Reporter it started with a strange, sudden death. Then another and another he had been crushed under a vehicle while working on it. Reporter all, ruled accidents, but were they . It didnt smell right. Reporter for investigators, a journey in to the supernatural. He would say that even though we couldnt see her, she was there. Reporter who, or what, had a grip on this place. Amber was the angel of death. She would come around when somebody was going to die. Reporter a terrifying tale of dark power and diabolical prophecies. He predicted my mom was going to die. Reporter im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Dennis Murphy with angels and demons. You might as well be telling me to go live on the moon because that just wasnt something that could happen. The thought of leaving was scarier than the thought of staying. I never once thought about leaving. I thought about killing myself, but i didnt think about leaving. Reporter rolling out past the downtown grid, toward the wideopen flatlands north of wichita, kansas, it would be easy to zip by the small cluster of homes nestled between corn and wheat fields not notice them at all. Maybe that was the point. But the nondescript compound did have a whimsical name Angels Landing and it was home to a kind of large puttogether family, a commune really, including two sisters. We had a great relationship. I had everything i wanted. Reporter but Angels Landing gnawed at a county detective. For years he could not shake the place, or the people who lived there, from his mind. You thought there was a criminal scheme goin on here . It didnt smell right. For us, it was a game of cat and mouse. Reporter and after a decadelong obsession, the detectives hunch would be proved right. It turned out to be far more sinister than anyone could imagine. We had kept this a secret for 10 years and no one knew. Reporter he would uncover a supernatural tale of angels and demons. An investigation into the saga of a travelling family that dabbled in most of the seven deadly sins. Amber was the angel of death. Did you believe it . He could see the future. Reporter lies . Plenty. Lust, greed, murder . Angels landing had all of that and more. All i could think about was how are they going to believe me . You know, this is such a crazy story. What if they dont believe me . Reporter growing up near kansas city, missouri, the two sisters sara and emily had about as normal a life as any suburban girls in the midwest. My sister and i used to play together when we were younger. My mom, it seemed like she was always home with us. And my dad was always there for dinner and things like that it seemed like. Reporter their dad built houses. Mom, jennifer, a realtor, sold them. And the girls were close, despite a 7year age gap. We would go fishing together. She would take me to the pool every day during the summer. Things like that. So, i mean, we were close, but we fought like siblings. Reporter sara was 16. Emily just 9 and a star student. I was a teachers pet. And i was usually one of the top of my class. You were always prepared. Yeah, i was a suck up. You said that. I didnt, emily. Totally was. I didnt know it then. But i was. Reporter everything was easy sailing for the girls until their parents lives went in different directions. I knew that my parents were getting divorced. I didnt know why. They never fought in front of us or anything. Reporter thats always tough for kids. That summer, 2001, their mom jennifer was showing houses to a new client, a man named lou castro who, with his long hair, and western hat, looked for all the world like a wellheeled young cowboy. He seemed really charismatic and outgoing and friendly and like he had a lot of money. He would tell everybody that he had cattle in south dakota, and that he was trading stocks he told me he had a bunch of cars in texas somewhere, and that he owned a mansion down there. Reporter this softspoken man was looking for a Country Property for his somewhat new age family commune just down from south dakota a young married couple, trish and brian hughes their baby girl and a young wm woman from north dakota. Jennifer found them just the right parcel, but even after turning over the keys, there was something about that lou castro guy, that emilys mom found ir resistable irresistable. Hed become more than a client. Well at first, he was just somebody that mom was doing business with. But they would go to lunch often. Reporter as you look back now emily what do you think went on with your mother . I dont know. Reporter but something was going on, huh . Something was. Reporter and something was going on with lou too. No sooner had he settled down in greater kansas city, than his family commune was on the move again. And guess who was going with them . Jennifer the realtor and her two girls. Reporter and whatd your dad think . My dad was devastated. Reporter just like that, in the fall of 2001. Emily, sara and their mom were packing up a uhaul and heading out for a fresh start to life. You got to leave your neighborhood, your playmates, your class kids. At first, i was really upset. But eventually it kind of seemed like a new adventure and that thats what mom really needed to do. Reporter the new home for all three was a tenacre minifarm north of wichita. They moved in with lou and his family commune in the spread they called Angels Landing. The girls mom jennifer bought the adjoining ten acres and built a second house. And after they added a Swimming Pool and a dirt track for atvs, the commune later put up a third house. So what was the routine at the household . We were all having meals together. And we didnt really do chores. Reporter while the girls mom resumed her realestate business, brian worked as a mechanic and lou organized the down time. He would throw parties about every weekend. There was a lot of drinking. Other people would bring their kids over. Wed go swimming. I would take care of the little kids. Wed play pool. Reporter pretty normal. Little lavish, but pretty normal stuff. Reporter lou loved toys with engines and there were a couple of workshops big enough to garage his enormous radiocontrolled planes and a fleet of snazzy cars. Going to a dealership and buying a corvette was like going to a toy store and picking out a model car. Like, that is how quickly. He would just go and pick one out, say, all right. I want it. Reporter corvettes, dodge viper . Many corvettes, a few dodge vipers. We had suburbans, tahoes, trail blazers big trucks, duallies. Reporter they had vanity plates angel one, angel two and so on. So a lot of it is kind of a kids dream, huh . Yeah. I mean i got everything i wanted. Reporter while the sisters did stay in touch with their dad who had moved nearby lous promise of whatever your heart desires found a sweet spot. Lou asked me what i wanted for my birthday. And i was like, well, i would love to have a horse. But i know that its expensive. And i know its too much work. So, were not gonna do that. Hes like, no, if you want a horse, were gonna get a horse. Reporter you were the little girl who got a horse for your birthday . I was. I got three horses. Reporter you were the princess of the house . Yes. Reporter emily being the princess didnt always sit well with sister sara. So the other young mom in the family brians wife trish sometimes stepped in to referee their sibling rivalry. She was the disciplinarian . Kind of. There was a specific way to do things. And you did it her way. And thats just what was expected. Reporter what did you think of trish . Did you like her . She was wonderful. I loved her just like another mom. Reporter so she really was substitute mom in a lot of things, huh . She was. Reporter so the sisters will never forget that awful day in june 2003. Emily just 11yearsold found herself standing by the Swimming Pool. Trish was floating in the shallow end of the pool, face down. Reporter a beach sandal floated on the water. Trish was dead. Reporter just two years reporter for emily and everyone else the sunny life at Angels Landing had ended. When we return the horror of losing one of their own. It was very traumatic. Later there would be more shocks in store, mysterious accidents. Dark threats involving this spirit world and one seemingly denomic transformation. He would get aer the able grin that just looked evil. This toothpaste, sensodyne repair protect can actually repair and protect sensitive teeth. And as long as they brush twice a day, everyday, then they can expect to continually have that reparative layer of protection. Against sensitivity. 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I am having a really great time. I am so glad you came. I knew everybody here would love you. Oh no. Who. Is this . i told you, i am seeing someone else. Hi, i am heinz new mustard. Hi na na na na shes just jealous because you have better taste. You who do you think has better taste . Anybody wants a hot dog . Whatever. Hey. Keep your chin up. For years, heinz ketchup has been with the wrong mustard. Well, not anymore. Introducing heinz new better tasting yellow mustard. Mmm reporter just two years new start with their moms freeliving, freespending friends near wichita, kansas, the two sisters, emily, 11, and sara, 17, were still living in the family commune called Angels Landing. Lou, who had money and lots of spare time, was the patriarch. And trish who was married to brian and had a baby daughter took care of the home. Trish kind of was the one that would be there before we went to school and after we went to school, because my mom had to work. Did you like her . I loved her. I loved trish. Reporter so what happened in june 2003 at Angels Landing came as a sudden lifealtering shock. The day began normally enough for the sisters. We all had gone to lunch, trish and her daughter a friend of mine and her baby and then lou and my sister. And then we came back to the house after lunch. And trish and emily and the baby were going to clean the pool. That was the plan for the afternoon . Right. And lou and i were gonna go to davis moore. Car dealer . Correct. So you go off to the car dealership with lou . Uhhuh. Reporter back at the Swimming Pool, something truly awful had happened. I called 911. Reporter she told the operator that trishs toddler had fallen in to the pool, and when trish had tried to save her little girl she slipped backwards. She tripped and fell and hit the concrete . She fell and hit her head and drowned. And the baby was in trouble in the pool, and that you rescued the baby but you couldnt help . Right. Reporter emily got the baby out of the pool but, because she was just a wisp of a thing, try as she might emily could not lift trishs body out of the water. Hopeless. Across town, sara and lou were checking out cars at the dealership when saras phone rang. I receive a phone call from emily. And she says that, trish fell in the pool. I need you to come home. Did she say that trish was dead . Yes. So this is shocking news. Youve all just had lunch a few hours before. And now youre hearing trish is dead, huh . Uhhuh. Reporter lou and sara raced back home to Angels Landing, where police and emts were already on the scene. Theres no reason to believe that she was under the influence of anything at this time. Reporter they had pulled trishs body from the pool, and taken photographs. A single beach sandal floated on the waters surface. Pieces of trishs hair clip were in the pool. It had snapped apart when she banged her head, they presumed. And there were small bruises and a cut on trishs forehead. The medical examiner determined trishs death was due to a freakishly bad accident. Trish was just 26 years old. And trish was gone . Yeah. Reporter the family was in a state of shock. Devastated. Trish had been kind of a mother of the house, the way you talk about her. Yeah. For you, too. Absolutely. It was really hard. It breaks my heart. Reporter and it was hard for lou. Trish was someone he regarded as his best friend. Lou had met trish in the mid 90s in south texas, after serving in the navy as a plane mechanic. And for eight years they were inseparable travelers. Moving on to south dakota and ending up in wichita. It was very traumatic. Reporter as the family commune tried to come to terms with the tragedy, trishs husband brian embraced his little daughter closer; and gradually, they all got on with their lives. And then, youre, what, goin back to school and yep. Exactly. Reporter still it was hard for the family to put trishs death behind them. And Something Else was troubling. Emily and sara had a fuzzy recollection that trish wasnt the first person in the family commune to die. Theyd recently met a teenager whod also once been on the fringes of the commune. And he told a story with painful echoes. Coming up, a tale of tragedy and mystery. I knew something wasnt right and he told me, your mom and sister have been mising. Two members of the commune van niche thin air. When dateline continues. Why am i so awake . Did you know your brain has a wake system. And a sleep system . Science suggests when you have insomnia, the neurotransmitters in your wake system may be too strong, which may be preventing you from getting the sleep you need. Talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. Enamel is your teeths first line of defense. But daily eating and drinking can make it weak. Try colgate enamel health. It replenishes weak spots with natural calcium to strengthen enamel four times better. Colgate enamel health. Stronger, healthy enamel. Reporter at Angels Landing, the family commune was slowly mending after the devastating loss of trish hughes, who had drowned in the Swimming Pool, since covered over. Sisters sara and emily saw trishs husband brian, an auto mechanic, a broken man, left to raise a daughter. Brian loved trish more than anything in the world. And he loved his daughter immensely. He was a really just good person. He missed his wife. Brian was sad. Reporter as they coped with the loss themselves, emily and sara had a flashback, and pieced together another incident when tragedy struck the family about two years before. I wasnt there, and im glad i wasnt there. That would be more that i had lost. Reporter not long before trishs death, the sisters met 15yearold Cody Griffith from texas, whod also once been on the fringes of the family commune. Hed been close to trish and lou thanks to his mom, mona. My mom and trish were really great friends. They would do a lot together. Reporter codys mom mona was something of a flower child. She was extremely loving very freespirited. Everything was spontaneous. There was really no planning. She could say, hey, lets get in the car and drive somewhere. Reporter couldve been a hippie in an earlier day, huh . Maybe. Just someone who is extremely loving, very accepting. Reporter when cody was growing up in Corpus Christi in the mid 90s, his mom, mona, was going through a difficult divorce and financial trouble. She, cody and codys young sister lindsey moved in with their good friends trish and lou from the apartment complex. I can remember lou taking us to baseball practice when my sister was little, picking her up from school and stuff like that. Reporter his mom, mona, and trish took turns cooking for what was the beginnings of the commune. So youre really an extended family . Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it was like living with an aunt and uncle. Reporter so when trish and lou suddenly decided they wanted to pick up sticks and move to south dakota, mona wanted to go too, and to take cody and his sister lindsey along as well. Ill never forget it. It was just like yesterday, and i told her, no, im not leaving. And i had gotten extremely upset. Reporter the very thought of being so far away from his dad was too much for cody. So what did she say . Yes, you are. Youre gonna go with us . No. She let me make that decision. She would have not wanted me to do something i didnt wanna do. Reporter so in late 1998, mona and codys younger sister lindsey ended up leaving Corpus Christi and settled near rapid city, south dakota, where, one christmas, cody paid them a visit. It was an extremely small home. It was like in the mountains. We even went and cut our own christmas tree. Reporter off the grid kind of a cabin place . Yeah. Reporter the cabin was a tightsqueeze for sure, but the family commune was growing. It was here that trish met and married brian, the auto mechanic, and they had a daughter. Mona, codys mom, had also found a boyfriend, a rapid city realtor and experienced private plane pilot. You were okay with that, huh . Oh, yeah. I wanted my mom to be happy. And, you know, i looked forward to meeting him. Reporter did you ever meet him . No. Reporter one friday in february of 2001, mona and her boyfriend decided to take daughter lindsey on an exciting birthday trip to nebraska. Exciting because monas boyfriend would fly them there himself. They took off from rapid city. But not long after, something went terribly wrong. How did you find out about the plane . My dad had called me inside, and he just looked at me. And i knew something wasnt right. And then he just told me, hey, your mom and sister have been missing. Reporter your dad must have been all ripped up, huh . Theres nothing you can say. I mean he didnt there was no way that he could explain to his son that his sister and mom are gone. Reporter and imagine you hope that somebodys crawled out of the wreckage and theyve got some food and water and theyre in a little tent waiting for search and rescue to find them but thats the only thing i could pray for. Reporter as cody was praying for a miracle, monas sister lisa also got a phone call, from another sister. And shes crying hysterically. And she said that mona and lindsey had left on a plane, and the plane had never reached its destination. And they did