1 00:00:21,829 --> 00:00:24,366 NARRATOR: A young nurse heads out for a quick run 2 00:00:24,471 --> 00:00:25,896 but never comes back. 3 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,405 She was running without her phone and without her dog. 4 00:00:29,509 --> 00:00:33,227 NARRATOR: As a storm rolls in, her anxious husband calls 911. 5 00:00:52,688 --> 00:00:53,940 NARRATOR: While searching for clues, 6 00:00:54,043 --> 00:00:56,163 the cops learn of a marriage in trouble 7 00:00:56,268 --> 00:00:58,665 and a husband with issues. 8 00:00:58,770 --> 00:01:02,593 Sadly, I think Thomas had a volatile nature, 9 00:01:02,697 --> 00:01:06,519 did have a penchant for alcohol and drugs. 10 00:01:06,623 --> 00:01:08,326 NARRATOR: Micah Rine's family were never 11 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:10,829 exactly fond of Thomas Pate. 12 00:01:10,933 --> 00:01:15,102 It hurts to know that she makes that choice. 13 00:01:15,206 --> 00:01:18,334 NARRATOR: She had chosen a man who claimed to love Jesus. 14 00:01:18,439 --> 00:01:20,872 But Thomas Pate had other loves too. 15 00:01:20,976 --> 00:01:25,180 I think it became clear to her that he was having an affair. 16 00:01:25,284 --> 00:01:27,787 And she may have confronted him with it. 17 00:01:27,891 --> 00:01:31,506 Thomas Pate had charmed a naive young woman 18 00:01:31,610 --> 00:01:36,127 and then he persuaded her family to accept him. 19 00:01:36,231 --> 00:01:38,491 But there was a dangerous side to him 20 00:01:38,595 --> 00:01:40,576 that neither knew existed. 21 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,147 And all too soon, they would. 22 00:01:43,251 --> 00:01:48,116 It was clear that Thomas and Micah both knew about guns. 23 00:02:02,105 --> 00:02:06,207 Nearly half of women murdered are killed by their partners 24 00:02:06,311 --> 00:02:11,280 but plenty of men also fall victim to the same fate. 25 00:02:11,384 --> 00:02:15,241 So if I were you, I would pay attention 26 00:02:15,345 --> 00:02:17,257 to what you're about to see. 27 00:02:17,361 --> 00:02:19,412 It might just save your life. 28 00:02:22,818 --> 00:02:25,702 Searcy, Arkansas, 2003. 29 00:02:25,806 --> 00:02:28,308 College students Micah Rine and Thomas 30 00:02:28,412 --> 00:02:31,018 Pate meet for the first time. 31 00:02:31,123 --> 00:02:33,764 Thomas was an interesting young man. 32 00:02:33,868 --> 00:02:37,065 We teased, and he said it himself, 33 00:02:37,169 --> 00:02:42,278 that he was the biggest redneck city boy that he knew. 34 00:02:42,382 --> 00:02:44,433 Because he was from Atlanta, which 35 00:02:44,538 --> 00:02:46,065 is a pretty good sized city. 36 00:02:46,169 --> 00:02:51,069 But he enjoyed being out in the outdoors, hunting and fishing 37 00:02:51,174 --> 00:02:59,236 and just hanging out really by himself a lot in God's nature. 38 00:02:59,341 --> 00:03:01,218 He's athletic and so it matched up 39 00:03:01,322 --> 00:03:04,415 with my sister wanting to play basketball and be 40 00:03:04,519 --> 00:03:05,805 involved in those things. 41 00:03:08,966 --> 00:03:10,740 NARRATOR: Micah had been raised in a close 42 00:03:10,844 --> 00:03:14,736 knit religious household. 43 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:24,466 We are a Christian family and we focus on trying to walk, 44 00:03:24,570 --> 00:03:25,891 what we talk about. 45 00:03:25,996 --> 00:03:30,687 We grew up at Camp Tahkodah which is a camp about an hour 46 00:03:30,791 --> 00:03:36,630 north of our home town of Searcy We love spending that time out 47 00:03:36,734 --> 00:03:40,486 at Camp Dakota and swimming and going hiking and spending 48 00:03:40,590 --> 00:03:42,224 that time together. 49 00:03:42,328 --> 00:03:47,923 We wanted to be authentic and actually live our faith. 50 00:03:48,027 --> 00:03:50,008 NARRATOR: As a young girl, Micah attended 51 00:03:50,113 --> 00:03:53,100 Christian youth camps, weekly prayer meetings, 52 00:03:53,205 --> 00:03:56,194 and Sunday church services. 53 00:03:56,198 --> 00:03:59,812 She led a rather sheltered life though. 54 00:03:59,916 --> 00:04:01,133 I must say. 55 00:04:01,237 --> 00:04:03,635 It was a small town in Arkansas. 56 00:04:03,740 --> 00:04:09,508 It's a very, home family-based atmosphere. 57 00:04:09,612 --> 00:04:14,269 There's not a lot of exposure to the underside of the world. 58 00:04:14,374 --> 00:04:19,760 She was very obedient and was a pleaser, very energetic. 59 00:04:19,864 --> 00:04:21,844 She was very talkative. 60 00:04:21,948 --> 00:04:28,864 She also was very driven athletically and academically 61 00:04:28,968 --> 00:04:32,930 and did well on the basketball court especially. 62 00:04:33,034 --> 00:04:34,808 And she enjoyed running. 63 00:04:34,911 --> 00:04:37,065 NARRATOR: At the age of 19, Micah met 64 00:04:37,170 --> 00:04:39,498 fellow student, Thomas Pate. 65 00:04:39,602 --> 00:04:42,696 Micah and Thomas met through a French group. 66 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,197 He was trying to connect one of his friends 67 00:04:45,301 --> 00:04:46,830 with one of her friends and that's where 68 00:04:46,935 --> 00:04:48,221 that relationship started. 69 00:04:48,325 --> 00:04:52,530 So they connected and spent some time 70 00:04:52,635 --> 00:04:56,213 together prior to whenever they really did 71 00:04:56,319 --> 00:04:58,750 consider each other exclusive. 72 00:04:58,854 --> 00:05:00,627 NARRATOR: Thomas Pate's childhood had been 73 00:05:00,732 --> 00:05:02,192 very different from Micah's. 74 00:05:02,296 --> 00:05:07,195 His was a more privileged type upbringing, I would say. 75 00:05:07,299 --> 00:05:10,566 His parents lived outside of Atlanta, Georgia, 76 00:05:10,670 --> 00:05:16,787 a much more metropolitan, open, exposed to just about 77 00:05:16,890 --> 00:05:17,898 everything. 78 00:05:18,002 --> 00:05:19,809 NARRATOR: By the time Thomas met Micah, 79 00:05:19,914 --> 00:05:23,771 there were already signs he was far from a model citizen. 80 00:05:23,875 --> 00:05:26,100 He had a basketball scholarship 81 00:05:26,204 --> 00:05:28,879 to a another college initially. 82 00:05:28,983 --> 00:05:32,251 But he lost his scholarship and he had to leave the school. 83 00:05:32,355 --> 00:05:36,456 And that's when he became a student at Harding 84 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:38,298 and eventually met Micah. 85 00:05:38,402 --> 00:05:39,617 He was more worldly. 86 00:05:39,723 --> 00:05:42,677 And she considered him tall and handsome. 87 00:05:42,781 --> 00:05:46,673 She seemed thoroughly intrigued by Thomas. 88 00:05:46,777 --> 00:05:48,271 NARRATOR: Micah's family began making 89 00:05:48,375 --> 00:05:49,974 their first impressions of Thomas 90 00:05:50,078 --> 00:05:53,658 a few months after he and Micah met in late 2002. 91 00:05:53,762 --> 00:05:58,174 We hosted a Bible study in our home on Wednesday nights 92 00:05:58,279 --> 00:05:59,147 for years. 93 00:05:59,252 --> 00:06:00,399 We've done that for years. 94 00:06:00,504 --> 00:06:03,908 Micah brought him to home Bible study, 95 00:06:04,013 --> 00:06:07,732 I believe starting in February or March. 96 00:06:07,835 --> 00:06:11,763 And that was probably maybe six weeks 97 00:06:11,867 --> 00:06:13,292 after they started dating. 98 00:06:13,396 --> 00:06:17,497 So they would be regulars on Wednesday night then. 99 00:06:17,601 --> 00:06:20,831 So then it was just a matter of trying to get to know him. 100 00:06:20,936 --> 00:06:24,656 And seeing what he was like and what comments he would make, 101 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,365 how he fit in with the other people that were 102 00:06:27,470 --> 00:06:28,964 involved in home Bible study. 103 00:06:29,068 --> 00:06:34,107 Our impression of him, he's very down to Earth. 104 00:06:34,211 --> 00:06:37,513 And pretty much what you see is what you get from him. 105 00:06:37,618 --> 00:06:42,899 As he came to home Bible study, he had the right words 106 00:06:43,004 --> 00:06:47,382 and knew the Christian lingo so to speak. 107 00:06:47,487 --> 00:06:50,579 And so he would say some of the right things. 108 00:06:50,684 --> 00:06:53,082 And do some of the right things. 109 00:06:53,186 --> 00:06:56,245 And even asking him to pray at home Bible study, 110 00:06:56,349 --> 00:07:04,168 he would say a, what I would call a typical prayer. 111 00:07:04,272 --> 00:07:06,774 NARRATOR: In hindsight, Micah's father, Dennis, 112 00:07:06,878 --> 00:07:09,032 wonders just how truthfully Thomas 113 00:07:09,136 --> 00:07:11,256 had been presenting himself. 114 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:12,855 It was the game that he was playing. 115 00:07:12,959 --> 00:07:15,670 He knew the right lingo and the right things 116 00:07:15,774 --> 00:07:18,694 to say to try to impress us. 117 00:07:18,797 --> 00:07:20,812 But was he really living it? 118 00:07:23,698 --> 00:07:25,087 NARRATOR: Despite their misgivings, 119 00:07:25,192 --> 00:07:29,953 Micah's family held back their opinions of Thomas. 120 00:07:30,057 --> 00:07:32,663 When they started dating, of course we were 121 00:07:32,767 --> 00:07:34,783 paying really close attention. 122 00:07:34,887 --> 00:07:38,780 And early on, when we didn't see that it really 123 00:07:38,883 --> 00:07:42,324 appeared to be a good fit, we started 124 00:07:42,428 --> 00:07:44,826 paying closer attention. 125 00:07:44,930 --> 00:07:46,390 He's OK. 126 00:07:46,494 --> 00:07:50,387 Wasn't over the top impressed. 127 00:07:50,490 --> 00:07:54,104 But didn't have any big red flags to start with either. 128 00:07:54,210 --> 00:07:58,136 We started expressing some of our concerns. 129 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,334 And the problem with that, though, 130 00:08:01,438 --> 00:08:04,183 was that we couldn't really put our finger 131 00:08:04,287 --> 00:08:08,110 on what it was that we wanted to point 132 00:08:08,214 --> 00:08:10,890 out that was not a good fit. 133 00:08:10,994 --> 00:08:13,010 NARRATOR: Even Micah wasn't sure at this stage 134 00:08:13,114 --> 00:08:15,442 whether Thomas was the right guy for her. 135 00:08:15,547 --> 00:08:19,995 There was one incident when they were dating seriously, 136 00:08:20,099 --> 00:08:22,322 two springs before they got married, 137 00:08:22,427 --> 00:08:25,695 and we were on a ski trip and it was just Micah 138 00:08:25,798 --> 00:08:27,847 and I on the ski lift. 139 00:08:27,952 --> 00:08:33,200 And she said, Dad, if you notice any red flags with Thomas, 140 00:08:33,304 --> 00:08:35,494 I want you to point those out to me. 141 00:08:35,598 --> 00:08:39,038 And I said, Micah, you can rest assured I will. 142 00:08:39,142 --> 00:08:40,879 NARRATOR: Before long, there were a few things 143 00:08:40,984 --> 00:08:43,174 Thomas had mentioned that gave Micah's family 144 00:08:43,278 --> 00:08:46,301 a real reason to be concerned. 145 00:08:46,405 --> 00:08:49,638 He shared that he had made some poor choices 146 00:08:49,742 --> 00:08:53,842 during his high school years and even the first year 147 00:08:53,946 --> 00:08:55,336 or so of college. 148 00:08:55,442 --> 00:08:58,012 Part of that had to do with a lot of partying, 149 00:08:58,116 --> 00:09:03,051 a lot of drinking, some promiscuity, 150 00:09:03,155 --> 00:09:05,970 even dabbling in some drugs. 151 00:09:06,075 --> 00:09:07,882 I believe that entered into him 152 00:09:07,986 --> 00:09:10,245 losing his basketball scholarship 153 00:09:10,349 --> 00:09:12,469 with the prior college. 154 00:09:12,573 --> 00:09:15,839 Terri and Dennis couldn't understand why Micah would 155 00:09:15,943 --> 00:09:18,863 want to date somebody whose values seemed 156 00:09:18,967 --> 00:09:20,982 so different from her own. 157 00:09:21,086 --> 00:09:24,110 But Micah believed in second chances. 158 00:09:24,215 --> 00:09:27,932 So when Thomas insisted he'd put his past behind him, 159 00:09:28,037 --> 00:09:32,173 she and her family believed him. 160 00:09:32,277 --> 00:09:34,501 She says, well, he's changed. 161 00:09:34,606 --> 00:09:37,734 We find out later again that that's not true. 162 00:09:37,837 --> 00:09:40,964 NARRATOR: There were certainly enough warnings that Thomas 163 00:09:41,069 --> 00:09:43,711 Pate wasn't on the up and up. 164 00:09:43,814 --> 00:09:47,046 And it wouldn't be long before good Christian girl, 165 00:09:47,150 --> 00:09:51,286 Micah Rine, realized they weren't false alarms. 166 00:10:06,577 --> 00:10:09,911 Micah Rine was a nursing student at Harding University 167 00:10:10,016 --> 00:10:12,867 in Searcy, Arkansas when she met supposedly 168 00:10:12,971 --> 00:10:15,611 reformed bad boy, Thomas Pate. 169 00:10:15,716 --> 00:10:19,713 To those who knew Micah best, her decision to study nursing 170 00:10:19,817 --> 00:10:22,978 was right in line with her core values. 171 00:10:23,083 --> 00:10:25,272 You don't take on that profession 172 00:10:25,378 --> 00:10:28,435 without having a heart for the vulnerable 173 00:10:28,539 --> 00:10:31,805 and for the broken and the hurting. 174 00:10:31,910 --> 00:10:34,447 NARRATOR: Did Micah Rine believe her new boyfriend 175 00:10:34,551 --> 00:10:38,165 Thomas Pate was a broken man in need of saving? 176 00:10:38,269 --> 00:10:41,292 Looking back, Micah's father had no doubt his daughter's 177 00:10:41,398 --> 00:10:43,726 heart was in the right place. 178 00:10:43,829 --> 00:10:46,018 She would stay to try to help him. 179 00:10:46,122 --> 00:10:49,703 And I think she even had a sense of I may be 180 00:10:49,806 --> 00:10:52,692 the only one able to help him. 181 00:10:52,795 --> 00:10:55,542 Not long into Micah's relationship with Thomas, 182 00:10:55,646 --> 00:10:58,876 her family began to see some changes in her personality. 183 00:10:58,981 --> 00:11:04,089 She was very bubbly and friendly and very outgoing 184 00:11:04,193 --> 00:11:05,896 to everybody. 185 00:11:06,001 --> 00:11:09,510 And then all of a sudden, she was very withdrawn. 186 00:11:09,615 --> 00:11:11,526 She was stressed. 187 00:11:11,631 --> 00:11:17,955 She just started having these tendencies that drew her inward 188 00:11:18,059 --> 00:11:19,242 rather than being outward. 189 00:11:19,346 --> 00:11:20,943 And she was very much an outward person. 190 00:11:21,048 --> 00:11:22,925 Now she was very private. 191 00:11:23,029 --> 00:11:24,628 But she was very outward. 192 00:11:24,733 --> 00:11:26,886 Where if they went out, he'd probably say, 193 00:11:26,990 --> 00:11:29,979 you know, why aren't you dressing like that person? 194 00:11:30,083 --> 00:11:33,524 Or why do you have to be so picky about your food, 195 00:11:33,628 --> 00:11:38,180 you know, things that would make her feel bad about herself. 196 00:11:38,284 --> 00:11:41,134 I can easily see that happening. 197 00:11:41,239 --> 00:11:42,941 Because I think a little of that may have happened 198 00:11:43,046 --> 00:11:45,513 to him with his father. 199 00:11:45,617 --> 00:11:47,494 NARRATOR: But Micah was head over heels. 200 00:11:47,598 --> 00:11:50,169 And a little over a year into their relationship 201 00:11:50,273 --> 00:11:51,837 Thomas proposed. 202 00:11:51,941 --> 00:11:55,731 It was about two years from the time they started dating 203 00:11:55,834 --> 00:11:57,224 till the time they got married. 204 00:11:57,328 --> 00:12:02,680 Before Micah and Thomas got married he asked 205 00:12:02,783 --> 00:12:05,147 my dad's hand in blessing. 206 00:12:05,251 --> 00:12:07,024 NARRATOR: Dismayed, Micah's parents 207 00:12:07,128 --> 00:12:09,803 tried to change their daughter's mind. 208 00:12:09,907 --> 00:12:14,947 There was this moment where my sister called me and said, 209 00:12:15,051 --> 00:12:18,908 Mom and Dad don't want this relationship to continue. 210 00:12:19,014 --> 00:12:22,175 When I point out the red flags, 211 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:27,527 because she was, as Terri said, invested in this relationship 212 00:12:27,631 --> 00:12:32,601 and she had been groomed in this manipulative relationship, 213 00:12:32,705 --> 00:12:37,710 she wasn't willing to listen to Dad's advice at this point. 214 00:12:37,814 --> 00:12:41,532 She was torn because we are a close family. 215 00:12:41,636 --> 00:12:43,791 And she was drawn to Thomas. 216 00:12:43,895 --> 00:12:45,632 NARRATOR: With the date of Micah's wedding right 217 00:12:45,735 --> 00:12:48,135 around the corner, Terri and Dennis Rine 218 00:12:48,239 --> 00:12:50,844 continue questioning her decision. 219 00:12:50,948 --> 00:12:53,799 Just the week prior to her wedding, 220 00:12:53,903 --> 00:12:55,155 we were just hanging out. 221 00:12:55,259 --> 00:12:57,760 And I said something to her about the fact 222 00:12:57,864 --> 00:13:01,062 that I'm so disappointed that you're 223 00:13:01,166 --> 00:13:02,660 not going to have any children. 224 00:13:02,764 --> 00:13:04,607 She loves kiddos. 225 00:13:04,712 --> 00:13:07,908 And she said, well, why would I not have children? 226 00:13:08,013 --> 00:13:11,175 And I said, well, Thomas has made it real clear 227 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:13,503 that he does not want to have children. 228 00:13:13,608 --> 00:13:17,360 And that he has no plans of being a dad. 229 00:13:17,465 --> 00:13:19,029 Before I walked her down the aisle, 230 00:13:19,133 --> 00:13:21,842 I said, Micah, it's still not too late. 231 00:13:21,947 --> 00:13:26,569 If you want to back out of this, I'll support you 100%. 232 00:13:26,673 --> 00:13:28,897 I want what's best for you. 233 00:13:29,002 --> 00:13:31,540 And she just said, no, let's go with it. 234 00:13:31,644 --> 00:13:32,998 And so we did. 235 00:13:33,102 --> 00:13:37,551 We walked down the aisle and the marriage took place. 236 00:13:45,786 --> 00:13:48,220 I believe they still lived here for two 237 00:13:48,324 --> 00:13:50,304 semesters, almost a whole year. 238 00:13:50,409 --> 00:13:52,980 And then she had received a nursing job 239 00:13:53,084 --> 00:13:56,906 with a clinic in Memphis and they moved to Memphis 240 00:13:57,011 --> 00:13:58,992 or rather to Bartlett, which is just 241 00:13:59,097 --> 00:14:01,391 on the outskirts of Memphis. 242 00:14:01,495 --> 00:14:04,934 NARRATOR: Bartlett was a big change for Micah Rine Pane. 243 00:14:05,038 --> 00:14:08,374 At twice the size of Searcy, Arkansas, 244 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:11,398 it was a completely different world than the small town 245 00:14:11,503 --> 00:14:13,275 Christian girl was used to. 246 00:14:13,380 --> 00:14:19,288 Micah graduated in 2005 and moved to Memphis shortly after. 247 00:14:19,392 --> 00:14:21,267 And worked in labor and delivery at Methodist 248 00:14:21,372 --> 00:14:24,917 and then came about to work with us at MOGA. 249 00:14:25,021 --> 00:14:27,384 She was the loveliest soul. 250 00:14:27,488 --> 00:14:29,955 Business manager, Melissa Conklin, 251 00:14:30,060 --> 00:14:32,874 runs a women's clinic in Bartlett, Tennessee. 252 00:14:32,978 --> 00:14:35,134 She saw Micah blossom as a nurse. 253 00:14:35,238 --> 00:14:40,172 Her co-workers would have said that she was the nurses' nurse. 254 00:14:40,277 --> 00:14:44,758 That she was the nurse that you wanted on your side, the one 255 00:14:44,863 --> 00:14:48,548 that you wanted to be there to help you with a patient. 256 00:14:48,652 --> 00:14:52,057 She worked at an OB/GYN group here. 257 00:14:52,161 --> 00:14:53,586 And they were very close. 258 00:14:53,692 --> 00:14:54,838 They're all women. 259 00:14:54,942 --> 00:14:56,713 They're all very close together. 260 00:14:56,818 --> 00:14:58,972 NARRATOR: Micah's personal life however, 261 00:14:59,076 --> 00:15:00,953 was not running quite so smoothly. 262 00:15:01,058 --> 00:15:05,576 I think they were a little suspicious of Thomas. 263 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:13,500 And Micah was becoming less happy, I'll say. 264 00:15:13,604 --> 00:15:15,584 They rarely went home. 265 00:15:15,689 --> 00:15:17,842 And it got to be less and less. 266 00:15:17,947 --> 00:15:21,213 They started missing some of the holidays, which were 267 00:15:21,318 --> 00:15:23,577 very important to the Rine's. 268 00:15:23,681 --> 00:15:25,140 The thing that I noticed the most 269 00:15:25,245 --> 00:15:31,153 was her making excuses for Thomas not wanting to be there. 270 00:15:31,257 --> 00:15:35,705 There was an example with my parents' 50th wedding 271 00:15:35,809 --> 00:15:37,894 anniversary and my dad's birthday. 272 00:15:37,998 --> 00:15:40,223 And we had a big celebration. 273 00:15:40,327 --> 00:15:43,246 And everybody was excited to come and spend a good weekend 274 00:15:43,351 --> 00:15:45,712 together Micah came. 275 00:15:45,817 --> 00:15:48,181 But she had to make excuses for Thomas 276 00:15:48,285 --> 00:15:51,621 not wanting to come and have fun. 277 00:15:51,724 --> 00:15:55,791 Thomas was always awkward around our family. 278 00:15:55,895 --> 00:16:01,074 But he knew about us giving advice to Micah 279 00:16:01,178 --> 00:16:04,584 and trying to have her think about that 280 00:16:04,688 --> 00:16:07,155 a lot more than she did. 281 00:16:07,259 --> 00:16:09,934 NARRATOR: On the rare occasions that Micah's family did get 282 00:16:10,038 --> 00:16:11,604 a visit from her and Thomas, they 283 00:16:11,707 --> 00:16:15,251 were able to catch glimpses of his troubled personality. 284 00:16:15,356 --> 00:16:20,776 Thomas had a hunting dog. 285 00:16:20,881 --> 00:16:26,198 And he told the hunting dog to stay in the back of the truck. 286 00:16:26,302 --> 00:16:28,527 And then Thomas went off to do something else, 287 00:16:28,631 --> 00:16:30,091 working on a trailer. 288 00:16:30,195 --> 00:16:33,635 Well, as the dog was still pretty much a pup, 289 00:16:33,738 --> 00:16:37,944 it saw Thomas go over there and work on the trailer. 290 00:16:38,048 --> 00:16:41,419 And then the dog got off the truck 291 00:16:41,524 --> 00:16:43,401 and walked towards Thomas. 292 00:16:43,505 --> 00:16:45,902 Thomas screams at the dog. 293 00:16:46,006 --> 00:16:48,995 I told you to stay on that truck. 294 00:16:49,099 --> 00:16:52,470 And he picked the dog up by the ears 295 00:16:52,575 --> 00:16:57,925 and threw it back in the truck, extreme anger, 296 00:16:58,029 --> 00:17:01,506 extreme violence. 297 00:17:01,610 --> 00:17:03,348 NARRATOR: There were also hints that Tom's 298 00:17:03,452 --> 00:17:07,483 behavior toward his wife could also be highly volatile. 299 00:17:07,587 --> 00:17:11,236 We would talk back and forth at least twice 300 00:17:11,340 --> 00:17:12,903 a week on the phone. 301 00:17:13,009 --> 00:17:15,232 I'd just ask her how things are going. 302 00:17:15,336 --> 00:17:20,271 And she would hint at, well, Thomas and I had a good day. 303 00:17:20,375 --> 00:17:25,241 We were able to work in the yard today without any issues. 304 00:17:25,346 --> 00:17:26,838 Well, we had a good day today. 305 00:17:26,943 --> 00:17:29,202 We didn't have any arguments or fights. 306 00:17:29,306 --> 00:17:30,732 NARRATOR: Looking back, it was readily 307 00:17:30,836 --> 00:17:33,233 apparent Micah was in a relationship 308 00:17:33,337 --> 00:17:34,902 with a controlling husband. 309 00:17:35,006 --> 00:17:36,847 We don't know that he ever hit Michael 310 00:17:36,952 --> 00:17:41,400 physically, but the yelling and screaming and belittling. 311 00:17:41,504 --> 00:17:42,755 You're so stupid. 312 00:17:42,859 --> 00:17:44,735 Why can't you get this right? 313 00:17:44,839 --> 00:17:49,706 And then at the other extreme of saying, oh, you're so sweet. 314 00:17:49,809 --> 00:17:51,304 I love you so much. 315 00:17:51,408 --> 00:17:55,057 It wasn't like bruises and cuts 316 00:17:55,161 --> 00:17:58,984 and scratches and broken bones and cigarette burns. 317 00:17:59,088 --> 00:18:02,041 It wasn't that kind of domestic violence. 318 00:18:02,146 --> 00:18:08,887 It was the kind of scars in her heart and her spirit dampened. 319 00:18:08,991 --> 00:18:14,830 And all those things that made her who she was, many of those 320 00:18:14,934 --> 00:18:16,360 were taken away. 321 00:18:16,464 --> 00:18:18,654 She was basically wearing herself 322 00:18:18,757 --> 00:18:22,788 down trying to be the perfect wife, employee, 323 00:18:22,893 --> 00:18:24,978 and hopefully a mother. 324 00:18:25,082 --> 00:18:28,001 The things that we saw in her relationship 325 00:18:28,105 --> 00:18:31,408 were very typical observations that you 326 00:18:31,512 --> 00:18:35,299 would see in someone who is trying 327 00:18:35,404 --> 00:18:37,419 to manipulate another person. 328 00:18:37,523 --> 00:18:40,408 But at the time, we didn't know that's exactly what it 329 00:18:40,512 --> 00:18:43,536 was because it's so deceptive. 330 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:45,688 NARRATOR: Micah's friends had similar concerns 331 00:18:45,794 --> 00:18:48,956 about the type of husband Thomas Pate had become. 332 00:18:49,061 --> 00:18:52,014 Micah kept us all very at bay. 333 00:18:52,118 --> 00:18:53,648 I mean she was very separate. 334 00:18:53,752 --> 00:18:57,331 She did have a co-worker that she ran with. 335 00:18:57,435 --> 00:19:01,572 And she would meet her at Micah's house. 336 00:19:01,675 --> 00:19:02,613 And they would go run. 337 00:19:02,717 --> 00:19:05,150 She wasn't allowed inside the house. 338 00:19:05,255 --> 00:19:10,015 If Micah took call at night and on weekends, and if she did, 339 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:13,526 then she couldn't sleep in the same bedroom as Thomas. 340 00:19:13,630 --> 00:19:18,286 After talking to co-workers, co-employees, 341 00:19:18,390 --> 00:19:22,143 her fellow church members, things of that nature, 342 00:19:22,248 --> 00:19:25,722 she was struggling with being who she perceived 343 00:19:25,826 --> 00:19:28,190 Thomas wanted her to be. 344 00:19:28,294 --> 00:19:30,970 He just belittled her. 345 00:19:31,074 --> 00:19:33,020 And I think that his drinking didn't help that. 346 00:19:33,125 --> 00:19:35,800 Because it would be in those spells that he would 347 00:19:35,905 --> 00:19:38,928 drink and things would come out of his mouth that it shouldn't. 348 00:19:39,032 --> 00:19:41,291 NARRATOR: Thomas swore to Micah his drinking 349 00:19:41,396 --> 00:19:42,681 days were behind him. 350 00:19:42,786 --> 00:19:44,870 But that wasn't true. 351 00:19:44,975 --> 00:19:48,103 Then one day in the spring of 2009, 352 00:19:48,207 --> 00:19:53,141 Micah discovered alcohol wasn't her husband's only vice. 353 00:19:53,246 --> 00:19:58,458 He actually spent the weekend with a young woman in Tunica. 354 00:19:58,563 --> 00:20:00,266 NARRATOR: The fears Michael's family 355 00:20:00,370 --> 00:20:02,594 had about her husband's true nature 356 00:20:02,697 --> 00:20:04,783 were slowly being confirmed. 357 00:20:04,887 --> 00:20:08,674 This was a man who was anything but the devout Christian 358 00:20:08,779 --> 00:20:10,030 he had claimed to be. 359 00:20:27,267 --> 00:20:29,318 Easter, 2009. 360 00:20:29,422 --> 00:20:32,237 While Micah Pate goes to spend the holiday with her parents 361 00:20:32,341 --> 00:20:34,773 back in Arkansas, her husband, Thomas, 362 00:20:34,878 --> 00:20:36,442 says he has other plans. 363 00:20:36,546 --> 00:20:41,132 She had come to our house for a weekend. 364 00:20:41,238 --> 00:20:45,408 And he was going hunting, is what he said. 365 00:20:45,512 --> 00:20:48,605 NARRATOR: The next week, she's back at work as usual. 366 00:20:48,708 --> 00:20:53,852 Now, she went home one day and surprised Thomas. 367 00:20:53,956 --> 00:20:57,605 And he said he was sick so he wasn't going to be working any. 368 00:20:57,708 --> 00:21:00,768 So she thought she would go home and fix him some soup 369 00:21:00,872 --> 00:21:02,921 during the middle of the day. 370 00:21:03,026 --> 00:21:07,580 And when she got there, he was on the phone with somebody 371 00:21:07,682 --> 00:21:12,583 that he seemed to be talking rather intimately to. 372 00:21:12,686 --> 00:21:16,162 NARRATOR: Back at work, Micah can't hide her distress. 373 00:21:16,266 --> 00:21:19,534 Thomas's supposed hunting trip had clearly been nothing more 374 00:21:19,637 --> 00:21:20,888 than a cover story. 375 00:21:20,992 --> 00:21:23,982 I remember Micah seeing a provider in my office, 376 00:21:24,086 --> 00:21:25,892 being totally, totally distraught, 377 00:21:25,996 --> 00:21:28,430 to the point of where I went and got her stuff, 378 00:21:28,534 --> 00:21:29,923 and helped her out the door. 379 00:21:30,027 --> 00:21:31,384 And she went home. 380 00:21:31,488 --> 00:21:34,093 We found it out in investigating for the trial 381 00:21:34,198 --> 00:21:39,515 that he actually had met a woman on a flight to Atlanta. 382 00:21:39,620 --> 00:21:42,330 And he was indeed in communication with her. 383 00:21:42,434 --> 00:21:46,047 And had met her for a weekend at the casinos 384 00:21:46,153 --> 00:21:48,238 in Tunica, Mississippi. 385 00:21:48,343 --> 00:21:50,496 NARRATOR: Micah is devastated. 386 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,727 But when she heads back home to celebrate her 26th birthday 387 00:21:53,833 --> 00:21:56,855 with her family shortly after, she doesn't tell 388 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,463 them about Thomas's affair. 389 00:21:59,567 --> 00:22:02,033 Micah did not confide in us at all 390 00:22:02,137 --> 00:22:07,906 about any struggles that she was having in her marriage. 391 00:22:08,010 --> 00:22:13,085 We were even unaware that there had been indiscretions 392 00:22:13,189 --> 00:22:14,717 with at least one other woman. 393 00:22:14,821 --> 00:22:21,529 We were unaware of his promiscuity and his attraction 394 00:22:21,634 --> 00:22:23,718 to pornography on his computer. 395 00:22:26,671 --> 00:22:28,062 NARRATOR: After her birthday weekend, 396 00:22:28,167 --> 00:22:31,191 Micah returns to Tennessee more determined than ever 397 00:22:31,295 --> 00:22:33,171 to make her marriage work. 398 00:22:33,275 --> 00:22:37,896 Then, two days later on the night of April 30, 2009, 399 00:22:38,001 --> 00:22:41,858 Michael's parents receive an unexpected call. 400 00:22:41,962 --> 00:22:43,664 We got a call that Thursday night. 401 00:22:43,768 --> 00:22:48,809 I think it was around 10:00, 10:30 was the first call. 402 00:22:48,913 --> 00:22:52,839 Thomas said, hey, do you know where Michael is? 403 00:22:52,944 --> 00:22:54,056 She's going out for a run. 404 00:22:54,161 --> 00:22:55,482 She hadn't come back. 405 00:22:55,585 --> 00:22:58,956 She normally would walk her dog and go on runs by herself 406 00:22:59,061 --> 00:23:00,659 because her runs were lengthy. 407 00:23:00,763 --> 00:23:03,717 They would be like six miles, anywhere 408 00:23:03,821 --> 00:23:05,490 from six to 12 miles at a time. 409 00:23:05,594 --> 00:23:08,373 Thursday night, which was the 30th, Micah worked late night. 410 00:23:08,478 --> 00:23:10,667 It was kind of a dreary, rainy night. 411 00:23:10,771 --> 00:23:12,683 That was not uncommon for her to go running. 412 00:23:12,787 --> 00:23:16,610 It was uncommon for her to go running late at night, 413 00:23:16,713 --> 00:23:18,765 in the dark, in a rainstorm. 414 00:23:18,869 --> 00:23:20,154 Where could Micah be? 415 00:23:20,258 --> 00:23:22,622 Where's Micah? 416 00:23:22,725 --> 00:23:24,012 You know, the dog was there. 417 00:23:24,116 --> 00:23:26,096 She wasn't there. 418 00:23:26,201 --> 00:23:27,869 And he just didn't know. 419 00:23:27,973 --> 00:23:29,364 No we haven't heard from her. 420 00:23:29,468 --> 00:23:32,282 But, please, call us and let us know if you hear 421 00:23:32,386 --> 00:23:34,645 anything of what's going on. 422 00:23:34,749 --> 00:23:38,329 And so there was at least one other call, or maybe two, 423 00:23:38,433 --> 00:23:40,136 I can't remember. 424 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,777 But on the final call, it was OK, 425 00:23:42,882 --> 00:23:45,870 Thomas, you need to be calling the police and start a search. 426 00:24:05,053 --> 00:24:08,563 We packed our stuff and headed to Memphis immediately. 427 00:24:08,666 --> 00:24:10,682 It's about a two hour drive. 428 00:24:10,787 --> 00:24:14,297 And at that point when we got to the house, 429 00:24:14,401 --> 00:24:17,564 he had already organized a search party. 430 00:24:17,667 --> 00:24:20,690 And they had been at it for several hours. 431 00:24:20,794 --> 00:24:23,367 He'd notified people in the neighborhood, 432 00:24:23,471 --> 00:24:29,101 her friends, her co-workers, everyone was looking for Micah? 433 00:24:29,205 --> 00:24:30,908 Where was Micah? 434 00:24:31,012 --> 00:24:35,391 So there's this big search, this big hunt for Micah 435 00:24:35,495 --> 00:24:37,441 the evening of the 30th. 436 00:24:37,545 --> 00:24:44,043 We got to Memphis between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning. 437 00:24:44,148 --> 00:24:46,512 And so as soon as we got there, he said, 438 00:24:46,615 --> 00:24:48,179 well, she's gone out for a run. 439 00:24:48,284 --> 00:24:53,322 So I started running the routes that I knew that we had been 440 00:24:53,426 --> 00:24:56,311 on, different routes that we had run 441 00:24:56,415 --> 00:24:59,855 from her house around Bartlett. 442 00:24:59,959 --> 00:25:02,566 NARRATOR: While her husband searches for signs of Micah, 443 00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:05,902 Terri tries to piece together what might have happened. 444 00:25:06,006 --> 00:25:08,786 There are too many things that make no sense. 445 00:25:08,891 --> 00:25:13,616 One of the interesting things that Terri discovered early on 446 00:25:13,721 --> 00:25:17,196 was Thomas had put out the trash that day. 447 00:25:17,300 --> 00:25:22,652 And in the trash were quite a few bottles of tequila 448 00:25:22,756 --> 00:25:24,807 and I forget what else. 449 00:25:24,912 --> 00:25:27,413 And Terri asked him about it said, 450 00:25:27,517 --> 00:25:30,610 hey, what are all these bottles doing in your trash? 451 00:25:30,715 --> 00:25:35,093 And Thomas said, well, sometimes people come by and just 452 00:25:35,197 --> 00:25:37,560 put their trash in my trash. 453 00:25:37,664 --> 00:25:42,217 During the night, I asked, Thomas, you know, 454 00:25:42,322 --> 00:25:43,606 just occurred to me. 455 00:25:43,711 --> 00:25:44,962 Did you all have a fight? 456 00:25:45,066 --> 00:25:46,873 Or did you have a disagreement? 457 00:25:46,979 --> 00:25:49,376 And maybe she's just left and spent the night 458 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:50,974 with a friend or something? 459 00:25:51,079 --> 00:25:54,415 He said, no, they hadn't had a disagreement. 460 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,326 Nothing had happened. 461 00:25:56,430 --> 00:26:00,704 Detective Todd Halford is also suspicious of Thomas's version 462 00:26:00,809 --> 00:26:01,886 of events. 463 00:26:01,990 --> 00:26:04,563 As I walked around the house, instead of Thomas 464 00:26:04,666 --> 00:26:07,654 sitting or talking to anybody or talking to the officer, 465 00:26:07,759 --> 00:26:09,774 he actually followed me throughout the house. 466 00:26:09,879 --> 00:26:12,208 Made small talk with me while I was looking 467 00:26:12,312 --> 00:26:15,578 at different things, explaining things 468 00:26:15,682 --> 00:26:17,281 that didn't need explanation. 469 00:26:17,385 --> 00:26:22,807 Lieutenant Halford checked the weather reports against when 470 00:26:22,911 --> 00:26:25,135 Thomas said she went running. 471 00:26:25,239 --> 00:26:28,471 And there were severe storm warnings 472 00:26:28,575 --> 00:26:32,744 with lightning and severe rain at that time when 473 00:26:32,850 --> 00:26:35,491 she was supposed to be running. 474 00:26:35,595 --> 00:26:36,951 Heavy rain, heavy thunder, most people 475 00:26:37,055 --> 00:26:38,514 don't go jogging in that, even if they're 476 00:26:38,617 --> 00:26:39,730 training for a marathon. 477 00:26:39,834 --> 00:26:41,885 As we were looking through the house, 478 00:26:41,989 --> 00:26:44,491 you know Micah's purse is still at the house. 479 00:26:44,594 --> 00:26:46,785 Micah's phone is still at the house. 480 00:26:46,889 --> 00:26:48,489 Her ID is still at the house. 481 00:26:48,592 --> 00:26:50,434 I mean, even, when you go jogging or go the gym, 482 00:26:50,538 --> 00:26:51,962 you take your phone with you. 483 00:26:52,067 --> 00:26:55,577 NARRATOR: 12 hours after Micah supposedly went missing, 484 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,608 Casey Rine arrives in Tennessee to help with the search. 485 00:26:59,712 --> 00:27:02,458 I drive to her house. 486 00:27:02,562 --> 00:27:06,593 And at her house, there's yellow tape everywhere. 487 00:27:06,698 --> 00:27:09,061 There's police cars everywhere. 488 00:27:09,165 --> 00:27:13,473 And it starts to make me even more alarmed. 489 00:27:13,578 --> 00:27:19,520 I believe Lieutenant Halford came to the house about 7:00. 490 00:27:19,624 --> 00:27:22,440 And that's when he moved us to the police station 491 00:27:22,544 --> 00:27:25,567 to continue the investigation there. 492 00:27:25,671 --> 00:27:27,270 So I go on to the police station. 493 00:27:27,375 --> 00:27:31,440 And the first person I see when I walk in is Thomas. 494 00:27:31,545 --> 00:27:32,691 And I walk in. 495 00:27:32,795 --> 00:27:35,819 And we meet in the middle of the lobby and we hug. 496 00:27:35,923 --> 00:27:38,668 And I'm crying and he's crying. 497 00:27:38,772 --> 00:27:40,163 And I'm like, we're going to find her. 498 00:27:40,267 --> 00:27:41,866 It's going to be OK. We're going to find her. 499 00:27:41,970 --> 00:27:42,734 It's going to be OK. 500 00:27:42,839 --> 00:27:46,592 And he's telling me, I'm sorry. 501 00:27:46,696 --> 00:27:47,877 I don't know where she is. 502 00:27:47,982 --> 00:27:48,642 I'm sorry. 503 00:27:48,746 --> 00:27:50,102 I don't know where she is. 504 00:27:50,206 --> 00:27:55,419 And that's the last time that I've spoken to Thomas. 505 00:27:55,523 --> 00:27:58,789 NARRATOR: In the meantime, word of Micah's disappearance 506 00:27:58,893 --> 00:27:59,901 spreads. 507 00:28:00,006 --> 00:28:01,500 We called husbands. 508 00:28:01,603 --> 00:28:03,863 We went and got four wheelers, side by sides. 509 00:28:03,967 --> 00:28:07,754 And we went to the Loosahatchie Bottoms to look for her. 510 00:28:07,859 --> 00:28:09,319 NARRATOR: The Loosahatchie Bottoms 511 00:28:09,423 --> 00:28:12,308 is a remote wooded area just a few miles 512 00:28:12,412 --> 00:28:14,393 from Thomas and Micah's home. 513 00:28:14,497 --> 00:28:18,494 We did that for a few hours and came up with nothing. 514 00:28:18,597 --> 00:28:20,682 NARRATOR: Back at the Bartlett Police Department, 515 00:28:20,786 --> 00:28:24,124 investigators are already working on the assumption 516 00:28:24,228 --> 00:28:27,007 that Micah had not simply had a fall 517 00:28:27,111 --> 00:28:29,301 or become lost while jogging. 518 00:28:29,405 --> 00:28:35,278 The interrogations started at the police station. 519 00:28:35,382 --> 00:28:38,891 One of my first questions for Lieutenant Halford, 520 00:28:38,997 --> 00:28:41,325 why are you taking Thomas to this other place? 521 00:28:41,429 --> 00:28:45,321 He goes, well, typically in these situations, 522 00:28:45,425 --> 00:28:48,901 the first person we have to eliminate is the spouse. 523 00:28:49,005 --> 00:28:52,411 And so we're going to question him separately from the family. 524 00:28:52,515 --> 00:28:53,835 And I was like, OK. 525 00:28:53,939 --> 00:28:57,067 And of course, the husband is one of the suspects. 526 00:28:57,171 --> 00:29:03,912 Almost 75% to 90% of the time that someone ends up dead, 527 00:29:04,018 --> 00:29:08,326 the spouse ends up as a suspect at some point. 528 00:29:08,431 --> 00:29:10,342 NARRATOR: This is the moment when it suddenly 529 00:29:10,446 --> 00:29:13,331 dawns on the Rines that their son-in-law had 530 00:29:13,435 --> 00:29:15,868 a hand in their daughter's disappearance. 531 00:29:15,972 --> 00:29:21,253 That's when our conversation started to move to, well, 532 00:29:21,358 --> 00:29:22,818 does he know something about it? 533 00:29:22,922 --> 00:29:25,701 So that's when it began to sink 534 00:29:25,805 --> 00:29:30,220 in that we've got a problem. 535 00:29:30,324 --> 00:29:33,069 When we were interviewing him up here at headquarters 536 00:29:33,173 --> 00:29:35,467 without the door closed, just a regular room, 537 00:29:35,571 --> 00:29:37,205 just sitting there talking to him, 538 00:29:37,309 --> 00:29:41,236 any time we would ask him a question that was the least 539 00:29:41,340 --> 00:29:45,683 bit pointed, that would maybe position him to give 540 00:29:45,788 --> 00:29:47,387 us an answer, he didn't want to give us, 541 00:29:47,491 --> 00:29:48,742 he'd start dry heaving. 542 00:29:48,847 --> 00:29:51,730 Around noon is when we started to move towards, 543 00:29:51,835 --> 00:29:56,630 I think Thomas knows something, where she's at or-- 544 00:29:56,734 --> 00:30:01,703 so as that progressed, we became more and more concerned. 545 00:30:01,808 --> 00:30:04,346 NARRATOR: As Bartlett Police go through the home 546 00:30:04,450 --> 00:30:06,883 they have one question in mind. 547 00:30:06,987 --> 00:30:10,010 Had Thomas Paine harmed his wife? 548 00:30:10,114 --> 00:30:11,713 They take computers. 549 00:30:11,817 --> 00:30:14,700 They take phone bills. 550 00:30:14,804 --> 00:30:18,351 They take the actual phones. 551 00:30:18,455 --> 00:30:21,060 The police uncover a lot of different things, 552 00:30:21,165 --> 00:30:24,744 from multiple bottles of alcohol, 553 00:30:24,848 --> 00:30:28,845 to a history of pornography. 554 00:30:28,950 --> 00:30:32,563 All through that search afternoon, more and more doubts 555 00:30:32,667 --> 00:30:37,498 began to arise about, what's going on here? 556 00:30:37,601 --> 00:30:38,922 We're not getting the whole story. 557 00:30:39,027 --> 00:30:41,251 There's things here that don't add up. 558 00:30:41,356 --> 00:30:46,221 And they start going through more personal items. 559 00:30:46,325 --> 00:30:51,745 And it turned out that Micah kept a journal. 560 00:30:51,850 --> 00:30:55,047 The journal was very revealing. 561 00:30:55,151 --> 00:30:59,739 This journal was intended to be between Micah and God. 562 00:30:59,843 --> 00:31:01,858 There was one entry in her prayer journal 563 00:31:01,962 --> 00:31:05,125 in February before this happened in April. 564 00:31:05,229 --> 00:31:08,774 And she had a whole paragraph that 565 00:31:08,878 --> 00:31:12,736 spoke to Thomas's indiscretions and unfaithfulness. 566 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:14,508 Through Micah's journal, cops begin 567 00:31:14,611 --> 00:31:17,115 to build a picture of the troubled days and weeks 568 00:31:17,219 --> 00:31:18,748 before her disappearance. 569 00:31:18,852 --> 00:31:22,675 I think it became clear to her that he was having an affair. 570 00:31:22,779 --> 00:31:25,281 And she may have confronted him with it. 571 00:31:25,385 --> 00:31:27,678 And they were beginning to argue. 572 00:31:27,782 --> 00:31:29,625 And they were arguing. 573 00:31:29,729 --> 00:31:31,397 And I think it got more and more frequent. 574 00:31:34,212 --> 00:31:37,200 I was one of the last people that saw Micah alive. 575 00:32:02,430 --> 00:32:04,584 NARRATOR: Confronted by police with evidence 576 00:32:04,689 --> 00:32:07,746 of his infidelity, his drinking, and his wife's 577 00:32:07,850 --> 00:32:10,978 obvious unhappiness with the state of their marriage, 578 00:32:11,083 --> 00:32:15,461 Thomas Pate begins to crack while being interrogated. 579 00:32:15,566 --> 00:32:17,998 It became clear that he was more involved 580 00:32:18,103 --> 00:32:22,759 in the disappearance and the ultimate demise of Micah 581 00:32:22,864 --> 00:32:24,775 than he was letting on. 582 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,894 NARRATOR: Under intense questioning, 583 00:32:26,998 --> 00:32:28,806 Thomas denies that he knew anything 584 00:32:28,910 --> 00:32:30,926 about his wife's whereabouts and demands 585 00:32:31,030 --> 00:32:32,385 to speak with his father. 586 00:32:32,490 --> 00:32:34,957 And he's not telling the Bartlett Police anything 587 00:32:35,061 --> 00:32:37,459 except for her leaving, she's gone jogging, 588 00:32:37,563 --> 00:32:38,988 he doesn't know where she is. 589 00:32:39,092 --> 00:32:43,193 And the father comes in and just wants him to tell 590 00:32:43,297 --> 00:32:45,487 the police where Micah is. 591 00:32:45,590 --> 00:32:47,329 Just tell them where she is. 592 00:32:59,039 --> 00:33:04,009 He went from being very aggressive and telling Thomas, 593 00:33:04,113 --> 00:33:05,572 you know, don't lie to me. 594 00:33:05,677 --> 00:33:06,789 Tell me if you hurt-- 595 00:33:06,892 --> 00:33:08,179 tell me where Mike is. 596 00:33:08,283 --> 00:33:11,793 He went from that, within a matter of minutes, 597 00:33:11,898 --> 00:33:14,295 to Thomas confessing. 598 00:33:46,093 --> 00:33:51,722 Around 8:00 that night, the police pulled me and my mom 599 00:33:51,826 --> 00:33:55,162 and my dad into the side room. 600 00:33:55,267 --> 00:33:59,959 We found that Thomas had made the statement that he had shot 601 00:34:00,063 --> 00:34:04,684 her and left her lying in this low lying area that 602 00:34:04,789 --> 00:34:08,646 was real muddy and marshy and during a rainy season, 603 00:34:08,750 --> 00:34:09,723 it floods. 604 00:34:49,583 --> 00:34:52,745 NARRATOR: This area was the Loosahatchie Bottoms, 605 00:34:52,849 --> 00:34:55,282 the very place that Melissa Conklin 606 00:34:55,387 --> 00:34:57,402 and Micah's other worried colleagues 607 00:34:57,506 --> 00:35:00,599 had searched for much of the day. 608 00:35:00,704 --> 00:35:04,422 Thomas had taken Micah there just a few days before. 609 00:35:04,525 --> 00:35:08,209 It was her birthday just two days prior to this. 610 00:35:08,314 --> 00:35:13,075 And so we had visited with her on the weekend, I had. 611 00:35:13,179 --> 00:35:15,265 And said, oh, what did you do? 612 00:35:15,369 --> 00:35:18,912 And she said, well Thomas found this new place 613 00:35:19,017 --> 00:35:25,793 for us to go target shooting, I believe, and run the dogs. 614 00:35:25,898 --> 00:35:27,531 But it's not very far from our house. 615 00:35:27,635 --> 00:35:30,207 It's just you know just down the road. 616 00:35:30,312 --> 00:35:33,821 NARRATOR: Thomas told detectives that on Thursday, April 30, 617 00:35:33,926 --> 00:35:37,157 they had gone out for another target practice session, 618 00:35:37,262 --> 00:35:39,625 but that a terrible accident had occurred. 619 00:35:39,729 --> 00:35:40,806 According to Thomas, they would 620 00:35:40,910 --> 00:35:44,802 go target shooting out there. 621 00:35:44,906 --> 00:35:48,626 And that somehow there was a mistake 622 00:35:48,729 --> 00:35:52,517 and he accidentally shot her in the back of the head. 623 00:35:52,622 --> 00:35:56,270 The fact that he knew that whole time 624 00:35:56,374 --> 00:36:02,247 and was lying to us the whole time, it's so painful. 625 00:36:02,352 --> 00:36:04,610 It's so, so painful. 626 00:36:04,714 --> 00:36:08,537 But we were just so eaten up with anger, just so mad, 627 00:36:08,642 --> 00:36:15,280 that this man allowed her family to drive in, her mom, her dad, 628 00:36:15,384 --> 00:36:18,997 her brother, her friends, to spend 629 00:36:19,101 --> 00:36:26,713 this time looking, looking for her, hoping to find her. 630 00:36:26,817 --> 00:36:28,242 for you to know all along that you 631 00:36:28,347 --> 00:36:33,037 shot her and left her at the bottoms with ants and mud. 632 00:36:33,141 --> 00:36:35,574 NARRATOR: As Micah's family processed the news, 633 00:36:35,678 --> 00:36:38,875 a police search party was set out to recover her body. 634 00:36:38,980 --> 00:36:42,559 I personally walked out to where they found her. 635 00:36:42,663 --> 00:36:47,147 And it is way off the road in the middle of thorns, 636 00:36:47,251 --> 00:36:50,204 brambles, mud, leaves. 637 00:36:50,308 --> 00:36:54,514 And it looked as if he had probably carried her there. 638 00:36:54,618 --> 00:36:56,633 Probably with the intention of throwing 639 00:36:56,737 --> 00:36:58,441 around the Loosahatchie River. 640 00:36:58,544 --> 00:37:02,680 Typically, if that rain would have continued, and it did, 641 00:37:02,784 --> 00:37:04,626 her body probably would have washed 642 00:37:04,731 --> 00:37:07,406 away had he not taken her to-- 643 00:37:07,510 --> 00:37:09,074 taken us there to get her. 644 00:37:09,179 --> 00:37:14,078 Many bodies end up in the Loosahatchie unfortunately. 645 00:37:14,182 --> 00:37:18,492 But he couldn't make it quite to the river. 646 00:37:18,596 --> 00:37:23,843 So he left her there, face down, with a gunshot 647 00:37:23,948 --> 00:37:26,519 hole in the back of her head. 648 00:37:26,623 --> 00:37:30,862 And the interesting thing is, she's not wearing her shoes. 649 00:37:30,967 --> 00:37:34,477 And she's wearing white socks, which 650 00:37:34,582 --> 00:37:37,153 are not dirty on the bottom. 651 00:37:37,257 --> 00:37:42,019 And this is a muddy, muddy place where she is, full of you know, 652 00:37:42,123 --> 00:37:49,489 dried leaves, dead grass, thorns, things of that nature. 653 00:37:49,593 --> 00:37:55,710 He will tell you that some extraordinary, unbelievable-- 654 00:37:58,838 --> 00:38:03,008 that her boots fell off her feet is why she had no shoes on. 655 00:38:03,113 --> 00:38:05,997 She had all the same clothes that she had on when 656 00:38:06,101 --> 00:38:08,881 she was at my office that day. 657 00:38:08,986 --> 00:38:10,723 NARRATOR: It was yet another piece of evidence 658 00:38:10,827 --> 00:38:14,337 that this may not have been a terrible accident. 659 00:38:14,441 --> 00:38:18,610 On May 2, 2009, Thomas Pate was charged 660 00:38:18,715 --> 00:38:20,731 with second degree murder. 661 00:38:20,836 --> 00:38:25,179 The only time I got a true impression of Thomas was 662 00:38:25,284 --> 00:38:28,828 when I was cross-examining him on the stand 663 00:38:28,933 --> 00:38:30,913 for that bond hearing. 664 00:38:31,017 --> 00:38:33,832 NARRATOR: Thomas succeeded in securing bail. 665 00:38:33,937 --> 00:38:36,161 As he awaited trial, investigators 666 00:38:36,265 --> 00:38:38,177 set out to prove that Micah's death 667 00:38:38,281 --> 00:38:40,574 had been a deliberate act. 668 00:38:40,678 --> 00:38:43,840 The gunshot wound is in the middle of her back, 669 00:38:43,944 --> 00:38:45,335 the back of her head. 670 00:38:45,439 --> 00:38:47,907 It goes through her ball cap. 671 00:38:48,011 --> 00:38:52,841 And it's not quite a contact wound, but it is close. 672 00:38:52,945 --> 00:38:55,795 We spent a lot of time at a Christian youth camp. 673 00:38:55,899 --> 00:38:59,966 And one of the things we do at Camp Tahkodah is target shoot. 674 00:39:00,070 --> 00:39:03,544 She was well aware of the safety issues involved 675 00:39:03,648 --> 00:39:06,985 with guns and to not be in front of someone 676 00:39:07,089 --> 00:39:10,808 that was with a loaded gun. 677 00:39:10,912 --> 00:39:14,109 NARRATOR: Micah had plenty of experience with firearms 678 00:39:14,213 --> 00:39:16,229 and so did her husband. 679 00:39:16,333 --> 00:39:21,233 Thomas was very experienced in firing weapons. 680 00:39:21,338 --> 00:39:24,431 He was also experienced at being with other people who 681 00:39:24,534 --> 00:39:25,611 had weapons. 682 00:39:25,715 --> 00:39:28,565 He went hunting all the time with his friends. 683 00:39:28,669 --> 00:39:31,484 And going through the autopsy and seeing the crime 684 00:39:31,588 --> 00:39:38,748 scene photos, and looking at the clothing, which was a ball 685 00:39:38,852 --> 00:39:41,667 cap with the hole in the back of it, 686 00:39:41,772 --> 00:39:45,072 and the blood and a little powder burn-- 687 00:39:45,177 --> 00:39:47,367 NARRATOR: The pathologist and ballistics experts 688 00:39:47,470 --> 00:39:50,528 believed the shot had been fired at close range 689 00:39:50,632 --> 00:39:52,162 and with some precision. 690 00:39:52,266 --> 00:39:55,150 To them, this was no stray bullet. 691 00:39:55,254 --> 00:39:57,513 Other evidence considered were his actions 692 00:39:57,617 --> 00:40:00,434 after Micah's death. 693 00:40:00,536 --> 00:40:02,204 There's no accident when you shoot somebody 694 00:40:02,309 --> 00:40:03,769 in the back of the head. 695 00:40:03,873 --> 00:40:06,411 One shot with her own gun? 696 00:40:06,513 --> 00:40:07,799 And you don't call anybody? 697 00:40:07,903 --> 00:40:09,606 And you don't call nine one one? 698 00:40:09,710 --> 00:40:12,005 That wasn't an accident. 699 00:40:12,110 --> 00:40:13,360 That's not an accident. 700 00:40:33,203 --> 00:40:37,060 And I think that speaks something to the manipulation 701 00:40:37,164 --> 00:40:39,527 and the heart. 702 00:40:39,631 --> 00:40:46,061 That's a very telling thing to me that's very difficult for me 703 00:40:46,165 --> 00:40:47,902 to give up. 704 00:40:48,007 --> 00:40:52,351 He left Micah out there for over 24 hours, wild animals, 705 00:40:52,454 --> 00:40:55,409 elements, it didn't matter. 706 00:40:55,513 --> 00:40:58,467 And I do think that the evidence 707 00:40:58,571 --> 00:41:03,958 from the texting, the leading us on a wild goose chase, 708 00:41:04,062 --> 00:41:07,398 all of those different things led to that this 709 00:41:07,501 --> 00:41:09,031 was more than an accident. 710 00:41:09,135 --> 00:41:11,776 NARRATOR: To further prove that, there was the evidence 711 00:41:11,881 --> 00:41:14,974 that police had found in the couple's home, signs 712 00:41:15,078 --> 00:41:17,823 that their marriage was increasingly troubled. 713 00:41:17,928 --> 00:41:22,342 The officers tracked back through his phone records. 714 00:41:22,445 --> 00:41:25,711 And there were many texts with another woman 715 00:41:25,815 --> 00:41:27,449 who was from New Jersey. 716 00:41:27,553 --> 00:41:31,445 And then they got into the bills for the credit cards. 717 00:41:31,549 --> 00:41:33,495 And that's when they discover that there was 718 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,596 a charge, charges made at Tunica, Mississippi, 719 00:41:37,701 --> 00:41:40,829 charges made for actually the slot machines. 720 00:41:40,933 --> 00:41:45,033 He used the credit card to play on the slot machines 721 00:41:45,137 --> 00:41:48,646 and to pay for the hotel room that he and this woman from New 722 00:41:48,751 --> 00:41:50,698 Jersey spent the night in. 723 00:41:50,802 --> 00:42:02,617 I believe that she caught him in his adulterous exploits. 724 00:42:02,722 --> 00:42:06,961 I believe that she caught him in some lies. 725 00:42:07,066 --> 00:42:09,602 And she realized what was going on. 726 00:42:09,706 --> 00:42:12,210 I don't know that to be true. 727 00:42:12,314 --> 00:42:15,544 But in my mind, I believe that was the turning 728 00:42:15,649 --> 00:42:18,257 point that led to her death. 729 00:42:20,966 --> 00:42:23,573 NARRATOR: Micah's loved ones waited almost two years 730 00:42:23,677 --> 00:42:27,569 for Thomas Pate's trial to begin with mixed emotions. 731 00:42:27,673 --> 00:42:29,445 We wanted to hear what he had to say. 732 00:42:29,550 --> 00:42:31,183 We wanted to know why. 733 00:42:31,287 --> 00:42:35,215 Early on, he was offered a plea deal of second degree 734 00:42:35,319 --> 00:42:36,707 murder and 15 years. 735 00:42:36,812 --> 00:42:42,441 And we asked our friends to pray that he would take that. 736 00:42:42,546 --> 00:42:44,457 And he did not. 737 00:42:44,561 --> 00:42:49,428 It was a disappointment to us that he did not 738 00:42:49,531 --> 00:42:51,131 take the plea on the front end. 739 00:42:51,235 --> 00:42:54,015 He could have saved us all those months of grief. 740 00:42:54,119 --> 00:42:57,177 We wanted to grieve the loss of our daughter. 741 00:42:57,281 --> 00:43:01,868 We wanted to get used to this new normal of having a daughter 742 00:43:01,972 --> 00:43:03,641 that was no longer with us. 743 00:43:03,745 --> 00:43:08,610 Instead, we had to concentrate on all the stuff that was going 744 00:43:08,714 --> 00:43:10,869 on in Memphis and make trips over there that 745 00:43:10,973 --> 00:43:14,517 were very emotionally laden. 746 00:43:14,621 --> 00:43:17,055 NARRATOR: On Monday, March 7, 2011, 747 00:43:17,159 --> 00:43:20,112 Pate entered an Alford plea. 748 00:43:20,216 --> 00:43:24,804 The Alford plea says, I'm not confessing to doing this 749 00:43:24,908 --> 00:43:28,522 but the evidence against me is overwhelming. 750 00:43:28,626 --> 00:43:32,172 And so therefore, I wave the white flag. 751 00:43:32,276 --> 00:43:35,022 So there's not a confession. 752 00:43:35,126 --> 00:43:40,095 There was part of me that felt some relief that this is over. 753 00:43:40,199 --> 00:43:44,612 And so I say, that is God's way of saying, 754 00:43:44,716 --> 00:43:51,216 here's the best blend of justice and mercy. 755 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:56,289 We get to feel some justice, that there's 756 00:43:56,393 --> 00:44:00,147 a consequence being paid for what happened to Micah. 757 00:44:00,250 --> 00:44:04,629 Micah Rine trusted she was marrying a good Christian man 758 00:44:04,733 --> 00:44:08,973 and her faith gave her comfort when things began to go bad. 759 00:44:09,077 --> 00:44:12,725 But in the end both her trust and faith 760 00:44:12,830 --> 00:44:16,027 had been tragically misplaced. 761 00:44:16,131 --> 00:44:17,521 I'm Michelle Trachtenberg. 762 00:44:17,626 --> 00:44:21,935 And I'll see you next time on "Meet Marry, Murder." 763 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:23,603 Micah was stubborn. 764 00:44:23,707 --> 00:44:27,843 Michael had a very willful personality. 765 00:44:27,947 --> 00:44:31,560 And so I do believe that she was trying to make it work. 766 00:44:31,664 --> 00:44:37,990 Even though the marriage was pretty bad, 767 00:44:38,094 --> 00:44:42,576 she kept her faithfulness and her love for God. 768 00:44:42,681 --> 00:44:46,401 And that lets us live with hope. 769 00:44:46,504 --> 00:44:47,825 There will be a day when I'll see 770 00:44:47,929 --> 00:44:54,774 Micah again because of the resurrection of Jesus.