Missing: Dead or Alive? (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Episode #1.4 - full transcript

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[officer 1] Dave!

[dramatic music playing]

[officer 2] Y'all
find any clues yet?

[Vicki] They found his pants.

They're covered in blood.
They're ripped almost in half.

[officer 1] Anybody down there?

Dave!

[radio beeps]

[officer 2 on radio] Vicki, I
think we might have something over here.

[dramatic music continues]

[Vicki] We've
got buzzards circling above us.



[officer 1, on radio] We might
have something down the ravine.

[officer 3] He's down the ravine.
Down the rock.

Slumped against a tree.

[somber music playing]

[Vicki] He's dead.

I was hoping we could search and find him,
and… we would have a different outcome.

- So sad.
- [sirens wailing]

[somber music continues]

[Vicki] But what
got him to this point?

And that he died
alone in the woods.

You know what bothers me?

What if he was alive yesterday?

Where we searched yesterday
was only 50 yards

from where we found the body.



I mean, you just cannot know
if we were this close to him.

[man speaks indistinctly]

I would not ever forgive myself.

[dark music playing]

[pensive music playing]

[Vicki] We can go this way.

I'm very sorry. I'm…

sorry for your loss.

Mmm.

Um…

This is, um, his
toxicology report.

So I'll just go
through it with you.

We found him, and
the coroner came out and everything.

Did the autopsy, as you know,
because he looked fine.

Like, there was no stab wounds,
gunshot wounds, nothing like...

No blunt-force
trauma. Nothing.

So, um, it was
really confusing to us.

So, here's the
toxicology report.

Mm.

So, it says,
"Given the investigative information,

this is a methamphetamine
intoxication hypothermia death."

[unsettling music playing]

[Vicki] So, he has
meth in his system.

I know you didn't think
David had ever taken drugs.

- You see, that don't even sound like him.
- [Vicki] Right.

I'm so sorry.

I called the coroner, and she said
that the meth that was in his system

could cause him to hallucinate
and not know where he was at.

You can hallucinate.

You can imagine somebody's chasing you,
which might be why he ran across the road.

So, essentially,
because he had meth in his system

and he was kinda delusional,

and he wasn't able to get out
of the woods, he died of hypothermia.

We didn't find the phone
or the lottery ticket.

But there's no evidence
that anyone was with David when he died.

Far as much as we can investigate,
we've literally done everything we can do.

Right, and I understand that.
And we appreciate everything...

- Oh, no… It's fine.
- [Cathy] Yes.

[Vicki] I just wish so bad
we would have found him a day earlier.

We were so close.

[Cathy] I know you…
you did everything you could have done.

And I know that.

[poignant music playing]

[officer] I've got
attention. Forward.

Pause. Left,
left, left, right…

[Vicki] My duty
as a missing-person investigator

is to prevent people
from coming to harm.

[officer] About face.

[Vicki] I
guess that doesn't always happen.

[officer] Fold the
flag. Ready. One.

[Vicki] I came to this
unit because I wanted to save lives.

[officer] Ready. Three.

[Vicki] Death
has always been part of the job.

But in this world,
it leaves you with difficult questions.

Was there something
I could have done differently?

Did I do everything
I could have done?

But maybe the question
I really need to ask myself is…

"Is Missing Persons
really the job for me?"

- Knock-knock.
- [Heidi] Hey.

- [Vicki] Hey.
- [Heidi] Vicki, how are you doing?

[Vicki] Yeah, I'm okay.
I just really feel bad for the family.

You know, you have the hope
that you're going to find them alive,

and have that
happy reunion, so…

- [Heidi] Yeah.
- That's always… disheartening.

You did a great
job on this case,

in spite of the ending not being
what we wanted it to be.

Right.

[Heidi] It's one
of the hardest parts of the job

to tell a family that
it didn't work out the way we hoped.

- [Vicki] Right.
- Okay.

- I just wanted to make sure you're okay.
- I'm good. I'm good.

[Heidi] Y'all,
this case came in this morning.

Sierra Stevens, 17 years old,
is missing out of foster care.

Her foster mom reported her missing,
and she left all her belongings.

That's a concern.

Her grandparents say that
she usually stays in touch with them,

but they haven't
heard from her either.

I've had at least two or three girls
that have left that area…

- [Heidi] Mm-hmm.
- …that's in the sex trafficking category.

One of these cases
was just a couple of weeks ago.

[Heidi] Yeah, let's
jump on this one.

[dark music playing]

Hi, Investigator Smith
with Richland County.

This is pertaining
to Sierra Stevens.

She left the foster home on the fourth,
and from speaking with the foster parent,

she said she was
going to the movies,

but seemed like
she just dropped off the grid.

This is our second missing child
from that area, and...

- [woman on phone] What?
- Yes, ma'am.

[woman] Is the home
itself in a bad neighborhood?

It's a touch-and-go
neighborhood.

It's down the street
from one of our truck stops

and one of our
questionable hotels.

So that's all in walking distance
of this neighborhood.

[woman] Now, this is a concern.

Now you see why
we blowing up everybody's phone.

[dramatic music playing]

[J.P.] This it?

[Vicki] Yeah.

[dramatic music continues]

[knocking]

[dog barking]

- [door opens]
- Um, I'm Investigator Rains.

We need to look at
Sierra's belongings.

- [J.P.] Hello.
- [woman] I'll be there, come on.

All the bags
and stuff are there.

[Vicki] Is that her suitcase?

[woman] All that's hers.

This is stuff
I would imagine she would want.

She looks like a sweet kid.

She's so young to
have gone missing.

The foster mom said that she told her
she was going to the movies

and was walking to the city bus stop,
and never heard or seen her again.

Looks like she's definitely
trying to get on the right track.

She's got books for
Pathways to Success.

[J.P.] She's making notes.
She is… I mean, it's not…

[Vicki] You mean
notes like she's enjoying school?

Yeah. Like
she's studying.

Look, this has her shoes
and everything in it. Like, I just…

This makes no sense.
And to leave everything…

[unsettling music playing]

[woman] It is bad out there
for these young girls now.

'Cause I hear a lot of them
sitting out in the room and talking.

"Yeah, if I could
get me a… a daddy,

and he pay me money and buy me clothes,
I'll be all right."

I say, "You don't
want that, baby."

There's a
consequence behind that.

'Cause they put
'em to prostitute.

They always offer them money,
and these young girls,

they know they
don't have no money.

And once you offer
these young girls money, they jump.

[unsettling music continues]

[Vicki] She left on Friday night
to go to the bus stop.

The bus stop is on this road,
in front of the truck stop.

If she went to the bus stop,
but then said,

"Hey, maybe I could
catch a ride or something."

Even the gas station, she could've
gotten in the car with somebody

thinking they're
going her direction.

[J.P.] You have drug activity
and prostitution in this area.

So, if she messes
with one of these drug dealers,

and they slip her
some type of narcotics,

that's gonna go
real bad for her real quick.

[Vicki] Yep.

[J.P.] Or she is in this parking lot,
trying to hitchhike a ride.

One of these truckers
could have put her in their truck.

[Vicki] The interstate
runs right by here.

So, you know,
she could go in any direction.

[J.P.] She could be
anywhere right now.

[pensive music playing]

You got the tape?

[woman] Yeah, I have everything.

[man] We got a
missing granddaughter,

and I was wondering
if I could put this flyer up.

[somber music playing]

[woman] You know
her? Have you seen her?

[man] She got
missing from Columbia.

She was in beauty
school over there,

and she went out to go to the movie
and never returned.

[patron] Oh, my God.

[man] Ever since she was a little girl,
she's always had a rough life.

Sierra didn't have
anybody at home.

She didn't have a mother.

Her dad, he worked graveyard,
and she stayed there by herself.

And the brother did too,

and that's the reason we wanted
to take them when they were little.

But it was sad
the way that…

the way that things turned out
because her dad and her mother,

they were into drugs.

[tense music playing]

[Pat] Her dad
made her quit coming.

Then Sierra's
mother passed away.

Look at this one.
Look at this picture.

Yeah, we had fun.

She has this tremendous laugh.

The last we heard of
her, she was happy.

Going to beauty college.

We want to find her.

[tense music continues]

[Pat] Every little
blond-headed girl that I see,

I look and see if it's Sierra.

[Heidi] When I was
young, we would run and play in the fields,

and my mom would ring a bell
when it was time to come in.

And our only rule was really,
"Come home before it gets dark."

[tense music continues]

But as I got older and had kids

and fostered and adopted
lots of children,

it just seems like the world
has become a more dangerous place.

As a mom, I know personally
how vulnerable these kids can be.

As a cop, I
know how easily they can be exploited

and fall into great danger.

Honestly, it
worries me to death.

[Heidi] Hi.

- We're just here to get Sierra's stuff.
- [Doris] Oh, okay.

[Heidi] Is that her picture?
Okay. That's pretty.

This is, like,
all her worldly possessions.

What little girl's gonna leave everything,
even her clothes, and leave with nothing?

There had to be a
pretty good reason.

Might seem like nothing,
but this could become important.

All this hair in here
potentially could hold her DNA there.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Hopefully, we won't need that.

She was attending your school.
Her name is Sierra Stevens.

[man on phone] Mmm,
in the foster system,

was attended here for…
a couple of weeks, two or three weeks.

Okay. Is there anyone
that she was hanging out with,

or was friends with there?

Let me go check, and
I'll call you back as soon as I can.

Sure.

[Heidi] Do you have
a digital picture of her?

- [Vicki] Yeah.
- [Heidi] Okay.

Let's check the escort ads and make sure
that she's not being trafficked online.

South Carolina.

- 613 ads and 388 profiles.
- [Vicki] Wow.

- Wow.
- [Heidi] Yeah.

And, you know, I always wonder
who's taking those pictures,

'cause clearly those girls
aren't taking their own pictures.

[Heidi] Exactly.

- Like, look at this one.
- And that one. I mean, look at that.

So when that
emoji's over their face…

- They're underage?
- Probably.

[Heidi] Sad to see
that there's so much of this out there.

Um…

Some of them
you can just tell are juveniles.

This one right here
now. That could be…

[Vicki] That definitely…

Okay, go to "18 photos."
Right there. Yeah.

[Vicki] That one don't…

[Heidi] No, this is probably not her
'cause I don't know of any tattoos.

[Vicki] Mmm.

[Heidi] I don't think
any of these are Sierra,

but it doesn't mean
that she's not being trafficked

just 'cause she's not
advertised on here.

We've kind of hit
that three-day mark.

So, hopefully, they haven't already
moved her out of state.

I hope so too.

[pensive music playing]

[Vicki] Hello.

Okay, two strawberry.

Two carrot. Wait,
that's ten, right?

- [clerk talking indistinctly]
- Thank you so much.

Have a good evening.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

[Vicki] When
I came to Missing Persons,

I thought it would
be really different.

But in lots of ways it's just the same
as working Major Crimes.

You have to face
the worst of humanity.

- Well, hello. [laughs]
- [woman] Hey!

[Vicki] How are you?

What always kept me going in Major Crimes
was getting justice for the victim.

[indistinct chatter]

[Vicki] There was always the satisfaction
of knowing a criminal was off the street

and couldn't hurt anyone else.

I don't want people to get away
with the bad things they've done.

I guess sometimes it takes
stepping away from a job

to realize what
was so good about it.

- [laughter]
- [ringing]

[indistinct chatter continues]

[Vicki] So my old
captain called me,

and he wants me to come back
to Major Crimes,

but that means I
would have to leave Missing Persons,

so I'm kind of weighing out
different things, like…

[Vicki laughs]

I mean, in Missing Persons
it can either be, like…

Not only do you have, like,
the actual cases,

you actually go out
and look for them.

We just had a really bad one,
and they weren't found alive.

- And so then that's hard.
- [Vicki] Yeah.

- [woman 1] It takes a toll on you.
- [woman 2] It does.

[woman] One.

[dark music playing]

[Cristina on phone]
Hi, Investigator Rains.

Um, hello.

[Cristina] Yeah.
Here is my husband.

[Pat on phone] Yeah.

I called her phone
and a guy answered the phone.

[Vicki] Hold up a second.
The number for Sierra, you called it…

[Pat] Mm-hmm. And the guy told
me that he bought the phone.

I said, "Well, this is her phone,
and this is her number."

So they called the number.
They got an answer.

It was a male that
answered and said...

Wait a minute,
a male that answered her phone?

[Vicki] Answered her phone,
and they said, "Who is this?"

And he said,
"I bought this phone yesterday."

And they were like,
"That's my granddaughter's phone."

And he's like, "I don't know anything
about her," and he hangs up.

So, yeah.

[J.P.] Let's
track her phone.

My name is Investigator Smith, I'm with
Richland County Sheriff's Department.

This number
is attached to…

We have a missing
17-year-old girl,

and we're trying to see
where we can get a location on her.

[man on phone] Okay, is this an
emergency involving danger of death?

Yes.

[man] Okay.

[tense music playing]

[man] Point
76093, um, at 19:57

that phone was
hitting off the tower

at 1355 Ruby Road in Hartsville.

Okay.

- Thank you so much.
- [man] All right. Thank you, sir.

- It pinged in Hartsville?
- [J.P.] It's in Hartsville.

[Vicki] She's originally
from Hartsville.

I'm gonna reach out
to law enforcement there.

I think her dad's still there.

- All right, let me know.
- All right. Thank you.

- 'Cause I'mma be lurking out here.
- All right.

[suspenseful music playing]

[birds cawing]

I seen her picture
at the local Walmart.

You know, and it's like…

You know, it's…

almost unbelievable.

2019 was the last time I saw her.
That was two years ago.

She was a good kid.

When she was
little, she did dance.

They put her in beauty pageants.

She was on stage,
waving to the judges,

and she added
a little thing of her own to it.

She actually blew some kisses
to the judges as she was walking by.

And we thought that was somethin' else
'cause we didn't tell her to do that.

Sierra had good
grades, everything.

But she had to grow up quick.

And, uh…

She got, uh, 14.

That was the turning point.

She was, uh…

She took my car and got in a wreck,
killed somebody.

VSS charged me with, uh,

neglect.

[somber music playing]

[crying] It gets me like this
when I think about her life and…

[Pat] Here is where
the accident happened.

A lady was coming…

- [Cristina] From there.
- From there coming this way.

And Sierra run this
stop sign right here.

And hit the lady
right… right there.

[reporter on video] A
32-year-old's life came to a tragic end,

here at the intersection of High Point
and Indian Branch Roads near Hartsville.

Troopers have cited a 14-year-old girl
in that deadly crash...

[Vicki] So, she was sent
to a juvenile detention center

for 18 months because of this.

[Heidi] Oh, my God.

[reporter] …Highway Patrol
says this investigation is far from over.

They're still trying to determine
how the 14-year-old even got the car.

In the meantime,
the family says what happened here

has forever changed their lives.

[Vicki] She may think that because
she's supposed to be in foster care,

if she ran away or somethin',

if the police find her,
we'll put her, you know,

back in DJJ instead of putting her
in another foster home or something.

I mean, it could be that.

But if she's hiding, how do we
convince her that she can trust us?

[atmospheric music playing]

[Heidi] A
couple years ago…

one of my own adopted
daughters ran away.

She wasn't too happy about the way
things were going at home.

So her and her friend,
who had also been in foster care,

took off together
and went to a whole different city.

After a couple weeks
of them being gone,

they were recovered with an older male
and an older female

who were charged with
harboring them as runaways.

She never came
back home after that.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter on TV] Darlington
County Sheriff's Department

is asking the public's help
in finding a missing teen.

Seventeen-year-old Sierra Stevens
was last seen on September 5th…

[girl] Is she 17?

Yeah, we're just afraid
that she's so vulnerable

that somebody might have tried
to entice her into leaving with them.

Just don't want her
to be a trafficking victim.

Yeah, that's like my age,
so it's, like, scary.

That's why I always want you to keep
Life360 on or something like that.

If you ever became missing, at least
I'd know where to start to look for you.

[Heidi] I'm a cop and I'm a mom.

And I try to do the very best I can
when I'm a cop at work.

And I try to do the very best I can
when I'm a mom.

And sometimes
at that intersection,

you're wondering if you're
in the right role.

[somber music playing]

- [knock on door]
- [Heidi] Come in.

- [Vicki] Hello.
- [Heidi] Hey.

- Come sit down.
- Oh, thank you.

[Heidi] So, I heard, um…

I heard that they're trying to get you
to go back to headquarters

to work in Major Crimes now.

I gotta ask you to please reconsider.
Please.

Um…

I don't want to lose you.
I think you're amazing.

When you're working the cases,
I see you're so fully committed to them,

and I don't know
how I could replace you right now.

So, I'm just asking you,
I know you've got…

got a lot to think
about right now,

but I would challenge that Major Crimes
isn't necessarily the only path right now.

You've done your
time in Major Crimes.

I mean, do
you like working Missing Persons?

Yeah, I actually
really enjoy Missing Persons.

I'm really glad I got to come down
and learn so much,

but they are very,
um, emotional cases.

Because, you
know, they're a little…

[chuckles] You know, emotionally draining
'cause they break your heart.

But, um…

Um…

Well, um, think
about it. I really hope…

I hope you choose to stay.

- But they're fighting for you… [laughs]
- Uh, yeah.

…for Major Crimes,
and I get why they are.

- [laughs]
- [Heidi] Um…

But I feel that we can
get you on the right track here too.

I mean, I love working with you.
You're very like-minded.

You have that same
passion to help people.

You feel the
same way, so…

All right, well,
you let me know.

Take a day or two to think about it
and let me know, okay?

[thunder booming]

Investigator Rains.

[Pat on phone] Hi, Investigator.
This is Pat King about Sierra.

I got some news
that I just heard.

Okay.

I have a friend,
and he called me this morning and said

there's a motel
in Hartsville…

And he says she could be there.

Okay.

[Heidi] We often find girls
that have been trafficked in motels.

[Vicki] Oh, my gosh.

[Heidi] I think
you need to go to Hartsville.

Call me if you get anything,
and go ahead and go direct with the chief

if you get something
that looks pretty bad, okay?

[Vicki] Okay.

[suspenseful music playing]

[officer] The ones in Hartsville,
which one of those y'all wanted to check?

- I can, um, show you the addresses.
- [officer 1] Okay.

Y'all can figure out which route to go.
'Cause I don't know what we come to first.

- Absolutely.
- [officer 2] Yes, ma'am.

[Vicki] This woman thinks
she has seen Sierra at the motel.

[woman] She said she was 19.
I didn't believe her.

And then she said
her mom is dead.

Then somebody came looking for her.
"Do you know where the 17-year-old is?"

I said, "Excuse me? How old are you?"
He said, "I'm 27."

Did she say the guy's name by any chance
or call him by a name or anything?

- [woman] I wasn't even...
- Wasn't paying attention. I understand.

Sorry, I didn't ask. I
should have done.

- [officer] All right, thank you so much.
- Thank you. Thank you so much.

[Vicki] She said he's very abusive to her,
which, again, is what we're afraid of.

[officer] If she's
working third shift,

they'll be putting her
to sleep right now at the hotel.

- Okay. Sounds good.
- [officer] Thank you.

[officer] Hey, we
were looking to see

if you had somebody specific
staying in one of your rooms.

- [woman] Yes, ma'am.
- If we showed you a picture.

- [woman] Yes, ma'am.
- [officer] Okay.

Do you recognize her at all?

[Vicki] She'd have a room
with a male maybe?

[woman] I have two girls that stay.
I know them.

They are locally from here
and they've been here for a while now.

- [Vicki] Upstairs? Okay.
- Mm-hmm.

[dramatic music playing]

[knocking]

- [Heidi on phone] Hello.
- [Vicki] We checked the hotel.

And we were hoping we could find her,
but she's not here.

[Heidi] Okay.

[Vicki] We don't have a warrant
to get into these rooms.

So I've asked the local police
to come by and check later on.

[Heidi] All right,
why don't you just head on back

and we'll kind of
see what we can do from there.

- [Vicki] Okay. I'll see you in a bit.
- Okay, see you soon.

[Vicki] Okay, bye-bye.

[dark music playing]

[Vicki] I
don't usually talk about it,

but the worst cases of my whole career
involve children being abused.

I couldn't always save them.

And I still find that
hard to deal with.

Working Missing Persons

brings back those emotions.

Then you can't
just turn them off.

I need to believe
I can find this girl safe.

Otherwise, what's the point
of me doing this job?

- [dial tone on phone]
- [woman] Hi, Vicki.

I have Sierra Stevens' school
on the phone for you.

- [man] Okay, you there?
- Yes, sir.

[man] So, we did
hear through the grapevine that…

that there might have been
about three people that…

Word around is that at one point
they all kind of went to a party together.

Um, Sierra was with…
Two of them aren't here,

but I'm having one of the other ones
brought into my office right now.

- [Vicki] Okay.
- [man] Um…

Um, sorry, I've
got a quick question for you.

Miss Sierra Stevens.
Have you had any contact with her at all?

Have you heard from her
or anything like that?

Okay, um, did you guys go to a party
or something together at one point?

And, by the way, you're not in any trouble
whatsoever, just to make sure...

[girl on phone] I don't
know. I didn't go to the party with her.

[man] Okay.
So, no problem.

But, do you know, did some other students
go to the party with her?

[girl] Well, I know other
people that was there.

[man] Okay, perfect.
That's all I needed. Okay. Um…

There might have been one other
person. There was…

There was a guy
by the name of Van Davis was there.

Unfortunately, we had to remove him
from the program for behavior.

We actually put him
on a "no trespass" for our location.

Now, let me just… I'm
trying to pull up Mr. Davis's contact…

[Vicki] Okay.

[dramatic music playing]

- [boy on phone] Hello?
- [Vicki] Hi. Is this, um, Van Davis?

[Van] Yes, ma'am.

I'm trying to locate
Sierra Stevens,

and um, I heard
that you and her were friends.

- [Van] Sierra?
- Yes.

I have not talked to Sierra
since the day that she went missing.

I remember we had something planned,
but we never went.

You and her had something planned
to go somewhere or something?

[Van] Yes, but we never went.

Was that because she didn't show up,
or what was the reason...

[Van] No, she said she was going
out with some other friends,

and then after that
I never talked to her again.

[Heidi] We need to speak
to this Van Davis.

[tense music playing]

[J.P.] How you doing?

- Does Van Davis reside here?
- [man] Yes.

- [J.P.] Is he home?
- [man] Is something wrong?

[J.P.] We need to talk to him
about a missing girl we're lookin' at.

[man] You can go to his job right now.
He work at the Circle K.

[tense music continues]

- [J.P.] Van Davis?
- [Van] Yeah?

You're not in trouble.
You don't need to be in trouble.

You don't need to be
caught up in something

that you don't need
to be caught up in.

Okay? Did you take
Sierra to Hartsville?

[Van] No, I don't
know who she was with.

[J.P.] Who would you guess
she was in the car with?

I don't know none of Sierra's friends.
I just know her from school.

[chuckles] Bro. Listen to me.
Listen to me. Listen to me.

- Don't get caught up in something…
- [Vicki] Right.

…you don't need
to be caught up in.

I know that she's in Hartsville.
I don't know who she's with.

She won't tell me.

She never told me who she was with
or where she was there.

Okay, so tell us the truth.

- [Van] That night, we was out.
- [J.P.] Okay.

We was at a hotel. I went home
because I really wasn't feeling it.

I can't hear you. I'm sorry.
Come a little bit closer.

- Yeah, there you go.
- We went out. We was at a hotel.

I went home
'cause I really wasn't feeling it.

I'm not the type of person to go out
and have parties.

She stayed there
with people that she didn't know.

I barely knew nobody at the party.
That's why I left.

[Vicki] Where was the party at?

[Van] I don't even know
the name of the hotel.

I just know it was
beside a Waffle House.

And after I left, I
never talked to her again until the day…

the next day
when she was already in Hartsville.

How she got to
Hartsville, I don't know.

She's not in trouble.
We just don't want her staying in a place

where bad things
could happen to her.

So if she would just…

Do y'all want her?
Y'all want Sierra?

[Vicki] We're trying to help her.
She's missing.

That's why we said,
"Do you think she's in danger?"

She's not in trouble.

We want to make sure
she's not being held against her will.

Okay. You
want me to call?

Yeah!

That would be spectacular.

[Van] Hello?

Hello?

[girl on speakerphone] Hey.

[phone ringing]

- [Cristina] And it was one day here...
- No, she didn't call her.

[ringing continues]

Hello. This is Pat King.

Hi, Mr. King.
How are you?

I'm doing good.

I'm pretty sure
that within the next little bit

we are going to have Sierra.

She was on the phone
and I heard her voice and she's okay.

- [both exclaiming]
- [Pat] That's awesome!

Awesome! Awesome!

Oh!

[voice breaking]
I… I'm so…

This is great
news, Investigator!

Thank you so much.
That is awesome news.

- [Cristina laughing]
- Great news. I love it.

That is awesome.

Thank you so much.

You're very welcome.

- All right. Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.

Awesome!

[muffled] That's
some great news.

Aw, they're so happy.

[Cristina] Dear Heavenly Father,

we are here to say thank you
for the opportunity to have people

taking care of Sierra,

and wonderful investigators,
and wonderful team,

in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

[Pat] Amen.

[hopeful music playing]

[Vicki] Hey, Sierra.

This way.

We were just so worried about you
and trying to find you.

[Sierra] I was at
my foster home.

I was going to a
party, you know.

And I asked, and they said
I just had to be back by a certain time.

And I got too,
you know, I was…

- [Vicki] Late?
- Yeah, so I ended up falling asleep.

And then I…

Early that morning, I woke up,
and I was going back to the house.

So I went back to the house
and then I seen five cop cars in the yard.

I'm like, "Oh,
my God, I'm going back to jail."

I'm scared. I didn't
know what to do.

- I was in a panic mode.
- Right.

And I saw the police.

I wasn't thinking,
I just ducked.

And I was like, "Oh, God."
"Okay, just keep going, just keep going."

And then we just went,
and then I was like…

I took my phone
and I just called Emily.

She's the only person I really trust.
I don't talk to people like that.

- Like your best friend?
- Yeah. And I've known her my whole life.

She came and got me real quick.

And then I just sat there until she came.
I got in the car and I was like, "Okay."

She called me, and she was like,
"Emily, I can't go back to jail."

She said, "I've been taken away
from everybody my whole childhood."

"I can't do that."

So I told Sierra to
sit at Waffle House.

Do not go outside. Do not talk to anybody.
Cut her phone off.

And she'd see me there
within the next two hours.

It's a dangerous world.
Girls go missing by being vulnerable.

I know some girl that was kidnapped
and she was took away from her family.

I guess people like that
never come back from it.

But I told Sierra,
if she'd stay with me, she'd be fine.

'Cause I wouldn't
let nothin' happen to her.

[Vicki] How
long were you in DJJ?

They gave me 12 to 18 months.
I did my whole 18, plus another month.

So it was 19 months.

They had to find me a placement
because nobody would take me.

I was like, "I'm a
horrible person."

Like, "Nobody wants me because
I did what I did back in the day."

It made me feel
like I was nothing.

I was like, "I can't go back to DJJ.
I can't do it. I can't."

We were afraid something bad
was happening to you.

Yeah.

Or that you were being
held against your will.

But now that, you know,
we have found you and everything,

and it's like, "Oh,
she was afraid of us."

- Like, that's so sad.
- Yeah.

Like, had we known,

we could have said on the news,
"Sierra, you're not in trouble."

"We're trying to help you
and make sure you're safe."

I would have never thought
the police would try to help me

with anything like that
because it's never been that way.

They've always just
came at me wrong.

So I never would have thought that,
but I understand that now.

We literally would lay awake at night
going, "Oh, my gosh."

"This girl has had such a hard life,
and then now where is she?" We were…

I mean, it really…
We worried about you a lot.

So I'm so glad that it ended up
that you're safe and good.

So, if you ever need anything,
please call me. Absolutely.

- Yes, ma'am. It was nice talking to you.
- Thank you, you too.

[contemplative music playing]

[Vicki] I'm
so happy to have found Sierra.

[Vicki] When you're trying
to find a missing person,

their life depends on it.

So, finding David
Taylor in the woods…

- That was not the result I wanted at all.
- [softly] Yeah.

Because I was asking myself,
"Oh, my gosh."

"We were out here
searching yesterday."

Like, "What if I was ten feet from him
and didn't find him?"

You read the toxicology
report, right?

But did you read
the coroner's report?

The coroner's report says
that he was deceased

before we even got
the missing person report.

There's nothing we could have done.
He was already gone.

So we weren't too late.

Well, that makes
me feel a lot better.

You put your heart into it

and you're really
truly making a difference.

You do definitely have
that burden of responsibility

of the families counting on you,
and then you do it to yourself.

That's why you're so good at it.
Because you have passion.

So you can't leave me
out of this position.

Because how am I gonna find anyone else
that's gonna work this 24/7?

Um…

I thought about it.
And, I mean, I definitely want to stay.

I really like saving lives.

I just see those
families and I just…

I just can't imagine
not helping them.

If I have a family member missing,
I want you to work it.

[laughing]

- [Heidi] I'm so pleased.
- Thank you.

[Heidi laughs] I feel like
I lost you for a minute.

I know. I know. I was about to pack up
and go to headquarters. Yep. Yep.

[indistinct chatter]

You want some cake?

- [officer] Oh, this cake is good.
- [Heidi] Do you not like chocolate?

[officer] Oops, sorry.

[inspiring music playing]

[Vicki] Fifteen hundred people go
missing in the US every single day.

It might seem like
an impossible mission to find them.

But the first step
is to be willing to try.

We need to show these people
they are missed.

They are cared for.

They are loved.

We need to show
them they do matter.

Vicki, we got a new case.

[dramatic music playing]