when he didn t return it, she went to the police and filed a report. which more often than not would have led nowhere at all. except a policeman in austin with a little time on his hands decided to check up on an out of state license plate he just happened to notice. and discovered first the report for the missing car and then travis forbes. so my lieutenant said, grab your search warrant for his dna and head to texas. so i hop a plane that night. reporter: a few hours later gurule was face to face with travis forbes again. you know what? they sent me to texas because they think you re running to mexico. what would i do in mexico? he d call me nash, i d call him travis. it was similar to you and i just talking.
they missed their aunt lydia. i want you to get better soon. and she got to the part where my 4-year-old started to talk. and she laughed and said hi, lydia. hi, lydia. it was the first time i got to see her laugh, and i went, she s got memory, she can laugh. reporter: but detective gurule s murder case against travis forbes and his search for kenia monge had both stalled, nearly five months after kenia vanished and still no sign of her. but one day he got a call from the crime lab, requesting another dna sample of travis for the fbi. i drove up there to get his dna. i walked in, laid down my recorder. he didn t want to talk to any of the detectives, in fort collins, anywhere. but he always talked to me. what s up, nash? why are you here? i am here because i have a warrant for you.
anything. i ve 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, good-looking guy. my first impression of him was, you know, looks decent enough guy, if you re 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. i told the officers, i said man, everything he s told me just don t sound right. it just don t sound ri
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, you re not contacting me. reporter: the next morning the texts continued from kenia s friends, all asking where was she. and then there was a dead area, and then the next text that came in was about 7:00 p.m. 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 kenia s 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 daughter s disappearance.
after we were done with our interview i walked up to him and stuck out my hand. i go, thanks. and he stood up, shook my hand, and he said, i told you i would do it. i said, you did. he says, you just wouldn t give up. and i looked at him, and i said, you re right. reporter: later that day travis also confessed to the attempted murder of lydia tillman. soon he would be sentenced separately for both crimes. but there was one last surprise coming. something no one saw coming. least of all travis forbes. coming up, as travis awaits sentencing, the woman who had beaten the odds made a stunning entry into the courtroom.