And you could see a hand mark. Theres no good back from that. Theres no going back. I wanted to get away. I was scared. We didnt know if she set it up or had something to do with it. I feared for my family. Im too young to lose my dad. Its dark. Its very, very dark. Like, who are these people . There is a kind of peace here, in her own vast pacific exile, specific for company. How else to live with whats impossible to understand or forget . What began that Sunny Afternoon far away in southern californias san fernando valley, early may, 2012. Something was really wrong, but a lot more wrong than i could imagine. It was the boy who knew it first, knew something was wrong. His dad was supposed to take him to school that morning, but after school i was to go to the school and pick him up after basketball practice. When i showed up, he said, daddy didnt pick me up this morning. I said, what . He said, daddy didnt show up this morning. It could happen. People forget. The boy got to school some other way. He called a friend from around the corner. Or sometimes things fall apart. The situation sounded too crazy. Love affairs, love triangles, drug dealers. It just sounded too outlandish. Once those stable, loving pieces is flown apart, how do they come together again . Somebodys going to walk away from this who maybe you wish wasnt going to walk away. Exactly. How do people sleep at night . How do they live with themselves . But that afternoon, lisa smith knew instantly something must be wrong. Her husband gavin was a dedicated father. Nothing could keep him from picking up his kid ever. Because gavin was so good at these things, that his sister said, he was so impressive, so tall. Youve got gthe tall gene . We did. Whole family . Whole family. Gavin was the tallest. 66. He walked in the room, you noticed him. You gravitated toward him. He was a magnet. He played basketball for legendary coach john wooden, ucla, 1975. He was a forward. It was woodens final championship team. Just to be on that team was pretty fantastic. It was a once in a lifetime. And then he drifted a bit, worked as a golf caddy. And this being los angeles and he a goodlooking, towering athlete, people noticed him. Movie people. They gave him a couple of roles. And he got the bug. The acting bug. First as a body double back on the Basketball Court in the movie inside moves. Then as a bartender in cobb. Congrats, al. Four pieces in National Magazines this month. Five. Well, youre the man. When he met lisa, he was acting but also waiting tables. He twinkled. He was just charming. I was thrilled that he asked for my number. They married. Kiss your bride. Had three sons together. And with a growing family to support, gavin gave up acting and took a job on the business side at 20th century fox. Eventually as a Film Distribution executive. Fox is a Wonderful Company to work for, and he loved it. It was film. First place lisa called when gavin failed to pick up their son. Was he at work that day . They told me he just hadnt shown up to work. Gavin in 18 years had never, ever not shown up to work. So then lisa, very worried now, went to the lost hill sheriff station to report gavin missing and wait and wait. Days later, gavins family went on nbc 4 in los angeles to plead for help. Not going to stop until i find him. So please help me find him. If you guys just want to each pick up one of hes streets now im in panic mode. Weve got to do something. What did that feel like, being in that spot . Oh, it was surreal. The smith family put together a 20,000 reward for any information leading to gavins whereabouts. Nothing turned up. I would think with every hour that went by, it would be more and more dire, darker for you, right . Its very dark. Its very, very dark. It wasnt just the family having dark thoughts. They dont normally call a couple of seasoned homicide detectives to look into a missing person. They do when there are suspicious circumstances. And in this case, they called in sheriffs detectives ty labay and his partner, john obrian. His phone was missing. There was no use of it. We checked his Bank Accounts from the time he was missing. We checked his medical insurance to see if he had checked into a hospital. That never showed any activity. He was completely dropped off the face of the earth. But then out of nowhere, a sighting. Hundreds of miles north of los angeles, a businessman visiting californias Central Coast said he saw gavin smith and a beautiful woman at a cashonly taco restaurant in morro bay. I happened to cli ed ted t e link and said, oh, boy. The waitress corroborated the story. She was here, he was here. I said, heres my brothers picture. Did you see him . And . No. That was truly heartbreaking to me. It was all a big mistake, but it wasnt the last of the sightings. People seemed to see gavin smith everywhere. Because he kind of stands out in the photo, you know, big white smile, tan face, tall guy, pretty much every tall, tan, blondehaired man was getting spotted as being gavin smith. Weeks, months passed, no sign of gavin. And with no answers, lisa was forced to reveal something publicly. Something painful and maybe crucial. What had happened to gavin smith . It didnt make sense to me. Would say, i think this is a suicide, i think this is a murder. Our gut instincts are going different ways. You wonder if she had something to do with this. It crossed our minds all the time. elevator speaker going down. Oh no. Peter . Its kristy. Camp jenkins . Maybe this will jog your memory. Alexa, play my funky place. alexa playing your music. Remember our dance . Yeah, im not peter. Alexa, note to self. Take the stairs next time. Get a free moto mod with amazon alexa when you buy a moto z2. 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Reporter gavin smith, as just about anybody could see, was his familys golden boy. His sister tara grew up in his aura, idolized him. He, of all people, should not just up and vanish. It didnt make sense to me. And so i just kept, no, it cant be. It cant be. I just kept hoping. I did everything i could. Reporter but even as she ran down leads herself, it seemed to tara that lisa, her sisterinlaw, gavins wife, wasnt searching. So he disappeared, and you couldnt give up on the possibility he was out there somewhere and lisa could. And i wondered whether there were ever sort of dark nights to your soul where you thought i wondered if she had something to do with this. It crossed our minds all the time. It just did. I mean, did i think that she could ever be the one responsible, the physical . No. But somehow it kept playing back, why wont you search. Why . The only way somebody doesnt look for you is if you already know definitively yeah. Theyre no longer living. And you must have a reason for knowing that. Thats what i would assume. Reporter and it turned out lisa did know something, just not what tara suspected. There were secrets, which lisa and gavin kept hidden. I was the love of gavins life. He adored me. Our family was exactly what he wanted to have. He just got lost. Reporter lost. It all started in the early 80s, even before she met gavin, when he was a stuntman on the tv series remington steele. He played a shooting victim falling from a second story window. The stunt went wrong, and he broke his back. He would get pain pills for his back. So usually percocet, Something Like that for pain. When that didnt work anymore, he was prescribed oxycontin, and he was addicted to it. Reporter he went to a Drug Rehab Center called the Matrix Institute here in the san fernando valley. He clearly stopped using. He was feeling healthier than he had felt in years. Reporter but when detectives john obrien and ty labbe learned about gavins addiction, they had to consider a raft of new possibilities. He disappeared. Maybe he overdosed. We didnt exactly have any of those answers. Driving all over the valley, we would have moments in the car of where we looked at each other and said, i think this is a suicide. And then an hour later, wed interview somebody or something would happen, and wed go, i think this is a murder. And our feelings and our gut instincts were going different ways very early on very fast. Yeah. Its got to be pretty unusual though . It was very confusing. Reporter confusing for lisa too, because here was another secret, the smiths were underwater on their mortgage. On the verge of losing their home. We were in a horrible position financially. Reporter lisa discovered that before he disappeared, gavin had been taking money from his retirement account and recklessly blowing through his sixfigure salary. And there were other signs of strain in the family. In april 2012, a month before gavin disappeared, his son evan wrote this message on twitter. Thoughts and prayers out to my amazing mom and brothers please. My dad decided to leave the family last night. Real family sticks together. Sister tara spoke with gavin at the time. He was struggling with losing what he had come to know and love for so many years, and that was his family unit. Uhhuh. And he didnt want to hurt those boys. And thats what he kept saying, i dont want to be without them. Reporter but as much as he loved his boys, detectives learned, gavin had been unfaithful to his wife, had been seeing a woman named melanie, and now that gavin had disappeared without a trace. We went to talk to her and to see if she had any information. Did she . No. The relationship had ended, and she had not talked to him, and she had no idea where he was at. Reporter but though melanie was the reason gavin moved out of his house a month before he vanished, she was not his first affair. There had also been a woman named chandy. That relationship was years in the past, but phone records showed gavin called her on may 1st, the day before he disappeared. Cops tracked her down, too. What did she tell you . She acknowledged the prior affair, and she said that she had not been in contact with him for some time, but then they started communicating via email. And that would explain the fact that he called her on the phone . Yes. Reporter but chandy said she didnt see him may 1st, hadnt heard from him since. Last sighting . A colleague saw him driving his black mercedes. We felt that the vehicle was still out there somewhere. Reporter so find the car, and maybe find out what happened to gavin. And nine months after gavin vanished, they finally got the break they were looking for. I said, im here to talk to you about your daughter. And he started crying. And he said, she saw everything. Reporter coming up. She was very nervous. Startled. A new witness and a game changer of a clue. I kissed my partner on the cheek. It was pretty exciting. Huge moment. You think you cant be shocked. But you can be. Lot of miles shhhhh shh whats in your wallet . Man shhhh alarm ringing wake up to great tasting flavor. alarm stops belvita breakfast biscuits. Flavors like delicious blueberry or decadent chocolate, gently baked in a tasty biscuit. alarm ringing belvita breakfast biscuits. Its time to taste the day. Belvita breakfast biscuits. Your half bath needs tyour full attention. E at lowes, well help you turn the bathroom you have into the one youve always wanted. Now get your choice of 30inch vanities for only 269 during the lowes bath event. Ill have the my office is full of kleptos meal please. Noo. Noo. So you said a 2 pc. Buttermilk crispy tenders and a triple cheeseburger for only 5 dollars. Exactly to whoever took my lunch, thank you youre welcome, paul build whatever meal you want with favorites on mcdonalds new 1 2 3 dollar menu. Reporter like it or not, its a fact, an element of human nature. Some people have affairs. Some of them just flings and others a lot. As they poked through his life. One name kept popping up. Chandy. Her full name, Chandrika Creech. Shed already told the detectives that she and gavin had an affair years earlier. And that he called her right before he vanished. But now, nine months after gavin disappeared, the detectives got a tip. Her father knew more. Chandys dad started telling a tale about something his daughter may have seen, and he was distraught and wanted to talk about it. And he said, well, you know reina . I go, yeah, i know the name. Reporter reina lim. She lived with chandy. She took care of chandys grandmother. Chandys dad said reina knew something, something important. And he goes, i think she knows where the car is. Reporter the elusive mercedes. Detective labbe and his partner john obrien drove out to see reina. We just waited till she showed up, and we kind of surprised her. Thats what you guys do, right . You know sometimes it works better that way, yeah. She was very nervous and startled and wasnt quite sure what to do. But ultimately she provided us with the paperwork for the storage locker. Reporter reinas storage locker. It was a big one, ten feet by twenty. We rolled the door up and the only thing in it was a black Mercedes Benz with no license plates on it. Wow. Huge moment. Reporter a black mercedes sedan. Had to be gavin smiths. I kissed my partner on the cheek. Thats a true story. It was a big piece of evidence. And we were able to get closer and able to see that our entire crime scene, in our opinion, was inside that car. Reporter crime scene . Yes. Suddenly all other theories seemed to fall away. The passengers seat was completely covered in blood. And at one point it was very eerie when you looked at the blood and you could see a handmark of gavin smith as he died in that seat. Reporter soon the news reached gavins family. Tara was devastated. Theres no going back from that. There is no going back. You accepted it . You know, youre forced. You know, trauma happens to people all the time. You dont think its going to happen to you, but it does. You know when you already expect the worst, you think that you cant be shocked, but you can be is all i can say about that. Reporter but if gavin was dead, and certainly it looked that way, where was his body . How did his car wind up in the storage locker . And above all, who would have wanted him dead . Reina lim certainly seemed an unlikely suspect. She told them she had rented the storage unit for someone else. Meanwhile, detectives looked further into chandys affair with gavin and discovered the two had met in rehab and in december 2010, less than two years before gavin disappeared. Lisa found out about it. I was heartbroken. Reporter so she took an extreme step to save her family. She and two of her sons, then 14 and 20, went to the creechs house to speak to them, family to family. And i was really upset when we were driving there. So i stayed in the car, and i let my sons go in the house. Reporter but they didnt meet chandy in there. They met her husband. His name was john, john creech. Not pleasant. When they came out, they were both crying. Reporter they told their mom creech threatened to kill gavin if he didnt stay away from chandy. So 17 months later, he vanishes after calling chandy . Lisa had a very bad feeling. Everything changed right then for me. Reporter detectives were suspicious too. Remember, chandy told them she didnt see gavin that night. But there was evidence to the contrary. Cell phone records showed that gavins phone and chandys were in the same place that night. A little triangulation narrowed down just where. We came upon this street here. And we thought this was a good spot. This was a likely spot. Yeah. Reporter a likely spot for a tryst, that is. Parking lot though would be empty at night . Yes. Yes. And so this is a pretty lonely spot. It is. Reporter so it seemed that on the night he disappeared, gavin smith met Chandrika Creech for sex, or comfort, or just to talk. Something. Quite a lot to learn from those phone records. But there was more. A third phone. John creechs phone. In the same spot, on the same night. And this was eerie, creechs phone seemed to be moving in sync with gavins. John creechs phone and gavin smiths phone paralleled each other. Together together. Together. Sometimes hitting off the exact same towers or parallel towers. Wow. What was that like . That was an eyeopening moment. Reporter but when they interviewed john creech. He denied ever meeting gavin smith. He said he knew who he was, that he was having an affair with his wife in the past. Reporter so, despite their suspicions, there was not much police could do because one thing we didnt have was gavin smith. Reporter that is, they had no body. No way to prove who killed gavin or that there was a murder at all, that is, until a dog named buddy went for a walk. Coming up. I go, buddy, stop reporter a discovery on a deserted trail. I was like, wow, that looks pretty strange. Reporter and a young woman suddenly finds herself in the middle of this mystery. I discovered he had scrapes on his hands and arms. Victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar, but for people with type 2 diabetes treating their cardiovascular disease, victoza® is also approved to lower the risk of major cv events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. While not for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. announcer victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take victoza® if you have a person