the investigators braced themselves, dug up the grave. and -- it was not her. it wasn't even human. >> apparently they had buried an animal, and it didn't have a connection to elizabeth. >> it gives somebody a turn to find something like that and not know what was inside at first? >> yeah, right. >> it was just weird finding it near steve's home. the uncooperative ex-boyfriend had become a focus of the investigation. if he knew anything about liz's disappearance, he wasn't saying. so liz's father did what any parent, desperate to find a daughter, would you. >> the father was basically kind of begging steve, i want to know if there is any sign of life, do you know anything about my daughter, begging him to provide something. >> and, through his attorney he did. sort of. steve said he received an email from liz more than a month after she had disappeared. but, it was from an email account he didn't recognize. badly drawn girl. >> steve wasn't even convinced that whoever he had gotten this from was from her. so he had asked a coded question. >> his question, he said, was what did liz give him for his birthday. and badly drawn girl responded a gun the key chain. the answer was correct. so was she still alive and just hiding somewhere? the detectives asked steve to turn the email but he said he couldn't, even if he wanted to. what did he do with that email? >> he deleted it. >> a rather odd thing to do. bad break for the investigation, because the badly drawn girl email, if it was real was just about the only remaining signed that liz might still be alive. one by one, the others had fizzled out. people who thought they saw her at the park it turned out had their dates mixed up. the money she transferred to her bank account just sat there unspent. the debit card activity that popped up after she disappeared? the detectives found out the actual purchases had been made beforehand. >> those things did happen but today happened before she went missing. so that was a huge disappointment. >> if liz was not alive detectives had to figure out who was responsible. one by one they interviewed nathan and then the early suspect marcus hodges, and finally, after months of investigation stephen sutton. >> after we executed the search warrant at steve, he did not appear to be involved. >> but steve, said the detectives, had managed to drag out the investigation. >> i mean he was protecting himself but making it more difficult for himself. >> yeah, that is your right but it would've made the investigation easier. >> and the deep dive into steve 's record wasn't a total dead and. >> in fact it opened the door to look more at matthew at that point. >> matthew. the husband. because, as they searched to seize phone records they found something very interesting. multiple text messages from matt. >> this is where we started noticing matthew who was telling us that he didn't care that much, it becomes more clear that he cared more than he let on. >> coming up. >> there was an article released by people magazine, where he was so concerned. >> concerned, or calculated? >> in that same week he deleted all posts regarding elizabeth from facebook. >> matt sullivan, under the microscope. what were your impressions of him? >> he always seemed to have an answer for everything. >> when dateline continues. keith morrison (voiceover): detectives >> detectives investigating the investigating the disappearance of liz sullivan disappearance of liz sullivan were going through her boyfriend steve's phone records. when they discovered a series of odd texts from her husband matt. in late september shortly after steve and liz stop seeing each other, mac texted steve. lives will need a place to stay soon. i forgot to mention earlier, i work at a hospital if you need getting that std cleared up. >> i guess the best way to put it was badgering or poking at steve with text messages. >> matt seem to know whenever steve and liz talked on the phone. >> glad you got to talk to her today. and a few days later, good chat earlier. about a week before liz went missing matt texted steve, sorry to trouble you yet again, but i'm going to cut her off financially soon. if you do care, then please take action and support her. >> as much as he tried after he found out about stephen, it just didn't get better. >> so their lives were a mess again? >> but more so than it had ever been. there was no hiding the problems anymore, sweeping it under the carpet -- >> did you feel trapped? >> yes. >> remember the last time she was over at nathan's, when the in laws were coming and liz seemed desperate? nathan knew it wasn't just about the in laws. liz had told him that matt was physically abusive and she wanted to end the marriage. >> she contacted the divorce attorney told her what the problem was and the divorce attorney gave her a solution and said it was pretty good. >> which was what? >> because there were issues of domestic violence in the past, liz would get a restraining order against matt but then after that it would be necessary to begin to divorce proceedings. >> so she left your place with a plan. >> oh yes. >> what were your expectations, this is all going to work out? >> yeah, when she left my place i said just keep it cool, you know just wait until you meet with the divorce attorney, i was proud of her of taking control of her life and doing something proactive. >> liz spent the following monday planning for a future without matt. she met with a divorce attorney, paid the attorneys beads with her husband's credit card. remember the parking receipt detectives found at liz's car during their initial search? it was for a lot near the lawyer's office. the data on the receipt was october 13th 2014, the last day liz was seen alive. that same day investigators later discovered husband matt made a rather unusual phone call. >> san diego police. this is melanie. >> here's matt on the phone with 9-1-1. >> hi. i have concerns my wife is trying to have me -- i don't know evicted or arrested from my house and take my children away from me. >> oh, okay. >> i mean, she took my personal credit car, used to hire a lawyer against me. >> she said he was worried liz was going to report her for going through her emails and journals. >> i haven't been served with any papers yet. but i know she's called your department earlier this morning, and i think that's where she's headed now to try to get me detained. >> but now and a half later, matt called police again after he had noticed something. >> she said that you took all the money out of your shared account? >> i just checked and it is all gone. there's only, maybe 15 cents left. i'm still here with my children, and i don't know what she's doing. >> matt sounded worried. >> if she comes back and there's some problems or, you can call us back when she's there. >> okay. >> but matt never called the police again. and liz vanished. and quite soon calandra notice odd behaviors. >> i called and said if there was anything i could do, your wife is missing, you have two small children. this is now extremely unusual. let's try to make sure that the girls are good. he said no, he didn't need anything. then there was an article released by people magazine. and he was so concerned -- >> yeah. >> in that same week, he deleted all posts elizabeth from facebook. he and friend and me and several of the of her friends. >> and then? he shut off liz's cell phone. >> i was irritated because if she was missing and trying to get back, why would you take her service away from her? >> then, less than three months after liz disappeared, another woman moved in with matt. >> he first said, it was somebody who had come out who was a mutual friend of theirs, and she was simply gonna help watch the kids. >> watch the kids? well, a little more than that. a lot more. matt had moved on. really moved on. >> he switched his facebook account name and stated that he was in a relationship. i am done for now, i mean i am crying. i am just sure that this is not right. who is this lady? >> what were your impressions of him, his approach, demeanor? >> he always seemed to have an answer for everything. a difficult person to interview, because he was very slow in his delivery. >> but they gradually pulled details out of slow talking matt. like for example, to see specific credit card charges. one of them the day nathan reported liz missing. >> we noticed he had gone to ace hardware and he bought carpet cleaner. >> what was his answer for it? >> his answer was that his mother was coming into town and he wanted to get that cleaned up before she got there, because it looked 30. >> perfectly reasonable? >> reasonable but suspicious. >> the second charge? a month later, more carpet cleaner. and a roll of plastic wrap. >> i don't mean to -- >> big industrial stuff? >> yes. >> did you have an explanation for that? >> he said when his mom was coming out that he needed to wrap up some of the things that she had brought and put them in storage. >> another perfectly reasonable answer. so far out their suspicion, they couldn't prove matt did anything. or that liz didn't just run off on her own. and so it went until detective collier and her team had exhausted all their leads. and soon -- >> elizabeth sullivan, claudia leslie wells, marleen quay -- >> liz's name was another in a long list of missing people profiled by san diego's nbc seven investigates. just names to us but to family members and friends they are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters. >> two years went by, matt's family moved out when his new girlfriend moved in. by a year later the couple welcomed a baby of their own. and time moved on. as if to swallow up the public 's memory of liz sullivan. and then one day detective collier was on vacation. cell phone rang. office calling. >> you will never believe this but there is a body that has shown up over at liberty station. >> coming up -- >> big mystery tonight in the waters of san diego bay. >> police found the body of a woman on the shore. >> a body in the water. and fear among friends. >> my friend called me and said hey, do you think it could be liz? and i said well, no, no. >> i screamed. i cried. for days. why didn't anybody listen to me? >> when dateline continues. shop black friday every day deals now. in store and online. ♪ bosch dishwashers use water less ♪ ♪ add finish tabs more success ♪ ♪♪ ♪ work well together every time ♪ ♪ burnt on stains, get outshined ♪ ♪♪ [coughs] when caroline has a cough, she takes robitussin. so, she can have those one on ones again. hey jim! can we talk about casual fridays? oh sure. what's up? get fast, powerful cough relief with robitussin, and find your voice. ♪robitussin♪ hi, my name's steve. i lost 138 pounds on golo and i kept it off. so with other diets, you just feel like you're muscling your way through it. the reason why i like golo is plain and simple, it was easy. i didn't have to grit my teeth and do a diet. golo's a lifestyle change and you make the change and it stays off. golo's changed my life in so many ways. i sleep better, i eat better. took my shirt off for the first time in 25 years. it's golo. it's all golo. it's smarter, it's better, it will change your life forever. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. it was october, about a week shy of the two-year anniversary of liz sullivan's disappearance. >> it was october, about a week an off-duty us marshal went for his usual late afternoon shy of the two year anniversary of liz sullivan's disappearance. an off-duty u.s. marshal one for his usual late afternoon stroll on the walking path that hugs the san diego bay. >> it has rocks that kind of cascade down the edges and the dog, of course, walked over and that direction and was curious about something. >> his dog pulled him towards the bank, the marshall saw what looked like some nasty halloween prank. something stuck among the shoreline rocks. >> then he realized that there was a body there. >> the body was wearing jeans and knit sweater, and a single brown boot. >> the big mystery tonight in the waters of san diego bay. >> police found a woman's body on the shore of the liberty station channel. >> i had a friend call me and said hey, you know they found a body in liberty station. they haven't identified it, do you think it could be liz? and i said no, no, and then i went online checked where it was -- it's really close to liz's place. >> less than half a mile in fact. they had to use dental records to get a proper i. d.. and then, the search was over. it was elizabeth sullivan. >> i'm broken. i screamed. i cried. for days. i had i told you so moments. i knew it the whole time moments. why didn't anybody listen to me? why didn't anybody know her and know that this wasn't normal? >> obviously there was that numbness, shock. whoever told me -- well at least you have some closure. and i was like, yeah, but, now that you have closure, you lost hope. i would rather have the hopes in the closure. >> the autopsy showed liz tested positive for her prescribed infected means, also for fentanyl and cannabis oil. but that's not what killed her. the medical examiner noted the number of electrical shaped cuts that seem to have pierced her close, her skin. and her ribs. the cause of death, homicide, force sharp trauma. >> essentially she had been stabbed with a sharp object enough to cause damage to some of her bones. >> somebody stabbed her, again, and again, and again? >> yes. >> she also had a fractured jaw, so stabbed and beaten. investigators had long believe listed not run off on her own, that she was murdered, the very october night she disappeared. but when her body was found, collier knew immediately that something didn't add up. >> i'm like there's no way she would be in the water for two years and be in one piece. it made me wonder, why there, why now, what happened? >> was it really her? >> was it really her? yes, all kinds of things go through your head. i felt very confident about it for whatever reason. i was intrigued. >> sure enough, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy estimated that liz was killed only one month, two at the most before her body washed up at low tide. surprised? that would be an understatement. she had been missing almost two years, the whole new puzzle now which, just like that, jolted the case back to life. so, what happened to the investigation after the discovery of the body? >> we ran full steam ahead at that point because now we knew that we had a murder. >> so you wanted to talk to who right away? >> matthew. >> but? >> he had moved. >> three days after liz's body was found, without a word to detectives, matt slipped away, to join his girlfriend in maryland. detective collier learned that october 4th, the very morning liz's body was discovered, the movers arrived at matt's house. >> to pack up his whole house, essentially, and to put it in the container so they could ship it back east. >> mad said his girlfriend this photo with this message, movers are working. what a fascinating timing? >> yes. >> couldn't quite say it would prove anything but it was suggestive? >> very suggestive in my opinion. >> over the years detective collier had been keeping an eye on matt's facebook page. when she saw matt and his girlfriend were expecting a baby, she figured they might need a bigger place. >> it was in the back of my mind that if they did move out that i wanted to go in and do a complete forensic examination of their place before it was rented to somebody else. >> was that something that could not have been done while he was living in the house? >> based on the fact that he had allowed us so many searches and we didn't have more to go on, it would've been hard to be that intrusive without more probable cause. >> sure, the forensics you get everybody out of the house and you look at everything? >> yeah, it's a chemical. it's something that is definitely intrusive. >> now it seemed matt had left the door wide open. so, a few days later, she and a team of investigators set out to search matt and liz's house from top to bottom, really tear the place apart this time. and what they found -- well, well. coming up -- >> she called me and she sounded frantic. she said, he's talking about he's going to kill me. >> a phone call from this becomes a crucial new clue. >> i told her, lock yourself in your room, we just have to get to morning. >> and hidden in the paddock, another. >> you work a case that long and you are like, this is it. so, it was a very good moment for me. >> when dateline continues. and all of them had different reasons for getting a reverse mortgage, but you know what, they all felt the same about two things: they all loved their home, and they all wanted to stay in that home. and they all wanted to stay in that home. - [announcer] if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access your equity to improve your lifestyle. a reverse mortgage loan eliminates your monthly mortgage payments and puts tax-free cash in your pocket. call the number on your screen. - why don't you call aag... and find out what a reverse mortgage can mean for you? - [announcer] call right now to receive your free no-obligation info kit. call the number on your screen. they got in about a week after liz's body turned up >> they got in about a week in the shallow water of liberty station, after liz's body showed up in liberty station. got into the sullivan's vacant home. a proper search this time. right away they could not help but notice -- >> there was an odor in the garage. in our opinion an order that should be followed up on. >> like the other of death? >> yes. >> a look around did not reveal what caused it, but that could wait. first detectives wanted to follow a lead they had found buried deep in the case file. >> the missing persons unit found out about it fairly soon i want to say in the first month maybe of the investigation. >> the story was this, that at the very beginning of the investigation liz's friend calandra told police about an alarming phone call from liz. >> she called me, and she sounded frantic. they were arguing and she said, this expletive is talking about, he is going to kill me. i was half asleep, but i know that i told her, lockers off in your room, we just have to get to morning. and she said, hold on a sack, hold on. i think he is coming. >> liz hung up, and calandra waited to hear from her. why didn't you call her the next day? >> i didn't know where he was. if they were arguing, and i am calling her, even if she chose not to answer, the phone ringing could have become an aggregate to the situation. i did not want to make things any worse. >> she never heard from liz again. the call sounded ominous, that's for sure. the problem was, calandra couldn't remember what night it was, and when detectives got the phone record there was no evidence that it had even happened. >> there was some confusion for a period of time until later down the road we discovered that she had most likely called calandra on whatsapp. >> so, much later, collier circled back asked calandra for her phone records, and bingo. they revealed lives not only called calandra she called her the night of october 13th, the very same night she went missing. which made one detail calandra remembered potentially very important. >> i just told her, lock yourself in your room. >> that very thing, the cry for help, the advice from calandra now became a kind of map for the search in matt's house, which led them straight upstairs to liz's room. they swapped her bathroom door with luminol, it lit up. and then they cut out a section of rug outside the bathroom, pulled it back, and found a large stain. >> we ended up forensically examining it with luminol. >> it lit up to. meaning blood. lots of it. >> the bloodstain from that had to leak into the padding and then be able to go through the padding on the supplier, and the sub floor stain itself was at least a foot. and saturated. >> though not on the surface of the carpet, must have been cleaned with that carpet cleaner matt thought, maybe? the dna, no surprise matched liz. what did you think when you got those results? >> i thought here we go, you know. >> that's a big moment? who was that the case, as far as you could tell, okay, i can persuade the d. a. based on this? >> we hoped. you know? but we don't get to make all those decisions by ourself. >> when detectives presented their case to the d. a., they were told they just didn't have enough. so, detective collier got on the plane, flew to maryland, and knock on matt's door. tell me about that? >> again, a very long, painful interview. i mean, at that point i definitely knew we had the right person, there wasn't any doubt in my mind, but he didn't confess. >> once again, the case had hit a wall. yet another year went by. not a single lead. but they couldn't just give up. >> we all sat down and collectively decided that we wanted to go back in the house because there were some things that we needed more of. >> during the previous search they had notice some wooden slats in the attic were broken as if someone had been climbing around up there. so when they returned in october 2016, that is where they went looking. >> i started just pulling up all the insulation in the whole attic. making sure that every thing was looked under and through. >> and up in the attic, under the insulation, she founded, a military style folding knife. what was that moment like? >> for me, kind of thrilling because i felt like it definitely meant something, it was hidden in a fashion that was not like it fell out of your pocket or something. >> could it be that this was the murder weapon? the lab results were conclusive, liz's blood on the inner workings of the knife, and on the handle? a mix of dna from both liz and matt. detective collier worked three long years for this. what did you do first after that? >> well, i actually cried. you know, you work a case that long, and you're like, this is it. so, it was a very good moment for me. >> yeah. >> sorry. >> it matters -- no, no, no, you've become that young woman's representative on this earth, and this was the thing you needed to defend her, support her. >> right. >> what did the da have to say about that? >> go get them. >> so, she did. but like everything else in this case, it wasn't quite as simple as she had hoped. coming up -- >> separate bedrooms. domestic violence. infidelity. financial issues. these are the hallmarks of a marriage in crisis. >> matt sullivan on trial, and the key for the defense? his wife's time of death. >> almost two full years after she goes missing. all i have is an allegation that he did something on october 20 14th and the forensic science saying she died in 2016. >> when dateline continues. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into >> reporter: i'm jessica layton when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. with a look at your top stories right now. hundreds of trucks carrying fuel and humanitarian aid have arrived in gaza during this temporary pause in fighting. international groups say residents there are running low on food, water, and medicine. israeli forces are urging gazans who fled south not to come home during the pause, warning, quote, the war is not over yet. fighting will continue when the truce is over. on friday, hamas released 24 hostages in exchange for 39 palestinians. and now, let's go back to dateline. >> you never heard the term minnesota nice? >> yes, of course, sure. >> that's what he is. >> this is marcus debose, matt sullivan's defense attorney. >> he is a born and raised in the suburbs of minneapolis. played soccer, did boy scouts, went fishing. no sort of run-ins with the law, or angry girlfriends. nothing. 9/11 happens and he kind of has the thought a lot of people did hey, i'm going to serve. he enlisted in the navy as what he thought was his patriotic duty. >> five years after elizabeth sullivan disappeared, her husband matt went on trial for murder. detective collier had retired by then but she wasn't about to sit this one out. >> i was there every day because i wanted to participate because in mental lot to me. >> separate bedrooms. domestic violence. infidelity. financial issues. these are the hallmarks of a marriage in crisis. >> deputy day joel told the jury mats marriage wasn't minnesota nice at all. that might was a violent man. a key testimony came from liz's best friends. >> what was elizabeth jeanne oral tone of voice with you during this timeframe when you talk with her? >> increasingly submissive. she became very quiet. we whispered a lot. >> there were a couple of instances where she told me that matt had become physical. with her. liz called me and she informed me that, you know, matt grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her and started screaming at her. and it scared her. >> and when liz made plans to leave him, said the prosecutors, matt killed her. >> let's be on us, evidence. the large bloodstain on the carpet, the carpet cleaner, the plastic wrap, the knife hidden in the addict and on the night she disappeared, liz's desperate phone call to calandra. >> she said that she and matt had some kind of disagreement, it was really serious, and that she was afraid. she said hold on a second, and then she said gotta go, quietly. and i didn't hear from her anymore. >> that's your last conversation with elizabeth? >> yes. [crying] >> there was more evidence in the form of matt's own words. >> san diego police. this is melanie. >> hi. >> detective in the prosecutors said go back and listen to the call matt made to police. when liz disappeared. and they noticed something. >> so in the call, the dispatcher asked what elizabeth was wearing. >> do you know what she's wearing today? >> i don't know. she ran out of here in a hurry. i know she's wearing blue jeans. some, brown boots. >> and when elizabeth's body was found, almost two years later, she was wearing jeans and a brown boot, which tighten exactly how it described her the day she murdered the day he murdered her. >> my guess is he went into the bathroom murdered her, and cleaned up that bedroom and dumped her when he had to because he was moving. so, wherever he had her, he couldn't keep her there. because she would be discovered. i think he put her out in the water hoping she would wash out to sea. >> the circumstantial case, yes, but a strong one. and then, max lawyer marcus debose went to work on reasonable doubt. >> you are not gonna see one piece of evidence in this case, ladies and gentlemen. that is inconsistent with the idea of -- mayor to a man who has a secret life. and who made erratic decisions. >> the prosecutions evidence? there were other quite reasonable explanation said the defense. like the bloodstain on the other side of the carpet, that could've happened when liz cut herself and then tried to clean it up. >> when you pour liquid all the stain and experience tells you what happens, the stain spreads. so to say that oh, one way to get a double watermelon sized bloodstain is to bleed a lot. another way is to take a smaller stain and overtime wipe it larger and larger. because the science cannot tell us what order those things happened, reasonable doubt requires that we say that it was something that was not connected with her disappearance. >> as for the knife in the addict? it was standard navy issued. nothing suspicious about it. the blood and dna evidence on the knife? well, that was simple. >> he goes out, he goes overseas, gets his sweat dna all over the handle of that knife, he then comes home, and that becomes for cutting tool. >> matt attorney asked, if matt had used the knife to killed his wife why wouldn't he have thrown it in the ocean? >> he's either a mastermind, or he is a fool, he cannot simultaneously be both things, keith. and to say that he could go through all that and leave the knife when he spends a month moving out -- i've never killed anybody, i imagine if i did it would weigh on me. and that trying not to get caught woodway on me. and one of the things that i might think to myself is, maybe i should get rid of the murder weapon. >> he got liz's friend nathan to admit that she thought about running away. >> fiddlers express to you or decide to leave her family, her kids? >> yes. >> what did she tell you about her mindset of wanting to leave her family, her kids? >> she expressed the fact that she was unhappy in her current life. i believe she just regretted not being able to live her life to the fullest. >> the defense seized on that email stephen sutton received a month after liz's disappearance, the one from badly drawn girl. as proof that liz was alive then. and, no surprise, the defense brought up liz's mental state. her apparent drug use. her affairs. and said it all led to one conclusion -- what, she just walked out of the house according to him? >> as she had several nights in a row for the past months, to a year. that's a part that is so hard for people to grasp, your wife just leaves, you don't know where she's at? well that is how she had the affairs. >> but really, said the defense? liz walked out for the last time that night in october 2014. how did she, you know, managed to live without being discoverable by anybody through either a cell phone or bank account or anything, why she didn't contact her children. there must be some explanation for that period of time is what i'm saying? what could possibly be. >> another lover, another life that she is building? >> a life that must have gone on somewhere, for almost two years after liz left matt. remember, set attorney debose, when liz's body was found the medical examiner said it appeared she had only been dead for a month or two. >> putting the time of death sometime in august september of 2016, to almost two full years after she goes missing. i'm a defense lawyer i have no burden of proof. all i have is an allegation that he did something on october 2014 and the forensic files saying that she died in 2016. >> the explanation was simple, he said, the prosecution was wrong. matt did not kill liz. instead, she runaway, an unstable woman fling her marriage. who lived on for two more years, until she met a violent and at the hands of someone other than her husband. do you think you had made a good case, we had a pretty good chance or what? >> yes. yeah, i thought the case was well presented. i thought that the reasonable doubt existed, basically at every turn. >> except maybe the one thing, a rather big one, the detectives found in matt sullivan's garage. coming up -- do you think that someone was trying to frame you? >> maybe, i don't know. >> matt sullivan speaks at last. how do you explain her body washing up on the bay, right around where you live? >> i can't explain it, i really don't know what happened. >> and the verdict? >> i don't know how to describe it, i was shaking in the courtroom. like, please, please. >> what would the jury decide? >> we the jury find the defendant matthew scott sullivan -- >> when dateline continues. with gold bond... you can age on your own terms. retinol overnight means... the smoothing benefits of retinol. are now for your whole body. plus, fast-working crepe corrector diminishes wrinkled skin in just two days. gold bond. champion your skin. nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid for twice as long as pepcid. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. >> for all the evidence stacked keith morrison (voiceover): : for all the evidence stacked up against matt sullivan in the murder trial defense attorney mark's deposed was confident. because he knew, at the heart of the prosecution's case, there was a contradiction. labeled with a grim clinical term. the post morton interval. >> there were two separate medical examiners we examine the body, they both found and then testified to the fact that the postmortem interval, which is the period of time between the autopsy and what science determines to be the time of death, they both found that that was a 30 to 60-day window. >> meaning according to the condition of her body, liz was murdered no earlier than the summer of 2016. the prosecution's whole case was based on the idea that matt killed her in october of 2014. nearly two years earlier. the big problems that the defense, and it created a whole big lump of reasonable doubt. to which the prosecutors said. >> that did not take into account the possibility that something could have interrupted or delayed the decompose-ization process and both the medical examiner testified that freezing is something that could delay it. >> freezing, you may remember the very first time police searched the sullivan's home, they found a large freezer in the garage, the freezer was empty. so what is the explanation, if she's already dead, where would she be? >> i don't know that we will ever know for sure, based on the evidence we have, my personal belief is that she was hidden somewhere else on the property. i think the attic is a likely spot, but was later moved to the freezer. >> prosecutors joe lindberg believes that after matt stabbed liz to death and cleaned up the crime scene, he could have wrapped her body in the industrial plastic you had bought and hit it somewhere for a few days and then stashed it in that freezer for the better part of two years. to maintain the illusion liz was alive, detective colyer thought matt pretended to be her, with that email account badly drawn girl and emailed her boyfriend. and he might have gotten away with it, said the prosecutor, if he hadn't decided to move out of state, which forced him to finally take liz's body out of that freezer in the garage and dump her in the bay. it even behind the stench of death detectives could not help but notice. quite a story. who would the jury believe? the defense? >> ask yourselves, in your mind, what piece of evidence points to the fact that it was frozen in the freezer in the sullivan garage? >> or prosecutor? >> you know from the evidence that the defendant murdered his wife in their home with that knife, -- >> did he? or didn't he? >> i've been questioned by the police department numerous times, my answers have never changed throughout the years. >> when we spoke with matt, he was in a san diego county jail awaiting legal decisions. he insisted he was an innocent man, the police had it all wrong. >> i've been totally opened with them, i passed a polygraph exam, i've done literally everything i could think of. to cooperate with them. i don't know what else i can do. >> so why would they think you did it, if you are so cooperative, so hopeful? >> just because of the evidence, they ran out of leads. >> the prosecution reserve theory, absurd, said matt. >> i don't see how i possibly could've stored a body in the house for that many years, five adults living their, three children living there, multiple workman coming through, dozens of friends, family members coming through. the police searching the place multiple times. without her being found. >> so how do you explain her body washing up on the bay right around where you lived on the same day as the movers came to your house, days before you came to the house? >> it wasn't the same day, around the same time, i'll give you that -- >> okay. >> i can't explain it, i really don't know what happened. >> do you think it's somebody that is trying to free me? >> maybe. i don't know. >> he brought up liz is cutting the night of the cps incident as a way to explain that stain on the carpet. >> i had to bandage her arm up and it was pretty brutal, it was cory. >> or, you stopped her, i mean, there's nobody to say which version is tricks up her story? >> i don't know why i would've done that. that doesn't make sense to me. >> i think that the allegation was utah pikas you were finally fed up with somebody who had been cheating on you, who you had come to hate and you had constant fights and finally you lost it and killed her with a knife. >> no, i see what you're saying, keith. i mean i was trying to do the right thing, i was trying to invite my family to take care of the kids while we've got things squared away. i don't know why i would've done that, that doesn't make any sense. >> he simply didn't do it, he said. >> no, absolutely not. that is crazy. i've never laid a finger on her. i've never hit her. nothing like that. >> you never hit her? never, once? >> no, no, i don't do that. i was raised better than that. >> well, perhaps he was. anyway, not ours to judge, the man's honesty or his actions. that was the jury's job. and it had reached its verdict after a little more than a day. >> we the jury in the above entitle cause find the defendant matthew scott sullivan not guilty of the crime of first degree murder. >> she read not guilty, i was holding my clients hand, i was holding my clients hand and there is that moment for when she reads it where i'm like that i missed the guilt, okay, all right. you could feel it in both the hands that there was hope and there is life and there's happiness. >> not guilty, of first degree murder. but the jury wasn't done. >> i don't know how to describe it. i was kind of shaking in the courtroom. like, please. >> we the jury in the above entitle cause find the defendant matthew scott sullivan guilty of the crime of second degree murder. >> guilty of second degree murder. >> matt was sentenced to 16 years to life. >> and then i was so happy. elizabeth got justice. and her husband didn't get away with it. >> it had been a weight to carry around said detective collier. the case that wouldn't let her go. what memories do you carry around of elizabeth sullivan and the story? >> i bought a necklace for jill and myself and for tammy who was one of the dna lab analyst people, and it is what we all carry around with us periodically. >> this garbage makes you don't mind? >> it is a little leaf and it says badly drawn girl but you never gave up. >> no, that young woman had the force of life in her, said her friends. the kind of person you couldn't possibly forget. >> she loved to smile, and laugh more than anybody else i knew. people have an infectious laugh, she has an infectious smile. when you were in her graces, you felt like you were part of the highest rated tv show ever, the audience is watching you, everyone is laughing, everybody wanted to be in your company with her. >> i miss her terribly. every time something good happens to me and i want to call her -- the last thing that i want at the end of the day is for liz to come across dry and troubled when there were so many facets to her. she sparkled like a princess cut diamond. you could not take the shine out of her. you just had to know which facet you were supposed to be on to see it shine. that is all. rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. (♪♪) arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? make it arexvy. 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