Dateline NBC - A Sister's Search

Episode Date: July 16, 2020

When actress Aasha Davis and her sister Lesley move to Hollywood, things appear to be going well. But just as Aasha’s star is rising, Lesley suddenly vanishes. Josh Mankiewicz reports.

I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline... He said Leslie didn't show up for work. And I just went, instantly felt wrong. We had to figure out what had happened to her. She was an actress on Friday Night Lights. Then suddenly, the drama turned real. Hi, I'm here to plead for help to find my sister Leslie. Her sister and her sister's husband both vanished.

Like what if something terrible happened to both of them? Missing persons cases are not usually in your department. No, they're not. But this was different? This was different. She mentioned going underground. Yes, she did. Could have both taken off, but it seems suspicious.

Our spidey senses were up. To solve the mystery, police would roll the dice. I thank you all for being here this morning. And stage the ultimate Hollywood performance. I'm the lead investigator for this case. I was just floored by what was happening. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with A Sister's Search. In the movies and on TV, people can just disappear without a trace, leaving family and friends with nothing more than memories, questions,

and worry. In real life, vanishing is more a magician's trick than an everyday occurrence. Which brings us to that crossroads where magic and entertainment collide. Hollywood. The cops who roll down these streets call it Holly Weird, because they know anything can happen here. And sometimes, what does happen makes no sense. Hollywood's a real place, but it's also a myth. And the fantasy of what might be has always drawn the hopeful from every town in America with a bus station. For quite different reasons, it drew these two sisters, Leslie and Asha.

Maybe you recognize Asha Davis. She's one of those lucky few for whom that Hollywood fantasy came true. Her star rose quickly within a few years of her move west, when she landed roles such as... Waverly, the sharpest attack teenage preacher's daughter on the NBC series Friday Night Lights. You asked me all your questions and blah, blah, blah. We caught up, so just go score some goals.

Recurring appearances on Comedy Central's Drunk History. And in 2019, she led the cast as a local sheriff's deputy in the film The Long Shadow. But ten years earlier, in 2009, a real-life drama began that tested Asha's strength in a way the climb up the Hollywood ladder never had. Hi, I'm here to plead for help to find my sister Leslie. Asha was used to facing the cameras, but this wasn't on a set or for a publicity tour. The scene was a news conference where Asha begged for help from anyone who would listen. We are heartbroken and extremely concerned for her well-being. Any sister would be frantic with worry.

But Asha and her big sister Leslie were closer than most, despite their gap in age. Leslie was how much older? She was nine years older than me. And so she was sort of a surrogate mom when your mom went around? Yeah, she was almost like having another mom because my mom was a single mom. So she worked day and night, double shifts. And Leslie was in charge of us. She was a mama bear.

Leslie always wanted things a certain way, her way. She was definitely type A. Everyone in the family knew that if Leslie was in charge, everything would be just right. You know, my sister was the type that even when we were younger, she would take me on dates with her. I'm sure they loved that. I know, they're like a little sister. But that's who she was. She made sure that we were taken care of.

Leslie never stopped feeling responsible for Asha. And so a few months after Asha moved west in late 97, Leslie followed. She found herself an office job that some of us would call boring. But in it, Leslie saw material for stories that kept her sister laughing. She was so charismatic and such a great storyteller. She could take a little tiny thing like a, you know, a tape dispenser and create this amazing story. The move west had been good for both sisters, especially for Leslie, after she met the right guy in an unlikely place, the 99 cent store. By the time we were checking out, you know, he was giving her his number, and I think they went to the movies afterwards and were inseparable after that.

His name was Lyle Herring, and he had a good job as a recruiter at a local university. He'd grown up in Los Angeles, and his wooing of Leslie was spent introducing her to her new city, a courtship at warp speed. She called me one day and she said, do you want to be a witness at my wedding? And I was like, you're getting married? And she's like, yeah.

Married less than a year after they met, Leslie and Lyle were clearly happy together. They seemed a pretty good match. Yes. Vivian Telford, Leslie and Asha's mother, thought her oldest daughter had found, for her, the perfect man. Leslie and Lyle even dressed alike. They had the same jackets, they had the same sweaters, they had the same caps. And they were together all the time? All the time.

It was funny about Lyle. After the marriage, he became closer to Leslie's family than he was to his own. Vivian felt it. He always told me he loved me more than he loved his own mother. And he told me that my family was better to him than his own family. You loved him like a son. I loved him like a son. As for Leslie, she was the mama bear, first to Asha and then,

after they got together, to her husband Lyle. But it was her own mother who lived all the way across the country to whom Leslie turned for comfort. And you talked to her almost every day? Every day. A quarter of 11 every morning on her way to work, and sometimes in the afternoon. How old was she? 45. And she's still calling her mom every day. She called me in the morning so we could pray together. And then sometimes I say to her, where are you now?

She said, I'm in the elevator. I said, you make me pray all the way to the elevator? She said, I'm in the elevator. I said, you make me pray all the way to the elevator? She said, mm-hmm. They shared daily prayers, and they shared confidences. In fact, Leslie would talk to only her mother during those rare times when she was ticked off at Lyle. Whenever she was unhappy, if I wanted her to laugh, I would always say to her, what do you expect?

You met him in the 99th Sense Store. Soon enough, Asha was married too. And in 2008, she and her husband Jesse found out she was pregnant with a boy. Leslie was so excited to have a nephew, and she was so supportive. She threw my baby shower. She was going to get to see her, you know, little sister become a mom. The little boy named Ever joined the family in January of 2009, and though Aunt Leslie was sick with a cold, she couldn't resist coming by to look through the window at her brand new nephew. Those should have been happy times for Asha and her sister A time of the family bonding with its newest member

But then Asha got a phone call from Leslie's boss That changed everything He said, Leslie didn't show up for work yesterday And she's not here today And I just went, instantly felt wrong The joy of new motherhood melted away It was Tuesday, February 10th. Leslie had missed two days of work, and she hadn't called in sick. Together, it was completely out of character

for the always responsible Leslie. I instantly called the two people who would know where she is, and that's the one she's always with, Lyle Herring, and my mom, who she talks to twice a day. Asha's mom hadn't heard from Leslie, and now they realized Lyle couldn't be found either. But no one disappears without a trace, do they? When we come back, Leslie's missing and Lyle's missing. Yeah. Did you think that wherever they were, they were probably together? Yes. Like a Hollywood special effect, Lyle suddenly reappears. But the scene only adds to the mystery.

He got into the back seat, slides down in the seat, and pulls my suit coat over his head. He's hiding. He's hiding. He's hiding. When someone you love disappears, it's hard to know what to do. There are no drills like for fires or earthquakes, no how-to books. Asha Davis had a million questions and almost no answers. We were wondering if we had to file a missing persons for both of them. We were nervous about what, you know, what would we find in the apartment? Like, what if they got robbed? Asha's sister Leslie and her husband Lyle were always together during their marriage. Now they were both suddenly gone.

Leslie's missing and Lyle's missing. Yeah. Did you think that wherever they were, they were probably together? Yes. Asha and her husband Jesse grabbed their newborn son and headed to the Herrings condo complex in the Hollywood Hills to see what, if anything, they could find there. Leslie's car's there in her assigned parking spot,

and that made it feel a little heavier. All of a sudden, you're like, her car's here and she's not answering the phone. They went into the building to knock on Leslie and Lyle's front door. Asha wondered if Leslie, who suffered from migraines, might be sick inside. But their knocking got no response. They waited, and they waited. They returned to the garage, where they saw a man parking in the spot next to Leslie's. We both said, have you seen the woman who owns this car? She's like, I haven't seen her,

but I saw her husband yesterday. That was strange. So Asha and Jesse waited in their car by the front gate. Because if that neighbor was right, maybe they'd find Lyle when he came home from work. And I remember a few cars coming in, and then all of a sudden, a car that matched his description came in. But then the car turned away from Lyle and Leslie's building. And we said, oh, I guess it's not him. Because it went in a different direction? Yeah, it didn't, right. That's what we thought.

Asha and Jesse probably would have waited all night, but they had a new baby with them, so they headed home. It wasn't the last time Asha would have to balance being a sister and being a parent. While all this was going on, you had a brand new baby. So I'm guessing you weren't sleeping a whole lot anyway. I'm thinking maybe this made it just about impossible. I did not sleep at all. It was like such an amalgamation of sadness and fear and love and excitement for this baby.

It was what kept us going was him. A new life is always a reason for hope. But the situation with Leslie and Lyle both missing was leaving the family feeling hopeless. So they called the LAPD. Asha and Jesse couldn't get into the Herring Condo, but police could. Officers went inside and found nothing that looked unusual. They also found no Lyle and no Leslie. Asha worked the phones. Friends and relatives knew nothing. Then she reached Lyle's boss, who said he hadn't

heard from Leslie, but he thought he'd seen Lyle on Tuesday, which was the day after Leslie missed work. No less confused, Asha decided it was time to file that missing persons report. We went to the police station and we gave them a picture of Leslie. And the guy said thank you and he put her picture on a pile. And I mean, in California, I'm sure, I don't know how many people go missing, especially in Hollywood, a day. A lot of people come to Hollywood from somewhere else. But their dreams of making it big here don't always work out. They can lose touch with their families.

Then suddenly the folks back home are calling the cops, thinking they're missing. When really they're just lost in the meat grinder that is Hollywood. Asha desperately needed something that would make Leslie's case stand out. We went back to the car and we thought, I don't know where to go from here, you know, and the phone rang, and it was Malcolm Thomas. Malcolm Thomas is Lyle Herring's cousin. He wanted to talk about a very distraught Lyle, whom he'd also seen in the days after Leslie missed work.

Malcolm told Asha that Lyle seemed almost suicidal. Did he mention Leslie at all? He said, don't bring up her name anymore. He doesn't want to hear about her anymore. Did you get the feeling that was because they had a fight or they were splitting up or she dumped him? I thought maybe there was a disagreement. People do have disagreements. People split up for short periods of time and get back together. And I said, well, maybe he's just upset over something.

Lyle asked Malcolm to drive with him to his condo complex. Lyle led the way in his SUV. You're following Lyle to his house. Yes, I am. But he doesn't go straight to his house, does he? No. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, he made a sharp left turn, and that was different. Away from his home.

Away from his home. They ended up in a remote garage underneath the condo complex. He opens up my back passenger side door. He got into the back seat, closes the door, slides down in the seat of the car, and pulls my suit coat over his head. He's hiding. He's hiding.

And I said, man, don't do that in my car. I said, what's going on? He said, there are some people at the end of the driveway that he doesn't want to see or have them see us. Some people near the end of the driveway? As she listened to Malcolm's story, Asha suddenly realized, that's you. It was us. And so we ran back into the police station, took the baby back out the seat, went back in,

and we said, you know, we just talked to my sister's husband's cousin, and he had a really frantic interaction with him. The policeman said, wait a second, I'm going to get you guys a detective. The next person Asha met was Detective Chris Gable. Missing persons cases are not usually your department. No, they're not. But this was different? This was different.

Coming up, inside Leslie and Lyle's home, a strange clue buried in a closet. And then, inside their marriage, something buried there, too. She found out about that? Yes. And I'm guessing was pretty furious. She was furious. When Dateline continues. Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Detective Chris Gable was working the homicide table that night at the LAPD's Hollywood station when the officer from the front desk walked Asha, Jesse, and their baby back to detectives. We went back to the detectives and we explained everything about Leslie and about how worried we were. We didn't know what was going on.

Lyle and Leslie were both missing and unreachable. Maybe they were together. Maybe they weren't. Maybe they were safe. And maybe they weren't. My instincts are that there's something suspicious going on. I still don't know what it is. They could have both taken off. I don't know these people. They live a pretty isolated lifestyle.

But from the things that I've found so far, it seems suspicious. Gable checked hospitals, coroner's offices, and the highway patrol, and came up with exactly nothing. He put out a bolo to be on the lookout for, asking police throughout Southern California to look for Leslie and Lyle Herring. And he brought cousin Malcolm in to hear firsthand about Lyle's strange behavior.

Most of the family is telling you that the relationship between Lyle and Leslie is terrific. Yeah. Malcolm's the only one who sends up some sort of red flag. Based on his conversation with Lyle on the previous days after she was missing, yes. Whatever had happened was beginning to feel like foul play. Gable knew he had to move fast.

And so at 3 a.m., some 11 hours after first meeting Asha, Gable and his partner Vicki Bynum were in the Herring condo, And so at 3 a.m., some 11 hours after first meeting Asha, Gable and his partner Vicki Bynum were in the Herring condo, search warrant in hand. The apartment didn't appear to be a place where murder had just been committed. It didn't, but the apartment was real telling to me about the two people that lived there. We didn't know much about them, but it was almost like an apartment divided.

The part of the apartment that was Leslie's for example was very orderly and put together and then there was a room that was Lyle's and it was just like a tornado had been through it but still no sign of a struggle no no blood no visible blood the only thing that caught my attention that night was there was a large amount of towels hanging over the showers of both bathrooms. And I just made note of it, but I thought there was some sort of a flood or something that they sopped up.

Inside the apartment, he also saw spilled candle wax. If the OCD-intensive Leslie had seen that, she'd have cleaned it up right away. So did it happen after she left? And Gable and Bynum found something else. A receipt from Starbucks dated February 9th at 9.17 p.m. That was the first day Leslie missed work. Where'd you find that receipt? That receipt was found inside of a purse, inside of Leslie's purse, inside of her closet. So presumably it was Leslie who went to Starbucks. Exactly.

It was 6 a.m. when they finished collecting their evidence, and night turned to day in Hollywood. And what had dawned on these detectives was that this may not have been the happy home of a happy couple. A visit with Asha and Leslie's mother, Vivian, gave them a glimpse behind the bright picture Leslie had always painted. That weekend they were feuding. Lyle cooked some food and he put a certain spice in the food. And when she asked him what spice he had in the food, he couldn't tell her. Vivian knew that certain spices triggered Leslie's debilitating migraines. But Vivian also knew, and was the only one who did know, that this fight over spices was just a symptom of so much that was going wrong

between Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Herring. Things had not been good between your daughter and Lyle. No, they had financial problems. To say these were financial problems is to understate what had been happening. Vivian said Leslie had told her that Lyle needed cash badly, so badly that he had committed identity theft against his own wife. He forged her signature and he took money from her credit cards. And she found out about that?

Yes. And I'm guessing was pretty furious. She was furious. It turned out that for months, Leslie had been telling her mother she was nearing the end of her rope. Vivian cautioned Leslie not to tell Lyle she was thinking of leaving him. I said, if you want to leave, you cannot let him know what your plans are. Just leave. So don't tell him in advance.

No. Don't leave a note. No. Was this mother just trying to hold on to anything that might mean her missing daughter was still alive? Or did she know more than she was saying? Coming up, a new clue pushes the investigation into high gear. I'm guessing you watched that video several times.

Oh, yeah. Why this changed everything. No one seemed to know where Leslie Herring was. Her husband Lyle had been seen but wasn't returning anyone's calls, not even those from the LAPD. Had Leslie simply left her husband without a word to anyone? It seemed unlikely, but then her sister Asha was still in the process of learning about Leslie's marriage. How bad it really was. How unhappy Leslie was. Things Leslie was apparently telling only their mother. The thing about my sister is I think she really wanted people to believe that

she had it all together so she wouldn't tell us about the problems that she was having with Lyle. She'd always taken care of you. You're on TV and doing great. And maybe she thought, you know what? I'm not, I'm not going to break Asha's concentration for a minute. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Out of protection, a little bit of pride. So perhaps Leslie was still alive somewhere and just keeping her head down. It's what Vivian was hoping. I believed that Leslie would come home. I went to sleep every night and imagine I could hear the doorbell ring. I could imagine that there were knocks on the door. I imagined the phone would ring. She believed it because Vivian knew something Asha didn't know, something Vivian didn't tell the detectives right away,

that Leslie had spoken openly to her mother months earlier about some people who could help her just vanish, an underground. She mentioned going underground. Yes, she did. Did she seem serious about going underground? Yes, she wanted to leave. As much as he knew her family wanted to believe that, Detective Chris Gable knew it didn't make sense. You would bring something.

She had a lot of cash she left behind. She would certainly have her migraine medication. For all intents and purposes, from what we could tell, there was nothing. She took nothing with her. And one week after Leslie was a no-show at work, their investigation changed course. Remember that Starbucks receipt police found in Leslie's handbag? Gable and his partner, Vicky Bynum,

got their first look at the security video from Starbucks showing the cash register at the exact time the purchase was made. I'm guessing you watched that video several times. Oh, yeah. It's pretty clear video, and it's pretty clear that it isn't Leslie. And lo and behold, it's Lyle Herring. Lyle Herring by himself, no wife, with his long dreadlock hair, and he purchases a single item. He didn't buy another cup for somebody who might be waiting outside.

No, and, you know, we're looking for that, obviously. You thinking you were meant to find it in Leslie's purse? I suspected so, and as the investigation moved forward, I knew that we were expected to find it there. Three more days passed, an instant in Hollywood, an eternity for Asha and her family. And then the bolo got a hit. Lyle Herring had been stopped at the Mexican border, not fleeing, but returning to the United States. The detectives dropped everything and headed south. You don't want to wait till the next day. Oh, no. Our spidey senses were up, thinking that something could be awry. We didn't know, so we needed to get down there and talk to

him. And we needed to find out if Leslie was with him. If not, where is she and what does he know? Finally, the detectives heard a story from Lyle that explained just about everything. He confirmed what his mother-in-law had told the cops, that he and Leslie had been fighting that weekend. They'd been fighting a lot, but this time he said it was different. Leslie had apparently had about enough of him. And Lyle said that when he woke up in their apartment that Sunday morning, Leslie was gone. Did she just leave to go to the store and never came back? Or, I mean, how'd that happen? Did she just start up again?

The detectives were surprised to hear all this from a closely cropped Lyle Herring, a man who'd been known for years for his long dreadlocks. Lyle explained to the detectives that he owed money to some gang members and that when he couldn't pay them back, they held him down and cut off his hair. He cut my hair, he cut my mustache, all this stuff down here. You used to work the gang unit. Yes. Have you ever heard of a gang holding someone down and giving them a haircut as a way of getting money that they wanted? Not only have I not heard of that, but the shave was a little added touch that I had never heard. A little hard to keep a straight face when I heard that.

Lyle said that before she dumped him, he and Leslie had planned a Valentine's vacation in Mexico and that he'd gone there to look for her a week after she had disappeared. So we were both planning on going there. Okay. So part of it was to look for her? It's a little stupid, right? No, it's not stupid at all. If it was me, I'd be looking for my wife wherever I could. But Lyle had come up empty.

Then Gable asked Lyle if, during his search, he had tried to phone or email his wife. Listen to Lyle's answer. I called her, but I can't verify it because I'm online and I'm so tired. But I guess you can verify it from my cell phone. You can check my cell phone records. He volunteered to check my cell phone records. Did you think he wants me to see his cell phone records the same way he wanted me to see that Starbucks receipt? Yes. Sus receipt. Yes.

Suspicious? Yes. But proof of a crime? Not even close. Lyle Herring was not under arrest for anything. But Gable was able to seize Lyle's SUV. He then brought in Indiana Bones from the L.A. County Coroner's Office, a German shepherd trained to sniff out the scent of human decomposition. They sent the dog through Lyle's SUV and also through a classic Cadillac he owned. In both vehicles, she stopped in her tracks and alerted. The dog told you that at one time a dead body had been in the back of Lyle's

car? Correct. That's when you know Leslie's dead? Yes. Now I know she's dead. Gable did not share that with Leslie's family because he wasn't close to closing this case. There was still so much he didn't have. A crime scene, a witness, or the one thing most homicide investigations begin with, a body. Had you ever done a murder case in which you didn't have a dead body? No, this is the first one. You've never done that before? No, I never have. The Herring case wasn't going to be easy, so Detective Gable decided he needed a little help from the media. He held a press conference. But this would be a press conference unlike any you've ever seen.

It would be pure theater, worthy of Hollywood. Everyone would be there. Detectives, family, even the prime suspect. Coming up, Leslie's husband center stage in a command performance. He didn't want to speak. I'd like to introduce Lyle Herring. Our captain said the next person to speak is Lyle Herring, and I think he had no choice at that point. When Dateline continues. Leslie Herring was still missing.

She hadn't turned up dead or alive. Now, detectives turned to Leslie's family with a request. And it wasn't an easy one. You and your mom all give police a DNA sample. Now, you know that when police get to that point, they're probably not looking for a live person anymore. That was hard to do. Yeah. It's like you end up talking and dealing with all these morbid things, talking about finding bodies and where is she, what kind of ending did she have. Those were questions Detective Gable had too, questions he wasn't close to answering. So 44 days after Leslie went missing,

the LAPD held what started as a press conference and ended as something quite different. I thank you all for being here this morning. Gable hoped that getting Leslie's story in the news might jog someone's memory in a way that would roll the investigation forward. Asha and her entire family were there. And so was Lyle. Did you think he was going to speak at the press conference?

He didn't want to speak. I'd like to introduce Lyle Herring, the husband of Leslie at this time. Our captain just went ahead and said the next person to speak is Lyle Herring, and I think he had no choice at that point. If Leslie's out there listening to us, please give us a call, come home, let us know what's going on. Then it was Asha's turn. It's very unusual for her not to be in touch with her family. She is a creature of habit, and this is why her disappearance is so alarming to us. For Asha, the actress, this day played out more strangely than any script she had ever followed. The press conference was really difficult

because it was the first time I was going to see Lyle since it happened. How did you not run up to him and start shaking him? To me, approach everything with love. I didn't think shaking him was going to get an answer. I hugged him like I always do when I see him. But that didn't work either. No. She did not run away.

Unlike his sister, Asha and Leslie's brother, Linda, did not approach Lyle with love. And I would like you, Lyle, to tell me what's going on here, because we came a long way to know what's going on. This is killing our family. Through it all stood Lyle Herring, Either a husband worried about his wife or a killer worried about being caught. I'm the lead investigator for this case. When Detective Gable began to speak, a reporter asked if Lyle was being helpful in the search for his missing wife. Has he been cooperative? I would describe his cooperation as fragmented and less than helpful. At one point, reporters asked Detective Gable, is Lyle cooperating? And with Lyle standing right there, Detective Gable says, not really.

I was, you know, just floored by what was happening. And Gable wasn't done laying out the inconsistencies in Lyle's story to an audience of eager listeners that included Lyle. He left the condominium on Tuesday, the following Tuesday, and went down to San Diego to apply for jobs at some colleges down there. Following that, he went down to Mexico for a day. Then reporters turned on Lyle. You're less than cooperative. Those are some rather charged statements. Lyle told Gable he did not want to answer.

And Lyle took it. Let me clarify one thing. So we will be taking things out of context, okay? I had an opportunity to take a trip. We've had an opportunity to take a trip to Mexico, Rosarito, to celebrate for Valentine's Day. I went down there to look for her. I went to look for all the places that I thought she would be. That's one of the places that we had planned to go. So for you, for Detective Gable to take out a contract and just throw it out there arbitrarily,

well, he went to Mexico, yes, to look for my wife. But Gable had never believed that Lyle went to Mexico to look for Leslie. It's obvious he's lying, and I can see he's lying. Seeing through Lyle's lies was one thing, But what Gable really needed was a break. I kind of get the feeling that what you were hoping for with that press conference was not somebody who had seen Leslie alive, but maybe somebody who had seen Lyle in the process of moving or disposing her body. Yes. That's what I was hoping for.

Somebody maybe you hadn't talked to before. Correct. And it paid off. It paid off immediately. Thank you very much for coming down. Coming up, what a new witness claims he saw. A stunning revelation.

You think that was Leslie? Absolutely. And then, what little sister Asha believes could have changed everything. I really, really wish she had. Yeah, I do. All her friends are going to gather. We're going to get quiet and think about her as hard as we can. It's all about her today. In the weeks after that surreal press conference,

Asha Davis continued getting the word out about her sister Leslie Herring. Lyle Herring continued to play the part of the grieving husband. Inside Hollywood Station, detectives Gable and Bynum were continuing to put the case together against Lyle. One with no DNA, no blood, and still no body. But there was evidence that came in tiny little pieces. They'd found an undated Dear John type letter that Leslie had written to Lyle, saying she was leaving him, that she was broken.

And detectives finally got those cell phone records that Lyle was so eager for them to see. Here we have February 7th, and this is their condominium right here. Here's the cell site tower. It turns out Lyle did call Leslie after the time he said she'd run off. But the records had more details than Lyle expected. There was activity between both phones. That part is true. But? But the problem was where the phones were located.

Based off the cell towers, we were able to show that the phones were in the same location. Suggesting that, what, Lyle was holding his phone in one hand and dialing Leslie's phone, which was in his other hand. Exactly. And then came the lead spawned by that press conference. Thank you very much for coming down. A neighbor from the condo complex had seen Lyle Herring getting into the elevator at around 1230 a.m. Sunday on that weekend that Leslie disappeared. Lyle was moving what looked like a big rolled up carpet. How like the diameter would

you say? It was pretty thick. No, it was round, like round enough for a body to be inside it. You think that was Leslie inside that carpet? Absolutely. It would take more than a year, but in April 2010, Lyle Herring was finally arrested and charged with the murder of his wife Leslie. It would take three more years to get to trial. Over the next few weeks, my colleague here and I are going to present to you the layered web of evidence that caught him, put him in this courtroom, and proves beyond a reasonable doubt that that man, that calculating husband,

that killer is the defendant, Lyle Herron. What do you think happened? I learned throughout the investigation that one of the things that Lyle does when they're having arguments is that he washes Leslie's hair. As a way of what? Getting back into her good graces.

Gable believes the Herring's bathtub was the real crime scene. And I believe that they were talking about the letter that he had already received. And she was likely adamant that she was leaving. He was going to have no part of that. And I think he just pushed her under. And drowned her right there in her own bathtub. Drowned her right there. Remember all those towels Gable saw? He believes Lyle used them to mop up the bathroom. Then he wrapped up Leslie, put her on the dolly, and had the bad luck to run into a neighbor in the elevator that night.

The defense said none of that happened, that Lyle was not guilty because Leslie wasn't murdered. She's not even dead. I don't want you to expect or hold me to any promise that there's going to be some Perry Mason moment and Leslie's going to walk through the door and just say, here I am. But I will tell you at the conclusion of this trial, there will be more than sufficient evidence to believe that she in fact could. I wish they were right. Let me say that, you know, I would love to be hugging my sister and I wish that were true, but I know who she is and I know she's not alive.

We are on the record of the matter. After a three and a half week trial, a jury agreed with Asha. We, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Lyle Stanford Herring, Sr., guilty of the crime of murder. June 2013, Lyle Herring was sentenced to 15 years to life for murder in the second degree. It's not quite the end, because Lyle is holding on to one last secret from a marriage that apparently had a lot of them. He's never told anyone where Leslie's body is. Lyle's probably going to see this program. I know. Anything you want to say to him?

Yes. We pray that you will tell us where Leslie is so we could have closure in our life. We know that you know exactly where she is. Through her pain and loss, Asha is trying to find a lesson. It's so important to me that women or anyone who's fearful about what other people are going to think about the way they're living their life. It's hard to not live up to what we think is success,

but it's so much more important that you share even your sadness with people. You wish Leslie had talked to you. I really, really wish she had. Yeah, I do. I don't think I'd be here right now. But Asha has also had an opportunity to bring some laughter back into this family. A few years after Leslie vanished, Asha starred in a web series called The Unwritten Rules. Happy Juneteenth! Yes, I did! Love Juneteenth!

It's a comedy about a black woman working one of those deathly dull jobs in a mostly white office. It's a little like Leslie's life. And I read those scripts and I just, I I felt Leslie. I felt her in my heart. I laughed again the way she used to make me laugh. So excited to be back with my race scene. I missed you, girl. I did. And so one sister is paying homage to another.

It won't bring Leslie back, but it makes her loss a little less painful. In this Hollywood story, it's the only happy ending that's available. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.