we got to have her and we can carry on mollie's legacy in such beautiful ways and pay tribute to the life that she lived here on earth. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. >> i'm andrea colby schelling: i think we were all lost. almost like your heart falls into the pit of your stomach, and you feel just, so helpless. kevin torres: kelsie was supposed to report to work, then didn't show up. her car is not here. her apartment's empty. i just went into panic mode. colby schelling: we were calling everybody and trying anything.

i mean, every second felt like an hour. i'm her mother. she wouldn't just leave and not tell me. kevin torres: we actually see her vehicle pull into a parking spot, and we see an unknown individual get out of the vehicle and walk away from it. he goes, "did you have anything to do with your daughter missing?" they make you feel, like, man, you think i did this? kevin torres: there's a lot of cell phone data, very hateful text messages. my mother's face dropped. extremely traumatic for me. this kind of stuff happens in the movies. it doesn't happen to people that i know. laura saxton: i would give my life for her. i wish i could give my life for her now. [theme music] hello, and welcome to "dateline." kelsie schelling was a social butterfly, always on her phone, connecting with friends and family,

so when she suddenly went silent, her loved ones were alarmed. racing to find her, investigators uncovered a trail of electronic clues, and a young life more complicated than it seemed. here's "the night kelsie disappeared." [music playing] february 2013, a crisp and cold morning in denver, colorado. 7:00 am, and the doors were set to open at the floor & decor, a big home decorating store. for months, aly cox worked there along with one of her best friends, kelsie schelling. aly cox: you walk in the front doors, and all that you see is tile and flooring and everything like that. and we worked at the front. we literally had on these, like, god-awful red vests that had our little name tag on it. we were dirty, covered in all sorts of, you know, dust and everything else like that.

andrea canning: what made it fun, she says, was kelsie. aly cox: there was nothing quiet about kelsie whatsoever. andrea canning: how was she with the customers? aly cox: she was fun. she was great with people, you know, really personable. andrea canning: but on that february morning, kelsie never showed up for work. and for the next few days, no one could get in touch with her. not even her mother, laura saxton. laura saxton: all of her friends, all of a sudden, came out of the woodwork and said, i've been trying to reach kelsie, and i can't get a hold of her. and that was the thing that, like, freaked me out because she was constantly communicating with somebody. i mean, she was always on her phone. andrea canning: kelsie's family searched her apartment. laura saxton: her car is not here. her apartment's empty. everything looks normal. like, it's not trashed or anything like that.

so, that's when we called the denver police. she's vanished. right. andrea canning: investigators, including agent kevin torres, made it their mission to find her. kevin torres: there isn't a time that goes by where i don't think about my time spent investigating the case and driving by a location of interest and just thinking, is there something we could have done sooner, you know? andrea canning: detectives began with the last day anyone had seen kelsie. february 4, 2013, 10:00 am, a mid-morning doctor's appointment. afterwards, kelsie called her parents to chat. then, it was time to head to work. at 1:00 pm, she started her shift at floor & decor.

throughout the afternoon, kelsie checked in with coworkers and friends. after a long day, she clocked out at 9:54 pm and got into her car. she drove off into the night, and then simply disappeared. what happened on that dark road? to find out, investigators learned all they could about kelsie, including her state of mind. it turns out, her doctor's appointment that morning was far from routine. kevin torres: kelsie wakes up. she's got a doctor's appointment in aurora, colorado, with the ob/gyn, to confirm whether or not she's pregnant. it's her first official appointment. andrea canning: kelsie had confided in her mother weeks before that she suspected she might be pregnant. the doctor's visit confirmed it. did she call you or text you right after the appointment? yeah, she called me. what did she say? laura saxton: the words that stick in my head are, you know, "doctor says i'm good.

the baby's good." and that's kind of how she said it, kind of singsongy like that. everything's good. andrea canning: but the pregnancy was unexpected for 21-year-old kelsie, whose relationship with the father was on again, off again. laura saxton: she's, like, "i know, i know. i know this isn't what you would have wanted for me." well, it's hard as a mom because you want that picture perfect scenario-- right. andrea canning: --where she's married and then you have the shower. right. at first, it's like the parents are angry. and then, you know, once the baby comes, it's like everybody loves the baby. you know, it's like the baby is the best thing that ever happened to this family. and i'm, like, and that's the way this is going to be. you know? you just needed a moment. i just needed my moment to get over the shock and, you know, to then move forward. so i talked to her and told her i would support her any way i could,

the whole family would support her, and it was going to be ok. then, she was a lot more relaxed and just, you know, felt like she could start being happy about it then. andrea canning: by the day of the ultrasound, kelsie seemed in a good place. she called her dad to share the big news. doug schelling: she called me, and said, hey, i went and had an ultrasound today, and i'm going to have a baby. i mean, your jaw must have dropped. doug schelling: it did. and i said, "well, don't worry. i'll be there for you, and i know your mom will be, and we'll get through it. you know, it's not a--" so i'm glad i didn't happen to fly off the handle or something. this is when she needed you most. yeah. andrea canning: with her family, rallied around her, all seemed well. but detectives had to take a closer look. kevin torres: i did a very in-depth background investigation into kelsie, so much so that i

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from noon to 2 p.m. and katy tur from 2 p.m. to four. msnbc the world's most precious resource? wifi. and the wifi is booming. boom! -b-b-b-boooming!! booming! -booming. the wifi is booming. xfinity. andrea canning: monday, february 4 began on a high note for kelsie schelling.

that morning, an ultrasound confirmed she was pregnant with her first baby. a girl she planned to name kadrie. at 1:00 pm, she started her shift at floor 7 decor. for months, she'd worked alongside her friend aly cox and confided in her about her pregnancy. aly cox: we joked even at that point about if we're still working here, we could put a daycare center in the break room, so it's going to be-- it's going to be fine. andrea canning: that afternoon, kelsie reached out to her dad again. this time texting him the ultrasound. how did you feel when you saw that? that's your grandchild. yeah. if she was happy, i was happy. andrea canning: growing up, kelsie had always been bubbly. doug schelling: this perfect, little girl, really. i mean, sweet and really cute, pretty. andrea canning: and very attached to her big brother, colby. colby schelling: everybody was really close.

her friends were my friends. my best friend growing up was like another big brother to her. andrea canning: but as kelsie grew up, life got more complicated. when she was a teenager, her parents divorced. kelsie became so depressed, she overdosed on pills. laura saxton: i was out of town when it happened. oh. and by the time i got there, she was, you know, she had been seizing and-- oh, my gosh. --was, basically, in a coma. andrea canning: kelsie recovered. but it happened again in college. aly cox: she called me, and she said, "i just-- i need help. i need you to come home, and i need help." i said, "what's going on? and she said, "i took a whole bunch of pills, and i need to go to the hospital because i don't feel good." andrea canning: did you ask her any questions in the moment, or was it more, like, let's just get you to the hospital, and we'll talk after.

she just said i was really sad, and i just needed-- i just felt like this was something i needed to do. andrea canning: that was two years before the day she disappeared. before the 10 o'clock doctor's appointment that confirmed exciting, but stressful news. now the question had to be asked, had kelsie become overwhelmed, again? kelsie had her issues. she battled some mental health issues. sure. andrea canning: did you have to think that, maybe, she willingly disappeared, or this could be a suicide? i did. that's a hard avenue to explore. and just like millions of other americans, i think she had some mental health issues. and she battled them and was winning that battle. andrea canning: given kelsie's struggles in the past, and what you had gone through, did it cross your mind that maybe she did something to herself? laura saxton: you know, i think that was one thought, until we got to the apartment, and we didn't find her there.

and i didn't think there was any way in the world that she would do anything to hurt the baby. her love of the baby was stronger than-- strong. --anything else. yeah, definitely. definitely. andrea canning: laura concluded that whatever happened to kelsie on that last night as she left work-- wasn't her own doing. looking for answers, laura reached out to her daughter's friends. including kelsie's on again, off again boyfriend, donthe lucas. it turns out, he was the father of the baby kelsie was carrying. donthe had been a star athlete in college, and kelsie had told her mom all about her big crush. laura saxton: she didn't really say, like, "i have a boyfriend," whatever, but it was more, like, "there's this guy i like, and he's a basketball player." you know, she would say, "why don't you come up and watch a game?" so, we did go up a couple of times and watched a couple of games with her.

and of course, she pointed out who he was and everything, but, like, there were no introductions or anything at that point. andrea canning: now, she called him to see if he'd seen kelsie. and in fact, he had. on the very night she disappeared, donthe said he and kelsie met up late that night around 2:00 to 3:00 am for a quick conversation. laura saxton: he's, like, yeah, kelsie was here. i saw her, you know, and everything-- she was fine. i did tell donthe, when i was talking, i'm, like, we cannot find her. nobody has heard from her. i said, the situation has gotten very serious. so he's, like, "oh, ok. if she calls me, i'll let her know, and i'll try and get a hold of her." andrea canning: but then donthe revealed something that would send the investigation hundreds of miles away.

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the year before she disappeared, kelsie packed up and moved there, along with her friend, ally harms-- kelsie and i actually moved out here to go to vanguard university. picked up and drove her car 23 hours. andrea canning: --where they made fast friends with allie jacoby. what was life like out here for all you guys? it was like a dream, honestly. we came from a small town in northeastern colorado, so living here was a whole dream come true, you know? kelsie loved the beach. like, what would she do when she'd go to the beach? what was her-- tan. she would tan, lay out. anywhere where the sun was, she absolutely was there. andrea canning: but california was expensive. and six months in, kelsie moved back home. now that she was missing, her family hoped she might have jetted over there, even for just a quick visit. her father, doug, got a promising call. doug schelling: i had a guy call me that was in california, and said he thinks

maybe he's seen kelsie. so we went through a lot, just people calling and was, like, boy, is she out there? andrea canning: did you look into that? kevin torres: we did. we made several contacts in that area, and nobody had heard from her. andrea canning: the investigation circled back to denver. and that's where detective torres heard about a troubling incident from kelsie's friend, aly. she said it happened six months before kelsie disappeared. she was supposed to come in for the afternoon shift, and she never showed up. and then we finally got hold of her, and she had told us that, "i can't come in. i have bruises on my neck. my dad strangled me." andrea canning: when you heard that, she had said her dad strangled her, was that, like, just, like, a big moment for you, hearing something like that? it was. it was disturbing, but also, shocking knowing i'm going to have to go down this road, and i'm going to have to have a conversation

and have to interview him. andrea canning: torres confronted kelsie's dad-- who denied ever strangling her or having anything to do with her disappearance. kevin did ask me that. he goes, "did you have anything to do with your daughter missing?" and i was like, "no, i sure didn't." and we got questioned in denver, colby and laura and i, and they come after you pretty hard. andrea canning: doug did admit to one physical incident with kelsie. it happened at his son's wedding. there had been reports that you had hit kelsie. oh-- did that-- doug schelling: --that was kelsie and alex were throwing food around at a rental place, and kelsie was feisty. and i chewed her out, and-- and she got mad, and she kind of-- she shoved me, and i grabbed her hand and kind of squeezed it. and it was, i mean-- but you know how things get blown out of proportion. but anyway, that was--

that was brought up. andrea canning: torres took a long, hard look at kelsie's father. kevin torres: i actually spent a couple of days with doug. he gave me a lot of information that i was able to eventually go out and corroborate and actually provide an alibi for him. so the time that she said she was strangled, was he not in the area then? that's correct. he was not even anywhere within, i think, three hours of the area where it would have occurred. andrea canning: torres cleared doug. so who did cause those bruises on kelsie's neck? that question lingered, for now. colby schelling: i think we were all lost. almost like your heart falls into the pit of your stomach, and you feel just, so helpless. andrea canning: one week into the investigation, police caught their first big break. there is new evidence tonight in the search for a missing denver woman in pueblo. andrea canning: investigators knew that at 9:54 pm kelsie

closed up the floor & decor and headed out into the parking lot to her black chevy cruze, for what should have been a 30-minute drive home. she never made it. but a week later, police spotted kelsie's car on a security camera. at about noon the day after kelsie disappeared, her car was seen driving into a walmart parking lot. but it was nowhere near her work or her home in denver. it was two hours south, in the town of pueblo. so this walmart really became key to this investigation. yes, very much so. and that's when you catch her car on video. correct. and you see someone getting out of the car. correct. is it kelsie? it is not kelsie. andrea canning: an unidentified driver. who was it? and was he the key to finding kelsie?

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you won't regret it. >> hi, i'm richard lui. >> with a news update. >> president trump not giving a. >> concrete answer. >> on nbc's. >> meet the press sunday. when asked. >> whether he has a. >> need to. >> uphold the. >> constitution when. >> it comes to mass. >> deportations. >> the president also downplaying. >> fears of. >> a recession as his tariffs continue to. >> take effect. >> and we are just days away. >> from. the start. >> of the papal conclave. the cardinal. >> electors will. >> gather on wednesday to choose who. >> should succeed. >> pope francis. >> as the. >> next leader. >> of the catholic church. for >> of the catholic church. for now, back to dateli welcome back to "dateline." i'm andrea canning. detectives searching for missing mom-to-be kelsie schelling followed every lead, only to come up empty. then, a lucky break. kelsie's car was spotted on a surveillance video about 100 miles away. but strangely, the person behind the wheel was not kelsie. who was the mystery driver?

police were determined to find out. returning to, "the night kelsie disappeared." [theme music] family, friends, and co-workers hadn't seen kelsie schelling since about 10:00 pm on monday, february 4, when her shift ended, and she drove out into the night. but they had some evidence about where she went. pueblo, colorado, two hours south of denver. detectives struck gold with security camera footage showing kelsie's car at a walmart parking lot there. grainy images show the car was left overnight after a mysterious man parked it and got out. where does he go? he comes to the south end of the building, and, as captured by other cameras on the backside of a walmart, captures him walk around to the back of the walmart, and then is picked up by some individuals in the silver vehicle. andrea canning: detectives scoured the footage and saw the same man approaching

kelsie's car the next morning, and then driving it away. kevin torres: the individual gets into the vehicle, backs out of the parking spot, and then leaves the walmart parking lot. andrea canning: someone else is driving her car. yes. and now leaving the premises with her car. correct. strange. very strange. andrea canning: kelsie did know someone in pueblo. donthe lucas. he was her on again, off again boyfriend, and the father of the baby she was carrying. when his basketball career ended, donthe moved home to pueblo to live with his grandmother. laura knew the two of them had been talking ever since kelsie suspected she was pregnant. did she tell you how donthe felt about the baby? initially, it was, you know, sometimes he's really mad about it, and then other times he's ok with it. so it seemed like he was kind of on the fence. andrea canning: in fact, donthe told laura he and kelsie met late the night she disappeared, around 2:00 to 3:00 am, and then she left. could she still be in pueblo? the local police did get some tips

about kelsie sightings in the area, but none of them panned out. then, eight days after kelsie's car was spotted driving out of that walmart parking lot, police found it. reporter: our top story tonight, a new piece of the puzzle in the case of a 22-year-old woman who went missing on february 5th in pueblo. andrea canning: the car was sitting abandoned at a nearby hospital. laura saxton: so then, we're thinking she's in the hospital. yeah, especially if it's at a hospital. right. right. andrea canning: a ray of hope. but kelsie wasn't at the hospital. and there were no records of her ever being there. colby schelling: i mean, that opened up just a whirlwind of other thoughts and emotions. it almost opens up like pandora's box of, like, what-- like, where could she be? andrea canning: now that the car's been found and kelsie's not in it, this is the worst sign, now. this was not a good sign. laura saxton: the day that her car was found, that was the day i knew that she was deceased,

because i knew there was no way. she was very attached to her things, and i just knew that there was no way she would abandon her car. so, you know, that's the day i knew for sure. i never, ever thought any other thing after that. andrea canning: investigators combed through all of the surveillance footage from the parking lot. finally, they found what they were looking for. kelsie's car captured on tape arriving at the hospital. the unidentified man was back in the driver's seat. he left the car in the parking lot, and then walked away. is the video any clearer at this location? the hospital video is actually worse than the walmart video. so all you know is that it's-- an individual of some sort, yeah. andrea canning: whoever the man was, he surely knew more about kelsie's disappearance than anyone else did. now, police just had to find him.

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>> bah bah. >> bah bah bah bah. >> this is an unprecedented moment for our country. we all get to decide how we handle it. so i'm going to choose to be curious. i'm going to choose to speak up. i'm going to choose to speak up. i'm going to choose to ask hard questions and answer as the world's most precious resource? wifi. and the wifi is booming. boom! -b-b-b-boooming!! booming! -booming. the wifi is booming. xfinity. kelsie schelling never made it home from work that february night, but detectives knew where she went. when her shift ended, she drove two hours south to pueblo. cell tower data showed her phone at an atm machine there the day after she disappeared. kevin torres: at about 11:00 am, kelsie's cell phone device traveled

to an area where a bank transaction was made on kelsie's card. $400 was-- $400 withdrawal from kelsie's bank account using her atm card. andrea canning: and there is surveillance video there. yes. that shows? detectives look at the surveillance video at the exact moment the transaction is made, and they see donthe lucas driving kelsie's car at the atm, inserting the card, withdrawing the money, and then leaving. andrea canning: that was enough to arrest donthe for identity theft. but he told police, there was a reasonable explanation for everything. kevin torres: as they investigated it, they found out that kelsie had given her card to donthe on other occasions, as well as money. kevin torres: actually, let him use her car, as well. andrea canning: had she this time? without kelsie, detectives couldn't be sure. but the more they talk to donthe, the more his story changed.

at first, he said they'd met around 2:00 to 3:00 am. and then the times from that point would change. at one point, he said kelsie didn't come down till 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, but then changed his story, and said it was closer to midnight, then it was maybe the night before. andrea canning: he also gave police different stories about where they went. the walmart. his grandmother's house. even a hospital. he also gives the story about they went to a local emergency room to be seen about the pregnancy. and then she came out, and claimed she wasn't pregnant anymore.

>> i andrea canning: and was there any record of that-- there's no record-- andrea canning: --at the hospital? there's no record of that. andrea canning: laura and her family knew things weren't adding up. are you starting to have suspicions, or are starting to think one way or the other? laura saxton: by the time the police had talked to him and several people had talked to him, his story was just varying, you know, a little bit from person to person. and so, that-- that was setting off red flags in my mind. andrea canning: police raised the heat on donthe. feel like i'm just. >> going to. >> keep, like saying stuff. >> wrong and you're going to like. >> seems like i just want the truth, bro. i mean, you're truth, bro. i mean, you're telling me, like, i'm andrea canning: are inconsistent statements enough to arrest someone in the disappearance of a woman? unfortunately not. they're just red flags.

andrea canning: eventually, donthe shut down. andrea canning: donthe lawyered up, and that was it for the detectives. they had no body, no crime scene, and not enough evidence linking donthe to any crime at all. they dropped the identity theft charges, and let him go. the case came to a standstill. months passed, and then years. you must have felt so helpless in those years that followed kelsie's disappearance. laura saxton: yes. i mean, i hired a private investigator from out of state, who promised that he could help solve this and find her. and i spent thousands upon thousands of dollars, which is neither here nor there at this point, but, i mean, yeah, i was desperate. i would do anything, you know, to try and find her.

andrea canning: kelsie had been missing for three years when torres got involved. he'd been with the pueblo police department and was familiar with the case. now, he was an agent with the colorado bureau of investigation, which was taking a fresh look at kelsie's disappearance. he dove in full force. kevin torres: i was actually the next agent up in the rotation to receive a case. and i call it fate, maybe, but it just worked out. andrea canning: one person who was not so confident about the new investigation was kelsie's mother, laura, who was beyond frustrated over how the case had been handled by pueblo police. laura saxton: so i walk into that meeting, and realize that it's kevin torres, who used to be a pueblo pd officer, and he was during the time when kelsie went missing. so my heart instantly dropped. i thought, ok, this is--

this isn't going anywhere. this is not going to go anywhere. i remember during that meeting, her being very skeptical of what we were saying. andrea canning: but the agent won her over. laura saxton: kevin, he-- he listened to me. he didn't listen to me like i was the crazy mother, like everybody else had treated me, like i was the crazy grieving mother, you know, doing all these crazy things. so, he just he listened to me. andrea canning: agent torres and his team looked into every lead in the case, including donthe lucas. she loved donthe with all her heart, unconditionally. but kelsie would often confide in her friends

that donthe didn't feel the same way about her, and he was very degrading to her. andrea canning: one friend told him about a late night call from kelsie. stunned by what kelsie had told her. you end up sort of viewing this as a classic domestic violence case. kevin torres: yes. it met all the markers of a very tumultuous relationship, with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. andrea canning: remember those bruises on her neck that kelsie blamed on her father? when it happened, her dad was miles away. but investigators learned that donthe had been staying with kelsie at the time. so the day he drops her off at work, she says, my dad tried strangling me. yeah. so do you take that as she didn't want her friends to know that she was really talking about donthe? kevin torres: you know, the brother and the dad or--

rather than the boyfriend or the husband gets blamed for the domestic violence a lot of times. and she blamed her dad. she knew i could handle it, you know? andrea canning: donthe denied ever physically harming kelsie, and she never filed a police report. but just as torres was digging deeper into their relationship, he got a call out of the blue, from a woman who said she used to date donthe lucas, and she had something to say. kevin torres: she talked about every time there was mention of kelsie schelling on a news program or an anniversary date would come up, how donthe would isolate himself and indulge in alcohol, to the point where he would pass out. andrea canning: and then she dropped a bombshell. she said donthe told her he was the man in the walmart video seen driving kelsie's car. kevin torres: donthe had admitted to her

that it was him that had dropped the car off and also picked the car up the following day. andrea canning: and there was more. she said donthe also admitted he was the man in the hospital video. all valuable information for torres, though still not a smoking gun. but the agent had been doggedly working another angle of the investigation, something he was hoping would pay off big. donthe's cell phone. it had been sitting untouched in an evidence locker for three years. originally, police were not able to get information from it, but torres finally got a warrant to retrieve the phone's contents, just one day before its text messages were due to expire. had the search warrant been served a day later, we probably would not have had them. wow. andrea canning: and those texts would cast a whole new light on kelsie's disappearance. my eyes.

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kevin torres: she goes in, confirms that she's pregnant, gets a picture of the ultrasound. as she's leaving the doctor's appointment, she sends a text message to donthe, a picture of the ultrasound. and the text message response from donthe was, "why? what is that? why would i even want to see that?" not what you want to see after your first appointment. not at all. this is all kind of coming to a head here-- it is. --at this point with this baby. almost like an ultimatum. andrea canning: but at the same time, it appeared donthe was making her a promise. he tells her, "i have a surprise for you. you need to come down and see what it is. you wouldn't believe me if i told you." her friends said that they had thought-- kelsie had thought maybe it was a proposal. correct. i think kelsie thought she was getting a ring. andrea canning: she agreed to meet him in pueblo after work. kevin torres: her cell phone continues to travel down the interstate south towards pueblo, and she sends a text message, i think,

it was roughly around 10:45 pm, where she says she's about halfway, and tells donthe to be ready when she gets there. andrea canning: at 11:20 pm, kelsie arrived at the walmart. she and donthe began texting. are andrea canning: almost 15 minutes passed, and still no donthe. kelsie texted again. just past midnight, kelsie texted. she hardly slept, and she worked all day. she's kind of had an emotional roller coaster. i imagine, she's got to be very tired, and she's indicating in the text messages, you know, what's going on? andrea canning: at 12:14 am, kelsie tried again.

donthe replied. andrea canning: kelsie drove to a street near donthe's grandmother's house. three minutes later. one last text. there are no more text messages from kelsie after that point. andrea canning: that's it. yeah. andrea canning: torres believes donthe finally showed up and took kelsie inside his grandmother's house. do you think they argued over the baby-- - i do. - --and then he snapped. kevin torres: i do. i think there was probably a very contentious argument. andrea canning: so contentious, he says, it became violent. you think this is where the murder happened. kevin torres: i do. andrea canning: inside grandmother's house. yes. that's chilling very chilling. he's a monster. i mean, it's bad enough that he wanted to get rid

of kelsie, rather than just walking away from her, but that he wanted to kill his child. andrea canning: the walls were closing in on donthe lucas, and he knew it. investigators tapped his phone. and they were listening in when donthe said he was going to make a run for it. kevin torres: i was sitting in the wire room, and i heard the phone call where donthe is on his way to dia, and he should be there in a few hours. the airport. kevin torres: yeah. i was shocked. i picked up the phone, i called our investigative team, and told them what i had just heard. and i said, "he's fleeing." andrea canning: investigators caught donthe and stopped him just in time. kevin torres: they intercept him just as he's about to get on the plane. andrea canning: once he was in custody, investigators questioned him repeatedly. hi, my man. kevin torres: and they end up interviewing him for two days. he's talking. he ends up talking at that point.

andrea canning: why do you think he's being forthcoming about this, in this moment? i think he's out of options. how could he deny this, now? and he knows, i have no more lies i can tell because these guys are doing their homework. about halfway through the interview, he admits, "ok, you guys have had it right the whole time." the. >> eye and say, yeah, i moved that car from walmart. >> a second time. >> because it was you. >> give me. >> that solid, all right? >> it was. it was me. i lied >> it was. it was me. i lied about that from t andrea canning: after hours of questioning, donthe lucas admitted to being the man in both the walmart stopped short of confessing to kelsie's murder. andrea canning: is that finally enough to say,

let's arrest him for murder? it is. andrea canning: agent torres personally delivered the news to donthe in jail. kevin torres: i slid the piece of paper across the table to donthe, and i said, "the day is here, donthe." and i said, "you're under arrest for the murder of kelsie schelling." andrea canning: it had taken four years to arrest donthe lucas. he was indicted for first-degree murder. it would be four more years before he stood trial. assistant district attorney tony marzavas argued the murder was precipitated by kelsie's pregnancy. tony marzavas: he was not interested in being a father or being connected to kelsie in that particular way, and that he was very hesitant to have her go through with the pregnancy. definitely gave you a motive to present to the jury. certainly an argument as to why he may have wanted to kill her. andrea canning: the doctor's visit that should have led to joy and new beginnings, instead

led to kelsie's death. sitting in that courtroom for my sister's trial was, probably, one of the most difficult times of my life, for sure. to see donthe sitting in that courtroom, and to just think over the last eight years without kelsie and without kadrie, and to know that even though he was locked up, that he was still living, and breathing, and had a life. andrea canning: the defense called no witnesses. the trial lasted two weeks. the jury took just two hours to reach its verdict. guilty. reporter: donthe lucas is officially found guilty of the murder of kelsie schilling over eight years after her disappearance. andrea canning: what's that moment like, when the verdict is handed down, and it's guilty?

boy, if it would have been any other way, it would have been devastating. so it was-- it was a relief. we freaked out. my mother's face just dropped, she started bawling, and i'm just really happy that i was there to hold her. i hear guilty, and i hear a big gasp, and everything went out of me, and my head fell down. i started crying. and then, i immediately looked over to laura, and just gave her a smile. andrea canning: when you hear that word, guilty, is that a relief, finally, that this part is over? you know, what i feel relief about is that i know he's not going to hurt anyone else. so that's-- that's what i feel. i really did not gain any comfort or peace.

so it's just, you know, a hollow-- hollow victory. andrea canning: donthe lucas was sentenced to life without parole. despite multiple searches, kelsie's body has never been found. over the years, laura has gone to california to visit with kelsie's friends and to walk the beach. it's one place where she can still find her beautiful daughter. walking along the beach, and a little bit right in front of me, there was a purple starfish sitting on the beach. i've never even seen a starfish-- neither have i. laura saxton: --let alone-- like, a purple one. --a purple one, which was her favorite color. and, of course, stood there and took pictures of it and everything. and i just knew that, you know, kelsie sent that for me. and what i didn't realize until i

got home was that this tiny, little seashell has the perfect image of an-- of an angel. andrea canning: that's an angel. laura saxton: yeah, it's an angel. i mean, that is a perfect angel. that is a perfect angel. [theme music] that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. ♪ this sunday, my exclusive interview with president trump as he marks 100 days in office. >> when does it become the trump economy? >> it partially is right now. i think the good parts are the trump economy and the bad parts are the biden economy. >> on his handling of the economy and what his tariffs will mean for consumers. >> i'm just saying they do