On any given weekend night chances are someone you love, one of your kids maybe is heading out for some fun. A few worries . Sure. About drinking, driving, hookups. But the two young women in this story found a very different kind of trouble. For each the simple joys of a night out would lead to the most confounding and terrifying of mysteries. Heres keith morrison. Reporter the woman in the icu was barely alive. Her jaw shattered in a dozen pieces. A once beautiful face unrecognizable after the brutal beating, the rape, the fire, the fall, the massive nearly fatal stroke. Someone thought shed be dead now. Someone who fled into the night. Someone killing women. And this one deep in a coma at only chance to catch him before he does it again. What happened here was spawned in a very dark corner of the human condition. But a terrifying flaw that forces us to admit yes, virginia, there really is a bogey man. And against him were the only weapons they had. The power of one family. A determined cop. And one remarkable gift in the face of evil. Heres where it began, three months before that scene in the icu. This is the nightclub district, denver, colorado. People here call this part of town lodo. Short for lower downtown. Very trendy. It was the night before april fools day 2011. Girls night out. An attractive 19yearold named kenia monge was on her way to lodo to party with some girlfriends. She was very kind, friendly, outgoing. Just a happy person. Reporter among the partiers, closest friends. She loved to have fun. Yeah, she loved to have fun. Reporter underage fun. No trouble sneaking in. They charmed the bouncers, flashed fake i. D. S. Kenia and her crew had a kind of unwritten safety rule. Go together and leave together. Look out for each other. But on this particular night things didnt go as planned. We had planned to meet at we went in there, and she wasnt in there. Ride downtown with two other girls she didnt know very well. Her plan was to meet janet and but she didnt show up. Response. And i called her three times. Nothing. Reporter what janet didnt other girls couldnt get into the bouncers werent buying their fake i. D. Cards. So they went to another club nearby, even took a few pictures. But they didnt tell anyone they were there. And i sent her the last message about 11 30, and nothing. Reporter so when the clubs closed, janet headed home without kenia, who she assumed was with some other friends. I thought okay, theyre probably just having fun, shell call tomorrow. She would always call me in the morning. She wouldnt take chances. No. Let me see how i look. Reporter no because though known as the responsible one. Reliable, ambitious, hardworking, not flaky at all. She had recently graduated from one of colorados top high schools, was now considering careers in tv production or criminology. Here she is directing a student film. All the more remarkable because just seven years earlier kenia didnt know more than a word or two of english. [ speaking spanish ]. Reporter and not a Single Person in denver. Apart, that is, from her mother, maria, who had migrated from honduras a few years before. And when she and kenia were finally reunited it was the happy day in my life. When i held her, hold her, telling her how much i miss her. And she said me too, mom, and now we are together, nothing going to separate us. Reporter by the time kenia came to colorado maria was married to tony lee and together they had two children. Now kenia made three. The first time. The first words that she said to me were thank you, daddy. Ill never forget that. And she hugged me. Reporter so connecting with the family took no time at all. I always thought about the song from the brady family, how we all came together and became a became a family. It was pretty much that was kind of how it worked out. And it clicked from day one. And theres all the girls there, all the wonderful women in my life. Thank you, daddy. Reporter and for kenias little sister, kimberly, it felt like the aest thing that ever happened. Tomorrow kenia makes one whole year in america. I thought she was going to be like the big sister everybody dreams of. It was even better than i imagined. Better . Mmhmm. She was very loving and caring. I felt like she was my twin. Wed text each other every day. Every morning, every night, she would call me sometimes. Shed just want to say i love you. Reporter but she was independent, too, was kenia. After high school she moved out to make it on her own. She always wanted to be something big. She always wanted to be a ceo of something. That was her goal in life, was to be somebody. Ah she came from having nothing to being somebody, and on one of her calendars it says like study, study, study, and then it says party on the last day. She was balancing her job, and she was balancing school, and she was balancing like her party life. Reporter but on the morning of april fools day 2011 nothing was balanced. Something was wrong. Her friend janet gomez desperate to hear from kenia dove for her phone the moment it rang. But it wasnt from kenia. It was another girlfriend. Shes like are you with kenia . And i say no. And thats when it all started. Reporter started . Oh, it had more than started for kenia monge. Swallowed up by, well, whatever it was. Some dark presence haunting the happy dipsy streets of lodo. Coming up, kenias family starts to worry. And that dark presence, whatever it might be, had it come for their own daughter . Thats when i went into high alert. Donalds all Day Breakfast menu. Yeah its time to start breaking some rules. Plumping surface cells for a dramatic transformation without the need for fillers with olay, you age less so you can be ageless olay. Ageless. Uh right now you can get 15 gigs for 100 bucks plus 15 per line that is perfect because we are about to start the whole Long Distance thing yeah and lots of data will mean lots of video chatting how much is that . 15 gigs, thats over 40 hours of video chatting wow whoa 40 hours, thatss lot of communication yeah yay love get 15 gigs for 100 bucks, april 1st, 2011. Dawn in denver, colorado. Bright, springlike. And for the friends of kenia monge, terrifying. I just kept calling her and calling her. We were all worried and scared. Reporter where was she . Kenia was supposed to have met her friends at a downtown bar the night before. Didnt show. And now she didnt answer her phone. Not like kenia. Not at all. We didnt know what happened. Nobody knew nothing. Reporter kenias friends, truly frightened now, kept texting, calling. But not a single lead turned up. No tips, no clues, and no kenia. We were just trying to be strong because we dont want to think negative or anything. We had a lot of thoughts. I dont know. Maybe we should have done that. Done what . Going out to you know, we were just 19. Yeah. And you should have looked after her. Yeah. She wasnt with me. Because i know if she would have been with me she would have been safe. Reporter even her sister kim, with whom kenia texted constantly, hadnt heard a word. But she did get a call from kenias boyfriend, whod been talking to kenias worried friends. He was like have you seen your sister . And i was like, no. He was like, have you talked to her . I was like, no. He was like, well, shes missing. I was like, shut up. Like this isnt funny. Tell me the truth. Like where is she . And he was like, im being serious, you need to call your parents and tell them to call the police and file a missing persons report. And then i called my mom. I started calling my sisters and my all the family. I said maybe its a joke. And my sister got very worried. She said i dont think so its a joke. When i got back home from my daughter kim and she said that she had not heard anything from her that day, thats when i went reporter but when tony called kenias friends, they werent exactly straight with him about their underage bar hopping the night before in those lodo nightclubs. It was very, very, very confusing because these girls were they were not telling me the truth about what they were doing and where they were at because they were covering their asses. Reporter so tony turned amateur detective and was finally able to confirm that kenia had spent the evening not with her Close Friends but with two other girls she barely knew. And she had left her purse, a phone and her i. D. And all that reporter her stuff. Kenia never went anywhere without it. Especially her cell phone. Leave it with two people she hardly knew. Something is really wrong. Something is wrong. Reporter the night after kenia was last seen here in lodo one of the girls she was drinking with showed up at the belongings. Kenia was happily dancing till about 1 00 in the morning she said with some guy and then she disappeared. They looked for her but couldnt find her, she said. And when the bar closed, they took her purse and cell phone and just kind of assumed that kenia would get home on her own somehow. Reporter i was looking through her Text Messages from the day before and these conversations she was having with her friends, hey, this is where were going to hook up at. Reporter the phone showed that kenia suddenly stopped sending texts right after 11 00 p. M. But of course her phone kept receiving texts, practically all night. Her boyfriend started texting her asking her, hey, where you at . You being good . Hey, youre not contacting me. Reporter the next morning the texts continued from kenias friends, all asking where was she. And then there was a dead area, and then the next text that night. Reporter but this one . This one jumped off the screen, was just plain weird. And the message said, hey, this is travis, the guy in the creepy white van, smiley face. Did you get home okay . Reporter travis . Who was travis . Nobody in kenias circle of friends and family had ever heard of anybody named travis. I kept calling him. I kept leaving these messages. Reporter no answer. No calls back. At this point the mysterious travis in the creepy white van was the only possible lead in their daughters disappearance. They filed a missing persons report. But it was too soon, the police told them, to start an investigation. And so alone, they panicked. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off and we didnt know what to do first. So we were just trying to figure out what have we got to do. Reporter and then, one terrifying day later, the and travis had some rather stunning news about kenias whereabouts and just who she might be with. Coming up, tony on a mission that would leave his wife paralyzed with fear. Grabbed the 9millimeter pistol, and i packed it in my waist, and i told her, im on my when dateline continues. Many sleepaids have Pain Medicine but zzzquil is different because why would you take a Pain Medicine when all you want is good sleep . Zzzquil a nonhabit forming sleepaid thats not for pain, ah, thats what you got . Reporter kenia and kimberly. As close as two sisters could be. Always together, always talking and texting, facebooking. At first when the messages suddenly stopped i didnt really take it seriously, like i didnt think she was going to be gone that long. Reporter but after 48 long hours whats that like . That feeling. Its a feeling of being like sister is. Because that was not only my best friend, like that was my sister. That was my other half. That was everything to me. Reporter and then that second night after kenia vanished there was this call from a total stranger named travis. Travis . Travis called me back about 8 00 p. M. Reporter the guy who left that rather odd text message on kenias phone to see if shed gotten home safely from the nightclub. And he told me the story. Yeah, you know, i seen her out there. Asked her if she needed any help because she seemed like she was really drunk and she was really out of it, you know. So i said, well, id better help her. So she got in my van. Reporter travis told kenias dad that as he was driving her home she asked to stop at a gas station for cigarettes. But there something strange happened. She met another guy, who said hed take her home. And so, said travis, he left them there. And thats the last he saw of her . Thats what he said. Thats the last he saw of her. Thought to myself, that is the most fantastic story ive ever heard. Not one word of what he told me made any sense to me. Reporter tony called the Denver Police to report all that but was told, remember, that the cops couldnt open an investigation because kenia hadnt been missing long enough. Im pissed. Im sitting there, im like i cant believe this. So i took matters into my own hands. I called travis back. And i said, travis, ive got some questions i want to ask you. Tell me again where you last saw her at. And he says, well, i was at this conoco station. Tell you what, why dont you meet me there . I told him im on my way. I was so afraid. I said oh, my god. I grabbed the 9millimeter pistol. I packed it in my waist. And i told her, im on my way to meet this guy. Maria was down on her hands and knees literally begging me tony, dont do this, dont go down there, this is dangerous, this i told her ive got to go, theyre not going to do anything, ive got to go. And i grabbed the phone and i called 911. Reporter tony roared over to that conoco station nerves on edge, gun close to hand, expecting what . A violent confrontation . A dangerous standoff . A weirdo . But it was none of those things. Travis forbes was there, all right. Patiently waiting. And he looked just fine. Not scary at all. He was very thin. Blond hair, blue eyes, goodlooking guy. My First Impression of him was, you know, looks decent enough guy, if youre going to have somebody pick up your kid, you know, and help them out, you know. Seemed like a nice guy. Yeah. Reporter and because maria called 911, the Denver Police were at the gas station, too. So the cops, not tony, did most of the talking with travis. He told them that same story that he told me on the phone, and it was very consistent. The story that he told them matched exactly. Dont sound right. It just dont sound right. Reporter it didnt sound right to the cops either. But they had nothing to hold travis on. Hed been cooperative, forthcoming, concerned for kenia. So they let him go. As the meeting wrapped up, travis sidled up to tony and started talking. He was crying. He was telling me i promised id take care of her, i wish i could have followed through on what id done, i feel responsible for, this i wish i could have done more. Reporter travis certainly seemed sincere. His story, though strange, was consistent. Maybe he was telling the truth and that man kenia met at the gas station had abducted her. I stuck my hand out, said appreciate it. And we shook hands. And when i shook his hand, it was as if an earthquake was going on under his feet and it was only in my hand i could feel it. His arm wasnt shaking, his body wasnt shaking, there was no quivering, but i felt that shake. And i looked at it. And i knew id shaken the hand kenia alive. There was no doubt in my mind. I knew in that instant. And you believed as of that moment that she was dead . Yes. Coming up was he right . They were about to come across a disturbing clue. He was determined to erase something. Everything. Everything. You need to eat this special. I love it kelloggs special k. Made with whole grains and fiber. To help a body thrive. I love it folic acid and vitamin d. To make a body feel this good. Start your day with 150 nourishing calories. In a bowl of special k. Discover more ways to eat special. With special k. We stop arthritis pain, so you dont have to stop. Because you believe in go. Onward. Todays the day. Carpe diem. Tylenol 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. The first is fast. The second lasts all day. We give you your day back. What you do with it is up to you. Kenia monge was at a downtown denver nightclub with her friends one week ago. Reporter kenia monges disappearance was big news in denver. She was last seen wearing a black skirt, black jacket, and red highheeled shoes. Reporter kenias family was frantic, desperately hoping she was still alive. I couldnt sleep. Id pray. Id get on my knees every day, please. Reporter janet gomez and kenias other Close Friends kept looking, hoping someone would come forward with a clue. We kept just putting flyers everywhere. We had to do it. You know, she was our friend. And got nowhere. You just have to be strong and just pray for the best. Reporter and now family and friends were not alone in the search for kenia. A veteran Denver Police detective named nash gurule started looking too. To say detective gurule is imposing is perhaps an understatement. Looks more like a character from the sopranos. But hates when children go missing. I wanted to find her. I wanted to give her family closure. I wanted to give the city of denver closure. I was determined to bring her i was determined to bring her home. Reporter also assigned to the case was deputy d. A. Kerri lombardi. We had to do something. And time was of the essence because they were still hoping she was alive. Reporter they focused first of course on the good samaritan, the guy whod given kenia a ride, Travis Forbes. He was 31, they discovered, had a rap sheet for theft and drugs. But now he owned a Small Business in denver, baking and delivering glutenfree granola bars. He was renting a space at a local bakery, owned by monica poole. Travis was energetic. He seemed friendly. Wanted to have a business. He launched into granola bars, idea. They didnt exist in the marketplace. Not the way he was making them. Reporter travis could bake. But he wasnt the best businessman. He was often in debt, sometimes missed deliveries and deadlines. Seemed a little frazzled, and told monica about his odd encounter the night before. He said i gave some girl a ride home and shes missing and shes gone. And i thought, wow, thats kind of strange. Whatever. Reporter then a few days later monicas bakery was crawling with cops. When the Police Showed up, i thought, wow, that must be that missing girl. Reporter detectives looked around, even shot this video of the place. But they didnt find much. Travis was there. So they took him downtown for questioning. Travis, this is detective gurule. Hows it going . Travis. Hes a talker. Very, very charming. Very manipulative. I never met her before then reporter and talk travis did. Reciting the very same story he told tony lee, about picking up a lost and distressed kenia downtown. Then stopping for cigarettes at that gas station. Said hed take her home. She put her arm through his arm. They were sitting there smoking. And they spoke spanish. And that was it. That was the last that was it. Then i went home. And thats the last you see her . Yes. Reporter travis was cool, calm, even contrite about leaving kenia with that strange fellow at the gas station. If she had made the choice to to go back home or to get right in, i would have taken her home. I would not i mean, and if i ha