i had to grow up without one. in an instant she was gone. and it changed everything. she dreamed of a career solving crimes, but crime claimed her first. gut wrenching pain! my daughter, please, please don t let this be true! home alone on a sunny afternoon she vanished. we just said, oh my god! isn t this one of her earrings? earrings in the carpet. ribbons on the ground. tire tracks on the lawn. there was evidence of a violent struggle. what had happened? and who was behind it? everything was a mystery. was she still alive? was she not? it tore us apart. for years they demanded answers, a struggle each day. then came the cold case squad with a new bag of tricks. i always felt that this was a case that could be solved. they wanted justice just as bad as we did. as a mother she fought and fought and fought. we just never gave up. don t mess with a mother bear. hello. welcome to dateline. tara ord was just 19. a beautiful young woman with bi
earrings in the carpet. ribbons on the ground. tire tracks on the lawn. there was evidence of a violent struggle. what had happened? and who was behind it? everything was a mystery. was she still alive? was she not? it tore us apart. for years they demanded answers, a struggle each day. then came the cold case squad with a new bag of tricks. i always felt that this was a case that could be solved. they wanted justice just as bad as we did. as a mother she fought and fought and fought. we just never gave up. don t mess with a mother bear. hello. welcome to dateline. tara was just 19. a beautiful young woman with big dreams. suddenly, she vanished. snatched from the safety of her own home. there was little evidence to go on, no witness to reveal who took tara or why. or so investigators thought. it would take years and a team of determined cold case detectives to uncover that long buried clue and the story that would blow this case wide open. here s k
would always go and search. we did have a couple of different times where we used cadaver dogs in certain areas. four weeks after tara vanished, she turned 20, and they tried to stay positive. you had a birthday party. had to. and we had the presents. and i ll never forget this. i went to open one, and my son said, you re not opening that. he said, she s coming back. and i didn t open it. months went by, they couldn t accept what their heads kept telling them, that tara had been snatched away and murdered. but nobody was telling them anything. the investigation seemed to have stalled, wasn t going anywhere. something needed to happen. and it didn t feel like it was happening. exactly. not at all, right? not at all. and so out of sheer desperation, about six months
home. then veronica told him about tara, that her purse was home, but she wasn t. what did you think when she told you that? well, just something wasn t right. because if tara was gonna go somewhere, i knew she wouldn t leave her stuff or her car. she would have said, i won t be here when the kids get here. that s how responsible she was. sure. keith canceled the coffee plan, drove straight home. as soon as i got home, it just didn t look right. there was all kinds of tracks on the floor and i said, what are these marks on the floor? and she said, i don t know. tracks? muddy footprints. muddy footprints in the living room and master bedroom. and something else something only those who lived there would know. in the bedroom, like, our tv would be turned a certain way because when you lay in bed, you wanna see it. but when i looked in, it was straight. and then i notice stuff missing off the dresser. jewelry was gone, money was gone. what was going on in your
it was closed, but it wasn t latched. like you could just pull on it and the door would open. i remember walking in and oprah was on the tv. what did you assume when you saw the door open and the tv on? i thought maybe she left in a hurry. maybe she went with a friend, you know, and she just didn t close the door all the way. she was tara, veronica s older sister, not quite 20 then. veronica called out. no answer. she walked through the house, bathroom light was on. i went and looked in the bathroom and then i went in our bedroom and i d seen her purse and everything on top of her dresser. so then, i m like, where would she be without her purse? cause that wasn t usual. so that s when i had called keith. keith was keith mcphillips, her mom s fiance he was just leaving work, told veronica he was thinking of stopping for coffee with a friend on his way