The FBI is the most sophisticated law enforcement agency [music] in the world, pursuing the most dangerous criminals. >> In Michigan, when a young woman disappears with her baby, >> she knows something's going to happen. She may not have realized that she's going in the water, but she realized that she's going to be murdered. >> I was terrified. The bureau mobilizes. >> This case I'll never forget. This case represents the most violent [music] crime that I've ever investigated. >> He doesn't care about the feelings of others. He doesn't care about the rules. And if somebody is in the way, you simply kill them. >> FBI criminal pursuit. It's the morning of August 8th, 1996 in the small rural community of Cedar Springs, Michigan. [music] [panting] 19-year-old Rachel Timberman makes a desperate call to a friend. Hello. >> Something terrible is happening. >> She could barely talk through her tears. Um, she just said something horrible has happened and I said, "Do you want me to come? I'll come right now." [crying] [panting] >> Jackie rushes to Rachel's house, which she shares with her mother and younger sister. >> Rachel, what's happen? >> Jackie has counseledled Rachel since the girl was 13 and knows her home life has always been hard. her mother really didn't provide well for her. Um, be it food, finances, [music] or clothing or emotional support. She went to school erratically and there were issues with clothing and she had nothing to wear to go to school. [music] >> Rachel experimented with drugs and was slipping through the cracks until she got pregnant with her daughter Shannon. For the first time, she had someone who truly loved her. >> She was the happiest baby. She laughed constantly. [music] She almost never cried. After Shannon, she was really [music] a changed young woman. She didn't party. She didn't smoke dope. She didn't drink. She wanted the best for Shannon. She wanted [music] to rise up herself um so that her daughter would be able to look up to her as a mom to you. >> But when Jackie sees Rachel's battered and bruised face, it's clear that something has shattered her world. >> Oh, it was a wild fear. [music] Her eyes were big and dilated and she's terrified. And I believe that she was terrified. >> Okay, cool. >> Okay, I'm ready. All right. >> Rachel tells Jackie that a family [music] friend, 44year-old Wayne Davis, stopped by the night before. He invited her to a game of cards with Mike, a classmate of Rachel's. And Mike's uncle, Marvin Gabri, whom she had never met. >> Give her a bottle when she starts. >> A single mom, Rachel jumped at the chance for a night out. >> She left baby Shannon with her sister and headed out with Wayne. Bye. >> She felt in good company when she did get in the car with him that night. >> Rachel was anything but safe. They're driving down the road and Marvin pulls over and he kicks both of them, Mike and and Wayne Davis out and took off and pulled her out of the car and >> one of my >> started trying to rape her and she tried to fight him off but he got the best of her. According to Rachel, Marvin Gabri raped her repeatedly, savagely biting her nose and banging her head on the ground. Now Rachel doesn't know what to do. [music] After consoling her, Jackie encourages Rachel to go to the hospital and report the rape. I did talk about justice and you know if you don't report this you know he's going to do it he'll do it again and again. She didn't value herself enough to think that her getting raped even mattered. >> Nego County Sheriff's Detective [music] Sergeant Dave Babcock meets Rachel and Jackie at the hospital and takes Rachel's statement. She was afraid of him and she made that [music] very clear and I certainly understood that. But at the same time, she wanted [music] to press forward with charges. >> And on the way back, I said, you know, I'm really proud of you. She looked at me. I thought thought she was going to deck me. And I said, what? And she got tears in her eyes. And she said, nobody's ever told me that before. Just broke my heart, you know. Detective Sergeant Babcock [music] tracks down the alleged rapist, Marvin Gabri, and asks him to come to the station. Gabri promises to show the following day, but doesn't. Instead, he faxes Babcock a fivepage detailed explanation of events. It's the first and only time I've received a suspect's statement about a crime or an incident. Through the facts, he indicated that it was her idea to have [music] a sexual encounter. She was making a fake rape complaint against him. But Gabri's version of the story doesn't match the [music] evidence. It doesn't take long for investigators [music] to find Marvin Gabri, arrest him, and charge him with rape. He serves only 2 weeks before his family comes up with bail money. Wayne Davis, one of the witnesses to the alleged rape, posts his bond. [music] Meanwhile, Rachel gets her life back on track. She moves in with her father, gets a job at a fast food restaurant, and plans to return to school. [music] >> Are you ready? >> Shannon, now 11 months old, is her number one priority. >> She was not going to live where she had been living, have contact with the people that she'd known all her life, and wanted to learn how to be a good mother. On June 3rd, 1997, 2 days before the rape trial is scheduled to begin, Rachel [music] is upbeat. She tells her family she has a date with a guy she met at work. A really nice guy who wants her to bring the baby along. >> She was pretty excited about it. She fixed her hair. She said she'd be back later. >> All right, let's go. The very next day, her father receives a letter in Rachel's handwriting. Rachel apologizes for leaving without saying goodbye, but explains that she's run off to get married. She promises to write again after she settles down. >> [music] >> Knowing Rachel's impulsive, free-spirited nature, her family and [music] friends consider the possibility that she may have at last found the fairy tale. [music] >> All right, here go. >> Maybe she did meet some nice guy and she just [music] wanted to get away, you know? Maybe she just wanted to get away from this whole rape thing and, you know, just take a break. But Kim Verhe can't shake the sinister feeling that something is wrong. >> They knew Rachel wouldn't have done that. She wouldn't have done it to me. She wouldn't have done it to my son. She wouldn't have taken Shannon from us. There's no way she would have done that. >> Who did Rachel run away with? It's a question that the FBI will eventually have to answer, but by then it may be too late. There was a a man who came to the house in a car and he never got out of the car. Never met uh Rachel's father or anybody in the family. She just got in the car with Shannon and they took off and she was never seen again by her family. It's been 1 year since 19-year-old Rachel Timberman was brutally raped by Marvin Gabri. Finally, it's her day to face her attacker in court. But Rachel has had a sudden change of heart. She sent her family a letter saying that she's run off with a mysterious guy she met at work and has taken her 11-month-old daughter, Shannon. >> She had said she had met a nice guy. So, I thought, well, maybe, you know, maybe she did. Maybe she did. I was really hoping that for her. The court hearing comes and [music] goes with no sign of Rachel. Within days, she sends both the prosecutor and judge handwritten letters with a stunning message. >> She wanted to drop the charges. She moved out of the area and she was recanting her fake rape charges against Marvin Gabri. [music] >> Both letters are postmarked Arkansas. And just like the letter Rachel's family received, both have an unusual feature. These envelopes that these letters came in [music] weren't typical envelopes where you stick a stamp on with your thumb. They had a holographic uh stamp that was built into the envelope. So, that's unusual. You don't see that all the time. Unable to locate Rachel, authorities dismissed the rape case against Gabri. On June 14th, Father's Day, and the day before baby Shannon's first birthday, the family receives another letter from Arkansas. In it, Rachel identifies the man she's with as Delbert and says he just got a job in Little Rock. She also says she's considering living in Arkansas forever. Kim Verhag can't believe it's [music] true. Frantic with worry, she badgers Rachel's family with [music] continual calls. This is the letter. Did it sound like her? Did it sound like Rachel who said this? Oh, yeah. Sounded just like Rachel. I called there almost daily for the next two weeks. [music] One month after Rachel's mystery [music] date, Douglas Sorter and his son-in-law go fishing on Oxford Lake in rural Newego County. >> I've always called it a mud hole in the middle of the woods. There's no bottom in it. I've dropped 150 foot of anchor line in it and never kept never quit going. >> Just as the men are launching their boat, they notice something unusual floating in the water. They paddle out to take a closer look. When we got around the edge, I could see a cement block on the outside of what we thought was a dummy. And I told Nathan, I said, "Man, I don't like this." Two or three more paddles and we was downwind of it and the stench hit us and both of us knew what we were seeing. Then we knew it was dead guy. That's what we called it. We made the turn and started coming back. And I said to my son-in-law, "I hope whoever did this isn't watching us." Douglas and his son-in-law race to their cabin to call 911. Newego County Sheriff's Detective Sergeant Dave Babcock responds to the scene. He's soon joined by Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Richard Miller. >> Obviously, it was a homicide. Quite evident was the body is also wrapped in duct tape around the eyes and the face. Investigators carefully lift the badly decayed body [music] and are able to retrieve fingerprints. The body is taken to the medical examiner who determines that it is an adult female. She appears to have had several surgeries, including a C-section, and could be as old as 50. Her eyes and mouth were taped shut. Her hands cuffed behind her back, and she was chained to 63 lbs of concrete blocks that are marked with red paint and secured by padlocks. The medical examiner confirms that the woman was [music] dumped in the water alive. >> You can only imagine what she must have thought. You know, this is her last moments on Earth. She knows something's going to happen. She may not have realized that she's going in the water, but she realized that she's going to be murdered. She must been very lonely. Extremely hopeless feeling. Kim Verhag reads about the murder victim in the local paper and is immediately suspicious. Rachel had had hip surgeries that are more common to somebody older. She had them when she was like 13 years old. You wouldn't [music] expect to have seen a 19-year-old. She'd had a C-section and I just had a really bad feeling. >> Kim contacts Michigan police. They compare the victim's fingerprints with 19-year-old Rachel's and get a match. I think all of us were still in like shock and disbelief that this horrendous horrible horrible thing had happened to Rachel. It was hideous. It was a hideous thought. >> What's even [music] more terrifying is that baby Shannon is still missing. Was she too callously murdered? Or could she [music] still be alive somewhere? Oh, I just I didn't sleep. I didn't eat. I paced. I couldn't I couldn't sit even. After a few days of this, I was just losing my mind basically. And I have a friend who's a [music] federal judge in another state. And I called her and asked her what to do. She made a [music] few phone calls and called me back and said, "Kim, call the FBI. Tell them you want to report a kidnapping and a homicide." >> Special Agent Robera Gilligan is assigned to the case. A mother herself, she is worried about baby Shannon and knows the FBI's back is against the wall. Time is of the essence. So, it's important to move quickly uh and get as many resources into the investigation as you can and start following leads, find out who was Rachel with and to develop a possible suspect and try to track that person down to see if they might have any information about the baby or [music] anybody who was in contact with Rachel. 5 days after recovering Rachel's body, investigators conduct a more thorough search [music] of the muddy lake. >> The cadaavver dogs that we used at Oxford Lake kept indicating there were more human remains down there. Uh we couldn't find those. >> The FBI then issues a nationwide alert for the 11-month-old. Missing persons flyers are posted all over Cedar Springs. We worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Had posters of Shannon's picture and information so that people could call in with any tips. >> The tips lead nowhere and investigators turn to the most likely suspects, the men closest to Rachel. They start with Shannon's father, Rachel's ex-boyfriend, Rick Verhag. >> They may have had a fight. They may not get along. He may not have wanted to pay child support. I mean, there could be a number of reasons that that he would be a potential suspect. >> But questioning reveals that Verhag has been living in Florida and has an alibi for the day Rachel disappeared. >> Rick was not a strong suspect. He had no motive really. He had no anger or resentment towards Rachel. >> But there is one man who was angry with Rachel. Marvin Gabri, the man she accused of rape. >> In fact, agents soon learned that Gabrian had threatened her to keep quiet at the time of the rape. >> You're not going to tell anybody, are you? >> He told her he would kill her, but before he killed her, he would kill Shannon and make her watch. That's what he told her. >> Was Gabri to his word? And if so, how is this connected to the man who took Rachel out on a date? >> Let's go. >> The search is about to lead investigators down a twisted [music] trail of death that will yield more questions than answers. 2 weeks after the body of 19-year-old single mother Rachel Timberman is found handcuffed, bound, and chained in a Michigan lake, authorities are on a desperate hunt to track her killer and find her child, Shannon. >> I can't imagine the terror she must have felt. [music] And even worse, knowing that she was going to die that way is what she must have been thinking about her one-year-old daughter, Shannon, and what was going to happen to her. FBI agents and Newego [music] County authorities still have no idea where baby Shannon could be. Time is running out and they need to question Marvin Gabriel, the man Rachel had accused of rape, but he's nowhere to be found. >> He was very mobile, so we just knew that we were going to have a hard time in locating this individual. Finally, authorities get a lead. A man named Gabriel is supposedly living in the predominantly Amish community of Altona. On July 12th, detectives Miller and Babcockim go to the house >> and immediately notice something bizarre. This is during July and a lot of smoke was coming out of the chimney. Quite obviously that somebody was burning something. >> The detectives knock on the door, but no one answers. They case the property and discover a pile of concrete blocks covered with black tar and red paint. >> Cement blocks drew our attention cuz they appeared to be quite similar with the markings and type that we found on the body of Rachel Timberman. They question neighbors who confirm the house is actually occupied by Marvin Gabri, but they haven't seen him around lately. And even more strangely, the handyman Gabri had hired, a guy named John Weekes, has also mysteriously disappeared. >> No one [music] had seen him. No one had also reported him missing. They just assumed he was out of the area. >> Authorities quickly tracked down John Weekes's girlfriend. Surprisingly, when shown a photo of Marvin Gabri, she identifies him as Lance. She tells investigators that Lance and John Weekes took off for Texas to buy marijuana, but she doesn't know how to reach them. and she reveals something chilling. >> She told me there was one time that she'd caught her boyfriend John making phone calls to a girl named Rachel and it angered her. >> Why are you calling a girl when you're going with me? And reportedly it was explained that John said, "I'm doing a favor for Lance. I'm trying to hook him up with this girl named Rachel." And that's all she knew. Investigators now suspect that John Weekes may be the one who took Rachel out on the date that led to her death. Might he have even been her killer? Authorities wait anxiously for the crime lab results on the evidence found at Gabri's house. They're rewarded with an important break. Those blocks that were found on Rachel Timberman's body were a match to the blocks found at Marvin Gabrian's house. It was like a fingerprint. State Police [music] Detective Sergeant Richard Miller and Sheriff's Detective Sergeant Dave Babcock returned to Gabri's house in Altona armed with a search warrant. Gabri is still missing, but they're just in time to catch his family members doing something odd. >> There was a pickup truck backed up to the garage door here and they were loading stuff from within the household into the pickup truck. >> That was very much a concern for us that the family was assisting Marvin and just to dispose of evidence, having no real idea what evidence we might locate, but we're we are concerned. Absolutely. Babcock and Miller order the men to put everything back in the house. Then enter the premises to carry out their search. Looks like the same. >> One thing that really stuck out my mind is that his use of duct tape. Literally, he hung his curtains with duct tape. The detectives recover [music] cans of red spray paint like that found on the concrete blocks and several keys used to open padlocks. Even more disturbing, a book titled The Perfect Victim. >> But it deals with a sexual predator who kidnaps a woman and holds her as a captive for his own personal sexual uses. That was the only piece of reading material that I found in the whole house. Investigators determined that the keys unlock the padlocks [music] that helped bind Rachel Timberman's body. Still, it's not enough to move the case forward. >> It's not like DNA. There's certain number of keys that will open the same lock [music] and that's distributed throughout the country. So, you can't say that this key is the only key that opens that lock. Marvin Gabri's family won't reveal where he is, but authorities are learning more about him and are convinced that he's a first rate scam artist. Con man, >> he had several ultra egos. He bought and sold property, vehicles, insurance policies, and other people's names just to avoid being identified. >> Investigators are also convinced he has a limitless appetite for violence. Mr. Gabri thinks of himself as very special. He thinks of himself as entitled to do whatever he wants to do, to be above and beyond the law. And his view of other people is that they are merely props in his world. Investigators fears are confirmed when they learn that the Altona house Gabri was living in is not registered to him. Instead, it belongs to a man named Robert Allen, a Skidro transient. >> We didn't know where he was. We tried to contact the family and learned that he also had not been seen by family since [music] 1995. So, he'd been missing for 2 years at that point. >> Allan may be missing, but his social security checks are still being cashed by none other than Marvin Gabri. Basically, he stole Robert Allen's identity and got his monthly benefits. And at the same time, Robert Allen disappeared. At this point, investigators have to consider whether Gabrian killed Robert Allen in order to take his benefits. And they're troubled by an even more twisted possibility. Could Gabri have also killed John Weekes, the man who took Rachel on the mysterious date? He hasn't been seen since he told his girlfriend he was leaving for Texas with Marvin aka Lance Gabri. >> We were able to document that Lance or Marvin never went to Texas and that uh John to my recollection lacked the mobility. I don't think he had a proper vehicle that could even get him down there. So, I suspected that there's one more for us. Sean, >> with two of Gabri's associates presumed dead, investigators try to get in touch with Wayne Davis, the friend who posted Gabri's bail and the prosecution's star witness in the rape case. But Wayne Davis has also been missing for weeks and was last seen with Marvin Gabri. The suspected body count around Gabri is growing like wildfire. In addition to Rachel, there are now three men he suspected of killing, all to avoid facing a rape charge. Marvin Gabrian is an antisocial personality disorder and a psychopath. He doesn't care about the feelings of others. He doesn't care about the rules. And if somebody is in the way, you simply kill them. If we didn't catch him [music] soon, we knew other people were going to be in trouble. There were still witnesses in a rape case, other witnesses who might have put him with John Weekes or Wayne [music] Davis. Everybody was afraid. Police suspect Gabrian is killing everyone in his path. Will Shannon be his fifth victim? >> I just think that he absolutely thought he was above the law and nobody was going to put him in [music] jail and anybody that tried to was going to die. It's July 1997 in Cedar Springs, Michigan, and the FBI and local authorities suspect that Marvin Gabrian has killed up to four people to avoid going to trial for raping 19-year-old Rachel Timberman. Marvin Gabrian is about as ruthless a predator as you could possibly encounter. He doesn't have any empathy whatsoever for another human being. And if they're perceived as being in his way, they'll simply eliminate them. And he won't feel any remorse about it. He has no conscience. And the evidence against him in Rachel's murder is growing. A neighbor of Gabri's [music] recalls a chilling incident days after Rachel disappeared. He was awakened by a racket outside at 3:00 in [music] the morning. He said Marvin Gabrian was grinding something off of a uh a an aluminum rowboat and [music] he said when Marvin got done doing that he threw a length of chain and three cement blocks into the rowboat and left. Investigators are slowly piecing together what may have happened to Rachel, but they're left struggling with one critical loose end. Where is Rachel's daughter, Shannon? >> Everybody was still praying and hoping that somehow someway whoever had Shannon would, you know, somebody had to have her. >> Rumors begin swirling around town that Shannon may still be alive. and that Gabri might have sold her on the black market. >> He might have tried to do something [music] else with the baby. Give it to somebody, sell it, whatever. I mean, that was bandied around. >> The idea doesn't seem so far-fetched to Rachel's family and friends. Not very long prior to the rape, I was at Rachel's and she says, "You know, my mom knows somebody that wants to have a baby and he's willing to pay $25,000 for a baby." >> Rachel would never sell Shannon, but would Marvin Gabri, >> I thought that that was a possibility. I mean, why would you kill a baby in this situation? She can't testify. She doesn't know you, you know? She can't She couldn't talk. She just learned how to say grandma. The urgency to find Shannon grows even stronger after Gabri's former landlord comes forward with some disturbing news. When Gabri moved out, he left behind a collection of troubling photos. >> It was described that he had gone to great extent to collect a number of preubescent female pictures of girls wearing underwear and skinny clothes. And it wasn't commercial porn pornography, but it showed his preference for children. If baby Shannon is still alive, there's no telling what kind of trouble she may be in. Investigators need to find her before all hope is lost. On July 18th, 1997, a few weeks after Rachel's body was found in Oxford Lake, investigators finally get a fresh lead on where Gabri is hiding. A family member comes forward with information about a campsite Gabri is using near Hungerford Lake, about 7 miles from Oxford Lake. Authorities race to the area, hoping Gabri is still there. But when they arrive, Gabri has already cleared out. Still, he has left behind critical evidence, including a barret identified as Rachel's, baby bottle nipples, and the remnants of a disposable diaper. There's a little doubt in my mind the child was there. >> At that point in [music] investigation, there was hope in people's minds. in our minds as well. >> But Gabri and baby Shannon have vanished once again. For 2 months, the FBI is stumped until they get an anonymous tip from a man who has been funneling payments on a land deal to Gabri. The man agrees to withhold the money, which he sends to a post office box in New York State until agents can begin covert surveillance. >> Gabri immediately notices the change. >> He was so anxious about getting the [music] money sent to this post office box in New York. He made telephone contact. Where's my money? When's it going to be sent? On October 14th, [music] 1997, dozens of FBI agents and a SWAT team, dressed in tactical gear and heavily armed, >> stake out the post office. [music] >> As expected, around 11:00 a.m., agents see a man fitting [music] Marvin Gabri's description enter the post office. Gabri has already slipped through their fingers for months. As agents get into position, they know that this time they can't afford to let him get away. [music] >> October 14th, 1997. After carefully staking out a post office, the FBI finally has suspected murderer Marvin Gabriel within their grasp. When he walks out the door, they strike. >> He knew something was up and he started to run, but the FBI agents caught him. Stay on the ground. Stay on the ground. >> To this day, it's one of the best days of my career knowing he was caught and he wasn't going to get out. >> Finally, Marvin Gabri is in custody. But will he reveal any information about baby Shannon? The investigator's hopes are short-lived. Gabri denies having anything to do with the baby's disappearance or her mother's murder as well as the other victims. Yet, though he refuses to cooperate with police, he has a rabid need to talk. Gabri begins writing to local papers and witnesses, even [music] Rachel's family. >> One of the most horrible things about this case uh was how Marvin Gabrian kept torturing Shannon's family and and Rachel's family. He wrote many letters to Rachel's mother. And one of the letters was, um, it's your fault that that Rachel's dead. You're going to have to live the rest of your life picturing [music] her sinking into that lake and the bubbles rising to the surface. I mean, he just he was relentless. Investigators encouraged the family to write back, hoping it might prove to their advantage. >> The more a person communicates, the more tips, more clues they're going to give off. And that's what we were hoping for. And it was a a way of us to try to get information, any kind of information that we could follow up to try to locate Shannon. Kim Verhag, the baby's paternal grandmother, offers to take the lead. I talked to the state police detective and said, "You've got to do something to stop this person." And I said, "If somebody needs to communicate with him, I will. Kim talks to Marvin on the phone repeatedly, asking him whether he sold 11month-old Shannon on the black market [music] or whether he murdered her. Finally, he slips up. I just said, you know, Marvin, tell me what you think. Do you think Shannon is in that lake? And he perked right up and he got real adamant. He says, "No, she is not in that [music] lake. I know for a fact she's not in that lake." And I think in [music] that little moment, he forgot himself and told the truth. At the same time, several inmates come forward and offer a different version to Gabri's claim. >> They started um goating him about why did you kill the baby? You know, why did you kill that baby? What did that baby ever do to you? At one point, Marvin finally cracked under the uh under the goating. And he said, I couldn't hang on to baby [music] Shannon. I had to get rid of her. So, I threw her in the lake. In May 2001, authorities decide to make one more major attempt to search the murky Oxford Lake. >> It's a lake where the water doesn't move very much. It's very mucky. And the hopes were that we might find something in [music] the muck that stayed in place. That was our hope. They drain thousands of gallons of water and remove almost 300 cubic yards of sediment. They find nothing. In March 2002, Marvin Gabri stands trial for the first degree murder of Rachel Timberman. Prosecutors theorize that John Weekes lured Rachel to Gabri on their deadly date and that baby [music] Shannon was invited for a very specific reason. >> It was a way to control Rachel. He had to get her to write those letters. He had to keep her quiet when she was at the campsite. And the mother is going to do a lot of things to to try and save her baby. The jury finds Marvin Gabri guilty and sentences him to death. The sentence is later commuted to life in prison without parole. In July 2002, canoists find the body of Wayne Davis in Manaste Forest's [music] Twinwood Lake, a half mile from Gabri's childhood home. John Weekes and Robert Allen are presumed dead, though their bodies have never been found. Gabri has not been charged with their murders. Baby Shannon is still missing as well. Kim Verhag can only hope to keep the vow she made to Rachel at her funeral. [music] I promised her standing at her coffin that day that I would do everything I could to get Shannon back and protect her. Baby Shannon's family is offering a reward for information leading to her return. There's a possibility she's still out there. It's just not probable. Shannon couldn't do anything to hurt Marvin Gabriel. [music] She couldn't talk. She couldn't be a witness. But one thing she would do is tie Marvin to the murder. And Marvin Gabrien [music] would not leave a trail. I hope she's out there somewhere being taken care of. My hope is in my heart of hearts is Shannon is out there in a good family and being loved and taken care of. People keep asking me, you know, it's been so many years. Why, you know, can't [music] you just let it go? Um, no matter what, no matter where, Shannon needs to come home to her family.