Dateline: Missing In America - Haleigh's Secret

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Haleigh Murphy, a 22-year-old Army veteran and mother, was last seen on June 16, 2023, leaving a bar in Round Rock, Texas, with a male friend.  Her family has not heard from her since that night. According to the Austin Police Department, at the time of her disappearance Haleigh was an informant for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz speaks with Haleigh’s mother, Becky Mitchell, her sister, Harley Murphy, and her best friend, Brittney Ketchum. When last seen, Haleigh Murphy was 5’ and 130 lbs. She had short platinum blonde hair, hazel eyes, and many brightly-colored tattoos. She would be 26 years old today. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the Texas Rangers at 512-424-2160 or the Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 512-424-5074. Get more information and see pictures of Haleigh Murphy here: https://www.nbcnews.com/datelinemissing Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On June 16th, 2003, the forecast for Temple, Texas, was hot and muggy. The high would hit 103 degrees. 22-year-old Haley Murphy started her day as she often did, on the phone with her mom, Becky Mitchell. We talked probably 45 minutes while I got ready for work. She told me about her going to go to her ex-boyfriend's yacht party. Later that day, Haley asked her sister, Harley Murphy, to help her pack for that weekend getaway. She wanted you to pick out some outfits for her. Yeah.

She had so many clothes. She was like, I have, like, 30 bathing suits, and I need to just pick three. Can you help? Nothing about that day seemed unusual to Haley's family. They were close. Haley loved family. She was very protective of the people that she cared about. One person had a special.

special place in Haley's heart, her two-year-old son, JJ. Brittany Ketchum is Haley's best friend. I had never seen like a light in her eyes the way I'd saw when she found out she was pregnant with JJ. No one in Haley's circle old enough to remember that June day knew they were making their final memories with Haley. She said bye to her son and she said by to me and then she got in the car and we left. Some of those memories are excruciating. Are you feeling some guilt about this? Yeah.

I feel a lot of guilt. It turns out, Haley, devoted mother, daughter, sister, friend, had a dangerous secret. And her family believes it was deadly. That's a terrible story. Sounds like a movie. Not real life. I'm Josh Manikowitz. This is Missing in America, a podcast from Dateline.

This episode is Haley's Secret. Please listen closely, because you or someone you know may have information that could help Haley's family find the answers they're still looking for. Haley, Brianne Murphy spent much of her childhood in and around Kaleen, Texas, in the shadow of the sprawling Fort Hood Army base. Her mother, Becky Mitchell, an Army veteran, was stationed there. She says her oldest daughter

did not seem destined to follow in her bootprints. Because Haley is a princess. She likes her makeup. She loves her nails. She like to be pretty. Haley did like to stand out. Her favorite mode of expression

was ink. Becky and her younger daughter, Harley Murphy, had a lot to say about that. At times, they finished each other's sentence. She loved tattoos. Oh, yeah.

That was her passion, I guess you'd say. She wanted to be fully covered in tattoos. Fully cover. From the neck down. So maybe we're past a passion and into addiction. I did make her promise after she got her neck tattoo that she would never tattoo her face. What was it about the tattoos that made her want to do that?

I think it's the art. She was like, wherever you want to put it, whatever you want to do, you can do it. I think she liked the attention to. That was an addiction for her to get attention from people. Everyone who knew Haley agrees she was not shy. She lived loud with no regrets, absolutely. She enjoyed life to the fullest.

In 2018, after graduating high school, Haley told Becky she was not going to college. she had other plans. When she said to the two of you, I'm joining the U.S. Army, you thought, come on, you're kidding. Yeah, I literally thought she was joking. Becky served in the military for four years.

Today, she's a parole officer. To her and to Harley. It was obvious why Haley and the Army did not seem an ideal match. She don't like to get dirty. She don't like to be hot. She does not like being told what to do. And she don't like to be told what to do, yes.

We didn't think she was going to make it through basic training. We were waiting for the call for her to say, hey, you got to come get me. It's time for me to come home. That call never came. Haley not only made it through Basic at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. She met her soon-to-be best friend, Brittany Ketchum. Everybody had their own little clicks, and she was new and she was rowdy.

And then I was just socially awkward and weird. So we just ended up just hanging out because no one liked her. And I was like, no one likes me, so that's perfect. To hear you tell it, you were a couple of misfits who found each other. Yeah, in a sense. After basic training, Haley and Brittany both ended up at Fort Hood and both in the Third Cavalry. Brittany says that's when their friendship deepened. If you were a person that she liked, like you felt the love through walls, she would do anything for you.

Haley was a human resources specialist, and Becky says the office job was a perfect fit for her daughter-turned-soldier. She loved her job. She loved the people she worked with. In 2019, almost 18 months after enlisting, Haley's life took an unexpected turn. She became pregnant. When she got pregnant with Jalani, that was like the greatest thing in her life. She couldn't wait to be a mom. Becky says Haley received a medical discharge in August 2020, and in September, Haley's son Jalani, JJ, was born. Haley assumed sole custody of J.J. His father was in the military, too,

and Haley's family says she remained on good terms with him. She was determined to keep him in their son's life. Haley Murphy was now a stay-at-home single mom. She said she wasn't going to work till after he was a year old, and that's what she did. How'd she make money? She had some money saved up from when she was in the military. Haley was really good with money. After Haley left the army, Brittany and Haley stayed close.

Brittany says motherhood mellowed her best friend. Before she had JJ, she loved to party. She just loved going out. But when she had that son, like everything changed. She started taking care of herself in ways that I had never seen her take care of herself before. After JJ's first birthday in September 2021, Haley surprised her family again. She's like, now I've got to get a job and figure out my life. And that job turned out to be stripper.

Not initially. Not initially, no. First, she was working as a cocktail waitress in a strip club. Becky says Haley soon realized she could make a lot more money. dancing at strip clubs instead of serving drinks. One of her good friends from high school was a stripper. I feel like she coached Haley into doing it by, look how much money I make. And Haley's competitive, so she had to outdo her friend.

Was her friend right? Did she make more money doing that? Lots. She made a lot of money doing that, definitely. Lots of money. Haley worked at three clubs in Austin, where, according to Baxter, Shekie and Harley. Her competitive streak was on full display along with everything else. She had to be best at the dancing on the pole. Had the better outfit.

Had the better outfit. She bought a pole and she put it in her liver room and she would practice doing tricks and stunts so she could be better than anybody else in the club. One of the things that happens to women in that profession is they attract a lot of attention from men, some of it wanted, and some of it probably not wanted. Yeah. You ever worry about that? A lot.

A lot. In January, 2003, Becky says Haley heard her neck and back in a car accident and had to stop dancing. She was driving home from work one night and a drunk driver hit her. She still went to the clubs and worked, but she wasn't able to dance on the stage and stuff like she used to. According to Becky and Harley, by then Haley was already thinking about a new career. JJ was getting older. He was about to turn three. And then the following year after that, he would have started school.

She didn't want to be the stripper mom. Becky says Haley enrolled in business classes and planned to get her real estate license. She was dreaming big. I can open my own real estate company. I can be my own boss and work my own house. and worked my own hours. That's how she looked at being a real estate agent. I'm sure, I believe you thought,

this is great. She's heading in the right direction. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Haley owned a house in Temple, about an hour from Austin. And in the spring of 2003, she and JJ had two roommates,

Harley and her baby boy. The sisters, just two years apart, were navigating motherhood together. On Friday, June 16th, Haley was packing for a weekend away. Harley agreed to babysit. She said that she was going to Austin for the weekend. She'd be back Monday, if not,

latest Tuesday morning. Haley's car was in the shop, so Harley drove her to Austin to meet up with a friend whose name is Trinity Smith. Haley was going to stay at his place. She said she might go to an ex-boyfriend's birthday party on Saturday. Harley dropped off her sister at a bar

called Slick Willys, and Trinity met them there. Haley loaded her suitcase, and then her school bag into his car. And then she said bye to her son, and she said bye to me, and then she got in the car and we left.

As Harley drove home with the children, it started to rain, and Haley called her from her next stop, another bar. She was like, it's raining really bad here. The power just went out at the bar. I just wanted to check on you guys, make sure you're safe.

And she told me to let her know when I made it home. Harley says she forgot to make that call when she got home, but texted Haley on Saturday. She didn't hear back, and Becky did not hear from Haley either. Becky says that wasn't surprising. We didn't really expect her to be calling us or texting us because she was going to be at this party. Then on Saturday evening, Becky noticed Haley had not posted anything on social media.

And that was unusual. Haley, she lived on social media. She posted something every day, ever so many hours on social media, something. By Sunday, Becky and Harley were worried. They could see their text messages to Haley, were not being delivered. And calls to her phone were going straight to voicemail. Becky says they checked with Haley's friends to see if anyone knew where she was.

And learned this. Haley never showed up at her ex-boyfriend's party. Haley's friend, Brittany Ketchum, was asleep when her phone rang. She was still a soldier deployed in South Korea. It was the middle of the night for me, and they were like, have you heard from Haley? I open all my apps. And I'm like, no, I haven't heard from her. And then I felt like this pit in my stomach.

The one friend of Haley's Becky could not reach was Trinity Smith. The guy Haley was with Friday night. Becky left messages on his phone but did not hear back. I told Harley, I said, well, she said she'd be home Monday night or Tuesday morning. I said, I'll wait till Tuesday. By Tuesday, Haley's social media accounts had been uncharacteristically silent for three days, and calls to her phone were still going to voicemail. That's when Becky filed a missing person's report with the Austin Police Department.

The police issued a BOLO, a be-on-the-lookout alert, for Haley. Even so, Becky wanted them to move faster. A few days later, Becky learned Haley's case, had been turned over to the Texas Rangers. On June 25th, Ranger Kevin Callahan opened a missing person's investigation. We were like, okay, they're going to take this serious. Something's wrong. By then, Becky and Harley had already launched their own search.

With help from relatives, they posted missing flyers on social media and all over Austin, hoping someone had seen Haley or Trinity. and soon Becky had something to share with Ranger Callahan. Two women saw the flyer and messaged Becky on Facebook. They had seen Haley and Trinity Friday night at Eddie's Tavern, a bar in Round Rock just north of Austin. They were sitting at a table next to Trinity and Haley, and they had actually talked to Haley.

They were throwing darts. In her Facebook message, one of the women wrote, Quote, The man said something to the effect that he left his phone or wallet somewhere, so they had to leave. We stayed till close and they didn't come back, unquote. Becky says she gave both women's contact information to Ranger Callahan. That lead was a start,

and soon Becky would have more information to share with investigators. Trinity Smith was a person. about to resurface. He called Becky, and he had quite a story to tell. I'm doing the hospital. I just check myself out of the hospital. Today? I just, yes, ma'am. Now, where was Haley? And did Trinity know what happened to her? It was Saturday, June 24, 2003. Haley Murphy's family had not heard from her in seven days. Her mom Becky Mitchell had been trying to reach Trinity Smith, the friend Haley was last seen with.

He had not returned a single message. Until now, Becky recorded the call. I'm doing the hospital. I just checked myself out at the hospital. Today? I just, yes, ma'am. Trinity told Becky he'd spent the past week in the hospital, receiving treatment for blood poisoning.

Trinity said he did not have his phone with him and was just now hearing that Haley was missing. I'm just finding out everything today. Becky asked Trinity where he and Haley went after they left that bar in Round Rock. When y'all left at East Tavern, where did y'all go? We stopped your male friend off a gun, like Islanddale area, and I went home. Do you know what they were driving? Do you remember what they were driving? Oh, I can't, I can't, um, see it's, it's white, it's a car.

I can't do what it would not be a car. Trinity told Becky he was drunk when he dropped off Haley to meet her friend, and he said he did not know the friend's name. Now, there was a reason Becky recorded the, call. You already suspected him by the time that phone conversation happened. I automatically suspected the person she was with did something to her. Trinity's phone call only deepened that suspicion. Any part of the story Trinity is telling sound true to you? No. Because Becky is a parole officer, she knew. Trinity was on probation

for a federal drug conviction. About six months earlier, Haley had asked her mom to check Trinity's record. She had found out he was on federal probation, and she was wondering what it was for. That was not the first time Becky had run a record check on a man in her daughter Haley's life. She's attracted to felons, and I told her that.

I said, you have a type. If they hadn't been in trouble with the law, then you don't want them. What appealed to her about guys like that? I don't even know. The bad boy. She was attracted to men that just could not follow rules. Okay. Pretty sure you said to her at some point, Becky, why don't you try dating somebody who isn't one of my parolees or couldn't become one? Yes, yes. I did a lot. We had that conversation so many times. And her answer was what? She would laugh, actually. She never really had an answer.

She'd just laugh at it. Haley met Trinity at work. He was a 47-year-old patron at one of the strip clubs where she danced. He also had a nickname he had apparently given himself. Bankroll. He got to pick whatever girls he wanted to go to the VIP section with him. He picked Haley, and he told Haley, bring all your friends. She'd make $5,000, $6,000 that night.

just by being in the VIP section with him and her friends. Haley ever tell you what Trinity slash bankroll did for a living to make all that money? Back in January, February, March time frame, she had found out that he was a drug dealer. Tell me what you know about Haley's drug use. She smoked marijuana, for sure, for sure. And I'm sure partying in that lifestyle, she probably did some Coke or, you know, ecstasy, mom. something like that, but as far as drug using daily bases kind of thing, no. Her sister agrees with that.

The most she did at home was maybe smokes weed after JJ went to sleep. Harley says Haley and Trinity were not dating, just casual friends. She wasn't with him, per se. She was kind of like a trophy piece that he could. walk around with in public. He would buy her nice things and pay her bills so that she would go be seen with him in public. Haley's best friend, Brittany Ketchum, had the same take. I would never call him a boyfriend. I don't think they ever got physical, like sexually, that I'm tracking. And if they did, I'm not tracking it. The relationship was he was an older man who wanted a pretty

younger woman on his arm. And that's what he got. Platonic or not, Becky says Haley and her friends sometimes stayed at Trinity's apartment in Austin. According to Becky, Haley told her one night about three months before she went missing. Trinity did something that scared her. It happened after someone had broken into Trinity's car. She was at his apartment and he wouldn't let her leave. He thought Haley and her friends were trying to rob him because he evidently had... some drugs in his car.

Becky says Trinity made a not-so-veiled threat to Haley. He was talking about whoever vandalized his car, he was going to kill them and their whole family. After that incident, Becky says she thought Haley had stopped seeing Trinity. It was now clear she had been wrong. About a week and a half after Haley went missing, Becky met with Texas Ranger Callahan and told him about the threats Trinity had made. She also gave him the recording of her phone call with Trinity.

I was an open book. What do you want to know? What information do you need to make this task easier so we can get to the finish line and find my daughter? They mainly wanted access to my phone account to look at Haley's phone. That's what they wanted. Becky says a couple of weeks after that meeting, Ranger Callahan told her Trinity had lawyered up and would not speak with them.

When someone you love goes missing, life doesn't stop. It just gets harder. The adults in Haley's life were struggling to manage their own emotions while taking care of Haley's almost three-year-old son, J.J. At first, he was just asking if he could speak to her or when she'd come home, and one time I was cooking dinner

and he just sat in the middle of the kitchen floor and he was crying. And he looked up at me and he was just like, I just missed my mommy. I don't know what to say to that boy because I miss her too. How do you tell a toddler that no one knows where his mother is?

Harley and Becky say they spoke with JJ's father who was still in the military, stationed in New York. Together, they came up with a plan to talk with JJ. We all decided that we were just going to tell him that she's lost and she's having a hard time trying to find her way back home. That might be the best answer.

Becky and Harley put on their game faces for little JJ. The truth was that neither of them believed Haley was ever coming home. Because if she were alive, one or both of you would have heard from her. Absolutely. Absolutely. Haley loved family. Out of all three of my children, she's the only one that would never leave me.

She would never go anywhere that I wasn't, even as an adult. When she moved out and bought her own house, she's literally 15 minutes from me. Weeks turned it a month, and to Haley's family, it looked as if the Rangers had made zero progress in their investigation. Becky and Harley were about to find out

Haley had been keeping a secret from them. Whether she realized it or not, she was taking a very big risk. You think Haley had any idea the kind of danger she was putting herself in? No, I don't. After Haley Murphy's family reported her missing, they kept looking for her on their own.

Five days after her disappearing, her sister Harley turned up a clue. She had pulled up Haley's call records from their family's shared phone account and started calling the number she did not recognize. And the first one I called, he told me what his name was, and then I explained to him the situation, and I asked him if he had spoken to her or seen her since that night. He clicked his pen, and I heard him start writing down stuff,

and he was asking me more questions than not. As soon as I got off the phone with him, called my mom back, and I said, that was a cop. on her phone look. I was like, why would she be talking to a cop? To be clear, the man Harley spoke with did not say he was a cop. Harley thought he sounded like one.

She says he told her his name was Mike, and that he had called Haley on June 16th, 2003. That was the day she disappeared. Mike had told me that he was supposed to meet her out at the bars back night, but he never went. Harley says she remembers Haley getting a phone call that night before they left for Austin to meet Trinity. She made me get out of her room so she could take the call.

You remember anything she said during that conversation? No, she closed her door. I do remember her saying about what time she was going to be getting there, but that was it. I just figured that she was talking to Trinity at that time. About a week after Harley talked with Mike, Becky met with the Texas Ranger assigned to Haley's case. She says another person was at that meeting,

someone whose name was familiar. Mike Guerrera, who was a state police officer, CID undercover officer. The officer's name is actually Mike Gera. Becky said she first heard his name almost a year before Haley went missing. And here's how. In August 2022, Becky says Haley's then boyfriend

had just been released from prison and was moving in with Haley. And so he tells her one day, hey, I got one duffel bag left at Cousin's House with my clothes in it. And so she takes him to Austin to his cousin's house. She don't get out of the car.

She sits in the car. They're on the way home, and State Patrol gets behind their car. I can see what's coming here. Yeah, he's driving. He takes off. High-speed chase down 35, headed to her temple. Becky says the chase ended when the boyfriend stopped the car and ran off,

leaving Haley to face the music and the cops. According to Becky, that's when Mike Gera convinced Haley to inform on her boyfriend. They put the handcuffs on her. She's upset. She's crying. And Mike comes and talks to her. at the scene and says, we could put you in jail if you don't help us.

She informed, and he went back to prison. Becky says when Haley told her about the deal with Gera, she gave her daughter a reality check. I told her, that's dangerous, for one. Like, you know, who all knows that you're doing this? You don't want to tell people that you do this or you've done this. I said because no matter how long it's been, it can come back on you.

Snitches get stitches. Yes. Becky says she thought her message had landed, and Haley's days as an informant were over. Now, face-to-face with Mike Gara, a wave of doubt swept over Becky. Was he the same Mike Harley had talked with? The guy Harley thought sounded like a cop,

the guy who'd called Haley the night she met up with Trinity on the day she vanished. Did you ask him? I didn't ask him right out because I felt like I would be lied to. Instead, Becky says she made an excuse to FaceTime with Harley during that meeting so she could hear Mike Gera's voice. I FaceTimed her. I gave him my phone.

Harley says she recognized his voice. He sounded like the guy she spoke with who had called Haley. the night she went missing. Becky and Harley were convinced that meant Haley was working as an informant once again, and it turned out they were right. The Austin Police Department told Dateline that when she disappeared,

Haley was working as a confidential informant for the DPS, the Texas Department of Public Safety. That explains why the Texas Rangers, a division of the DPS, took over her case five days, days after Becky reported Haley missing. Haley was working for their agency. Did the Texas Rangers tell you

that your daughter had been a confidential informant against a drug dealer? No, not at first. Haley's sister Harley says when they shared their theory with investigators, the truth came out about Haley being an informant. We told them what we suspected before they finally were like, yeah, no, that is what was happening. We just didn't know you knew.

In March, 2004, nine months after Haley vanished, Trinity Smith, the man she was with on the night of her disappearance, was arrested for assaulting a girlfriend back in 2021. At the time, Trinity was also under investigation for drug trafficking. And while Trinity was in custody for the assault charge, Austin police and the FBI executed a search warrant on his home and found nearly nine kilos of meth. Trinity was arrested, and in 2025 he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced to 29 years and is appealing.

Haley's family believes information she was giving law enforcement helped build the federal drug case that put Trinity behind bars. I'm just wondering if they say to you, we could never have done this without the help your daughter gave us? Never, never. The assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Trinity's drug case told Dateline his conviction was unrelated to any information provided by Haley. However, Becky paid close attention to the court proceedings in that case and was struck by this. Haley's name came up quite a few times about the evidence in that case. Becky is right. During an evidentiary hearing,

a detective testified that police searched Trinity's house because they suspected he was tampering with evidence, possibly evidence relating to Haley's missing person's case. That detective also testified that Trinity was the last person seen with Haley and cell phone record showed their phones were taken. together at the time of her disappearance. He called Trinity a suspect. That was more than a year ago.

Obviously, Haley hasn't been found. Right. They are still looking. No one has come forward and said they know what happened. No. We asked the prosecutor if the plea deal, Trinity accepted, required him to provide information about Haley's disappearance. He told us,

while the agreement did not require Trinity to cooperate with law enforcement, he may choose to do so, and the government could file a motion for a reduced sentence. Of course, confessing to any involvement in Haley's disappearance, could also land Trinity in a lot more trouble. The same month Trinity's house was searched, Texas Ranger Anjimani replaced Kevin Callahan as the investigator on Haley's case. Becky says not only has Amani put fresh eyes on the investigation,

he has kept her in the loop. He's been kind of an open book as he finds something or hears something. He tells me. He lets me know. According to Becky, Haley's phone records may be the key to solving her case. Dateline spoke with Ranger Amani, and he confirmed that foul play is suspected in Haley's case. But because the case is active, he would not say whether Trinity Smith is a suspect in her disappearance. We reached out to Trinity, and he called us from the Williamson County Jail.

He told us he does not know what happened to Haley, and he never threatened to harm her or her family. At the time he spoke with us, Trinity was facing three felony charges related to that assault on his former girlfriend in 2021. In June 2006, he pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced to an additional five years in prison. Haley's family believes she was murdered because her secret life as an informant was somehow exposed. You think Haley had any idea how much risk was involved in that and the kind of danger she was putting herself in?

No, I don't. I don't think she understood, I mean, one, she was only 22 years old. I think the first time she did it and it was all okay that when she's approached to do it again, she's like, oh, okay, I'll just do the same thing I did before. I really feel like she thought she was safe and thought nothing could come back on her. And law enforcement's got my back. Right. When a person goes missing, it is natural for the people who love them

to replay their last conversations over and over in their head. Brittany Ketcham says she spoke with Haley on the night she vanished before Haley went to Austin to meet Trinity. The last phone conversation we had, we were arguing about him literally that night, and I said, my last words verbatim to her were, Hey, Lou, you need to stop hanging out with men like this because one of these days you're not going to come home.

You have a son you need to think about. And she said you're being overdramatic. She just hung up on me. That call still haunts Brittany. Those were probably the last word she were thinking was she was like, yeah, look where I'm at right now, yeah. And I don't know if she would have felt anger towards me in that moment, you know? Or towards herself.

Yeah. Are you feeling some guilt about this? Yeah. I feel a lot of guilt. You should not. It sounds like you said every single thing to your friend that a good friend would say. You gave her the right advice. She didn't listen to it, which is incredibly sad, but that isn't on you.

Yeah. Yeah. But? But at the end of the day, she's a grown woman. You know, she's going to make her decisions. Brittany did not agree with every decision Haley made, but she has no doubt about this. Everything she ever did in her life was to take care of her son,

whether or not people believe it was a good decision or not. Everything she did was for him. When Haley Murphy disappeared more than three years ago, she was taking some first steps toward a new life. Harley and Becky can very easily imagine a different ending to this story. She probably would have been a great real estate agent. She could sell water to somebody. Sell air.

Yeah. Even if you weren't in the market to breathe, she still gets you to do it, buy it. Healy's son, JJ, was two years old the last time his mom sang happy birthday to him. Becky treasures the video that captured that moment. Happy birthday, dear Jalani. In September, JJ will turn six. Yay! Good job.

He lives with his father in Texas and spends one weekend a month with Becky and Harley. Do you have any memories of her? A lot, actually. Ones that you would think that he could not remember because he was so young, but he does remember her a lot. A lot. You look at him, you see her? Yes.

the way he acts now, too, and some of the things that he says, he didn't hear joke about him, play. He'd just like his mama, just like her. Becky keeps photos of Haley all over her house. She and Harley are determined to keep her memory alive for JJ. How do you want her son to remember her? I think the way that he dies, he remembers her as a fun parent, who gave him all of her,

attention. And whatever he wanted. Yeah. He will be quick to say that to us. Yeah, he'd be like, my mama would get it for me. My mama would do it. You think you're ever going to know what happened to her? I would like to hope that we would know eventually, but I don't think I would bet money on it.

Haley Murphy's story does not have an ending. Not yet. But Becky can sum up what her family has been through so far. in just seven words. Sounds like a movie. Not real life. Here is how you can help. At the time of her disappearance,

Haley Murphy was five feet tall and 130 pounds with short platinum blonde hair, hazel eyes, and multiple brightly colored tattoos. Today, she would be 26 years old. Haley was last seen wearing a light purple t-shirt, light-colored jean shorts and light-purple vans. If you have information on Haley's whereabouts,

please contact the Texas Rangers at 512-4-24-2160, or the Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Pershing Person's Clearinghouse at 5124-4-4074. To see photos and videos of Haley, and to learn more about other people we've covered in our Missing in America series. Go to Dateline missing in America.com. There, you'll be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Thanks for listening.

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Sarah Dahlberg is the associate producer. Marshall Housefeld is the editor. Bradley Davis is senior producer. Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News Audio, sound mixing by Justin K. Sloan. Jessica Fenton is head of audio production.