[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]