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hi, mom. this woman had gone out to get the mail and disappeared in her pyjamas the case was never closed. it was consuming all of us. the individual was wearing a baseball cap, hoodie with the hood pulled up and large mirrored sunglasses. oh, my gosh, did this really happen? i m like, no, dude, i can t do this. there was a scream. a drop of blood came from her nose. it was like a game. he was a part of this game. we re done with the games. it needs to stop. it needed to stop. michigan snow blankets field and woodland with silent beauty, sometimes encasing ugly secrets hidden beneath, never meant to be disturbed until finally they re revealed and all is made clear. i know a lot of people say, you wanted to find her. yeah, i wanted to find her, but then it was going to become so real to me that maybe you don t want to find yeah, yeah. start with the mother of two who vanished as she stepped outside her door to pick up mail. she wasn t there ....
Gps technology, just as if it were a personal cellphone. using the phones, how close can you get him to his wife s driveway? pretty close. within five to seven miles. reporter: but, by now, something else put him even closer, old-fashioned forensics. remember, the smudge on the plastic tarp wrapper found outside venus parents house? it was a fingerprint, turned out, doug stewart s fingerprint, placing him at the scene of venus disappearance. prosecutors believed it was damning evidence. yeah, i swear. reporter: but to close the deal, they d have to put on the stand the college-kid impostor with a head-spinning tale to tell. would it be too incredible to be believed? coming up he said this is where you come in, ricky. i want you to be my alibi. reporter: ricky spencer lays it all out: a plan to murder. it was like a game. he was part of this game. when dateline continues. ....
Cellphones, keys to his car and apartment, and a credit card. what s that a photograph of? this is the parking space area where i met with doug stewart. where did you go? i went i drove to virginia. where did doug tell you he was going? to michigan. what was he gonna do there? he didn t say kill his wife, but he said to take care of business up in michigan. and but i knew what he meant. reporter: sure enough, surveillance cam pictures taken april 15th show ricky easing into doug s life in newport news. he parked in doug s garage, as instructed, and hung out in doug s apartment. this is the lobby in virginia. this is between 10:00 and 11:00. here s me with a hoodie, a piece of paper sticking out of my pocket, the wendy s bag. reporter: with doug s credit card, ricky had bought a double cheeseburger and fries at wendy s. why did he want you to use the credit card there? to make it look like that he ....
It with a credit card that created an electronic receipt revealing the phone s unique i.d. that made the phone, and doug s movements, easily traceable. he didn t think we would find these trac phones that he had. reporter: master criminals don t save receipts and buy on credit cards. absolutely not. reporter: criger could then follow the path of that particular trac phone through gps technology, just as if it were a personal cell phone. using the phones, how close can you get him to his wife s driveway? pretty close. within five to seven miles. reporter: but, by now, something else put him even closer, old-fashioned forensics. remember, the smudge on the plastic tarp wrapper found outside venus parents house? it was a fingerprint, turned out, doug stewart s fingerprint, placing him at the scene of venus disappearance. prosecutors believed it was damning evidence. yeah, i swear. reporter: but to close the deal, they d have to put on the stand the college-kid imposto ....
Baptized in 2009 at the age of 30. in the first days after her disappearance, dustin would need his faith to believe she d be found soon, and alive. but he also still had hope and his own theory, that doug was holding her hostage. i figured it was another desperate attempt of his to try to get her back. since she wasn t having contact with him and stuff, he probably wanted to try to manipulate her and coax her into coming back to him. reporter: but police feared the worst and began looking for a body. they searched miles of rolling farm country and thick wooded areas throughout western michigan. helicopters came out. yeah. the helicopter came out. yeah. and they were searching dogs. dogs. reporter: you ve got a lot of water around here. we live around the river so you know, that s all that s around us is lakes. reporter: immediately after her disappearance, lead detective mike scott had zeroed in on the obvious, the husband, but when fbi agents verified doug s s ....