Dateline NBC - What Happened to Sophie Reeder? Preview Dateline: Missing in America Season 4

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Hey Dateline fans, we’re sharing with you a special preview of the final episode of an all-new season of Dateline: Missing in America. Josh Mankiewicz reports on the disappearance of Sophie Reeder, a 15-year-old girl who left her Fort Lauderdale home in the middle of the night in May 2017 and never returned. Listen to the full episode in the ‘Dateline: Missing in America’ feed – something you hear might unlock a memory that could be the key to finding Sophie.

Hi, I'm Josh Bankowitz with a preview of Dateline Missing in America. In our podcast's fourth season, we share six new unsolved mysteries. And we hope someone listening may have a clue that could help crack one of these cases. Could that someone be you? Here's Dateline Missing in America. It was 1245 A.M. when Sophie Reader started her journey, slipping out of her house and into a syrupy Florida night. At 216 A.M., a security camera recorded her walking along Davie Boulevard in South Fort Lauderdale.

She was wearing a short black dress, a brown fur coat, headphones, and high-top sneakers. Sophie Reader was 15 years old, and that video is the last known image of her on May 20, 2017, the day she disappeared. Patrick Reader is her father. Patrick, I can't imagine how difficult this has been for you. Yeah, it's like a living nightmare, a living nightmare. You got to deal with it every day. Police would later discover where Sophie went on her middle of the night walk. The mystery they have not solved is what happened after she arrived.

She got there after that long walk. Yeah. What does that tell you? That puts us in a vicinity to start the investigation. We call it a last-seen point. It is not a place for a 15-year-old in the dark at all. That's a reporter who dug into Sophie's case. I just always think about how she had that date circled on her calendar.

A May night in 2017. Could that mark on Sophie's calendar be the key to solving her case? Sophie's aunt is on a mission to uncover the truth. If she's alive, she's against her will somewhere. And I feel like somebody needs to do something, interview the people that we know have information to find her. Thanks for listening.

You can search for Dateline Missing in America to start listening to season four and follow us now. For ad-free listening, subscribe to Dateline Premium on Apple or Spotify.