1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,380 [TENSE MUSIC] 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,210 [BALL CLATTERS] 3 00:00:11,110 --> 00:00:14,590 Christie and I, we were young, we were happy, 4 00:00:14,590 --> 00:00:17,560 we were enjoying our lives. 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,470 I never really thought anything like this would 6 00:00:20,470 --> 00:00:22,990 have happened to Christie. 7 00:00:22,990 --> 00:00:26,360 Your best friend is missing? 8 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:27,580 How could she be missing? 9 00:00:27,580 --> 00:00:30,970 [TENSE MUSIC] 10 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,070 We were just gamblers at the casino, 11 00:00:37,070 --> 00:00:39,600 having a good time with other people. 12 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,580 The last we know is we see her walking out of Thunder Valley 13 00:00:43,580 --> 00:00:47,690 Casino at 1:13 in the morning on October 5, with a man 14 00:00:47,690 --> 00:00:49,130 by the name of Mario Garcia. 15 00:00:49,130 --> 00:00:51,580 And then she was never seen nor heard from again. 16 00:00:55,660 --> 00:00:59,130 Do you remember the first time that you 17 00:00:59,130 --> 00:01:02,910 saw the video of Christie walking out with him? 18 00:01:02,910 --> 00:01:04,950 I absolutely remember that. 19 00:01:04,950 --> 00:01:05,910 She moved away. 20 00:01:05,910 --> 00:01:07,020 She moved away from him. 21 00:01:07,020 --> 00:01:07,560 Look at that. 22 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,360 Yeah, I still remember her arm going 23 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,220 like this, saying, get off me. 24 00:01:11,220 --> 00:01:13,860 Now surveillance cameras have captured her leaving the casino 25 00:01:13,860 --> 00:01:14,850 with an older man. 26 00:01:14,850 --> 00:01:17,880 Her family is understandably frantic, and her parents, 27 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:18,850 Pat and Debbie Boyd-- 28 00:01:18,850 --> 00:01:22,860 Debbie and Pat have been beacons of hope in this situation. 29 00:01:22,860 --> 00:01:25,770 They have endured the unimaginable, of not knowing 30 00:01:25,770 --> 00:01:28,580 where your daughter is. 31 00:01:28,580 --> 00:01:31,850 Debbie turned that pain into passion. 32 00:01:31,850 --> 00:01:33,750 [DRAMATIC MUSIC] 33 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:36,590 I want my daughter back and I want her back now. 34 00:01:36,590 --> 00:01:39,830 I may be 5-foot-1 and blonde, but they've just 35 00:01:39,830 --> 00:01:42,840 met a barracuda, and the fight's on. 36 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,220 I'm just going to ask you straight out, 37 00:01:45,220 --> 00:01:46,920 did you kill Christie Wilson? 38 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:47,610 No. 39 00:01:47,610 --> 00:01:51,600 I had nothing to do with her disappearance. 40 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:52,230 All rise. 41 00:01:52,230 --> 00:01:53,850 I think he thought he was going to beat 42 00:01:53,850 --> 00:01:55,200 the case the entire time. 43 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,660 He figured no body, less evidence. 44 00:01:57,660 --> 00:01:59,310 I can walk away from this. 45 00:01:59,310 --> 00:02:01,230 He never thought he was going to be convicted. 46 00:02:01,230 --> 00:02:02,370 Guilty of a violation-- 47 00:02:02,370 --> 00:02:03,600 Yes! 48 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,630 And when he was convicted and went to prison, 49 00:02:06,630 --> 00:02:08,490 he still had a piece of information, 50 00:02:08,490 --> 00:02:11,610 and everyone wanted it, and he knew it. 51 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,510 [SOMBER MUSIC] 52 00:02:17,510 --> 00:02:19,270 Was she in an ocean? 53 00:02:19,270 --> 00:02:21,490 [WAVES CRASHING] 54 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,060 Was she in a ditch? 55 00:02:27,830 --> 00:02:31,520 For 15 years, I never went to bed without wondering, 56 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,080 where is she? 57 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,790 Where did Mario Garcia put her? 58 00:02:36,790 --> 00:02:38,440 And we have some campgrounds here. 59 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,470 You'll have campgrounds on the other side, too. 60 00:02:41,470 --> 00:02:43,150 What happened to her, Mario? 61 00:02:43,150 --> 00:02:46,540 How could she simply disappear after she was with you? 62 00:02:46,540 --> 00:02:49,740 I don't have answers for that. 63 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:51,550 It really hurts our feet. 64 00:02:51,550 --> 00:02:53,490 [HELICOPTER WHIRRING] 65 00:02:53,490 --> 00:02:56,190 How long have you been looking for Christie Wilson? 66 00:02:56,190 --> 00:02:59,700 Since October of 2005, we pretty much 67 00:02:59,700 --> 00:03:02,250 have been continuing to look for her. 68 00:03:02,250 --> 00:03:06,030 Even after they knew she wasn't coming back alive, 69 00:03:06,030 --> 00:03:07,650 they kept looking. 70 00:03:07,650 --> 00:03:12,410 Even after Mr. Garcia was convicted, they kept looking. 71 00:03:12,410 --> 00:03:14,450 It was important to finally close 72 00:03:14,450 --> 00:03:17,210 the case and work on remembering Christie 73 00:03:17,210 --> 00:03:20,840 for the beautiful person she was, and not a case. 74 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,970 We needed to take the mystery out 75 00:03:22,970 --> 00:03:25,280 of this for Debbie and her family. 76 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,470 We wanted to find her to show Mario, you're not going to win. 77 00:03:28,470 --> 00:03:29,890 You're not winning this, and we're 78 00:03:29,890 --> 00:03:32,020 going to find her and bring her home to the family. 79 00:03:35,350 --> 00:03:38,850 [THEME MUSIC] 80 00:04:08,290 --> 00:04:11,780 [TENSE MUSIC] 81 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,760 [SOMBER MUSIC] 82 00:04:27,290 --> 00:04:30,500 Christie and I were definitely soul sisters, for sure. 83 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:36,320 We grew up together in school and just loved pretty much 84 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:37,850 doing everything together. 85 00:04:37,850 --> 00:04:41,300 Tiffany DeVries says her best friend, Christie Wilson, 86 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:44,660 just had a knack for making her laugh. 87 00:04:44,660 --> 00:04:46,450 [CHATTER] 88 00:04:46,450 --> 00:04:51,240 I picture her in our front room just dancing and laughing 89 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:52,980 and having so much fun. 90 00:04:52,980 --> 00:04:57,720 I could be having the worst day, and she would always 91 00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,060 be there for me. 92 00:05:01,790 --> 00:05:03,860 We always knew that no matter what, 93 00:05:03,860 --> 00:05:05,680 we were there for each other. 94 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:12,720 But Tiffany was not with Christie in the early morning 95 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,720 hours of October 5, 2005. 96 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,380 That's when a surveillance camera in a California casino 97 00:05:19,380 --> 00:05:22,290 captured Christie walking into a parking lot 98 00:05:22,290 --> 00:05:25,380 with a man she met that night. 99 00:05:25,380 --> 00:05:28,440 That was really scary, because we didn't know where she was 100 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,200 or if she could be alive. 101 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,240 Christie was then only 27 years old. 102 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,060 Her mother, Debbie Boyd, can hardly 103 00:05:36,060 --> 00:05:39,240 believe how much time has passed. 104 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,070 You know, I try not to think of it too much, 105 00:05:41,070 --> 00:05:44,820 because it actually takes me to a very sad place. 106 00:05:44,820 --> 00:05:46,890 Since the moment Christie vanished, 107 00:05:46,890 --> 00:05:49,140 Debbie vowed not to rest until she 108 00:05:49,140 --> 00:05:52,530 knew what Christie's killer had done with her body. 109 00:05:52,530 --> 00:05:54,240 I'm her mother forever. 110 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,340 And I was not going to give up. 111 00:05:56,340 --> 00:05:58,170 Please help us. 112 00:05:58,170 --> 00:06:00,870 48 Hours has been covering the Christie Wilson 113 00:06:00,870 --> 00:06:03,600 case since 2006. 114 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,930 Christie and Mario come out here. 115 00:06:06,930 --> 00:06:09,380 It began like so many of these stories 116 00:06:09,380 --> 00:06:12,950 do, with a concerned boyfriend telling authorities 117 00:06:12,950 --> 00:06:15,660 that his girlfriend had gone missing. 118 00:06:15,660 --> 00:06:16,160 I loved her. 119 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,410 And I know she loved me, and we cared about each other 120 00:06:18,410 --> 00:06:20,170 very much. 121 00:06:20,170 --> 00:06:23,470 On the evening of October 4, 2005, 122 00:06:23,470 --> 00:06:25,930 Christie's boyfriend Danny Burlando 123 00:06:25,930 --> 00:06:28,600 says she went to the Thunder Valley Casino 124 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,850 to play blackjack. 125 00:06:30,850 --> 00:06:33,940 Did it surprise you to hear she had been at a casino 126 00:06:33,940 --> 00:06:34,660 that night? 127 00:06:34,660 --> 00:06:36,310 You know, it didn't. 128 00:06:36,310 --> 00:06:39,280 Because recently, she had been telling me 129 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,560 she'd been playing some blackjack. 130 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,120 Back in 2005, Tiffany DeVries was a young newlywed. 131 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,420 She's thought about why Christie left the casino that night 132 00:06:50,420 --> 00:06:53,810 with a stranger, and she has a theory. 133 00:06:53,810 --> 00:06:57,140 But sometimes I think, well, what if, you know, 134 00:06:57,140 --> 00:06:59,810 someone put something in her drink? 135 00:06:59,810 --> 00:07:03,440 Debbie was aware her daughter had begun gambling, 136 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,430 partly because she was between jobs and low on money. 137 00:07:07,430 --> 00:07:12,120 Her boyfriend Danny felt Christie was gambling too much. 138 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,120 What's the last time you actually talked to her? 139 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:16,910 At 10:28 PM, Tuesday, October 4. 140 00:07:16,910 --> 00:07:19,950 We had a 55-second conversation. 141 00:07:19,950 --> 00:07:24,950 This is the actual casino video of Christie taking that call. 142 00:07:24,950 --> 00:07:25,950 I told her to come home. 143 00:07:25,950 --> 00:07:28,260 And she was like, OK, I'm finishing up. 144 00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:29,890 I'll be home soon. 145 00:07:29,890 --> 00:07:33,850 But when Danny awoke, there was no sign of Christie. 146 00:07:33,850 --> 00:07:37,020 He began leaving dozens of desperate messages 147 00:07:37,020 --> 00:07:39,300 on Christie's cell phone. 148 00:07:39,300 --> 00:07:40,830 A quarter after 10:00 on Wednesday. 149 00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:44,280 It's now been 24 hours since I talked to you last, 150 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,130 and I'm worried sick about you. 151 00:07:47,130 --> 00:07:47,980 Please call me. 152 00:07:47,980 --> 00:07:49,530 If you're OK, call me. 153 00:07:49,530 --> 00:07:50,730 If you're not OK, call me. 154 00:07:50,730 --> 00:07:53,010 Let me know what's going on. 155 00:07:53,010 --> 00:07:55,590 Danny filed a missing persons report. 156 00:07:55,590 --> 00:07:59,160 Investigator Don Murchison interviewed Burlando back 157 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,880 in 2005, and says Danny was very cooperative. 158 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,420 Anything that I wanted from him when I was at that residence, 159 00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:08,460 he allowed me to have. 160 00:08:08,460 --> 00:08:12,480 Murchison says investigators soon found their prime suspect 161 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,030 when that casino video surfaced. 162 00:08:15,030 --> 00:08:18,570 They were able to track down a 53-year-old man named 163 00:08:18,570 --> 00:08:22,540 Mario Garcia by his player's casino card. 164 00:08:22,540 --> 00:08:27,610 Sheriff's deputies arrested and held him on a weapons charge. 165 00:08:27,610 --> 00:08:30,910 Christie Wilson came and sat on my left, 166 00:08:30,910 --> 00:08:33,280 between me and another individual. 167 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:38,350 In 2006, Mario Garcia told 48 Hours what he says 168 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:42,100 happened in the hours before Christie disappeared. 169 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:44,440 We were at that table for a period of time, 170 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,630 until that table got hot. 171 00:08:46,630 --> 00:08:49,870 She asked me, hey, you want to go with me to another table? 172 00:08:49,870 --> 00:08:52,090 And I said, sure. 173 00:08:52,090 --> 00:08:56,290 Their night of gambling ended just past 1:00 AM, Wednesday, 174 00:08:56,290 --> 00:08:57,610 October 5. 175 00:08:57,610 --> 00:09:01,120 Garcia claimed that he and Christie walked to his car 176 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,180 and then went their separate ways. 177 00:09:04,180 --> 00:09:06,790 And he suggested that Christie may have 178 00:09:06,790 --> 00:09:09,370 met someone in the parking lot. 179 00:09:09,370 --> 00:09:11,500 But wouldn't that be seen on camera? 180 00:09:11,500 --> 00:09:14,680 Well, they don't see that she got in my car, do they? 181 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,340 [TENSE MUSIC] 182 00:09:17,340 --> 00:09:20,520 They don't see where she went, correct? 183 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,120 Some 3 minutes and 41 seconds later, 184 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,300 Garcia's car reappears on the cameras, 185 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:32,040 and it looks as though he's the only one inside. 186 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,950 She hasn't called any family, any friends. 187 00:09:34,950 --> 00:09:35,850 All the way up here. 188 00:09:35,850 --> 00:09:38,430 Investigations Commander George Malim 189 00:09:38,430 --> 00:09:41,250 helped coordinate a massive search for Christie 190 00:09:41,250 --> 00:09:45,300 through the rugged and varied terrain of Placer County. 191 00:09:45,300 --> 00:09:48,450 We utilized search and rescue people and their vehicles, 192 00:09:48,450 --> 00:09:53,010 and they drove every road that they could, every driveway, 193 00:09:53,010 --> 00:09:56,280 looked in every culvert, and still nothing was found. 194 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,610 Among the searchers was Christie's heartbroken older 195 00:09:59,610 --> 00:10:01,800 sister, Stacie. 196 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,110 You want to hear details, but you don't. 197 00:10:04,110 --> 00:10:07,020 It's just, I get this image in my head of, god, 198 00:10:07,020 --> 00:10:09,060 what she must have been going through, and-- 199 00:10:09,060 --> 00:10:10,320 [SNIFFLES] 200 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,200 The physical searches turned up nothing. 201 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,560 But then investigators began looking 202 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:22,620 into Mario Garcia's past, and what they found was chilling. 203 00:10:22,620 --> 00:10:24,960 You don't cross Mario. 204 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,020 You don't cross him, especially if you're a woman 205 00:10:28,020 --> 00:10:30,450 and you're alone. 206 00:10:30,450 --> 00:10:32,230 You don't cross him. 207 00:10:32,230 --> 00:10:35,650 [OMINOUS MUSIC] 208 00:10:35,650 --> 00:10:37,610 [CHIPS CLATTERING] 209 00:10:40,540 --> 00:10:43,970 [STATIC] 210 00:10:43,970 --> 00:10:47,390 [TENSE MUSIC] 211 00:10:48,370 --> 00:10:51,450 Even though Mario Garcia was the last person seen 212 00:10:51,450 --> 00:10:54,540 with Christie Wilson, to some he appeared 213 00:10:54,540 --> 00:10:57,060 an unlikely murder suspect. 214 00:10:57,060 --> 00:11:00,300 He was a project manager for a local hospital, 215 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:03,180 married with two teenage boys. 216 00:11:03,180 --> 00:11:08,190 I am, and I have been, happily married. 217 00:11:08,190 --> 00:11:10,070 Your husband is your destiny. 218 00:11:13,050 --> 00:11:14,970 And with him, I have that feeling. 219 00:11:14,970 --> 00:11:19,010 I just have that connection. 220 00:11:19,010 --> 00:11:22,100 Garcia's wife Jean defended him. 221 00:11:22,100 --> 00:11:23,930 He is a family man. 222 00:11:23,930 --> 00:11:28,880 If he is not working, we will take the kids for sports. 223 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:33,680 And his son Kris, then 19, said he's a great dad. 224 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:35,300 He was always there for us. 225 00:11:35,300 --> 00:11:38,570 He'd always come home, make sure we all sit at the table. 226 00:11:38,570 --> 00:11:40,700 We're just a good family. 227 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:44,450 The family lived in a house on five beautiful acres in Auburn, 228 00:11:44,450 --> 00:11:45,590 California-- 229 00:11:45,590 --> 00:11:47,000 gold country. 230 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,270 With Mario, I always feel good about him. 231 00:11:50,270 --> 00:11:54,620 But investigators were not about to take Jean's word for it. 232 00:11:54,620 --> 00:11:57,140 Four days after Christie disappeared, 233 00:11:57,140 --> 00:11:59,810 they went to Garcia's home to question him 234 00:11:59,810 --> 00:12:02,300 and ran a criminal background check. 235 00:12:02,300 --> 00:12:05,150 And that's how they found Wendy Ward, 236 00:12:05,150 --> 00:12:07,850 a woman from Garcia's past. 237 00:12:07,850 --> 00:12:10,070 When I first met him, I found him 238 00:12:10,070 --> 00:12:17,600 to be very intelligent, very articulate, very warm. 239 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:23,490 Wendy Ward met Garcia in 1978 near Oakland, when she was 26 240 00:12:23,490 --> 00:12:27,780 and he was 27, and they began dating. 241 00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:30,450 I would say a very supportive person. 242 00:12:30,450 --> 00:12:32,910 It felt like he cared a lot. 243 00:12:32,910 --> 00:12:35,760 But Wendy says he also had a temper, 244 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,430 and he reached a boiling point after she 245 00:12:38,430 --> 00:12:40,230 ended the relationship. 246 00:12:40,230 --> 00:12:45,330 He grabbed her one night and drove off with her in his van. 247 00:12:45,330 --> 00:12:48,180 He was holding my neck, or he was holding my head. 248 00:12:48,180 --> 00:12:51,090 And he says, if you do anything, you do anything, 249 00:12:51,090 --> 00:12:54,120 I will take your head and I will smash it. 250 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,210 I think he said to me, take off your clothes, or something 251 00:12:57,210 --> 00:12:57,910 like that. 252 00:12:57,910 --> 00:13:00,060 And I said, no. 253 00:13:00,060 --> 00:13:05,010 I just was clawing, scratching, whatever I could do. 254 00:13:05,010 --> 00:13:07,440 Then he started to choke me. 255 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,480 I couldn't breathe. 256 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:10,590 I couldn't breathe. 257 00:13:10,590 --> 00:13:12,160 Did you think you were going to die? 258 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:12,780 I did. 259 00:13:12,780 --> 00:13:16,030 I really did. 260 00:13:16,030 --> 00:13:20,080 She says he raped her, and then took her back to his apartment. 261 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:22,300 He pulled a gun out of his cabinet, 262 00:13:22,300 --> 00:13:25,040 and he held it to my head. 263 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:26,470 And he pulled the trigger. 264 00:13:26,470 --> 00:13:28,820 He says, well, it wasn't loaded this time. 265 00:13:28,820 --> 00:13:33,010 But basically, I can come and get you any time I want. 266 00:13:33,010 --> 00:13:36,910 Wendy says he raped her again, and then he 267 00:13:36,910 --> 00:13:39,190 casually made himself a sandwich, 268 00:13:39,190 --> 00:13:42,310 ate it, and drove her home. 269 00:13:42,310 --> 00:13:46,480 I'm surprised that I actually am alive. 270 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,930 I'm very lucky. 271 00:13:48,930 --> 00:13:52,740 Wendy immediately went to the hospital and police arrested 272 00:13:52,740 --> 00:13:56,790 Garcia, but the court case stalled for two years 273 00:13:56,790 --> 00:14:00,430 before prosecutors offered him a deal. 274 00:14:00,430 --> 00:14:03,870 I figured it's better than nothing, and let's do this, 275 00:14:03,870 --> 00:14:05,940 and then let's move on. 276 00:14:05,940 --> 00:14:09,450 Garcia agreed to plead guilty to one count of assault 277 00:14:09,450 --> 00:14:11,940 with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced 278 00:14:11,940 --> 00:14:14,280 to 18 months probation. 279 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,760 Believe it or not, Garcia says he's 280 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:20,400 the one who was railroaded. 281 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,110 She made allegations that were not true. 282 00:14:23,110 --> 00:14:24,780 There was a gun involved, wasn't there? 283 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:26,400 There was no gun involved. 284 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:28,720 You pled guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, 285 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:29,970 and there was no gun involved? 286 00:14:29,970 --> 00:14:31,620 You just offered to plead guilty? 287 00:14:31,620 --> 00:14:32,580 I possessed guns. 288 00:14:32,580 --> 00:14:33,690 I possessed guns. 289 00:14:33,690 --> 00:14:36,370 But there was no-- 290 00:14:36,370 --> 00:14:38,560 we had a stormy relationship. 291 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,590 When you say stormy relationship, did you hit her? 292 00:14:41,590 --> 00:14:43,560 No, I did not. 293 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:47,820 Wendy never forgot about Garcia, but she moved on. 294 00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:51,900 Until October 2005, not long after Christie 295 00:14:51,900 --> 00:14:54,330 went missing, when she was tracked down 296 00:14:54,330 --> 00:14:56,160 by Detective Murchison. 297 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,980 And when you heard that Christie Wilson disappeared, 298 00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:01,170 and the last person to see her alive 299 00:15:01,170 --> 00:15:05,970 was Mario Garcia, what was your reaction? 300 00:15:05,970 --> 00:15:08,210 I felt sick to my stomach. 301 00:15:08,210 --> 00:15:11,180 Wendy told Murchison what happened with Garcia, 302 00:15:11,180 --> 00:15:14,270 and she said there was something else about Garcia 303 00:15:14,270 --> 00:15:16,160 they needed to know. 304 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,490 I felt after my own incident with him, 305 00:15:19,490 --> 00:15:22,820 that he could very easily do this again with someone else. 306 00:15:25,730 --> 00:15:29,090 It wasn't long before something terrible involving 307 00:15:29,090 --> 00:15:31,340 Mario Garcia happened again. 308 00:15:34,270 --> 00:15:38,040 My younger sister and I were pals. 309 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:38,710 We were friends. 310 00:15:38,710 --> 00:15:40,790 She was a lot of fun to be around. 311 00:15:40,790 --> 00:15:43,060 She was very outgoing. 312 00:15:43,060 --> 00:15:47,170 Tom Davis's sister Lynette dated Mario Garcia after Wendy 313 00:15:47,170 --> 00:15:49,060 in 1979. 314 00:15:49,060 --> 00:15:51,910 It too was a volatile relationship, 315 00:15:51,910 --> 00:15:54,310 and Garcia was upset with Lynette 316 00:15:54,310 --> 00:15:57,950 because she ended a pregnancy with his child. 317 00:15:57,950 --> 00:16:00,530 But the couple still celebrated Christmas 318 00:16:00,530 --> 00:16:02,750 with Lynette's mother. 319 00:16:02,750 --> 00:16:06,950 After dinner, the three of them got into Lynette's car. 320 00:16:06,950 --> 00:16:10,550 The streets were dry, weather was clear. 321 00:16:10,550 --> 00:16:15,200 Retired officer John Cave was the chief accident investigator 322 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,160 for the Oakland Police Department. 323 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,170 That Christmas night, he got a call 324 00:16:20,170 --> 00:16:25,090 that a car had plunged into the water near the Oakland airport. 325 00:16:25,090 --> 00:16:26,890 The witnesses said the car pulled over 326 00:16:26,890 --> 00:16:28,780 to the right shoulder. 327 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:29,860 They drove by. 328 00:16:29,860 --> 00:16:31,060 The car accelerated. 329 00:16:31,060 --> 00:16:32,560 [ENGINE ROARS] 330 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,680 And there was a ledge into the pier and the car 331 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,550 shot off that ledge, out into the water. 332 00:16:39,550 --> 00:16:42,040 And that's where it sunk. 333 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,520 [SOMBER MUSIC] 334 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,520 [WATER BURBLING] 335 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,510 Garcia was the only survivor. 336 00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:54,010 I panic. 337 00:16:54,010 --> 00:16:56,770 And eventually I took my seat belt, 338 00:16:56,770 --> 00:16:59,110 and I opened one of the windows. 339 00:16:59,110 --> 00:17:03,650 All this rush of water came into the car. 340 00:17:03,650 --> 00:17:08,680 I got out, and everybody else, I presume, got out. 341 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,410 He told police Lynette was driving, 342 00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:14,830 but they couldn't confirm who was behind the wheel. 343 00:17:14,830 --> 00:17:18,160 If in fact Mario Garcia was the driver, 344 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:21,340 and he intended to kill Lynette and her mother, I mean, 345 00:17:21,340 --> 00:17:24,490 it's not a very efficient way to get rid of somebody, is it? 346 00:17:24,490 --> 00:17:25,660 It worked, didn't it? 347 00:17:25,660 --> 00:17:30,070 And if he was the driver, he got away with it. 348 00:17:30,070 --> 00:17:32,740 Cave wanted to question Garcia further, 349 00:17:32,740 --> 00:17:36,340 but Garcia got a lawyer the next day. 350 00:17:36,340 --> 00:17:38,680 Why, if it was just a simple accident, 351 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:40,360 would you not talk to the police, 352 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:43,120 and would you hire a criminal lawyer? 353 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:45,500 It's the thing to do. 354 00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:49,420 It's the legal right of every citizen of the United States, 355 00:17:49,420 --> 00:17:52,180 and my attorney advised me not to talk to them. 356 00:17:52,180 --> 00:17:55,430 [GEESE HONKING] 357 00:17:58,220 --> 00:18:01,040 After the accident, a heartbroken Tom 358 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,060 reached out to an old friend from his hometown. 359 00:18:05,060 --> 00:18:08,330 Incredibly, it was Wendy Ward. 360 00:18:08,330 --> 00:18:11,990 As they talked, she asked how his sister was doing. 361 00:18:11,990 --> 00:18:15,200 I said, yeah, she was killed in a car accident, involved 362 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,110 with this guy named Mario Garcia. 363 00:18:18,110 --> 00:18:20,660 Mario Garcia? 364 00:18:20,660 --> 00:18:22,770 It goes beyond disbelief. 365 00:18:22,770 --> 00:18:26,180 She says, I used to date him. 366 00:18:26,180 --> 00:18:27,330 I was involved with him. 367 00:18:27,330 --> 00:18:30,830 I have rape charges against him. 368 00:18:30,830 --> 00:18:33,950 No charges were ever filed against Garcia for Lynette 369 00:18:33,950 --> 00:18:37,670 and her mother's deaths, but Debbie Boyd 370 00:18:37,670 --> 00:18:41,780 had heard all she needed to about Mario Garcia. 371 00:18:41,780 --> 00:18:45,140 You're not fooling anybody, and especially not me. 372 00:18:45,140 --> 00:18:49,340 And I will continue to pursue you and pursue you and pursue 373 00:18:49,340 --> 00:18:49,910 you. 374 00:18:49,910 --> 00:18:53,390 [OMINOUS MUSIC] 375 00:18:57,370 --> 00:19:00,840 [TENSE MUSIC] 376 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:05,320 [RADIO CHATTER] 377 00:19:06,810 --> 00:19:10,620 After three weeks of searching, Placer County authorities 378 00:19:10,620 --> 00:19:14,280 made a tough decision to charge Mario Garcia 379 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,740 with Christie's murder, even though they 380 00:19:16,740 --> 00:19:18,330 hadn't found her body. 381 00:19:18,330 --> 00:19:21,900 Her mother Debbie Boyd worried there wasn't enough evidence. 382 00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:25,350 The thought of him getting off on this case, 383 00:19:25,350 --> 00:19:28,500 once again, scares the living daylights out of me 384 00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:30,660 for every woman. 385 00:19:30,660 --> 00:19:32,790 It was a large case to put together. 386 00:19:32,790 --> 00:19:36,030 Garen Horst, the Placer County deputy district attorney 387 00:19:36,030 --> 00:19:39,210 at the time, had the unenviable task 388 00:19:39,210 --> 00:19:42,780 of prosecuting the county's first no-body murder 389 00:19:42,780 --> 00:19:45,930 trial in September 2006. 390 00:19:45,930 --> 00:19:49,500 So what do you believe happened to Christie Wilson? 391 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:53,130 She went out of the casino with the defendant. 392 00:19:53,130 --> 00:19:55,860 At some point in the vehicle at the casino, 393 00:19:55,860 --> 00:19:57,210 he incapacitated her. 394 00:19:57,210 --> 00:20:00,480 He was probably putting her in the back seat 395 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,910 so that when he drove away, nobody would see. 396 00:20:02,910 --> 00:20:05,640 As far as what he did afterwards, 397 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:07,660 that's anybody's guess. 398 00:20:07,660 --> 00:20:09,070 Was she in your car? 399 00:20:09,070 --> 00:20:11,770 No, she never was inside my car. 400 00:20:11,770 --> 00:20:15,460 At some point in time, she says that she left her cell phone 401 00:20:15,460 --> 00:20:19,090 in the casino, and we embrace. 402 00:20:19,090 --> 00:20:21,880 And that was the end of the conversation. 403 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,750 Investigators did later find Christie's phone in the casino, 404 00:20:25,750 --> 00:20:28,750 but there's no footage of her returning to get it, 405 00:20:28,750 --> 00:20:32,560 and no footage of Christie getting into Mario's car. 406 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,470 But Horst says the evidence proves that Christie 407 00:20:35,470 --> 00:20:37,780 was inside the vehicle. 408 00:20:37,780 --> 00:20:40,390 One of Christie's pulled hairs was found in that trunk. 409 00:20:40,390 --> 00:20:41,890 [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING] 410 00:20:41,890 --> 00:20:45,610 Crime scene investigators also found tiny drops of her blood 411 00:20:45,610 --> 00:20:48,250 on the back seat and the door. 412 00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:51,640 Why is it that the DNA on the door, 413 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:53,590 claimed to be of Christie Wilson, 414 00:20:53,590 --> 00:20:55,750 was the only thing that was found? 415 00:20:55,750 --> 00:20:59,710 Why is it that the DNA from my sons, my wife, and other people 416 00:20:59,710 --> 00:21:01,660 that were in the car were not found? 417 00:21:01,660 --> 00:21:03,950 By your own admission, you cleaned the car. 418 00:21:03,950 --> 00:21:07,700 I cleaned everybody else's DNA except Christie Wilson? 419 00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:09,650 That's the only thing they found. 420 00:21:09,650 --> 00:21:11,360 So how did it get there? 421 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:13,850 What's your reaction when the defense insinuates 422 00:21:13,850 --> 00:21:14,960 that was planted? 423 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:16,640 It greatly angers me. 424 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,420 They couldn't defend what was there, 425 00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:19,840 so they had to say it was planted. 426 00:21:22,020 --> 00:21:24,060 The prosecution says the evidence 427 00:21:24,060 --> 00:21:27,690 that incriminates Garcia is as plain as the scratches 428 00:21:27,690 --> 00:21:32,490 on his face and his body, left by Christie as she 429 00:21:32,490 --> 00:21:33,990 fought for her life. 430 00:21:33,990 --> 00:21:36,150 Did you get the scratches from Christie Wilson? 431 00:21:36,150 --> 00:21:37,920 No, absolutely not. 432 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,040 But the morning after that trip to the casino, 433 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,350 several of Garcia's co-workers say 434 00:21:43,350 --> 00:21:45,960 they saw scratches on Garcia's face, 435 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,330 and he visited the eye doctor. 436 00:21:48,330 --> 00:21:51,750 Those are injuries that I receive through poison oak 437 00:21:51,750 --> 00:21:53,640 and falling from a tree. 438 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,580 Yet Robert Royer, an emergency room doctor 439 00:21:56,580 --> 00:21:59,910 who sat at the same table as Garcia at the casino, 440 00:21:59,910 --> 00:22:02,550 told investigators he could clearly 441 00:22:02,550 --> 00:22:04,630 see Garcia's face that night. 442 00:22:04,630 --> 00:22:07,800 How far is Mario Garcia from you? 443 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,120 2 feet? 444 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:10,140 Less than a meter. 445 00:22:10,140 --> 00:22:12,250 Did he seem to have any injuries on his face? 446 00:22:12,250 --> 00:22:13,500 I didn't see any injuries, no. 447 00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:15,290 And I'm reasonably good at making 448 00:22:15,290 --> 00:22:17,040 those kind of observations, because that's 449 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:18,000 what I do for a living. 450 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,540 Why wouldn't the emergency room doctor see those? 451 00:22:21,540 --> 00:22:26,030 I cannot answer what he saw or didn't see. 452 00:22:26,030 --> 00:22:28,040 And no one can answer why Christie 453 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,200 left the casino with Garcia. 454 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,750 Those who knew her have wondered if he 455 00:22:32,750 --> 00:22:36,050 had put something in her drink, and the prosecutor 456 00:22:36,050 --> 00:22:39,080 presents evidence to support that theory. 457 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,450 A week after Christie disappeared, 458 00:22:41,450 --> 00:22:44,540 Garcia searched online for information 459 00:22:44,540 --> 00:22:47,960 about how authorities test for date rape drugs. 460 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,720 But when Garcia takes the stand, he 461 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,340 insists he's done nothing wrong. 462 00:22:53,340 --> 00:22:56,930 I wanted to tell the court that I 463 00:22:56,930 --> 00:23:01,010 am very sorry that Christie Wilson is missing, 464 00:23:01,010 --> 00:23:03,950 but I don't know where she's at. 465 00:23:03,950 --> 00:23:08,060 The jury doesn't get to hear about Garcia's violent past, 466 00:23:08,060 --> 00:23:12,320 even though he comes face to face with a reminder. 467 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,030 [CRYING] 468 00:23:15,030 --> 00:23:18,870 To show her support, Wendy Ward travels to Sacramento 469 00:23:18,870 --> 00:23:24,000 to meet Debbie and Christie's family for the first time. 470 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:25,810 I couldn't stop hugging her. 471 00:23:25,810 --> 00:23:30,960 I just wanted to hold her and hug her, and all the family. 472 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:32,190 [MURMURING] 473 00:23:34,900 --> 00:23:38,650 They're just going through so much. 474 00:23:38,650 --> 00:23:40,810 Wendy heads to court with the Boyds 475 00:23:40,810 --> 00:23:46,120 for closing arguments, where Garcia's lawyer suggests 476 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,810 that no one even knows if Christie is dead. 477 00:23:49,810 --> 00:23:52,840 Are you saying that Christie Wilson may still be alive? 478 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,880 Do we know if she's dead? 479 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:55,930 All rise. 480 00:23:55,930 --> 00:23:57,220 The jury concluded-- 481 00:23:57,220 --> 00:23:58,690 Would you please hand the verdicts to the bailiff, 482 00:23:58,690 --> 00:23:59,190 please? 483 00:23:59,190 --> 00:24:01,150 --that it did know. 484 00:24:01,150 --> 00:24:03,400 "We, the jury in the above entitled action, 485 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,100 find the defendant, Mario Flavio Garcia, 486 00:24:06,100 --> 00:24:07,470 guilty of a violation--" 487 00:24:07,470 --> 00:24:08,250 Yes! 488 00:24:08,250 --> 00:24:11,560 [TRIUMPHANT MUSIC] 489 00:24:15,340 --> 00:24:17,540 Absolutely, justice has been served. 490 00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:18,630 It's about time. 491 00:24:21,450 --> 00:24:23,170 Now, if he's any kind of a man, he'll 492 00:24:23,170 --> 00:24:25,570 tell us where he disposed of my daughter. 493 00:24:25,570 --> 00:24:28,900 [AMBIENT MUSIC] 494 00:24:29,860 --> 00:24:33,940 At Garcia's sentencing in January 2007, 495 00:24:33,940 --> 00:24:37,210 the Boyds still held out hope that Garcia 496 00:24:37,210 --> 00:24:41,020 would disclose where he left Christie's body in exchange 497 00:24:41,020 --> 00:24:43,030 for a lesser sentence. 498 00:24:43,030 --> 00:24:46,570 I suppose that at this hearing I'm 499 00:24:46,570 --> 00:24:50,320 supposed to ask for mercy, for forgiveness, 500 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,890 and to show remorse. 501 00:24:53,890 --> 00:24:59,380 However, I will not do such thing. 502 00:24:59,380 --> 00:25:02,440 I did not kill Christie Wilson. 503 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:03,490 I am innocent. 504 00:25:03,490 --> 00:25:06,100 [TENSE MUSIC] 505 00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:09,070 Garcia's sentence, 25 years to life, 506 00:25:09,070 --> 00:25:12,220 is doubled because of his assault on Wendy. 507 00:25:12,220 --> 00:25:15,760 When other charges were added, his total sentence 508 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,210 became 59 years to life. 509 00:25:22,820 --> 00:25:24,740 At this point, I don't ever expect 510 00:25:24,740 --> 00:25:27,900 that he'll disclose what he did with Christie. 511 00:25:27,900 --> 00:25:30,290 The truth is out there. 512 00:25:30,290 --> 00:25:34,220 And Mario told me that we have to found Christie, 513 00:25:34,220 --> 00:25:37,190 and that's the only hope he has. 514 00:25:37,190 --> 00:25:40,790 Jean Garcia did not know that her own family 515 00:25:40,790 --> 00:25:43,930 would play a key role in the search for Christie. 516 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:50,260 What do you think happened the night 517 00:25:50,260 --> 00:25:52,480 Christie Wilson disappeared? 518 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,630 See the timeline of her disappearance on Facebook 519 00:25:55,630 --> 00:25:57,560 at 48 Hours. 520 00:26:00,470 --> 00:26:03,860 [GENTLE MUSIC] 521 00:26:07,750 --> 00:26:11,260 Mario Garcia's murder conviction in 2006 522 00:26:11,260 --> 00:26:14,920 was hardly the end of the case for Christie's mother. 523 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,210 Garcia was sent to prison and the years dragged by, 524 00:26:19,210 --> 00:26:22,450 but he refused to say what he did with her body. 525 00:26:22,450 --> 00:26:25,960 It's been the mystery at the center of this case, 526 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,140 and it has gnawed at Deb's soul. 527 00:26:29,140 --> 00:26:31,030 Debbie is forever changed. 528 00:26:31,030 --> 00:26:33,760 Mario Garcia changed that. 529 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:35,310 He changed me. 530 00:26:35,310 --> 00:26:37,890 The loss of her daughter was crushing, 531 00:26:37,890 --> 00:26:39,660 but Debbie knew she couldn't allow 532 00:26:39,660 --> 00:26:42,390 Garcia to control her life. 533 00:26:42,390 --> 00:26:46,080 We made a commitment that he is not going to take our marriage. 534 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,380 He's not going to take the marriages of our children. 535 00:26:49,380 --> 00:26:51,630 He's not going to disrupt our jobs. 536 00:26:51,630 --> 00:26:54,300 We are not giving him any more. 537 00:26:54,300 --> 00:26:59,460 That was not easy, as Garcia filed one appeal after another. 538 00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:01,590 You can't move forward completely 539 00:27:01,590 --> 00:27:03,660 when you have all these appeals. 540 00:27:03,660 --> 00:27:05,790 You know, it's like you move forward five steps, 541 00:27:05,790 --> 00:27:07,560 and then you're back in it again. 542 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,800 Pat Boyd, Christie's stepfather and a former San Jose 543 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,270 detective, knew the stakes were high. 544 00:27:14,270 --> 00:27:17,410 Because it's not like we had a tremendous amount of evidence. 545 00:27:17,410 --> 00:27:19,140 A small amount of evidence being lost, 546 00:27:19,140 --> 00:27:20,490 the case would have been lost. 547 00:27:20,490 --> 00:27:22,380 The concern is always there for the appeals. 548 00:27:22,380 --> 00:27:25,050 But it was not a distraction that it took us away 549 00:27:25,050 --> 00:27:29,730 from our tasks and our mission to try to find Christie. 550 00:27:29,730 --> 00:27:33,480 Nuno Tavares, an investigator for the Placer County District 551 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,660 Attorney's Office, and fellow investigator Don Murchison 552 00:27:37,660 --> 00:27:42,070 had been on the case from the beginning, and never let go. 553 00:27:42,070 --> 00:27:45,370 Why is it so important to the two of you to bring her home? 554 00:27:45,370 --> 00:27:46,720 Because the family needed her. 555 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,240 They needed a place where they could go 556 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,310 and to spend time with her. 557 00:27:52,310 --> 00:27:55,900 We wanted to give Debbie and her family back control. 558 00:27:55,900 --> 00:27:58,420 Up until this point he controlled 559 00:27:58,420 --> 00:28:00,580 the location of Christie's remains, 560 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:02,410 and that didn't sit well with me. 561 00:28:02,410 --> 00:28:04,240 They are incredibly dedicated. 562 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,620 They are very experienced. 563 00:28:05,620 --> 00:28:10,800 Their balance between tough cop and teddy bear 564 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,170 is the appropriate balance. 565 00:28:13,170 --> 00:28:15,900 Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire 566 00:28:15,900 --> 00:28:19,980 gave Nuno and Murch, as Debbie calls them, the green light 567 00:28:19,980 --> 00:28:21,750 to keep looking for Christie. 568 00:28:21,750 --> 00:28:25,320 And they ran with it, going to extraordinary lengths 569 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:30,240 to find her, no matter how dirty the job. 570 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,520 We actually pumped an entire septic tank out. 571 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,910 We pumped out the entire 2,000 gallons of sewage 572 00:28:35,910 --> 00:28:38,670 and went through it by hand. 573 00:28:38,670 --> 00:28:41,250 That is determination. 574 00:28:41,250 --> 00:28:43,980 First of all, good morning and thank you. 575 00:28:43,980 --> 00:28:48,690 All those searches over all those years turned up nothing. 576 00:28:48,690 --> 00:28:53,880 But the investigation entered a new phase in 2017, 577 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:58,440 when Tony Lopez, an anchor for the CBS station in Sacramento, 578 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:00,840 conducted an interview with Debbie. 579 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:06,690 She directed some carefully chosen words to Garcia. 580 00:29:06,690 --> 00:29:12,490 I now view him as a lost soul, and that I often wonder-- 581 00:29:12,490 --> 00:29:16,960 I want him to know that I often wonder how he ever became 582 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,280 the man that he did. 583 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,130 If Mario were to pass away with me 584 00:29:21,130 --> 00:29:25,630 not having had the opportunity to sit and just talk to him, 585 00:29:25,630 --> 00:29:28,090 I know I would forever regret it. 586 00:29:28,090 --> 00:29:30,550 Debbie says Garcia spotted that interview 587 00:29:30,550 --> 00:29:34,600 and began writing letters to her and Placer County officials. 588 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,080 Garcia apologized for what Debbie had gone through, 589 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,600 but did not accept responsibility 590 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,490 for Christie's murder. 591 00:29:43,490 --> 00:29:48,740 I wanted Christie back so bad that I thought, you know what? 592 00:29:48,740 --> 00:29:50,680 Let's see how far this goes. 593 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,400 Deb had struggled with the idea that, you know, what do you 594 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:55,990 negotiate with a man who has been 595 00:29:55,990 --> 00:29:57,970 convicted of the murder of your daughter, who 596 00:29:57,970 --> 00:29:59,380 knows where she is? 597 00:29:59,380 --> 00:30:02,830 But ultimately, Debbie changed her mind. 598 00:30:02,830 --> 00:30:07,390 She could not bring herself to negotiate with Garcia. 599 00:30:07,390 --> 00:30:10,570 I was sitting there thinking, what on Earth 600 00:30:10,570 --> 00:30:12,860 are you doing, Debbie? 601 00:30:12,860 --> 00:30:14,650 Get a grip. 602 00:30:14,650 --> 00:30:19,270 This would be such a disgrace. 603 00:30:19,270 --> 00:30:23,350 He will not use my daughter's body as a bargaining chip. 604 00:30:23,350 --> 00:30:25,090 And we certainly weren't going to agree 605 00:30:25,090 --> 00:30:29,710 to let him out in exchange for the location of her remains. 606 00:30:29,710 --> 00:30:33,760 So really the only option was, find her. 607 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,360 Nuno and Murch reapproach Garcia's family. 608 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,780 Investigators knew Jean Garcia had divorced Mario 609 00:30:40,780 --> 00:30:42,130 after his conviction. 610 00:30:42,130 --> 00:30:46,150 She had reached a point where she no longer believed Garcia. 611 00:30:46,150 --> 00:30:49,900 She said she was very convinced that Mario 612 00:30:49,900 --> 00:30:51,970 had something to do with Christie's disappearance 613 00:30:51,970 --> 00:30:53,150 and murder. 614 00:30:53,150 --> 00:30:56,740 The investigators also reached out to Garcia's sons, Kris 615 00:30:56,740 --> 00:30:59,800 and Andy, and walked them through the four days 616 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:04,160 in October 2005 after Christie went missing, 617 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,140 but before police began questioning Garcia. 618 00:31:08,140 --> 00:31:09,940 What did they see? 619 00:31:09,940 --> 00:31:13,030 How did their father behave? 620 00:31:13,030 --> 00:31:17,590 We went through every day, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 621 00:31:17,590 --> 00:31:19,940 Then he got to Saturday, and that's 622 00:31:19,940 --> 00:31:22,220 where the story got a little bit interesting. 623 00:31:22,220 --> 00:31:25,270 Kris had an important soccer game. 624 00:31:25,270 --> 00:31:29,680 He saw his dad working on a tractor, working frantically, 625 00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,950 and had a crazed look in his eye as he was 626 00:31:32,950 --> 00:31:34,780 working around the property. 627 00:31:34,780 --> 00:31:38,050 And he told Kris, I'm not going. 628 00:31:38,050 --> 00:31:42,040 And it was a very firm, I'm not going. 629 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,340 Kris found that out of character for Mario. 630 00:31:45,340 --> 00:31:48,160 The investigators asked Kris to accompany them 631 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,550 back to his childhood home, which the family lost 632 00:31:51,550 --> 00:31:54,820 in 2007, to pinpoint the spot where 633 00:31:54,820 --> 00:31:58,060 he had seen his father working on the tractor. 634 00:31:58,060 --> 00:32:01,480 He said, it was right next to our detached garage, 635 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,070 right along the road. 636 00:32:03,070 --> 00:32:07,510 It was barely 100 yards from the Garcia house. 637 00:32:07,510 --> 00:32:10,870 But if he had been digging in that very spot with a tractor 638 00:32:10,870 --> 00:32:14,620 just days before deputies searched the property, why 639 00:32:14,620 --> 00:32:16,690 hadn't anyone noticed? 640 00:32:16,690 --> 00:32:19,330 It wasn't just a small area where he had landscaped. 641 00:32:19,330 --> 00:32:21,710 There was landscaping all over the property. 642 00:32:21,710 --> 00:32:23,080 You got to remember, he has time. 643 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:28,340 Mario has four or five days to really, really do this right. 644 00:32:28,340 --> 00:32:32,150 Mario did an extremely good job of making the terrain 645 00:32:32,150 --> 00:32:34,610 look like it just fit the area. 646 00:32:34,610 --> 00:32:38,120 And Nuno and Murch also knew that cadaver dogs 647 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:43,280 had roamed the property back in 2005, and had found nothing. 648 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,460 Cadaver dogs are a tool like any other tool that we use. 649 00:32:46,460 --> 00:32:49,580 Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. 650 00:32:49,580 --> 00:32:52,700 A year passed, and in August 2020, 651 00:32:52,700 --> 00:32:56,600 investigators decided they would take another look. 652 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,280 This time, they brought with them 653 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,880 a company that specialized in ground-penetrating radar, 654 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:03,320 or GPR. 655 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,560 Nearly the entire five acres were scanned, 656 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,740 and technicians pinpointed eight spots 657 00:33:09,740 --> 00:33:15,760 where there were voids or pockets beneath the surface. 658 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:19,410 The first two holes produced nothing. 659 00:33:19,410 --> 00:33:20,910 You've struck out twice. 660 00:33:20,910 --> 00:33:22,560 We've been going for a long time. 661 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,690 Three is now my favorite hole. 662 00:33:25,690 --> 00:33:27,480 It's my favorite hole, because that's where 663 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,070 Mario was working that day. 664 00:33:29,070 --> 00:33:31,560 And how far did you go? 665 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:33,660 We started pulling back about 25 feet, 666 00:33:33,660 --> 00:33:36,780 pulling just a couple of inches at a time. 667 00:33:36,780 --> 00:33:41,340 Went about 18 feet wide, and out of the corner of my peripheral, 668 00:33:41,340 --> 00:33:43,280 I see a bone popping up out of the ground. 669 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:44,330 [DRAMATIC MUSIC] 670 00:33:44,330 --> 00:33:46,620 I was a little bit short of breath, I'll tell you that. 671 00:33:46,620 --> 00:33:47,850 The blood was rushing. 672 00:33:47,850 --> 00:33:51,030 And we stopped everything, we froze everything. 673 00:33:51,030 --> 00:33:53,760 It was the moment of truth. 674 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,270 Had Nuno and Murch found Christie Wilson? 675 00:33:57,270 --> 00:34:00,750 [TENSE MUSIC] 676 00:34:07,710 --> 00:34:10,690 [SOMBER MUSIC] 677 00:34:11,690 --> 00:34:14,990 Buried on what was once Mario Garcia's property, 678 00:34:14,990 --> 00:34:18,830 Nuno and Murch had found what looked like a human bone, 679 00:34:18,830 --> 00:34:20,930 but they needed confirmation. 680 00:34:20,930 --> 00:34:24,350 So they called in archaeologist Cindy Arrington. 681 00:34:24,350 --> 00:34:27,710 She immediately told them the bone was human, 682 00:34:27,710 --> 00:34:30,210 but the detectives weren't convinced. 683 00:34:30,210 --> 00:34:31,670 He's like, you're not close enough. 684 00:34:31,670 --> 00:34:32,990 I said, oh, yes, I am. 685 00:34:32,990 --> 00:34:34,910 [CHUCKLES] And he said, get closer. 686 00:34:34,910 --> 00:34:37,160 So they had me get down in the trench to really double 687 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:38,240 check, triple check. 688 00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:40,670 OK, yes, it's human. 689 00:34:40,670 --> 00:34:43,610 Human, but was it Christie's? 690 00:34:43,610 --> 00:34:46,700 More identification work needed to be done. 691 00:34:46,700 --> 00:34:52,250 But finding any human bones on Garcia's property was big news, 692 00:34:52,250 --> 00:34:56,210 and they immediately shared it with the sheriff and the DA. 693 00:34:56,210 --> 00:34:58,730 They came to the conclusion that we 694 00:34:58,730 --> 00:35:02,240 need to get this news to Debbie quickly. 695 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:05,870 And they knew how they needed to get it to her. 696 00:35:05,870 --> 00:35:08,660 For years, Debbie and Wendy Ward have 697 00:35:08,660 --> 00:35:10,550 helped the detectives teach a class 698 00:35:10,550 --> 00:35:12,690 for homicide investigators. 699 00:35:12,690 --> 00:35:16,380 And just two months earlier, someone in the class 700 00:35:16,380 --> 00:35:20,580 asked Debbie a question no one had ever asked before. 701 00:35:20,580 --> 00:35:24,360 Mrs. Boyd, if your daughter was ever recovered, 702 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:25,810 how would you want to be notified? 703 00:35:28,460 --> 00:35:34,310 And I just said, please don't ever just call me on the phone. 704 00:35:34,310 --> 00:35:38,030 Nuno and Murch flew to Scottsdale, Arizona. 705 00:35:38,030 --> 00:35:41,660 It was nearly midnight when the Boyds' doorbell rang. 706 00:35:41,660 --> 00:35:43,970 Debbie was asleep on the couch. 707 00:35:43,970 --> 00:35:46,040 Pat answered the door. 708 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,080 He opened up the door, and he looked at us, 709 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:49,850 and he got a big smile on his face. 710 00:35:49,850 --> 00:35:52,440 And he said, hi, guys, how's it going? 711 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,500 And then you could see him pause, 712 00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:56,720 and you could see things starting to click, 713 00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:57,740 the gears in his head. 714 00:35:57,740 --> 00:36:02,000 And I got up, and I just was in a fog, and I looked at them. 715 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,770 And they said, Debbie, it's Murch, it's Nuno. 716 00:36:05,770 --> 00:36:07,520 And I said, what are you doing here? 717 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:09,380 So that's when we told her that we 718 00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:12,500 had found human remains on Mario's property 719 00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:14,930 that we believed were Christie's, but we couldn't 720 00:36:14,930 --> 00:36:16,370 confirm that. 721 00:36:16,370 --> 00:36:19,760 [TENSE MUSIC] 722 00:36:21,220 --> 00:36:23,620 I remember her that night saying, 723 00:36:23,620 --> 00:36:26,980 is it OK to be happy or joyful? 724 00:36:26,980 --> 00:36:29,920 She kept looking around going, is that OK? 725 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,590 We didn't know whether we should open a bottle of champagne, 726 00:36:32,590 --> 00:36:36,310 what-- there was just a lot of hugs, some quietness, sometimes 727 00:36:36,310 --> 00:36:39,820 just sitting there letting it sink in. 728 00:36:39,820 --> 00:36:43,420 Debbie made plans to fly to California to tell her daughter 729 00:36:43,420 --> 00:36:47,290 Stacie, and before she left for the airport the next morning, 730 00:36:47,290 --> 00:36:50,530 Nuno and Murch heard that their team had found 731 00:36:50,530 --> 00:36:52,840 nearly an entire skeleton. 732 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,730 And it was definite-- the bones were Christie's. 733 00:36:56,730 --> 00:36:59,290 [OMINOUS MUSIC] 734 00:36:59,290 --> 00:37:01,390 Detectives say they've found the remains of-- 735 00:37:01,390 --> 00:37:02,680 Last seen in 2005 in the parking lot-- 736 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:04,270 Wilson's killer is already in custody, 737 00:37:04,270 --> 00:37:06,350 serving more than 50 years for her murder. 738 00:37:06,350 --> 00:37:07,230 It was the first-- 739 00:37:07,230 --> 00:37:10,250 [SOMBER MUSIC] 740 00:37:10,250 --> 00:37:13,550 Days later, Debbie shared the news with the world, 741 00:37:13,550 --> 00:37:17,150 and made sure to thank Nuno and Murch. 742 00:37:17,150 --> 00:37:23,000 Today is a day that absolutely reflects some of the greatest 743 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,760 level of perseverance and police work 744 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,370 that a victim's family could ever ask for. 745 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:32,710 They brought two people home. 746 00:37:32,710 --> 00:37:34,300 They brought my daughter home. 747 00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:37,670 [MELANCHOLY MUSIC] 748 00:37:37,670 --> 00:37:40,490 They brought my wife home. 749 00:37:40,490 --> 00:37:42,950 You feel that you got Deb back? 750 00:37:42,950 --> 00:37:44,320 Yep. 751 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:45,110 Tell me about that. 752 00:37:45,110 --> 00:37:49,410 She can think of more than just, where is Christie? 753 00:37:49,410 --> 00:37:52,170 Kris and Jean didn't want to speak publicly, 754 00:37:52,170 --> 00:37:55,530 but they're grateful to have closure for Christie's family, 755 00:37:55,530 --> 00:37:56,630 and their own. 756 00:37:59,470 --> 00:38:02,680 Kris, Andy, Jean, they didn't ask 757 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,850 to have a dad and a husband who was a murderer, who 758 00:38:06,850 --> 00:38:09,880 buried his victim on their property, 759 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,800 where they lived and played. 760 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,020 They didn't ask for that. 761 00:38:14,020 --> 00:38:16,210 And then there were the other victims 762 00:38:16,210 --> 00:38:20,230 of Mario Garcia who were hit hard by Christie's murder, 763 00:38:20,230 --> 00:38:23,640 like Danny Burlando, her boyfriend at the time. 764 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,060 Didn't realize how much had really 765 00:38:25,060 --> 00:38:28,360 been bottled up for 15 years. 766 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,630 I think I may have been judged, misjudged, 767 00:38:31,630 --> 00:38:34,810 misunderstood through the process, 768 00:38:34,810 --> 00:38:38,830 and that didn't really allow me to grieve and be 769 00:38:38,830 --> 00:38:42,060 a victim in this whole thing. 770 00:38:42,060 --> 00:38:44,130 Wendy Ward was also relieved. 771 00:38:44,130 --> 00:38:48,090 She knows how lucky she is to have survived her own encounter 772 00:38:48,090 --> 00:38:50,760 with Garcia, and has used art to help 773 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,010 transform the feelings that she's 774 00:38:53,010 --> 00:38:55,350 held onto for all these years. 775 00:38:55,350 --> 00:38:59,670 It helped shift those feelings into something positive. 776 00:38:59,670 --> 00:39:02,340 What came up in me to create that 777 00:39:02,340 --> 00:39:05,060 and to survive, and to say, no more. 778 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,090 Everyone involved takes pride that Christie 779 00:39:12,090 --> 00:39:15,510 was found without making a deal with Garcia, 780 00:39:15,510 --> 00:39:18,960 and the discovery lays to rest any doubts 781 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,010 about Garcia's guilt. 782 00:39:21,010 --> 00:39:23,310 I mean, there's no greater proof. 783 00:39:23,310 --> 00:39:26,850 The autopsy revealed that Christie's hand and nose 784 00:39:26,850 --> 00:39:30,960 were broken, but it couldn't establish a cause of death. 785 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:32,640 Do you believe he strangled her? 786 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:34,950 I think that's very likely what occurred that day, 787 00:39:34,950 --> 00:39:38,520 but we just don't know. 788 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:42,600 Those who loved Christie try to focus on the life she lived. 789 00:39:45,870 --> 00:39:48,450 Her best friend Tiffany DeVries says 790 00:39:48,450 --> 00:39:52,170 she's reminded of Christie by the little things she loved-- 791 00:39:52,170 --> 00:39:56,250 a song on the radio, or the way Christie danced. 792 00:39:56,250 --> 00:40:00,120 For me, Christie has never been completely gone. 793 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:06,560 I've been carrying her spirit with me every day. 794 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,980 [WAVES CRASHING] 795 00:40:12,430 --> 00:40:16,510 Debbie and Christie's father Dennis had Christie's remains 796 00:40:16,510 --> 00:40:17,530 cremated. 797 00:40:17,530 --> 00:40:21,730 In October 2020, to mark the anniversary of her death, 798 00:40:21,730 --> 00:40:24,520 Debbie visited the pier in Capitola 799 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,550 where the family put a plaque many years ago. 800 00:40:28,550 --> 00:40:31,570 This is a place that Christie just absolutely loved. 801 00:40:31,570 --> 00:40:34,570 It was what she called her happy place. 802 00:40:34,570 --> 00:40:37,750 Debbie says no longer having to wonder where 803 00:40:37,750 --> 00:40:41,050 Christie is changes everything. 804 00:40:41,050 --> 00:40:43,840 We can grieve the way that we should have been 805 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,350 able to grieve 15 years ago. 806 00:40:47,350 --> 00:40:50,960 There's a peace about that. 807 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,710 I was so blessed to be her mom for 27 years, 808 00:40:54,710 --> 00:40:57,700 and that I will carry with me forever. 809 00:40:57,700 --> 00:41:01,170 [MELANCHOLY MUSIC] 810 00:41:03,650 --> 00:41:07,120 [SOMBER MUSIC] 811 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:19,950 Listen to the My Life of Crime podcast with me, Erin Moriarty. 812 00:41:19,950 --> 00:41:23,340 Known as the Doomsday Mom, her two children murdered. 813 00:41:23,340 --> 00:41:26,430 Lori started referring to her children as zombies. 814 00:41:26,430 --> 00:41:28,650 Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell trial. 815 00:41:28,650 --> 00:41:30,750 How the jury found her guilty. 816 00:41:30,750 --> 00:41:33,860 48 Hours, next on CBS.