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00:09Tonight on Dateline Thursday.
00:11What's that like as a mom not knowing where your daughter is?
00:15It's hell.
00:16You don't see the nightmares I see every night.
00:19Where do I go from here?
00:20How do I exist in a world without my daughter?
00:23I know it was found that she was leaving.
00:26Are you thinking that Megan ran away?
00:28Yes, that was the number one option.
00:30It wasn't like Megan to just up and disappear.
00:33She was hiding things.
00:35She was more secretive.
00:36This love triangle.
00:37This is where things kind of blow up.
00:39Yeah.
00:40Very intense high school drama.
00:42The text messages that I read.
00:44It really was some sort of control game.
00:48It certainly seemed something horrible had happened.
00:51We just need someone to tell us the truth.
00:53The FBI approached me and they asked me if I would be comfortable wearing a wire.
00:58Like, what happened that night?
00:59Why is there blood in your car?
01:01The color just drained out of my face.
01:03This is scary.
01:05Very scary.
01:06It's like looking in the eyes of evil.
01:09A phone in the bedroom.
01:10A note left behind.
01:12Can a mother's intuition help solve this mystery?
01:16I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.
01:27Here's Andrea Canning with The Note.
01:39I was a young mom and I was 19 when she was born.
01:44And while I wouldn't recommend that for everybody, I did enjoy the fact that we had a closeness
01:48and I think part of it was because of that.
01:51There's nothing quite like the relationship between mother and daughter.
01:55Beautiful, but also complicated.
01:59I'm a firm believer you should be a parent, not your child's friend.
02:01But just having that closeness was very important.
02:06A closeness that would be threatened by secrets and by a teenage love bordering on obsession.
02:14As they say, love is blind.
02:15It's hard to make someone see something else when they're really into somebody.
02:20Exactly.
02:26The tiny city of Fairfield, Illinois is where single mother, Kathy Jo Hutchcraft, chose to raise her daughter, Megan.
02:33It was just amazing that we got along.
02:35She liked the things I liked.
02:36I liked the things she liked.
02:39Megan was tight with her mom and she also had lots of close friends.
02:43Holden August was one of them.
02:45She was bubbly and warm.
02:47I mean, very energetic.
02:48She had a lot of energy.
02:50Anytime you were with Megan, it was constant laughter.
02:53Like, she was just always cracking jokes.
02:56Joking or singing, says girlfriend Gemma Loss.
03:00She loved to sing and play her ukulele.
03:07She was amazing.
03:08And she had a musical talent that she did not get from her mother.
03:12Megan's love of music led her to high school Glee Club.
03:15And that led her to another love.
03:17A love that had a name, Brody Murbarger.
03:21And he was hot.
03:22Like, he was an attractive guy.
03:24He was funny.
03:24He was smarter than a majority of the people in the room at all times.
03:28And he had, like, cut blonde hair.
03:31It was one of those things you could understand why someone would fall for Brody.
03:34At 17 years old, Brody was two years older than Megan.
03:38Kyle Ellis was his best friend.
03:40He was extremely musically talented.
03:43He did math team.
03:44He sounds like an all-American kid.
03:46Yeah, yeah, he kind of was.
03:47Just one problem.
03:49Megan's mom thought that her 15-year-old daughter was too young to date.
03:52And I had this rule, like, we're not going to have a boyfriend.
03:56You can be friends.
03:57We're not going to have this boyfriend thing going on until you're 16.
04:00That was my preference.
04:01You don't need a boyfriend.
04:02We don't need to put a label on it.
04:03We all know I have teenage daughters.
04:06It's not easy telling teenage daughters what to do or what not to do.
04:10Exactly.
04:12And then it was July 3rd, 2014, a Friday night.
04:17Kathy Jo was helping a friend settle into a new place.
04:20Megan came along to help.
04:22She was acting silly.
04:25She was stood on her hands, put her legs up on the wall, and was twerking against the wall,
04:29whatever you want to call that.
04:30Just, I mean, just goofy, Megan stuff.
04:35Around 9, Megan said she had a stomachache,
04:37so Kathy Jo took her home to rest and went back to the friend's house.
04:41She returned home a couple of hours later.
04:44As soon as I walked in the door, the first thing I did was turn on my computer at the
04:46time
04:46because I was playing Candy Crush.
04:48I decided I was hungry, so I came into the kitchen,
04:51and I was just going to heat up some ramen noodles.
04:53And this is about what time?
04:55This would have been probably about 11.35.
04:59So it's getting late.
05:00Yeah, definitely.
05:02And I was just standing at the stove and watching the pot, waiting for it to boil,
05:08and I just got this heavy feeling of fear all of a sudden.
05:16So I went up to check on Megan.
05:19I looked in her room, and I couldn't see her.
05:20So immediately I turned the light on.
05:23She was supposed to be asleep.
05:24That was what she told me.
05:25She was going to bed, and she wasn't in her bed.
05:27And I looked all over the upstairs, and I immediately started to come down the stairs
05:33to check the rest of the house.
05:35Megan didn't answer her phone or texts.
05:39Kathy Jo called her mother in a panic, and they decided to report Megan missing right away.
05:44I arrived at the sheriff's department, and I just said I needed to talk to an officer.
05:47My daughter was missing.
05:48And I was in tears, upset.
05:50I explained to him, you know, my daughter is missing, and I need to find my daughter.
05:56The officer told her not to worry.
05:58Teenagers often disappear and then turn up.
06:01Kathy Jo and her mother headed home and started making calls.
06:05Her mom had called me, I think it was like 1 o'clock in the morning,
06:09and she told me that Megan was missing and wanted to know if she was with me, and she wasn't.
06:14And Kathy Jo decided to search her daughter's room, looking for clues, anything.
06:20When I pulled back her blankets, I saw the cell phone.
06:24Her phone.
06:24Her phone.
06:25This phone had no phone case.
06:26It was just upside down, and it looks different because I'm used to seeing purple or pink or something flashy.
06:33And I picked it up, pushed the button, and it said, hola, hello, as if it was a brand new
06:38phone.
06:38Yeah, that's like factory settings.
06:42Megan's iPhone had been wiped clean.
06:45Your heart must have just sank in that moment.
06:47Yeah, I told my mom, I don't know what to do.
06:50And she said, well, I'll tell you what we're going to do.
06:52We're going to go pray.
06:53They went into the TV room down the hall, got on their knees.
06:57Then it was Kathy Jo's mother who saw it first.
07:01And my mom knelt down on the seat, and she handed me an envelope that said, mom.
07:05And when I opened up the envelope, there was a note.
07:09A mysterious note and a dramatic story that would come to define the search for missing Megan.
07:16It's very intense high school drama.
07:19This is a high school love triangle.
07:37In the early morning hours of July 4th, Kathy Jo was beyond worried looking for her daughter, Megan Nichols.
07:44Then, there it was.
07:46The note.
07:47What did the note say?
07:49It said, mom, I love you, but I'm never going to be happy here.
07:52Oh my gosh.
07:53Don't come looking for me, because why spend a lifetime looking for someone who doesn't want to be found?
07:58That's like a, just such a punch in the stomach, a blow.
08:03This is scary.
08:05Very scary.
08:07Kathy Jo rushed back to talk to the police.
08:09Keith Kalklaser was the chief of the small department back in 2014, and still is today.
08:16What is protocol when you're dealing with a teenager and there's a note in a room saying she's left?
08:22We still enter her as missing in the state database in case any other officer runs across her, and we
08:27begin our search.
08:29Police began talking to Megan's friends and family.
08:32I can't do something stupid on the spot.
08:35They heard about her bubbly personality, her love of music, church, and of course, the big thing in her young
08:42life, Brody Merbarger.
08:44Did she talk to you about it?
08:46Yes.
08:46What kinds of things would she tell you?
08:48Well, anything. I mean, it was Brody 24-7. Anything that he had done or said, it was pretty much
08:57reported to me.
08:59Mom's rule about no boyfriends until 16 was testing the close mother-daughter relationship.
09:06Holden remembers the night when Brody turned from a friend to Megan's boyfriend.
09:10It was at the school's homecoming dance, and Brody was there with his girlfriend at the time, Kendra.
09:16Megan's date was a boy from church camp.
09:19The teenage drama was in overdrive.
09:21The FCHS homecoming dance is notorious for being incredibly raunchy.
09:26Like dirty dancing.
09:28Yeah, exactly.
09:28So it wasn't just like, oh, Brody and Megan are dancing together, you know, and Kendra's here.
09:34It is that Brody and Megan are dancing, like, you know, grinding on one another on the dance floor kind
09:40of thing.
09:41And, you know, and that's one of those things you're like, oh, this isn't good.
09:44Megan and Brody ditched their dates and stayed on the dance floor together.
09:48Brody's girlfriend, Kendra, was crying in the bleachers, and Megan's friend from church just left alone.
09:55It's very intense high school drama.
09:58This is a high school love triangle.
10:00Yeah, exactly.
10:00It was a high school love triangle.
10:02And someone's going to get hurt.
10:04Exactly.
10:05That someone seemed to be Kendra.
10:08In the days after the dance, Megan and Brody were inseparable.
10:12It seemed to go from zero to 100 very quickly.
10:16Then, just a few months later, Brody was back with Kendra.
10:20But he kept Megan in the picture, too.
10:22And what the whole school could see, Megan apparently couldn't.
10:26Did Brody kind of want his cake and eat it, too?
10:29Yeah, I would say even beyond that is he thought he could.
10:33He had convinced two girls in such a small classroom that both of them were his girlfriend and his favorite.
10:40And they never once thought to fact check with the other one or, you know, even talk.
10:47I do remember telling her, you know, I don't approve.
10:51How did she respond?
10:53She obviously listened to what I had to say, but it wasn't going to stop her from doing what she
10:57wanted to do.
10:58Not even close, even though Megan thought they were still a couple.
11:02That spring, Brody took Kendra to prom.
11:05Kathy Jo, who by now was aware that Megan and Brody had been more than friends,
11:10could see how confused and heartbroken her daughter was.
11:14Brody's mom had recently passed away,
11:16and Kathy Jo thought he was using that to justify jumping back and forth between the two girls.
11:22And she's like, I didn't want to tell you this because I know you'll be mad,
11:27but he's taking Kendra to prom because that's what his mom would have wanted him to do.
11:32And that's when I said, are you freaking kidding me?
11:36He's still telling you these lies and you're believing them.
11:41And that is when I said, okay, put my foot down, we are done with Brody.
11:46Kathy Jo told Megan to stop any contact with Brody.
11:49No texting, no hanging out, nothing.
11:53A short time after she laid down the law, there was a knock at the door.
11:57It was Brody.
11:58He said, look, you are way too controlling.
12:02You're concerning me, and I think you need to be on medication.
12:05That's what Brody was telling me.
12:06Oh, that's overstepping for a teenager.
12:09I said, excuse me.
12:10He goes, yeah, you can't be controlling her decisions.
12:14I said, she's 15 years old.
12:16As her mother, I can tell her that she can't date you.
12:19That's my right and my responsibility as her mother.
12:22And he said, do you know that she tells me every fight you ever have?
12:26And I said, well, it's really none of your business, and you need to leave my house.
12:29And he goes, I'm not going anywhere because I don't want you tearing into her.
12:32And I said, you need to get out of my house right now.
12:37And he finally did, but he did it very slowly.
12:41Like, he wanted to make sure that I knew that he was in control.
12:45Once Kathy Jo put her foot down about Brody, friends saw a change in Megan.
12:50You just knew she was not herself when you have this bubbly, outgoing girl become, you
12:56know, a shell of herself.
12:58She was hiding things more.
13:00She was more secretive, I guess.
13:01She was angry, too, I would say.
13:05Kathy Jo saw it, too.
13:07Megan dropped out of Glee Club and banned.
13:10I just cried because it's like, she's not my child anymore.
13:13She would tell me anything.
13:15I trusted her with everything.
13:16She trusted me.
13:17We had an amazing connection.
13:21All that drama had happened as school was ending for the summer.
13:24Now it was July 4th weekend and Megan was missing, considered a runaway.
13:29What's that like as a mom not knowing where your daughter is?
13:34It's hell.
13:35I can't describe it as anything else.
13:37It's hell.
13:39That night, the police couldn't get a hold of Brody, so they reached out to his father,
13:43who was an Illinois state police trooper and had once been partners with Chief Call Clasier.
13:48We left a message with the father to have him call us when he saw Brody.
13:52He said he would.
13:53And we were waiting on that phone call.
13:56But Kathy Jo wasn't about to sit around waiting.
13:59She would go looking for answers herself.
14:01And pretty soon, there was a new clue.
14:04What did this image of Megan mean?
14:21When 15-year-old Megan Nichols disappeared overnight,
14:25her mother wanted to talk to her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brody Murbacher.
14:29After a sleepless night, she and Megan's grandmother drove over to his house
14:33and there he was, right outside.
14:36We pulled into his driveway and he was washing his car.
14:40It was like 7.30 in the morning.
14:43And when he looked over and realized who we were,
14:46he rolled his eyes at us, walked over and shut the water off,
14:50and then he walked up to the driver's side where my mom was.
14:54What did he say?
14:55My mom said, where's my granddaughter?
14:56He goes, I don't know.
14:58And she goes, well, I think you do.
15:00And he said, all I know is she didn't want to live with Kathy anymore.
15:02She went to go live with her dad.
15:04Her dad, he hadn't been in Megan's life or her mom's since she was a baby.
15:09He lived hundreds of miles away in Oklahoma.
15:12But just a year earlier, when Megan was 14, they had reconnected.
15:17She told me later he had kind of apologized for not being there in her life.
15:20And she said, listen, I'm doing fine.
15:24You know, I'm a Christian.
15:25I've been saved.
15:26I'm going to forgive you.
15:27So was it possible that the teenager, so angry at her mother over Brody,
15:32had decided living with her dad was a better option?
15:34Did you buy that?
15:35Did you think maybe?
15:37She had only just met him.
15:38Yeah.
15:39It was a lead the police needed to check out.
15:42The officer spoke with him on the phone.
15:44And had he seen her?
15:45No.
15:45Did he know anything?
15:46And he heard from her?
15:47No.
15:49A dead end.
15:50But police quickly had a new lead.
15:54Kathy Jo reported that $200 was missing from the family's two bank accounts.
15:58Police pulled the video from the bank's cameras.
16:01We see her enter the bank and talk to a teller.
16:04Then we see her go to the drive-up ATM and withdraw money.
16:08And then we check the second bank, which is a couple blocks from the first one,
16:12and we see her ride her bicycle alone to and from that bank.
16:15You have a note saying she's leaving.
16:18You have her phone is left behind and wiped clean.
16:21And you have her visiting two different banks.
16:24Are you thinking that Megan ran away?
16:27Yes, that was the number one option.
16:29Police believe they were looking for a girl who did not want to be found.
16:33And like Megan's mom, they had a hunch that her teenage crush, Brody,
16:38may know something that could help.
16:40Brody was an academically and musically gifted teen.
16:42He'd never been in trouble with the law.
16:44He just graduated from high school
16:46and was getting ready to start college in the fall.
16:49Once his dad, the state trooper, told him police wanted to talk,
16:53Brody went down to the station.
16:54What did Brody say his relationship was with Megan?
16:58Just friends.
16:59Not sexual, not anything like that, just...
17:02Just a friendship level.
17:05Brody said he wasn't surprised that Megan was gone.
17:09He admitted that he knew that Megan had...
17:11That she wanted to run away.
17:12That she wanted to run away.
17:13That she wanted to run away.
17:13He just said that she'd been talking about it.
17:16Brody told police that the night Megan went missing,
17:18he was at his girlfriend Kendra's house.
17:20He said that her mom was blowing up his phone.
17:22By calling his phone, he decided to look for Megan?
17:26Correct.
17:27He said he drove around for hours looking,
17:29then stopped back at Kendra's house before going home at around 5 in the morning.
17:34Is he cooperative?
17:35Mm-hmm.
17:36And what does he say to the officer?
17:38I just basically didn't know where she was.
17:40Brody left, but investigators continued digging.
17:43Since Megan's phone was wiped clean,
17:46they searched her computer and found text messages from her last iPhone backup.
17:50Turned out, Megan and Brody texted a lot.
17:54Something like 150 times a day.
17:57When they poured over their 7,000 messages,
18:00it was clear Brody had not been totally honest with police about their relationship.
18:04Text messages revealed something different where they had been active sexually.
18:09The texts also showed that not only did Brody know about Megan's plan to run away,
18:14he had also talked about going with her.
18:17Possibility of them running away together, like they were making a plan.
18:22Police asked Brody to come back for another chat.
18:25How do you handle Brody now and the situation now that you
18:28realize that he wasn't being totally up front with you?
18:31I just keep calling him out on inconsistencies,
18:33try and get more information,
18:35and then he provides a little more, a little more, a little more.
18:37Brody now admitted to the chief that, yes,
18:40he had talked to Megan about running away together,
18:43but he had no intention of going through with it.
18:45In fact, just the opposite.
18:48Instead of running away, he said he'd always come up with an excuse not to,
18:52you know, I can't do it yet.
18:54I don't have my credit card yet.
18:55He would try to prolong her staying here.
18:58He was trying to get her to stay in Fairfield.
18:59Yeah.
19:00Brody's story seemed to confirm that Megan was, in fact, a runaway,
19:04out there somewhere, trying not to be found.
19:07At this time, I was treating him as a witness.
19:10Megan didn't turn up the next day or the next.
19:13What's Brody saying now about Megan's disappearance?
19:17Does he talk about it?
19:18Is he concerned?
19:19When he talks about it,
19:20it's mostly in the context of, like,
19:23how he's being treated in Fairfield.
19:25Megan's friends weren't shy about the fact
19:27that they thought Brody knew more than he was saying.
19:29He felt like he was being harassed,
19:31or at least that's what he told me.
19:32Authorities have labeled her a runaway.
19:35Kathy Jo talked to reporters.
19:37Megan's case was featured in Dateline's online series,
19:40Missing in America.
19:41And she tried to reach Megan directly on social media.
19:45Megan, this video has been put together
19:47to let you know that it's okay to come home.
19:50As time wore on, Kathy Jo tried to stay hopeful,
19:53but it wasn't easy.
19:54She thought about how upset Megan had been
19:56in the weeks before she disappeared,
19:58and her mind went to a dark place.
20:00She was very depressed that she didn't have
20:04Brody in her life.
20:05So it crossed your mind that...
20:06It did cross my mind.
20:07Maybe she took her own life?
20:09It did cross my mind.
20:11Where was Megan?
20:12A discovery close to home
20:14was about to answer that question.
20:16What exactly did you see?
20:33Weeks turned to months,
20:35and Kathy Jo still had no news about her daughter.
20:38She sought solace in her faith.
20:40We had prayer circles in my house
20:42every night for a very long time.
20:45People in Fairfield tried to help
20:47however they could.
20:48We had tremendous community support.
20:51You saw Megan's face everywhere.
20:53The town came together,
20:54this outflowing of support
20:56to try to get Megan home.
20:59But Megan was still missing after a year.
21:03Then another.
21:05Her friends got ready to graduate from high school,
21:07still with no answers.
21:10You knew Megan better than almost anyone.
21:12Was she bold enough to just disappear like that
21:16with very little money, no phone?
21:18For her to have left without anyone
21:20was the most worrying part.
21:22I think she was bold enough.
21:24Did you think that something bad had happened to her?
21:27Not at first, but eventually, yes.
21:30I didn't really have confidence
21:33that she could have successfully run away
21:35and started a new life at the age of 15, right?
21:38Like, that idea is just so absurd to me.
21:41Megan's 18th birthday came and went,
21:43and with it dimmed Kathy Jo's hope
21:46of ever seeing her daughter again.
21:48I stayed hopeful for a very long time.
21:51But once she was officially an adult,
21:53and she still had contacted nobody,
21:56I knew she wasn't coming home.
22:01By then, local and state investigators
22:03had asked for help from the FBI.
22:05They asked us,
22:07is there any way possible
22:08that we could start to take a more active role?
22:11Special Agent Ray Hart started to work the case.
22:13And then, a year later,
22:16something big happened.
22:18It was a frigid but sunny winter day
22:21when Carl Vaughn went out to look for firewood
22:23on this farm near Fairfield.
22:25What did you see?
22:26Well, I seen something shining there in the sun.
22:29It was bright.
22:30I was coming from that way.
22:32And I just stopped and walked over there.
22:34And then I realized it was a skull
22:36poking out of the blanket.
22:37Did you think it was a human skull?
22:38Oh, yeah, I knew it was.
22:39It wasn't no trouble to see that.
22:41What goes through your mind
22:42when you make a discovery like that?
22:44Well, I just knew they were looking for Megan, you know.
22:48So Megan popped into your head
22:50the moment you saw the bones.
22:52Yeah, the bones, yeah.
22:54Kathy Jo, who wanted answers for so long,
22:57now shuddered at the sight of Agent Ray Hart
22:59and his partner at her door.
23:01And they said, hi, Kathy.
23:03And of course, I dropped my water.
23:04I'm fumbling all over myself.
23:05And I just looked at him.
23:06I said, you're here to ruin my day, aren't you?
23:10And he said, the remains that were found, it was Megan.
23:18How did you learn the news that Megan's remains
23:22had been found?
23:23Yeah.
23:23My mom had called me and told me.
23:26I mean, it was a hard day.
23:30Megan's manner of death was yet to be determined.
23:32But since her body had been found buried,
23:34it was ruled a homicide.
23:37Agent Hart was going through the files
23:38with fresh eyes, looking for leads.
23:41My initial thought at that point was,
23:43it was going to be really difficult
23:44to move any investigation forward
23:46as an FBI investigator
23:47without looking into Brody Marburger.
23:50While the local police had treated Brody like a witness,
23:53the Illinois State Police also worked the case.
23:56And FBI Agent Hart saw that those investigators
23:59had leaned much harder on Brody
24:01than the hometown officers.
24:03More than a year after Megan disappeared,
24:06state agents searched his car.
24:07They found a brownish stain that looked suspicious,
24:10but tests came back negative for blood.
24:13Were you going to run away with her?
24:15And the state investigators brought Brody in
24:17for questioning, twice.
24:19So the first thing we had to do
24:21is go back and listen to those interviews,
24:23see if there's little nuggets that we can utilize.
24:26Would you say you and Megan
24:28were ever sexually active with each other?
24:32Do you want me to be honest, then yes?
24:34Okay.
24:35Well, is this when your honesty started?
24:38No, I'm just kidding.
24:39Yes, I'm not going to lie.
24:41Okay.
24:42In one of those interviews,
24:44Brody added a new detail.
24:45He admitted that 24 hours before Megan went missing,
24:49he'd snuck into her bedroom
24:50while her mom was sleeping.
24:52You helped her back.
24:54Mm-hmm.
24:54And then my understanding is you spent the night.
24:57Mm-hmm.
24:57Okay.
24:59And was this like your guys' final farewell goodbye?
25:04It was heated.
25:05Huh?
25:05It was heated.
25:07As in passion heated?
25:08No.
25:09As in I just kept in a cold shoulder.
25:12But you spent the night there?
25:13On the floor, yeah.
25:14I couldn't just go home.
25:17Brody again explained how the next night,
25:19when Megan disappeared, he went out looking for her.
25:21A story investigators found perplexing.
25:25Tell me how you leave your current girlfriend,
25:28love your life, to go look for Megan.
25:31I mean, tell me how you do that.
25:33I feel like I'm responsible for her.
25:37I don't know.
25:37For who?
25:38Megan.
25:39Why are you responsible for Megan?
25:41I don't know.
25:41I feel like I helped her through a lot of shows.
25:44What's more, Brody said that while he was out searching,
25:47he didn't have his cell phone.
25:48He left it at his girlfriend's house.
25:50And if that sounded suspicious,
25:52well, Brody had an answer for that, too.
25:55When pressed, he admitted he wasn't really looking for Megan.
25:58He now claimed that driving around for hours
26:01was actually all part of a plan.
26:04What was the plan?
26:06I was going to drive around while she did whatever she was going to do.
26:10This was a new and bizarre story.
26:13Brody said he was intentionally trying to get police to look at him,
26:17playing decoy, giving Megan a chance to slip away.
26:20He now said she was going to be picked up by someone in a car.
26:31Brody never asked for a lawyer,
26:33and in his next police interview,
26:35investigators pressed hard,
26:37and Brody pushed back.
26:39Tell us where she's at, Brody.
26:41I don't know.
26:42There's no way that that is true.
26:44You're just going to sit here and accuse me of it.
26:46I'm just going to sit here and not say anything.
26:47I didn't do anything, okay?
26:49Well, where's she at?
26:49I don't know.
26:50What direction did she go?
26:52I already told you where I thought she went.
26:54And where was that?
26:56Down south.
26:57To Agent Hart, it was a lot of smoke,
26:59and what he needed was fire.
27:02Then, something else in the file caught his attention,
27:04a tiny detail that would turn out to be huge.
27:08You were about to make a major discovery in this case.
27:11Yes.
27:13And he was also going to get some help from an unlikely ally.
27:17And they asked me if I would be comfortable wearing a wire.
27:35In the years following Megan's disappearance,
27:38Brody Murbarger moved out of state
27:40and was studying geology at the University of Southern Indiana.
27:43He shared an apartment with his best friend, Kyle,
27:46Were you happy to have your best friend as a roommate?
27:49Yeah, he was a good roommate.
27:52Kyle remained fiercely loyal to his friend,
27:54despite the rumors that persisted back home.
27:57I mean, I would really, like, passionately defend him
27:59and say there was no way it was him.
28:01Why were you so sure?
28:02Because he was my best friend.
28:03Yeah, Brody was like a brother to me.
28:06Neither Kyle nor Brody had any inkling
28:09that Megan's murder investigation was picking up steam.
28:12And as Special Agent Ray Hart read through a mountain of documents,
28:16one detail stood out to him.
28:18One of the investigators for Illinois State Police
28:20actually wrote a very good report
28:22detailing that Mr. Murbarger got really fidgety
28:27and was very nervous
28:28when he saw the state police
28:30starting to look into the trunk of his car.
28:33Remember, Kathy Jo saw Brody washing his car
28:36when she went looking for him that first morning.
28:38And later, investigators found a stain in the trunk
28:41that looked suspicious,
28:42but tested negative for blood.
28:44I thought maybe there was a potential
28:47that we could do a more thorough forensic search
28:50of that vehicle.
28:52Brody had totaled his Dodge in an accident a year earlier,
28:55but the agent caught a lucky break.
28:57The wrecked car was fixed up and had a new owner.
29:01I was cautiously optimistic
29:02that we would find something.
29:05And they did.
29:06Turns out the original test was a false negative.
29:10It was human blood in the trunk.
29:12And once agents removed the lining,
29:15Luminol revealed even more of it.
29:18What happened when you compared the DNA samples
29:21of the blood in Megan?
29:22The lab report indicated
29:23that was indeed Megan Nichols' DNA.
29:26This is your connection now,
29:28your solid connection to Brody.
29:31Yes, ma'am.
29:32It was big.
29:34But instead of arresting Brody,
29:36they wanted to confront him with the new evidence,
29:38see if he would crack.
29:40How surprised was he that he's in college now
29:43and the FBI shows up on campus?
29:46He was extremely uncomfortable, very nervous.
29:49After a phone call with his dad,
29:51Brody declined to talk
29:52and told the agents to contact a lawyer for the family.
29:56Then, Agent Hart had an idea
29:58of someone else to talk to,
30:00the best friend and roommate, Kyle.
30:02Still, on a picnic table
30:04outside of Brody and Kyle's apartment complex,
30:06the FBI laid it all out.
30:08They told me that they had DNA.
30:10This kind of like very hard,
30:12at least from my perspective,
30:14hard to kind of argue with evidence.
30:16And the only thing I was thinking
30:17like the whole time they were talking was,
30:19oh, s***.
30:20And they had a big ask.
30:22They wanted Kyle to help them bring Brody down.
30:25They asked me to cooperate further
30:27with what they were doing,
30:28and I said, no, that's still my best friend.
30:31A week later, a change of heart
30:33gave Agent Hart an opening.
30:36I receive an email from Kyle.
30:39It says, I've been thinking about what you told me.
30:42I don't think there's any doubt that he did this.
30:45Will you come talk to me again?
30:47Are you starting to think
30:48my best friend could be a killer?
30:51Yeah, yeah.
30:51I mean, they asked me
30:52if I would be comfortable wearing a wire
30:55and going in and talking with him
30:56about Megan and the whole situation.
30:59Yeah, that's a big deal.
30:59Yeah, yeah.
31:01You're asking a lot.
31:02Absolutely.
31:05Kyle packed up his things and moved out.
31:07A month later,
31:09he went back to the apartment complex
31:10to talk to Brody.
31:12How are you feeling as you walk through the door,
31:14knowing that you are wearing a wire?
31:17Definitely pretty nervous.
31:18Yeah, it was not an easy situation by any means.
31:23What's new with you?
31:25Well, I moved.
31:27Kyle got right to it,
31:28asking about the night Megan disappeared.
31:31Brody, have I ever just asked you
31:33what happened that night?
31:36Did you see Megan?
31:38Can you...
31:39How did...
31:39Yeah, okay, so I saw her
31:42whenever I dropped my iPod off.
31:46That was it.
31:47That was it.
31:48Okay.
31:49Yeah.
31:49I had a pretty solid way
31:55of handling the whole situation with her,
31:57but she left before I could tell her mom.
32:00You were going to tell her mom?
32:01I was going to tell her mom
32:02as soon as she turned 16.
32:04As soon as she was planning on running away.
32:05Okay.
32:06And then I got that chance.
32:08Federal agents coached Kyle on what to say,
32:11and now he confronted Brody
32:13with what he'd learned from the FBI.
32:15Your old car.
32:20And in the trunk of your car,
32:22they've taken a lot of different samples,
32:24and there's blood in the back of your car,
32:27and it's Megan's blood.
32:30Why is her blood in your car?
32:32That's a good question.
32:33I would like to know that, too.
32:37You don't know how her blood got there?
32:39Nope.
32:39Why'd you leave your phone at Kendra's?
32:42I honestly don't know.
32:44Brody then seemed to anticipate
32:45his friend's next question.
32:49I didn't do it.
32:51That's what you're going to ask.
32:52You did not kill Megan.
32:54I did not kill Megan.
32:56Brody didn't give up any new information,
32:58but agents weren't giving up.
33:00They asked Kyle to meet with his friend again.
33:03This time, Brody seemed more than a little wary.
33:06He says to me,
33:08are you wearing a wire?
33:09Like, right into my ear.
33:10Oh, my gosh.
33:11Yeah.
33:12So I do think he was maybe suspicious.
33:14Well, yeah.
33:15He's saying that.
33:15What did you say to him?
33:17No.
33:18Do you think he bought it?
33:19No.
33:20I think at that point,
33:22he knew what was going on.
33:24Still, when the agents listened,
33:26they thought they heard something revealing.
33:28One of his statements,
33:29I truly believe,
33:31is his version of a confession.
33:33That makes me think
33:34that somebody with, like, anger issues
33:36found out about something and strangled her.
33:39He starts to theorize,
33:41and Brody says,
33:42well, maybe someone with anger issues
33:45hears something they don't like
33:47and gets mad and strangles her.
33:48Which could fit.
33:49Which fits.
33:51Because forensic experts
33:52believed strangulation or suffocation
33:54was how Megan died,
33:56a detail only the killer would know.
33:59Investigators took all the evidence
34:00they had gathered,
34:01the blood,
34:02the changing stories,
34:03the secret recordings,
34:05and presented it to a grand jury.
34:07In October of 2020,
34:09six years after Megan disappeared,
34:11police arrested Brody Murbarger
34:13as he walked into work.
34:15Was that in a lot of bad, bad moments?
34:19Was that a good one?
34:20It's hard to describe.
34:21It's just like the scab
34:23just keeps getting ripped open.
34:24I remember saying,
34:26what?
34:26What are you talking about?
34:29You know, it's surreal.
34:30It was out of the blue
34:31because there had been this idea
34:33that the case was dead,
34:34the case was dead,
34:34the case was dead.
34:35You know,
34:36that was what the public thought of it was.
34:39But the arrest was only the first step.
34:42Prosecutors knew there were still
34:43unanswered questions,
34:45and a defendant who had an explanation
34:47for everything.
34:49I couldn't believe what he was saying.
35:05More than six years had passed
35:07since teenager Megan Nichols
35:08vanished on July 4th weekend.
35:10And in October 2022,
35:13her high school boyfriend,
35:14Brody Murbarger,
35:15went on trial for her murder.
35:17You chose not to sit through the trial.
35:19I don't want to.
35:20You don't see the nightmares
35:21I see every night.
35:23The last thing I need
35:24is the details
35:26of everything he did
35:27to my little girl.
35:29Prosecutors Michael Foligario
35:30and Myra Yell-Clark
35:32spent months
35:33poring over those details.
35:34We knew his activity
35:36and his suspicious behavior
35:39around the time
35:40that Megan disappeared
35:41was extremely strong
35:43circumstantial evidence.
35:45The case they presented
35:46to the jury
35:47included the story
35:48of Megan and Brody's
35:49high school romance
35:50told by, what else?
35:52Their text messages.
35:54It's almost like
35:55Brody was playing a game
35:57with Megan.
35:58He would distance himself,
36:00and as soon as Megan
36:01stopped texting him,
36:03he would just text her
36:04and just try to get her
36:05re-interested in him.
36:07It really was
36:08some sort of
36:09control game with him.
36:10Those text messages
36:12exposed another dynamic
36:13at play,
36:14Brody driving a wedge
36:16between Megan
36:16and her mother,
36:17Kathy Jo.
36:18Some of the text messages
36:20that I read
36:21where he was talking
36:22about Kathy to Megan
36:25were just some of the worst
36:26things I've ever read.
36:28Megan's mom was keeping him
36:30from gaining control
36:31over Megan,
36:31and so I think
36:33his hatred of Kathy
36:35also was incorporated
36:36into his motive.
36:38Prosecutors then turned
36:39to what Brody said
36:40he was doing
36:40the night Megan disappeared.
36:42He has no explanation
36:45for where he was
36:46that night.
36:47Then, of course,
36:47his changing stories.
36:49I was going to drive around
36:51while she did
36:52whatever she was going to do.
36:54And then they presented
36:55their own theory
36:56of what took place
36:57on the night Megan disappeared.
36:58They believe there was a fight
37:00over the plans
37:01to run away.
37:02She had gone to the ATM.
37:04She was packed.
37:06She was ready to go.
37:07So when Brody ends up backing out,
37:11you can see how she would overreact,
37:14be upset and be emotional.
37:16But why kill her, though?
37:17I think it goes back
37:18to his control.
37:19It had come to a point
37:20where he completely
37:21had lost control
37:23and reacted aggressively.
37:27And they played
37:28for the jury that tape,
37:29Brody talking
37:30to his best friend,
37:31theorizing that Megan
37:32was strangled
37:33by someone
37:34in a fit of rage.
37:41Prosecutors argued
37:42that somebody
37:43was Brody.
37:44His former friend, Kyle,
37:45was called to testify
37:46about the secret recordings.
37:48I kind of felt like
37:50I was there
37:50to confront him.
37:51I felt betrayed
37:52by the situation
37:53that he had lied to me
37:54and lied to everyone
37:55for so long.
37:56Then what prosecutors said
37:58was solid proof,
38:00Megan's blood
38:01in Brody's car.
38:02This was really
38:03a cornerstone
38:04of your case.
38:05It was definitely
38:06our biggest piece
38:07of evidence
38:08that we were able
38:08to present.
38:09When it came time
38:11to present a defense,
38:12Brody himself
38:13took the stand
38:14to explain
38:15the state's
38:15key blood evidence.
38:17He testified
38:18to an incident
38:19where he had sex
38:20with Megan
38:21in his car.
38:22Brody testified
38:23that Megan
38:23had her period
38:24during that sexual encounter
38:26and he said
38:27a t-shirt
38:27with her blood on it
38:28ended up
38:29in the trunk
38:29of his car.
38:31Prosecutors
38:31were skeptical
38:32to say the least.
38:34I couldn't believe
38:35what he was saying.
38:36During cross-examination,
38:37the prosecution
38:38pressed Brody
38:39to explain why,
38:41if true,
38:41he had kept
38:42that sexual encounter
38:43a secret
38:43for more than six years.
38:45He said he was embarrassed
38:47about what had happened.
38:50After a two-week trial,
38:51the jurors
38:52weighed all the evidence
38:53and were back
38:54with their verdict
38:55in two hours.
38:56And the verdict was?
38:57Guilty.
38:59What was that like
39:00for you
39:01when you heard
39:02that guilty verdict
39:03being read?
39:04It was definitely
39:06a relief,
39:07but in a lot of ways
39:09I didn't feel
39:10as good as I thought
39:11I would feel.
39:12It really didn't make
39:13anything better,
39:13I guess.
39:15Kathy Jo,
39:16who had avoided
39:17the trial,
39:17spoke directly
39:18to Brody
39:19at his sentencing.
39:20The last thing
39:21I said to him,
39:22and I made him
39:23look at me,
39:24I called him,
39:25I called his name,
39:26and I'm like,
39:26Brody.
39:27And he finally
39:27looked up at me,
39:28I said,
39:29I do not wish you well,
39:31and I hope I never
39:32have to see your face again.
39:35Brody Murbarger
39:36was sentenced
39:36to 50 years in prison
39:37for the first-degree
39:38murder of Megan Nichols.
39:40His defense attorney
39:41has filed an appeal.
39:45But the sentencing
39:46only closed
39:47one chapter
39:47for Kathy Jo.
39:50Where do I go
39:51from here?
39:51How do I exist
39:52in a world
39:52without my daughter?
39:53I need to figure out,
39:55you know,
39:55what God's plan is
39:56for me,
39:56because I know
39:57he has one.
39:57I may be running
39:58from it,
39:59but I know
39:59he has one.
40:01When the trial
40:02was finally over,
40:03the family
40:04had a celebration
40:05of life,
40:06honoring Megan.
40:07It was difficult
40:08for me,
40:09but at the same time,
40:10that was the only
40:12thing in all this time
40:13that was focused
40:15about Megan,
40:16about her life,
40:17and was positive.
40:19You know,
40:20I would want people
40:21to remember Megan
40:23for her personality,
40:25the warmth
40:26that you felt
40:27when you were with her,
40:28the smile
40:29that she would give,
40:30this aura of joy
40:31that you could feel
40:32around her.
40:33That must have
40:34brought you comfort,
40:35knowing how much
40:36Megan was loved.
40:37Yes, it did.
40:39And she touched
40:40a lot of people
40:41and not only
40:42in her life,
40:43but her story
40:44has touched
40:44a lot of people
40:45since then.
40:51That's all
40:51for this edition
40:52of Dateline.
40:53We'll see you again
40:54Friday at 9, 8 central.
40:56And of course,
40:57I'll see you each
40:57weeknight for NBC
40:58Nightly News.
41:00I'm Lester Holt.
41:01For all of us
41:02at NBC News,
41:03good night.
41:11I'm Lester Holt.
41:11I'm Lester Holt.
41:12I love you.
41:12Let's see you again.
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