her car found underwater in a motel parking lot. but police say she was not lost in the storm. >> we do believe it is probably foul play. >> the new clues uncovered in the investigation. but first here tonight, the "nightline" 5. good evening. and tonight we take you to the front lines of a horrifying humanitarian crisis. reports of government-orchestrated torture, rape, and ethnic cleansing against a minority group in the country of myanmar. it is causing a mass exodus and an international outcry. here's abc's bob woodruff. >> reporter: they are running for their lives, hoping to escape what they believe is certain death, risking it all to cross illegally from myanmar into bangladesh. we ask why are you coming here? >> translator: we do not have peace in our home. so we're coming to bangladesh. our house was destroyed. >> translator: because we are being persecuted. we are scared. the authorities ordered us to leave our home. there have been killings. >> reporter: we ask how many have been killed. >> too many to count. there is no crime that the authorities have not committed. >> reporter: disturbing reports emerging of a new wave of attacks unleashed by government forces in myanmar on the rohingya, a muslim minority considered one of the most persecuted groups in the world. nearly 150,000 rohingya have crossed into bangladesh since august 25th, with thousands more at the border waiting to cross. reports of villages surrounded, homes burned to the ground, torture, executions, and rape. all the more surprising is that this is all unfolding in aung san suu kyi's new democratic myanmar. she won the nobel peace prize for her principled stand against tyranny. >> democratic values and fundamental human rights are not only necessary but possible for our society. >> reporter: but despite the united nations' demand that myanmar open its doors to an independent inquiry into human rights violations and possible ethnic cleansing -- >> i am deeply concerned about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in myanmar's rakhin estate. >> reporter: suu kyi says she'll deny access. she's already denied the charges. >> i don't think ethnic cleansing is going on. i think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression. i think there's a lot of hostility there. it's muslims killing muslims as well. it's a matter of people on different siefds a divide. >> reporter: suu kyi did not respond to our request for an interview but she recently sat down with the bbc and made it clear she does not agree with her critics. >> people would say i said nothing. simply because i didn't make the kind of statement they thought i should make, which is to condemn one community or the other. >> reporter: calls for cooperation and restraint from u.s. ambassador nikki haley, malala, and pope francis have gone unanswered. the rohingya are unwanted in myanmar and restricted to large camps that have been called the world's largest outdoor prison. we saw the deplorable conditions firsthand when we traveled to the camps in 2015. >> why are we going through the back entrance? >> the authorities are not interested in outside attention. >> reporter: you can see the barbed wire everywhere and armed officers at the few exits. conditions continue to deteriorate, with the head of the myanmar military reaffirming their hard-line stance that the rohingya don't actually exist. yet myanmar now says their non-existent rohingya have created an extremist terrorist organization called arsa that they say is fomenting revolution and is responsible for attacks on dozens of police posts, a military base, and even civilians. so we traveled to bangladesh to see if there was any truth to this claim and to speak with survivors of government attacks. attacks such as this one. recogniza villagers seen her struck repeatedly by police. villagers tell us they have risked their lives to record the abuse with their cell phones. the markings of torture, beatings, even the painful search for loved ones in the ashes. matthew smith, ceo of fortify rights, and his team have been documenting these atrocities for years. >> the level of persecution is severe and has been for a very long time. and the civilian population is really facing a significant existential threat from the myanmar military and other state security forces. in some cases there are photos and videos of women explaining rape that they had endured, videos of injuries, gunshot wounds, knife wounds. there's a whole range of evidence. >> reporter: as we drive through southern bangladesh, the rohingya are easy to spot. the black tarps that serve as shelters dot the hills, and soon we see women and children begging by the side of the road. so is this a new camp or is this an old cam. >> this is the oldest. this camp was established in the '90s. these are all brand new arrivals here. wherever we see the black tarps. >> reporter: wow. what's wrong with her leg? everyone we encounter wants to share their story. did you see gunfire? did you see attacks from the government? what exactly happened to you while you were in myanmar? a father brings his son up close to the camera. >> this is a bullet right here that went off. do you feel pretty lucky to be alive? >> yeah. >> reporter: happy to be alive. see these little guys here? they're not healthy. hello. this family tells us they witnessed brutal killings. what did you witness? can you show me exactly what you saw? they put a rope around their neck like this and attached it to the car and just drove away and killed them? during our interview this 13-year-old girl sat behind her mother, gently rocking herself. what did you see in that village before you came over here to bangladesh? >> reporter: resources are very limited here. most of the new arrivals escaped with only the clothes on their backs. their makeshift homes are empty of any belongings. they don't have money. the children are suffering from acute malnutrition. and bangladesh does not want them here. why does the government say there are only about 30,000 of these refugees from myanmar? >> bangladesh authorities won't allow the u.n. agency to register official refugee status. part of their argument is that they don't want to draw more refugees into bangladesh. but the reality is that people are fleeing for their lives. >> reporter: this is the naff river, separating myanmar from bangladesh. we are so close we can see the military checkpoint in myanmar, just across the water is where the attacks against the rohingya are reported to be unfolding. and where the government now says they're fighting terrorists. >> the military enjoys complete impunity. and as long as that persists and as long as the rohingya are denied their citizenship rights i'm afraid we're going to see more attacks just like we've been seeing recently. >> reporter: but what about the government's claim that the rohingya have formed a terrorist organization linked to international terror groups with funding from saudi arabia and pakistan? through various networks on the ground we reached out to atta ullah, a hunted man, the leader of arsa, short for the arak hachlt n rohingya salvation army. after several calls and texts we were led through a maze of hallways and buildings only to be met with a cell phone. atta ullah was still in the jungles of myanmar but on skype he readily admitted to attacking police outposts. why is it that you attacked -- >> translator: the brutal military government has treated the rohingya people like animals. >> reporter: the myanmar government says this is without question terrorism. >> translator: we are not terrorists. we are working for the rohingya people and their rights. >> reporter: a lot of people want to know, though, do you have any other connections to, for example, isis or al qaeda? >> translator: we have no connections. we don't even want to connect with terrorist groups. >> reporter: if you could meet face to face with suu kyi, what would you like to tell her? >> translator: she should give the rights of the rohingya people back to them. they want their rights back. >> reporter: with new attacks by the insurgents and the government responding with clearance operations, any change of stance from myanmar or aung san suu kyi now seems unlikely. >> without question suu kyi is looked at as the most famous and in many ways to people the most heroic leader of myanmar ever. >> her reputation is suffering internationally certainly. since october she's essentially spearheaded a propaganda campaign denying that human rights violations are taking place. many people, including us, are perplexed by her response. she's not providing the moral leadership that she should be. >> reporter: with no solution in sight the rohingya continue to live in fear, waiting for security and acceptance in their own home. i'm bob woodruff reporting for "nightline" in bangladesh. next here, the mother of two who went missing near houston as the hurricane was bearing down. why her boyfriend says he suspects foul play here. the unpe may weigh on your mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go, and how to work around your uc. that's how i thought it had to be. but then i talked to my doctor about humira, and learned humira can help get and keep uc under control... when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. raise your expectations and ask your gastroenterologist if humira may be right for you. with humira, control is possible. beneful grain free is so healthy... oh! farm-raised chicken! that's good chicken. hm!? 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(avo) new beneful grain free. out with the grain, in with the farm-raised chicken. healthful. flavorful. beneful. fios is not cable. we're a 100% fiber optic network. and with the new fios gigabit connection... you get our fastest... internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com it is a mysterious vanishing in the houston area. a mother of two last seen right before hurricane harvey hit texas. her car found submerged in flood waters at a motel parking lot. but police say her disappearance is not storm-related. new leads have been uncovered in the investigation but still no sign of the missing mom. >> her family wants her back. her children. she's got a 5-year-old and an 8-year-old, and they need her. >> reporter: authorities in texas are searching for 37-year-old crystal mcdowell, a mother of two who disappeared nearly two weeks ago as hurricane harvey was bearing down on the coast of texas. >> in the very beginning we weren't sure whether she was missing because she wanted to be missing or missing because there's potential foul play. >> reporter: she was last seen on this surveillance video leaving the home of her boyfriend paul hargrave on friday august 25th. >> that morning we woke up around 6:30 and we both got ready. i jumped in the shower, and she got dressed, and i remember her coming in and saying all right, i'm taking off. >> reporter: according to hargrave, mcdowell left his house, got in her car, and headed to pick up her two children, ages 5 and 8, from her ex-husband steven mcdowell, who lives 12 minutes away. >> she did send me some text messages a little later, shortly after that. she had mentioned that she was going to stay at the house, at the ex-husband's house, with the kids or depending on how traffic and weather conditions were she was going to take them out. >> reporter: crystal's uncle jeff walters also heard from her that morning. >> i received a message friday from her stating that -- about a billboard her boyfriend had put up for her. >> reporter: hargrave had put up a billboard advertisement showcasing mcdowell as a real estate broker. seen here in a text exchange given to us by hargrave, crystal sends him an image of the billboard and says, "and you are so sweet." to which he replies, "i love you and i'll always support you." with the storm approaching, hargrave says he grew concerned when he realized he had not heard from crystal after a few hours. >> that's not like crystal not to reply back very quickly. so i thought that was kind of weird. but maybe she was with family getting things ready. >> reporter: no one would hear from her again. the next day, saturday, hurricane harvey inundated houston. and three days later, on tuesday, crystal's black mercedes-benz was found in the flooded parking lot of a motel 6, seven miles from her home. crystal was nowhere to be found and immediately there were suspicions. >> we don't believe she parked it there. we believe that whoever parked it there had hoped that somebody would take it. they left the car unlocked and they left the keys laying on the console. >> you know, foul play was definitely involved in this. she wouldn't just get up and leave her kids. she wouldn't do that. so i think something's horribly wrong. >> reporter: now her family is searching for answers, even hiring a private investigator. >> i know someone has seen something. and they need to call in. >> we're chasing a lot of leads. but no, hurricane harvey is not the reason that crystal mcdowell is missing. >> in missing persons is two things. one is the immediate circle around them. an ex-husband, former employee. then you have to come up with a timeline. she apparently was at her boyfriend's house. and then what can you timeline from the time she left his residence? where did she stop? do they have video footage of her at a 7-eleven? or a drugstore or some other location. you then take that and you overlay it with her cell phone records. because typically real estate agents are on the phone all the time. and so where was she? where did her phone ping? what towers can you put her near? >> reporter: according to her uncle, crystal had recently started working with him as a real estate agent. >> she helped someone get in their first home, and she said, this is what i want to do. >> reporter: and according to him everything was falling into place. >> she had said herself she was the happiest she had ever been in her life. >> reporter: after losing her parents at a young age, her uncle says family was most important to crystal. >> she was very much family-oriented. she loved her children. >> there's no apparent reason why she should have disappeared. and when you look in someone's background, you know, did they -- have they been depressed? have they talked about harming themselves? have they talked about leaving? i haven't heard one thing that would suggest any of the above. >> reporter: she shared custody of her children with her ex-husband, steven. ♪ happy birthday to you after finalizing their divorce in june of this year. >> she never spoke of them fighting. you know, they had their disagreements, of course. >> reporter: but according to hargrave, her boyfriend of a few weeks, crystal and her ex-husband had been arguing frequently. >> i can tell you that this past -- or the week that she went missing there were a lot of arguments, a lot of heated arguments about various situations going on. >> reporter: our request for comment from steven mcdowell was unanswered. with crystal missing for 12 days her family is desperate for anyone with information to come forward. >> we need to solve it. we need to find out who's done this. and they need to be punished. >> and the family's asking anybody with information to contact the chambers county sheriff's department. next we're in puerto rico where category 5 hurricane irma is causing widespread damage. ♪ endless shrimp is back at red lobster and we went all out to bring you even more incredible shrimp and new flavors like new nashville hot shrimp drizzled with sweet amber honey, and new grilled mediterranean shrimp finished with a savory blend of green onions, tomatoes, and herbs. feeling hungry yet? 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[ bloop, clicking ] and connect, as a family. just, uh one second voice guy. [ bloop ] huh? hey? i paused it. bam, family time. so how is everyone? find your awesome with xfinity xfi and change the way you wifi. been trying to prepare for this day... and i'm still not ready. the reason i'm telling you this is that there will be moments in your life that... you'll never be ready for. your little girl getting married being one of them. ♪ ♪ and finally here tonight, it's one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the atlantic, and it just slammed into the caribbean. abc's linz yooie janis is right there. >> reporter: the eye of hurricane irma just passed us in san juan about 50 miles to the north off the coast. that's a little further away than was expected. but we are just now feeling safe enough to come outdoors. we have been experiencing suss tai sustained winds of 55 mil miles hour. there has been a lot of rain. some areas predicted to get 20 inches by the time this is done. hurricane irma has already devastated much of the caribbean. at least three people are dead. authorities in barbuda and st. martin are recording that more than 90% of those islands are damaged or destroyed. cars seen floating through the streets. terrified tourists riding out the storm there. here in san juan the governor has said the impact of this storm could be catastrophic. already nearly 1. and it isn't over yet. dan? >> our thanks to linzie janis. linzie, please stay safe. we will continue to track hurricane irma all week here on abc news. we want to thank you for joining us tonight. as always, we're online 24/7 at abcnews.com and on our "nightline" facebook page. thanks again for watching. and good night. >> i can't say for sure that someone's going to win the million dollars today, but i do know that if they do, you're not gonna want to miss it, so stay where you are. it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ [cheers and applause] hey, everybody, welcome to the show. are you guys ready to play "millionaire"? [cheers and applause] all right. our returning contestant has seen patience and determination pay off before. hopefully it'll happen again today to get him to that million dollars. from olympia, washington, please welcome back blake baird. [cheers and applause] blake. >> good to see you again. >> how you doin', bud? >> doing well. had a great night's sleep. >> welcome back. apparently, a patient and determined man. how has that paid off before? >> well, you know, i-- i met my wife when i was five in kindergarten. asked her to marry me that year. again in first grade; she said "no" again. second grade, third grade. to dances all through middle and high school--kept saying no. 18, she finally said yes. got married at 19. been married just over eight years. [cheers and applause] >> that's either the-- that's either the sweetest story or you just annoyed her so bad. >> oh, yeah. >> she's like, "fine, just get it over with." uh, that is--that is actually a very sweet story. determination, patience, you wore her down. that's what you got to do today. just wear the board down and get to that million dollars. let's remind everybody where you are. you're up to $7,000. you're eight away

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